The Picture Book Buzz - Interview with Winsome Bingham and Jason Griffin
Winsome Bingham is an author and literacy advocate for reading and authentic representation of children and communities in children’s literature.
She is a soul food connoisseur, master cook (at home, family reunions, and get-togethers), and a US Army war and disabled veteran. Winsome is a teacher by trade and at heart. She received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education with more than 15 years of teaching experience. And an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. You can find her writing on a deck while waiting patiently with a camera to capture a submarine shooting out of the water. She writes about real life experiences in a fictionalized setting.
Winsome is the author of one of The New York Times Best Books of the Year, Soul Food Sunday, which is also the Connecticut Book Award winner and the Coretta Scott King Honored Illustrator award for C. G. Esperanza.
She is also the author of Fish Fry Friday, illustrated by C. G. Esperanza (2025), Life Is Beautiful, illustrated by Molly Mendoza (2024); Missing Momma, illustrated by Rahele Jomepour Bell (2024), The Table, co-written with Wiley Blevins, illustrated by Jason Griffin (2024), The Walk illustrated by E. B. Lewis (2023), and the chapter book series, Fort Goode, illustrated by Colin Bootman (2023).
Jason Griffin is an artist and master collaborator, who has shown his art in major cities all over the world.
His most recent projects include a commissioned mural for the children’s cancer wing at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, as well as a residency at the new contemporary art museum in Amsterdam, Het HEM. He currently creates in Queens, New York.
Jason won a Caldecott Honor for his artwork in Ain’t Burned All the Bright, written by Jason
Reynolds (2022) and also illustrated Reynolds’s My Name Is Jason. Mine Too. : Our Story. Our
Way (2022). Jason is also the author/ illustrator of Be the Acorn (2026).
Their new picture book, On Fridays, was released September 1st.
Welcome Winsome and Jason, thank you both so much for stopping by to talk about yourselves and your book.
Thank you for having us!
Tell us a little about yourself. (Where/when do you write or illustrate? How long have you been writing or illustrating? What is your favorite type of book to write or illustrate?)
WINSOME - I like to write in the mornings, early mornings preferably. I feel like I have been writing ever since I learned to write. But professionally, when I began writing stories for my students to reinforce learning, behavior, and consequences. Around 2012, the first draft of SOUL FOOD SUNDAY was completed. Since then, I have written many more manuscripts. Some have already been published, others will be published in the next few years, and others that are sitting in a drawer waiting until I have the time to revisit and revise.
I write mostly in bed. It is my comfort zone. I have a lap desk, and I tend to sit in bed and write. My therapist hates that I do this. I love writing picture books and chapter books. But picture books are definitely my sweet spot. It allows me to bring difficult topics to children and I pride myself on doing that and doing it well.
JASON - So, I’ve been making art for as long as I can remember, and whenever I can. I use art to process the world around me, and it has become my oxygen mask. I need to create! I try to keep a healthy work/life balance - so I typically make art from 9-5 Mon-Fri… though if an idea sparks when I’m not in the studio - I have a survival kit (sketchbook, markers, pens and various tape) that I can access anytime!
It's wonderful to "meet" you both. Who was your favorite author, illustrator, and/or your favorite book as a child?
WINSOME - I never read picture books as a child. I read Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and Bobsie Twins. I loved to read. But getting education on an island tends to be different from getting education in the states. On the island, we go to school at two or three. This is where our formal education begins. There are readers as part of the curriculum that teaches you to read. It was after my brain injury that I was introduced to picture books. And I had a speech-pathologist who introduced me to a bunch of picture books as part of my therapy. Rollercoaster by Marla Frazee was my favorite book and it stuck with me. Years later, after I started teaching, I found E.B. Lewis books and have been in awe of his art. So, when I had the opportunity to work with him on The Walk, it was a full circle moment and a dream come true.
JASON - I really loved reading Dr Seuss. Illustration wise - one of my favorite books was How to Draw the Marvel Way by John Buscema and Stan Lee - it was a classic how-to book that I studied, and practiced and studied in elementary school.
I love this great list of books. Winsome, what was the inspiration or spark of interest for On Fridays?
