Listen as Mary Lee Donovan ’83, author of children’s book “A Hundred Thousand Welcomes” and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts assistant professor of education, Dr. Maggie Clark, discuss the genesis of the recently published children’s book, the publishing process, and Mary Lee’s storied career in the industry.
From Mary Lee Donovan’s MCLA Bio page:
Mary Lee Donovan graduated with a BA in English from MCLA in 1983, after which moved to Boston to earn her MA in Children’s Literature from The Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College, which she completed in 1986. Throughout her career, she has worked as a bookseller at The Children’s Bookshop in Brookline Village, as a marketing assistant and an editor in the Children’s Trade Division at Houghton Mifflin, and, for the past 31 years, as an editor at Candlewick Press in Somerville.
Her editing credits are numerous, including the Newbery Medal-winning Good Masters, Sweet Ladies by Laura Amy Schlitz; Newbery Honor book Splendors and Glooms, also by Laura Amy Schlitz; the Caldecott Honor books Journey by Aaron Becker and Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal; Pura Belpre Author Award winner Juana and Lucas written and illustrated by Juana Medina; Coretta Scott King Author Honor book, Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets by Kwame Alexander, Chris Colderley, and Marjory Wentworth and the popular Judy Moody and Stink middle grade series by Megan McDonald.
As a writer, Mary Lee Donovan authored four books, all for children, including Papa’s Bedtime Story, illustrated by Kimberly Bulcken Root and Won’t You Come and Play with Me, illustrated by Cynthia Jabar. Her fourth book, A Hundred Thousand Welcomes, illustrated by Lian Cho, released October 2021 from Greenwillow Books, a division of HarperCollins. Her fifth book, Small Talk, illustrated by Brizida Magro, will be released in 2023. Mary Lee Donovan grew up in Dalton, Massachusetts, and now makes her home in Littleton, Mass. She has a son, Nathaniel Santoro, age 27. Learn more and purchase Mary Lee’s books here: indiebound.org