What’s News with Me

By golly, I’ve been a bad blogger. Between looming deadlines and a vacation over the summer, I’ve really neglected this space. Anyway, here’s what’s news with me…

I’m hard at work finishing up illustrations for The Wrong Side of the Bed, by Lisa M. Bakos, to be published by Putnam in 2016. If you’d like to see some teaser details, check out my tumblr or  instagram feed. Then, it’s onto the art for Little Card, by Charise Harper also due out in 2016.

In the meantime, if you find yourself in the Midwest this month, I’m participating in a really cool exhibition at The University of Missouri that opens on October 7th. Assistant Professor John Malta has organized “Process Work: the Process Work and Illustrations of Contemporary Illustrators,” and the roster of artists is amazing—see the list on the fabulous poster John designed below. I’m showing the ugly underbelly for my sloths piece from World Rat Day.

More soon, or who am I kidding? Soonish...

Rats! Pick of the Month by the Poetry Foundation

It’s always a pleasure to receive emails from author J. Patrick Lewis. This morning, in addition to pointing out that today (Nov. 2) is “Plan Your Epitaph Day”, he shared the terrific news that World Rat Day is the pick of the month by The Poetry Foundation. Thank you current Children’s Laureate Kenn Nesbitt for your kind words:

“With splendidly silly illustrations by Anna Raff, and poems about everything from ‘Dragon Appreciation Day’ to ‘International Cephalopod Awareness Day’ (and, of course ‘World Rat Day’) this cleverly-crafted collection includes shape poems, limericks, and enough rib-tickling rhymes that you can have fun celebrating ‘The Holidays’ all year long.”

Now I have to go revise my epitaph...

The Society of Illustrators: Original Art Show

Hello Hello! Word on the street is that The Original Art Show is already open for viewing at the Society of Illustrators. I am thrilled that World Rat Day was chosen one of the best illustrated children’s books of the year, and that my rats lineup will be representing. If you’ve never seen the show, it’s an amazing event, and one of few chances to see the actual art from these great books in person. On top of that, if you’re in New York City tomorrow evening (October 24th), the opening reception will give you the added opportunity to meet the artists.

A big shout out goes to the terrific folks at Candlewick—Art Directors Anne Moore and Kristen Nobles made this a really fun project for me, from beginning to end. World Rat Day was written by U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis, and is a collection of hilarious “Poems About Real Holidays You’ve Never Heard Of.”

The Original Art Show runs from October 23 through December 21 at The Society of Illustrators, 128 East 63rd Street, between Park and Lexington. For more information, click here.

some very nice things about rats

I’m not going to lie about it...I did do a little dance around my apartment last week upon hearing that World Rat Day had been selected for The Original Art Show at the Society of Illustrators. Established in 1979 and juried by an esteemed group of art directors, editors and illustrators, the exhibition showcases the year’s best in children’s book illustration. So in other words—I’m thrilled.

The show will be on view from October 23 through December 21, with an opening reception on Thursday, October 24, from 6–9pm. 

And as if that weren’t enough good news about World Rat Day, four images from the book were also selected for 3x3 Magazine’s annual picture book competition. Hoozah!

All in all, it’s been a pretty good summer for the rats. As for being a Raff, that’s not too bad either. I’ve just agreed to illustrate two picture books over the next year. But more on those another time.

American Illustration 32

Guess who’s been chosen for American Illustration 32? You guessed it...the RATS! These guys have been getting around—in addition to a cameo in the “Spring Children’s Book” issue of Publisher’s Weekly, Candlewick selected them for their World Rat Day promotional poster. 

Rizzoli, Rats and Raffs

On the heels of the big World Rat Day event at Rizzoli, I did a little traveling, so this post is over a week late. Still, I wanted to share a few photos—it was a fantastic turnout! Thanks to everyone who was there, bought books, and helped celebrate Poetry Month. And special thanks to the great people at Rizzoli—especially publicist Meg Parsont—and Candlewick for providing the bubbly and the big poster for the store window! Boy was my hand tired by the end, but in a really good way.

Rizzoli Bookstore - April 13th, 3–4:30 p.m.

Come celebrate the publication of World Rat Day with me at the legendary Rizzoli Bookstore this Saturday afternoon! 

At the Bank St. Bookstore - April 4th

On the afternoon of Thursday, April 4th (World Rat Day proper) I’ll be presenting World Rat Day to the after-school set at the Bank Street Bookstore on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Click here for details. If you can’t make it to that event, you can still celebrate World Rat Day with me at Rizzoli Bookstore on Saturday, April 13th. More information from my earlier post can be found here. In addition to reading some of J. Patrick Lewis’ wonderful poems, we’ll be drawing rats, and inventing our own holidays. Hope to see you there!

sloths in creative quarterly 31

With all of my focus on rats these days, I was thrilled to learn that my sloths image from World Rat Day snuck into the spring Creative Quarterly competition as a runner-up. Of course, if you look closely, you’ll see the rat squad is in there too. 

The Release of the Rats!

Today’s the day World Rat Day, by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by me, storms bookstores and mailboxes. Here are a couple of reviews...

“Funny from start to finish, these superbly crafted poems and inventive illustrations celebrate...holidays that the elementary-school crowd will love. Raff’s intelligent artwork adds to the lighthearted play with many surprises...The entire book is such fun that children will will want to shout, “It’s J. Patrick Lewis Day!”  

—School Library Journal 

“J. Patrick Lewis gives...ear food for elementary school kids accompanied
by charming illustrations by Anna Raff!” —Bobbi Katz

:^)

Signing at Rizzoli Bookstore, NYC - April 13th, 3pm

Happy [belated] National Pig Day! I hope you found a proper way to honor the swine this past Friday.

