March 13 – May 23, 2026
Reception: Saturday March 21, 12 – 3 PM
35th Annual Children’s Book Illustrator Exhibit at the Sun Gallery
The Sun Gallery in Hayward, is delighted to announce its 35th
Annual Children’s Book Illustrator Exhibition to be held March
13 through May 23, 2026. The Gallery is a wonderful space,
and the exhibition is very prestigious. The exhibit is always
extremely well attended by both adults and students via
school field trips.
If you have illustrated and you would like to be considered for
the exhibition, please drop off a copy of your book for
consideration. The book doesn’t need to be recently published,
as there is always a new audience of kids, but you do need to
have the art from the book available to show. If your book is
not yet published, but will be by show time, please send us 3
jpeg images from pages of your upcoming book. We are
sending this call to publicists as well, so if you represent
illustrators close to the San Francisco Bay Area, please pass
this on!
Featured books are available for purchase during the
exhibition with 30% of book sales going towards our
Children’s Programming for 2026. You can also exhibit art that
is not for sale. If your art is for sale, and does sell, the gallery
receives 30% of the sales price. There is no display cost for
your work to be in the exhibit, we only request that you
please join as a legacy member of Sun Gallery for the 2026
year at a special rate of $25. This nominal fee helps us pay for
admin costs and postcards plus mailings related to the exhibit.
A reception for the illustrators and book signing “party” will be
held on Saturday, March 21st from 12 – 3 pm.
The Sun Gallery favors illustrated works that closely tie the
images to the text. Sketching and story line art are highly
welcome, as it shows the progression and making of your
book. Original art is preferred, so please plan for some of your
original artwork to be part of the exhibit. (Glicee prints in
moderation please.) We are sure you will know which works
are the most appropriate. We will normally display 4-6 pieces
of your art in the exhibit, so plan on a minimum of at least 4
of your pieces being needed.
If you are unable to provide any of your original artwork,
please contact the Interim Curator, Dorsi Diaz, to discuss
alternatives.
Please drop off the book(s) or mail to:
Sun Gallery
1015 E St
Hayward, CA 94541
Once we’ve received the book, it is then reviewed. At that
point, if your work is selected, we will then get in touch with
you to schedule delivery of the original illustrations (prints are
also acceptable & work ideally needs to be framed, also wire
hangars on the back are a must.) In order to be considered for
the exhibition you have to be published (self-published is okay
as long as the book has been on sale), and copies of the book
have to be available for sale during the exhibition either
directly through you or through your publisher / distributor.
I do hope you’ll consider being a part of this exciting
exhibition, and we look forward to working with you!
You may email us with any questions to Dorsi at
dorsi@sungallery.org
It is our goal to have the artists in place by the third week of
Feb. – so jump on this opportunity quickly!
