❦ Once upon a career ❦
Truman Burbank
Children's Author & Picture-Book Maker
I. A word before the tale
I write picture books and early-reader stories for children aged 3 to 8. Over 9 years I have published 14 titles, and two of them have sold past 40,000 copies each. I sketch my own roughs before I hand anything to an illustrator, which slows the first draft and saves everyone the second one. I also read aloud to about 30 schools a year, mostly to find out which jokes actually land.
II. The working years
Author, Under Contract · Thistledown & Fen Books
2019 – Present- Wrote and delivered 8 picture books on a two-per-year schedule, all shipped inside the agreed window.
- The Lamp That Wouldn't Sleep reached 42,000 copies and a third print run within 18 months.
- Worked with 5 illustrators, writing art notes for roughly 220 spreads across the list.
Staff Writer · Little Harbour Story Studio
2016 – 2019- Drafted early-reader texts for a 24-title series, keeping each book under 600 words for new readers.
- Ran the read-aloud test group of 12 children and cut the confusing lines before print.
Bookshop Storyteller · The Owl & Acorn
2014 – 2016- Hosted a weekly Saturday story hour that grew from 8 to about 55 regular families.
- Chose the monthly reading list of 20 titles and wrote the shelf cards for each.
III. Craft & keepsakes
- Picture-book texthome ground
- Early-reader serieshome ground
- Rhyme & metersteady
- Storyboard roughssteady
- School read-aloudswell practised
- Fenwick Prize for Younger Readers, shortlist, 2022
- Edinburgh Small Press Award, winner, 2020
- Read at 3 book festivals across 2021–2023
Schooling. MLitt in Writing for Children, Braewood College, 2013. BA in English Literature, Kelvin University, 2011.
Languages. English (first tongue), Scots Gaelic (conversational), French (reading).
❦ the end, for now ❦