The release of World Rat Day is a little over a week away, and it has been getting some nice attention in print and cyberspace. But first things first...

On Saturday, April 13th from 3:00–4:30 PM, the Rizzoli Bookstore in midtown Manhattan is hosting a book signing for me. Here’s the announcement from their website:

To help celebrate National Poetry Month, award-winning illustrator Anna Raff joins us for this kid-friendly event in which she unveils a whimsical collection of poems and her illustrations commemorating such quirky holidays as Dragon Appreciation Day and International Cephalopod Awareness Day.

I know you’ll want to fill me in on how you celebrated the actual World Rat Day which is a few days earlier, so I look forward to seeing you there! For directions, click here.

In other World Rat Day news, the rats got a nice, visual shout out in the “Spring Children’s Books” issue of Publisher’s Weekly last week. To read the complete PW review, click here. And the book trailer has been featured on several illustration sites. If you still haven’t watched it, take a short 1-minute, 36-second break. I hope it puts a smile on your face.

★ the WORLD RAT DAY trailer ★

Book trailers are all the rage in children’s publishing these days, so in preparation for its publication in March, I wanted to give World Rat Day proper attention. 

This meant investing a considerable amount of time teaching myself Adobe After Effects, but I think it was time well spent. As an illustrator, it’s so rewarding to make still images you’ve been working on for months and months actually move. If this weren’t already part of my profession, I’d take it up as a hobby.

So without further ado, here it is. Enjoy, share, post, tweet, whatever you choose, but mostly I hope it puts a smile on your face. 

WORLD RAT DAY - by J. Patrick Lewis and Anna Raff

Oh! One more thing—as if I hadn’t mentioned it a million times before—World Rat Day is available for pre-order here. :^)

new website!

I’m very pleased to announce the relaunch of annaraff.com today. 

Admittedly, a revamp was long overdue, but at last I can share selections from a few of my upcoming book projects. Images from the aforementioned World Rat Day, by J. Patrick Lewis are there, as well as some from Things That Float and Things That Don’t, a non-fiction picture book to written by David A. Adler to be published by Holiday House this fall.

I hope you get a chance to poke around. If so, thanks for looking!

world rat day news

Exciting things are afoot in WORLD RAT DAY news: Candlewick has printed a promotional poster; and in a few weeks, my book trailer will release. As the tiniest of teases, here’s a member of the band of rats I weaved throughout. The official pub date is March 12th.

it’s a book!

My advance copy of World Rat Day arrived the other day and in my excitement, I might have jumped up and down a few times. I guess it’s no secret that I really loved working on this book. (The official publication date is March 12th.)

Meanwhile, I’ve been finishing up illustrations for a book with Holiday House due out next fall, in addition to working on the trailer for World Rat Day. Somewhere in there, I need to find time to redesign my website. Oh yeah, and it’s Christmas...

In case you haven’t already seen it, here’s a link to my holiday card. Best wishes for a peaceful holiday season!

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On the afternoon of Saturday, April 13th, there will be a World Rat Day book party (and signing) at the Rizzoli Bookstore here in Manhattan. Details to come.

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happy mule day!...what?!...

Today is October 26th—also know as Mule Day—so in the spirit of metaphorically kicking some a**, I am pleased to share with you a sneak peek at the cover of World Rat Day: Poems About Real Holidays You’ve Never Heard Of, by the wondrous J. Patrick Lewis, due out in March, but available for pre-order online. 

Last night was the reception for the Original Art Show at the Society of Illustrators, showcasing the finest in picture book art from the past year. In addition to being a great way to see some amazing illustration and catch up with my old pals in children’s publishing, it was the first time I got to meet some of the lovely people from Candlewick Press who made this project possible. Many thanks to art directors Kristen Nobles and Anne Moore, and editor Liz Bicknell. Happy Mule Day!

late summer book update

It’s been a while since I posted an update on my ongoing book projects, so here goes...

In July, I signed with Holiday House to illustrate a non-fiction picture book by the prolific David A. Adler, and I’m having a great time with the water-related theme. It has also been a welcome distraction from the dreadful, hot weather in NYC this summer.

Sylvia’s Spinach is due in stores this November, but if you want to get a jump on your shopping, it’s available for pre-order here.

The lovely folks at Candlewick sent me proofs of World Rat Day the other day, which was a thrill. I’m really loving how the book has turned out, and can’t wait to share some images when the time is right. The same holds true about pre-ordering this book—that is, if you really want to get a jump on your shopping for 2013. Here’s where to go. The official pub date for World Rat Day is March 12th, so you’ll have to wait a while longer to see what this gang of rat butchers is running from.

In other news, the “Cooking with Kids” section of the current issue of Kiwi Magazine teaches kids how to flour a cookie cutter! Surely, a vital life skill, if there ever was one. Next issue’s lesson is bit more challenging, but more on that later. One step at a time...

what the cluck?! just one more week of chickens...

Feathers have been flying high over on Ornithoblogical this April—a.k.a. “Chicken Month.” And there’s still one more week of new cluckers on the docket. Pictured here are a few of the high/low-lights so far (from top to bottom: Chicken Wire, Chicken Heart, and Chick Pees.) Very sorry to say, I really don’t have to stop after 30 days—there are countless more chicken-related opportunities—but all good things must come to an end.

And with the end of Chicken Month, I take a brief hiatus from birds to focus on rats...specifically, World Rat Day, by the wonderful J. Patrick Lewis. You can read more about that here, and for further reading, Kirkus Reviews posted a great interview with Patrick a few weeks ago.