Join me to welcome Christine Alemshah – July Author Interview

Christine Alemshah (she/her) is a biracial Filipina-American children’s author, classically trained vocalist, and host of the Grow Your Writing Challenge. Christine writes children’s picture books championing innovation, celebrating multiculturalism, and often having a musical vibe. She hopes readers will see themselves in the stories she writes. She is active within the kidlit writing community and maintains memberships with SCBWI, Storyteller Academy, Julie Hedlund’s 12×12 PB program, and two critique groups. Her published works have appeared in Little Thoughts Press, Stories for Children, Meegenius!, and Knowonder. Her picture book BEA’S BALIKBAYAN BOX OF TREASURES is forthcoming with Free Spirit Publishing on July 15, 2025.

Where are you from? I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. My dad is a former Naval Chief Petty Officer from the Philippines who met my mom while stationed in Virginia. 

Where did you learn your craft? I discovered my passion for picture books when I was in the 4th grade. I had the opportunity to write, illustrate, and bind my first picture book. I was so fascinated with the bookbinding machine. Of course, growing up, my writing path meandered and stalled many times, but that dream stuck with me. In college, I had the opportunity to take a course called “Writing Books for Children.” I learned all about all the different genres of children’s literature. Once again, picture books are called to my heart (they are even my favorite kinds of books to read!) I knew then that my dream would be to write my own picture books. I continued to nurture my craft over the next fifteen years through coursework with Anastasia Suen, SCBWI, Children’s Book Academy, the 12×12 picture book challenge, Storyteller Academy, and various other resources, including webinars, books, and podcasts! My favorite course overall is Picture Book Wordsmith with author/illustrator Carter Higgins. I also feel that reading mentor texts is a master class in studying picture book writing.

What inspires you? I see the world in stories! Every day, even without meaning to, I add new stories to my idea list. I love observing my children, mining childhood memories and experiences, people-watching, and exploring the world’s wonders. I’m also a classically trained vocalist with a passion for music. I often find inspiration in music, whether the lyrics or just the feelings they evoke. I love all styles of music, including classical, pop, country, opera, and alternative. I also love to sing karaoke. Some of my favorite songs are: “We Belong,” “Closer to Fine,” “Show Yourself,” and “Defying Gravity.”

Tell us about your new book. I am so excited to introduce young readers to Bea and her multicultural family. My debut picture book, Bea’s Balikbayan Box of Treasures, will be published by Free Spirit Publishing, an imprint of Teacher Created Materials, and releases July 15, 2025. It follows Bea, a young biracial Filipina-American girl, who packs a box full of treasures with her family for relatives in the Philippines. It introduces young readers to the honored Filipino tradition of creating “balikbayan box” care packages and highlights the universally relatable concept of imaginative play. Alongside Bea, young readers can discover a sense of belonging, practice empathy, and build self-awareness.

What else have you written? I have over a dozen additional board book or picture book manuscripts that are either on submission or works in progress. I am also working on a chapter book series.

Tell us about your Grow Your Writing Challenge. Sure! The Grow Your Writing Challenge is a low-pressure, self-paced, and FREE challenge to cultivate skills as a #Kidlit author. I wanted to create a resource for writers to choose sustainable personal goals and track their progress. The Grow Your Writing challenge allows writers to be intentional with their choices and grow at their own pace.”

I aim to reach writers at all stages. Writers early in their careers can use the Grow Your Writing Challenge to help experiment with various paths before settling on what resonates with them. More seasoned creators might find they spend a lot of time in the query trenches, on submission, waiting for responses, etc. The Grow Your Writing Challenge provides opportunities and challenges to grow as creators while they wait!

You can join the Grow Your Writing Challenge at any time of the year. I offer free badges you can post and share on social media. I also post a monthly check-in post on Bluesky and Instagram, where participants are encouraged to share their progress and cheer each other on!

Here is the link for anyone who would like to follow this year’s challenge: https://christinealemshah.com/growyourwriting-challenge-2025/

How do you handle rejection? And how do you keep pursuing your dreams? I’m so glad you asked this question! This was hard for me for quite some time, until I taught myself how to reframe the word “rejection” to “not yet.” I even changed my email folder to “In a Twinkling…” complete with fairy dust emojis around it. If I could tell myself that a rejection doesn’t mean no, it just means it isn’t my time yet, or a project hasn’t found the perfect home, I could effectively ease the sting. Not yet is much less final. 

As far as pursuing my dreams in the face of rejection, I always like to ensure I have multiple projects going at any given time. That way, if one door closes, multiple doors are still open on that same project, and different ones, too!

What is the one thing you know now that you wish you had known when you first began your author journey? I would have told my eager younger self to be patient and not try to rush to publication. My initial focus was this mentality of “publish at any cost.” I have since learned to slow down, not compare my journey to others, focus on craft, and ask myself questions like — “What do I want in a publisher? Or an agent? Or an editor?” “What is my vision for a project?” Learning to be patient and enjoy the journey at every stage has been incredibly satisfying. I also wish I had joined the Kidlit community sooner — connecting with other KidLit creators has been a source of support and joy for me!

What is next for you? Well, one of my big dreams is to see 3-5 picture books with my initials on the spine of books when I visit the library. I plan to continue pursuing that goal! In addition, I have a vision board with a story that I hope to see in a pile of other titles with similar themes — think ALL THE WORLD by Marla Frazee, STARS by Mary Lynn Ray, and WHEN YOU WERE BRAVE by Pat Zietlow Miller. I would be honored to see my book amongst such talented creators!

Follow Christine at:

Website: christinealemshah.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/c_alemshah/ 

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/christinealemshah.bsky.social 

Thank you, Christine!