Betsy Bowen, Beth Rooney, & Kathleen Rooney

Saturday, November 8, 2025
10–10:30am, Children’s Corner (located in the Head House)

Kick off a picture perfect TCBF day with authors Beth and Kathleen Rooney and illustrator Betsy Bowen as they share their new picture book Leaf Town Forever! After hearing their story about a place they love so much they want to share it with friends and help it last forever, families can write and draw about the places they love and want to last forever on special Leaf Town postcards they can mail or give to friends and loved ones. (Ages 3 and up)

About the Authors

Betsy Bowen is author and illustrator of many children’s books, including Plant a Pocket of Prairie and The Lost Forest, both published by the University of Minnesota Press. She lives in Grand Marais, Minnesota. Visit her at woodcut.com.

Kathleen Rooney is a founding editor of Rose Metal Press, a nonprofit publisher of literary work in hybrid genres, and a founding member of Poems While You Wait. She is author of five novels, including Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk and Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey, as well as the poetry collection Where Are the Snows. She lives in Chicago and teaches at DePaul University. Visit her at kathleenrooney.com.

Beth Rooney is a visual journalist based in Oak Park, Illinois. A writer and photographer, she is drawn to stories that explore our place in the world and show how individual circumstances reflect larger truths.