Podcast Summary

New Books Network – Interview with Renée M. LaTulipe

Episode: Limelight: Curtain Up on Poetry Comics (Charlesbridge Moves, 2025)
Host: Mel Rosenberg
Guest: Renée M. LaTulipe
Date: December 5, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode celebrates the release of Renée M. LaTulipe’s new book, Limelight: Curtain Up on Poetry Comics, a poetry collection for ages 9–12 that brings the theater world alive through the voices of its elements—curtains, lights, rehearsal piano, and more—written as mask poems and illustrated in the style of a graphic novel. The conversation dives deep into the craft of writing lyrically for children, the creative process behind the book, the importance of musicality in language, and the connections between theater, poetry, and children's literature.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background and Inspiration for "Limelight"

• Target Audience & Genre: The book is geared toward ages 9–12 but is enjoyable for a broader audience. It sits “in that slot right there…although I think older kids could definitely have a good time with this as well.” (04:04–04:15)
• Publisher & Illustrator: Published by Charlesbridge Moves, with illustrations by Chuck Gonzalez, a middle-grade graphic novelist. The editor, Yolanda Scott, contributed the idea of making the book a graphic novel.

  “My editor was Yolanda Scott, wonderful thespian herself… This is actually the first book I ever sold, but it's the second [published]. This sold at the end of 2017, I think. It was a long time coming.” (04:31–05:30)

• Theater Roots: Renée’s deep connection to theater inspired the collection.

  “People say all the time, what was your inspiration for this book? It’s like, well, duh—it’s me, it’s theater. That’s all the inspiration you really need.” (06:27–06:38)

• Book Structure: Organized into “Overture,” three acts, and “Curtain Call”; the poems map onto the journey of a middle school musical.

  "It takes the reader...on the journey of a Middle School Musical production. A bunch of kids putting on a show, you know." (06:58–07:37)

• Unique Design: Each act uses a different color scheme in the illustrations, culminating in full color for the on-stage performance.

  “Act 1 is all just a two color thing. It’s blue… In Act 2, we add in some yellow. And then in Act 3… it’s full color.” (07:46–08:08)

2. Exploration of "Mask Poems" and Theatrical Elements

• Mask Poems Defined: Poems written in the voices of inanimate objects or non-speaking elements of theater, sometimes including human voices.

  “A mask poem is when the writer takes on the persona of an inanimate object that doesn’t speak… Everything, everything has a voice in here.” (08:16–09:14)

• Performance Potential: Each poem can be performed as a monologue or dialogue, reflecting Renée’s love for performance and teaching drama.

  “Every single one of these poems can be performed—as a monologue or a dialogue. That’s what mask poems are for me. They’re little monologues.” (09:21–09:45)

3. Poetic Excerpts and Illustration Highlights

• Favorite Poem: "Rehearsal Piano"
  Renée reads in a Brooklyn accent (12:00), delivering playful lines from the poem’s persona.

  “Dear singers, I must thank you from the bottom of my bass bridge for your grace and understanding. It is not every day that an old no name piano from Brooklyn gets so much attention from folks of your caliber…” (12:10–13:53)

  • Form: Epistle poem in free verse—a literary love letter from the piano.
• Favorite Poem: "Lights"
  Mel’s favorite, a concrete poem, read by Mel:

  “We hum, we flash, we make you sweat, we cue your lines if you forget. We’re amber, fuchsia, blue and green, or we’re hot, we’re white, we light your scene. We’re soft, we’re low, we’re high, we’re stark. Without us, you’d be in the dark.” (15:42–16:01)

  • Created early on; inspired by the actual cadence and persona of theater lights.

4. Renée’s Writing Philosophy & Background

• Not Prolific, but Intentional

  “I am not a terribly prolific writer, never have been… [but] I have actually been writing for the educational market since 2008, and I have nine books of short stories that I co-authored…” (18:31–19:29)

• Entry into Children's Poetry: Prompted by writing educational poetry for preschoolers, which reignited her creativity and blog activity.
• Craft Over Story Quantity

  “The writing is everything for me. We’re talking sentence level… For me, the musicality makes it easy to read something.” (25:14–25:41)

• Her Name & Roots: French-Canadian, the only family member who pronounces the surname “La Tulipe” in the French style.
• International Life: She lives in Italy, adding to her unique perspective.

5. The Connection Between Theater, Poetry, and Children’s Literature

• Picture Books as Theater
  Mel and Renée discuss their prior epiphany:

  “Picture books are theater… these are plays for daddies and grandparents who are not professional actors… The books that enable parents to be wonderful actors when they’re reading the story… are the ones that make it big.” (21:13–22:00)

• Musicality & Lyrical Writing
  • The importance of making text musical, whether through rhyme, meter, or prose cadence.
  • Renée’s view: musicality can exist without rhyme but must avoid “clunky” sentences.

