MEDFORD, Ore. — Author Valerie Coulman joined NBC 5 News at Sunrise live for an interview about her recent book and to talk a bit about her journey as an author in Southern Oregon.
Valerie was announced as a finalist for the 2024 Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children’s Literature by the Oregon Book Awards for her book “Dragons on the Inside (And Other Big Feelings)”.
Literary Arts announced the 2024 Oregon Book Awards January 23rd. It says 37 Oregonians across seven genre categories were chosen as finalists by panels of out-of-state judges, from a total of 190 submitted titles. Valerie, who lives in Medford, was the only finalist from Southern Oregon out of any category, and 1 of 5 finalists for the Children’s Literature Award.
The award winners will be announced live at the 2024 Oregon Book Awards Ceremony, hosted by Kwame Alexander, at Portland Center Stage at The Armory on Monday, April 8.
“Dragons on the Inside (And Other Big Feelings)” centers on helping children recognize their inner feelings and discover ways to regulate big emotions. Valerie said she was inspired to write the book while teaching during the pandemic.
“Adults have a hard time describing their emotions and kids even more so because they haven’t had the experience of what this is. And so we started playing with this idea of turning those into pictures. Of how would you describe what’s going on inside you right now.”
Watch the full interview with Sunrise Anchor Mollie Smith above for more.
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