WINSOME - The inspiration spark of interest for On Fridays was the deck of cards Jason’s agent sent. The cards were vibrant and beautiful. The colors woke up my creative cells. I hadn’t written in months and here I was looking at pictures of tulips and hands and pots and dark sky with blue sky and buildings and just felt the itch to tell a story.
I am so impressed that you created a story from these cards. Jason, what about the On Fridays manuscript appealed to you as an illustrator?
JASON - Winsome has a way of taking something complex and layered and distilling it down to something that all readers can relate too. What’s the saying - if you can’t explain it simply, then you don’t understand it well enough. Clearly Winsome understands many topics very well! Winsome is a master at this!
That is so well said and totally captures Winsome's touching way of capturing a child's first experience with death. What is a (or the most) fun or unusual place where you’ve written a manuscript or created an illustration?
WINSOME - I wrote a manuscript once at an indoor trampoline park and arcade. This is not easy to do. Having maybe two hundred kids screaming, jumping, running around you, hiding behind you, tugging on your legs and arms while you are in a moment of inspiration and need to get the story out of your head, and all they want to do is play and run is a challenge. But I did it. Now, let’s see if that story sells. 😂
JASON - I mentioned my survival kit earlier. I started carrying it around when I was working full time. I had hit some dark times and started going to therapy. During the first session, my therapist asked me about my art. At the time, I was working full time as an art handler at a gallery, and I’m a husband, and a father of two amazing boys… and I said I don’t have time to create right now. My therapist asked, ‘why don’t you make art on your lunch break, or on the subway to and from work?’ She had a point… I started making all types of small works on my commute - I called them ‘little victories’ or I would make big pieces but a little at a time… and called these ‘sum of parts’ pieces. These works would be the artistic inspiration for the collaboration and Caldecott Honor book, Aint Burned All The Bright, with Jason Reynolds.
That is such a funny image, Winsome. Great advice for us all, Jason - tackle being creative in "bite-sized" pieces in our captured moments of time. Winsome, what was the toughest part of writing On Fridays? What was the most fun?
WINSOME - The toughest part of writing On Fridays was making sure the text and art match. The picture book is the perfect marriage of text and art. This means my word choice have to be RIGHT. My tone have to be RIGHT. My character development have to be RIGHT. My setting have to be RIGHT. The challenge is making sure that story has heart and soul and that the characters have change. I have to ask myself - How do I create a narrative arc and an emotional arc and not lose sight of the joy the pictures evoke.
The most fun part of writing On Fridays was creating a narrative from illustrations that were already done. I wondered if I had written this manuscript first, would the illustrations look like this? Probably not.
Creating that synergism is such an amazing accomplishment. Jason, what’s the hardest part of illustrating picture books? What was the toughest part of illustrating On Fridays? What was the most fun?
JASON - I think the hardest part is turning something I feel is finished into an editor and then having to ‘go back in’. I have to step back and allow space for my thoughts, opinions and feelings about a given project to exist, while creating space for feedback and collaboration with the editor to bring the project to finish. Sometimes it takes a day or two, sometimes a month.
The illustration/art for On Fridays was a heavy lift. But a necessary and gratifying one. When creating the portraits for this manuscript, I knew I wanted them to feel like real people… so I reached out to my brothers, Ivan and Jason, whom I grew up with, and asked if I could create portraits of their late parents, respectively, as the characters in On Fridays. It’s always magical to create a portrait of someone who has moved on… I was happy to share the portraits with my brothers, and for them to see their parents again.
What a wonderful gift for your brothers. How long did it take from the first draft to publication for the text and illustrations of On Fridays? How does this compare to your other picture books?
WINSOME - I think it still took two years to publish because that is standard publishing timeline for picture books. The team is bigger than Jason and I – editors, art directors, designers, school and library department, and many more folks working together to produce one book. Jason worked more with the team on the production so I will let him answer it.
JASON - I always say every picture book takes a lifetime of experience leading up to the point of completion. But from conception to final artwork - I'd say this one took about 2 years.
That's a really interesting way to look at it - to complete a picture book "takes a lifetime of experience." I think I'm going to put that above my computer. Winsome, did anything surprise or amaze you when you first got to see Jason’s illustrations? What is your favorite spread?
WINSOME - The book is beautiful. I am always amazed at Jason’s art – the palette, the spread, the drawings, the use of mixed media in his work.
