INTERVIEW WITH NANCY COFFELT

Author/illustrator Nancy Coffelt began her career as a fine artist, but when she found that the titles of her whimsical works were getting longer and longer AND longer, she dove into picture books.

Her first book, Goodnight Sigmund was published by Harcourt in 1992. Since then Nancy has produced a steady stream of published works including the picture books Dogs in Space, Big, Bigger, Biggest, Fred Stays with Me!, Catch That Baby! and Aunt Ant Leaves through the Leaves. In addition to working with educational, small houses and foreign publishers, Nancy has worked with several big houses including Houghton Mifflin, Scholastic, Chronicle, Little Brown, Holiday House, Henry Holt, Simon & Schuster, and Highlights.

Nancy Coffelt has taught writing to fellow word nerds ages 6 to adult since 1992. Her teaching style has been described as “thoughtful,” “motivating,” and “inspiring.”

In our conversation about humor, we talk about: 

• If different genres are easier to write funny 
• How to create surprise for humor
• Monty Python 
• How to bring heart into humor 
• Can you write funny when you’re not funny? 
• The unexpected in humor