“Learn your craft. Learn as much as you can about your craft. But also live. Because unless you live and travel and get out there and have fun with it, you’re not going to have any content. So, give yourself the time to breathe deeply, to grow and mature, and be active in the world so that you can actually have some material to pull from.”
K.E. Lewis is a content creator and children’s writer who has designed hands-on learning experiences at Discovery Place museums in Charlotte, N.C., and has three children’s books set to be published in 2025. Lewis is from Bishopville, S.C. He earned a B.A. in English and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Coastal Carolina University, and he currently lives in Fort Mill, S.C.
About
Lewis said he’s worn two hats throughout his career that have allowed him to succeed in two creative areas. “I wear the writing hat, as a creative, and I also wear the teaching hat.” Lewis has known he wanted to be a writer since he was eight years old, and his hunger for creative work was fueled by an internship he completed as an undergraduate student. It was a six-week training and teaching program called Freedom Schools, sponsored by the Children’s Defense Fund.
“We learned how to teach through a curriculum that teaches children not only how to think of themselves but to think outside of themselves,” said Lewis. The training took place in Tennessee on the family farm of Alex Haley, the iconic author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family. “So that’s where I got my start, under this very rich program that was teaching literature, culture, self-empowerment, and teaching you how to care about yourself, your family, your community, your world. It was the most life-changing summer that I ever had. It was the excitement of that summer that I think I’ve been chasing ever since.”
Lewis has written three children’s books to be released in 2025: Because of Dads, which celebrates fathers and father figures of every kind; Never Take Your Rhino on a Plane, about a boy who takes his pet rhinoceros on an airplane; and Underwater: The Story Ballad of Drowned Towns, a work of historical fiction about Black towns that are now underwater.
Lewis said that research and networking are two essential elements to a creative career. As one is learning as much as they can about their field, they should also be active in the artistic community. Lewis mentioned the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators as well as the Highlights Foundation for creatives interested in children’s literature.
Also, Lewis said, creatives should keep a source of steady income on their way to the top.
“Learn the art and juggle, because that’s what you’re going to have to do to get to the place you’d like to be.”
