Emily Barth Isler
Author of award-winning Middle Grade and Picture Books
About Emily
Emily Barth Isler is the award-winning author of middle grade novels AfterMath and The Color of Sound (Starred reviews from School Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly; a Bank Street College of Education's Best Children's Books of the Year 2025), and picture books Three Pieces of Broken Glass (Abrams Books for Young Readers, Starred reviews from Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, and Booklist) and Always Enough Love (Nancy Paulsen Books/PRH). Another picture book, The Hand-Me-Down-Queen, also from Nancy Paulsen Books, is scheduled for 2028. Emily is a co-founder of the Burbank Book Festival, created to bring authors and readers together and to make diverse and inclusive stories accessible to all. As a freelance journalist, she writes about sustainability and organic/eco-friendly skincare products for Oprah Daily, Allure, Organic Spa Magazine, and more. A passionate advocate for gun control in America, Emily has also written extensively on the topic for publications like Publisher's Weekly and Kveller.com. Emily was honored to give the Keynote address at the 30th annual International OCD Foundation conference in 2025, speaking about her own experience with OCD and anxiety in hopes of reducing stigma and advocating for understanding. After earning a B.A. in Film Studies from Wesleyan University, Emily lived in New York City for almost 20 years, before moving to Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband and two kids. Emily loves writing and talking about the things that people need to talk about more, hard topics, sensitive subjects, and does so from the perspective of her own intersectional identities: as a Jew with progressive/inclusive values and as a neurodivergent person. From Emily: "Even before I became a published author, I was a parent volunteer at my kids' school, PS 118 in Brooklyn, NY, on the school's amazing Meet the Author committee. When we moved to Burbank, California in 2019, my kids' new elementary school, RL Stevenson Elementary, didn't have a Meet the Author program. So I started one! Every year since, we have brought in at least 3-4 authors to talk to the students and share their books and illustrations. As an author myself these past 5 years, I have visited schools all over Los Angeles, NY, and Maryland in person, as well as all over the world virtually (China! Missouri! Upstate New York!). I love getting kids excited about meeting authors because it makes books-- and writing them-- more accessible to the kids. I tell them they are already writers, and they can be authors if they keep working on telling their stories. If they can see it, they can be it. Also, as a neurodivergent author, I like to share my story with students to tell them that being different-- I have OCD, Anxiety, and Synesthesia-- should not stop them from following their dreams and passions. In fact, it might actually be a superpower! I was honored to be the keynote speaker at the International OCD Foundation conference in 2025: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI2NAIP6OBc where I talk about how I do school visits and the importance of Neurodiversity representation. I am also a Jewish author and love to share my culture thought my books." www.emilybarthisler.com
Books
Visit formats
What a visit includes
I offer several different versions of my visit, and am happy to tailor to your students' needs: - I can give a general presentation about either my picture books OR my middle grade books, depending on the age of the audience - I can come and talk about each of my books specifically for a book club or classroom - I can talk about being a writer in general, working as a creative person, and how I use my neurodiversity as my superpower - I can do a presentation focused on Jewish representation in books and my own stories - I can do a presentation about OCD, Synesthesia, and why I write about both
Fees vary by format, travel, and your school's needs. Reach out directly for a quote and open dates.
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