    “For me, that is lyrical and that is musical, and it makes it easier for me to read it.” (28:00–28:46)

• Crafting for Performance: Both agree that writing with performance in mind helps make stories come alive, especially for families reading aloud.

6. The Lyrical Language Lab & Lessons on Musicality

• Course Overview: Renée runs the 'Lyrical Language Lab,' focusing on the musicality of language at the word and sentence level.

  “We go over all the techniques… the four major meters… sound devices… literary devices… But that’s… the outside packet. The real crux… is building awareness—of what is musical… of every single word that you use.” (36:12–37:35)

• Favorite Lesson: Focus on diction, vowel sounds, and how these create mood and transform sentences.

7. Literary Admiration and Repetition in Writing

• Parallels in Songwriting: Mel draws connections to the musicality of classic songwriters, noting the innate quality of great lyricism.
• Favorite Poetic Picture Books:
  • I Took the Moon for a Walk by Carolyn Curtis

    “It’s just so gentle… the cadence is just so beautiful and gentle… There’s that repetition… always with ‘when I took the moon for a walk.’” (39:33–39:59)

  • Sophie’s Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller

    “There’s this cadence, you know, just holding your hand just enough to love, which… just speaks music.” (38:31–38:47)

• Repetition & Parallelism:

  “Parallelism… is just a repetition of structure… look at the difference it makes instead of having all these choppy sentences… even in prose you can be musical.” (40:37–41:13)

8. Forthcoming Projects and Closing

• Upcoming Book: Music in the Trees: Saving Italy’s Violin Forest (2027, free verse nonfiction)

  • Inspired by a true story about an Italian forest that provided wood for Stradivarius violins and efforts to preserve it after a devastating storm.

    “…the book is about…the storm and the music that is contained in those trees… being freed by these luthiers.” (41:53–43:17)

• Final Poem: "Understudies Nightly Wish" (Read by Renée)

  "If only she'd sneeze / I could make my debut…" (44:42–45:31)
  A humorous and tender poem from the perspective of an understudy hoping for a chance at the spotlight.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Craft over Prolific Output:

  “I'm not prolific. I don't have, I'm not one of those people that has like 8 million stories just bursting out of me. I just don't. But when I do have one, the writing is everything for me.” (25:14–25:41)

• On Musicality in Prose:

  “I don't think things need to rhyme to be musical. Prose is musical. Free verse is music—it must be musical, it's poetry.” (26:50–27:22)

• On Picture Books as Theater:

  “Picture books are theater… if you want to write a good picture book, you have to make it easy for the person reading the book to be hilarious, sad, you know, honky, donkey, or whatever it is.” (21:36–22:00)

• On Performance and Mask Poems:

  “Every single one of these poems can be performed—as a monologue or a dialogue. That’s what mask poems are for me. They’re little monologues.” (09:21–09:45)

• On Building Lyrical Awareness:

  “The real crux of the thing is building awareness. It’s building awareness of what is musical. It’s building awareness of every single word that you use.” (36:12–37:35)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:35] Introduction to Renée and her new book
• [04:31–05:30] Backstory: selling "Limelight" and working with Charlesbridge
• [06:03–07:37] Structure of the book, inspiration from theater, and the graphic novel format
• [08:16–09:14] Explanation and examples of mask poems
• [12:02–13:53] Reading of “Rehearsal Piano”
• [15:24–16:01] Reading of “Lights”
• [18:31–19:29] Renée’s publishing and writing background
• [21:13–22:00] Discussion: picture books as theater for parents and grandparents
• [25:41] Craft and musicality in writing
• [36:09–37:35] Renée’s Lyrical Language Lab—focus on word and sentence level musicality
• [41:53–43:17] Sneak peek: Music in the Trees: Saving Italy’s Violin Forest (2027)
• [44:42–45:31] Closing poem: “Understudies Nightly Wish”

Tone & Language

The conversation is playful, collegial, and animated by a shared love of language, literature, theater, and teaching. The tone blends humor (pun banter, funny asides), depth (craft and process), and encouragement for aspiring writers.

Summary Takeaways

• Limelight: Curtain Up on Poetry Comics is a celebration of theater, language, and illustration, using mask poems to give life to theatrical elements.
• Renée M. LaTulipe focuses on quality over quantity, advocating for attention to lyricism, rhythm, and "sentence-level" writing.
• Picture books can—and should—be written with performance in mind, making it easy for adult readers to inhabit the text for children.
• Musicality in writing is essential, whether it arises from rhyme, careful word choice, repetition, or parallelism.
• The book is suitable for young readers, theater lovers, and anyone interested in the crossroads of poetry, comics, and performance.

Recommendation:
A rich, inventive resource for teachers, students, performers, and literature lovers, Limelight: Curtain Up on Poetry Comics demonstrates the magic possible when words and theater converge—and how a deep love for craft can animate even the quietest corners of children’s literature.