Text © Winsome Bingham, 2026. Image © Jason Griffin, 2026.
My favorite spread is the spread with the guitar from the back. That guitar was sitting across from me when I opened my email that day and got a message from my agent with the art from Jason. And then to see how I explored the art and created the text boggles my mind even til today.
TEXT:
There’s a shoulder and an arm dressed in black. A wedge of white on the wrist of a wrinkled hand thrums and strums the strings of a guitar...
... I shove the door back. Now I see a whole man, an old man with a whole body, and whole suit.
That is such an amazingly sparse, yet observant and poignant moment. Jason, is there a spread of which you are especially proud? Or perhaps is your favorite spread?
Text © Winsome Bingham, 2026. Image © Jason Griffin, 2026.
JASON - Hard to choose. I will say it felt very special to create the portraits for my brothers, and Mr. Riff for my sister-in-law… I’m very proud of the images on the casing of the book as well. These cards served as the initial inspiration for the story.
It is so stunning as the representation of Miss Neely's death and new home in heaven! What's something you want your readers to know about On Fridays?
WINSOME - I want readers to know that we should always be kind and tell people how they feel about them. Do not be afraid to give a compliment, to say something nice to someone, to share a kind deed, word, or smile.
But most importantly, I want readers to know that it is okay to express when their minds are baffled. When there are things they do not understand, they can ask for clarification. It is okay. I want readers to know that we are all learning and will continue to learn even when we grow old.
JASON - I want readers to know that we are all so similar. Loss can be very difficult to deal with, especially if you feel alone. And that we are all in this together, that there are people just like you, that feel the same sadness, the same fears, the same aches, and that through shared experience and community, that we can heal, and learn. And this is the antidote for fear, or sadness, or anxiety… facing these things with curiosity, courage and compassion.
The world totally needs more compassion, curiosity, and courage! Thank you both for creating a touching book that offers acceptance and understanding to readers of all ages. Jason, many illustrators leave treasures or weave their own story (or elements) throughout the illustrations. Did you do this in On Fridays? If so, could you share one or more with us?
JASON - As I mentioned previously, I think the casing of the book, and showing the cards that sparked the story is a very cool easter egg. The fact that Winsome was down to reverse engineer the story and start with the art as inspiration. She’s fearless!
This is both an amazing group of images and indeed a tribute to her bravery. I'm glad you put them on the book's case. Are there any new projects you are working on now that you can share a hint or tidbit with us?
WINSOME - Yes, I am revising my first middle grade novel entitled, Mango Lane. It is being edited by Taylor Norman who is the editor of both On Fridays and The Table, published by Neal Porter House. Also, finishing up a book I wrote in 2021, and I am still revising, called The Park (illustrated by Juana Martinez Neal) about a homeless veteran, a little boy, and a park they are trying to save from being closed down.
JASON - I don’t wanna say too much. But I may have a story about a red bearded shape shifting mountain and his bestie, a house… and… I’ve already said too much.
They all sound intriguing, best of luck with all of them. Last question, what is your favorite National Park or Forest, regional park, or city park (anywhere in the world)? Or the one you’re longing to visit. Why?
WINSOME - Central Park is my favorite. It is land that belonged to one of biggest African-American communities before it was stolen from them and created for non-melanated folks to have somewhere to be entertained. (I wrote a book about it that will come out in 2028 from Abrams Books called Underwater, cowritten with K. E. Lewis and illustrated by Carl Joe Williams.) When I am there, I feel free. I am connecting with the ancestors and I love it. I get so inspired when I am there.
JASON - Yellowstone is incredible… but I’m gonna go with Astoria Park in my neighborhood. I’ve taken both of my boys there for their whole lives… during covid I think we went twice a day and hung out with the squirrels. Both my boys love nature, and to have a little slice in the backyard of a city… very lucky!
Thank you, Winsome and Jason, for sharing with us a bit about yourselves and your newest picture book.
Be sure to come back on Friday for the Prefect Picture Book #PPBF post of On Fridays.
To find out more about Winsome Bingham, or to contact her:
Webite: https://binghamwrites.com/
X (Twitter): https://x.com/ArmyVet5
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armyvetfive/
To find out more about Jason Griffin, or to contact him:
Website: https://www.jasondouglasgriffin.com/
Comments