She spends most of her weekends at a table full of books, with a golden doodle named Tate working the crowd beside her. There is usually a story time somewhere on the calendar, a new partnership in the works, and at least one moment that stops her in her tracks and reminds her exactly why she started.
Brittany Petish has called Cherokee County home for a decade. In the last twelve months, she became something else entirely: an award-winning children's author and illustrator with nineteen books, nine national and international honors, and a growing network of wildlife partners, nonprofit organizations, and community relationships stretching from Atlanta to Ellijay and beyond.
None of it started with a plan to write books.It started with a dog.
We sat down with Brittany to talk about what drives her, why animals make the best teachers, and what it feels like when a perfect stranger walks up to your table, completely in tears, and buys eight copies of the same title.
You have nineteen books and nine awards in one year. Where does someone even start?
It started with losing my soul dog, Annabelle. She had special needs and was the best thing that ever happened to me. There was just this hole in my heart and I wanted to do something beautiful in her memory. Writing is how I process. And then I started illustrating, because I have done fine art my entire life. These are digital watercolors. It grew beyond whatever I could have expected.
The books are clearly for kids. But they seem to reach many adults, too.
Each book has a social, emotional learning lesson: bravery, friendship, patience, things kids need. But animals are a beautiful teacher of that for anyone. At one of my very first events, a woman came up and bought eight copies of Goodbye Blue. She was going to a wake the next morning and wanted everyone there to have one. She was crying. I was crying. That moment is why I do this.
So, selling books is not actually the goal?
Selling books is a benefit. It allows me to keep going. But the goal is to meet kids, parents, adults, whoever, where they are, with the story they need to hear, so they don't feel so alone. If I can do that for one person, that gives me purpose.
You partner with some incredible local organizations. Tell us about those relationships.
Lucky's Place is right here in our community, run by a woman named Jackie who rehabilitates injured and orphaned wildlife from her home and works to release them back into the wild. I have written two books with her, about a skunk and a squirrel she rehabbed. I also partner with the Chattahoochee Nature Center as an official story time reader, and they carry my books in their gift shop. I have been doing story times at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and we are working toward making that an official partnership. I get to go where kids need it most.
Brittany Petish, author and illustrator. Cherokee County, Georgia. All books available in American Sign Language online. Coming soon in Spanish. TrueHeartTails.com