sutton052

Thank you for following along for #LA17SCBWI with us! Team Blog #LA17SCBWI: from left, Sona Charaipotra, Jaime Temairik, Lee Wind, Jolie Stekly, and Susie Ghahremani. And here are the dates for the 19th Annual Winter Conference in New York City: February 2-4, 2018. With full-day intensives for both writers and illustrators Juried Portfolio Showcase with grand prize Network with top editors, agents, and publishers Be in the center of the children's publishing industry Workshops, Keynotes, networking, and much more! Online conference registration will be posted in October at scbwi.org And for the 47th Annual Summer Conference in Los Angeles: August 3-6, 2018. With over 75 workshops and 15 keynote speakers Monday post-conference intensives Special hands-on workshops for illustrators, Craft intensives for published, self-published, and pre-published authors Individual manuscript or portfolio critiques Juried portfolio showcase with grand prize and mentorship opportunities Online confer...

This session is so much more than best digital art tips! Vanessa talks a bit about how she started to learn how to illustrate. She followed every possible illustrator and animator blog, did all of the Illustration Friday prompts. She copied her favorite artists like Sasek and Blair, but then adding her Vanessa interpretation. She works both traditionally and digitally, and is a perennial student in both. Vanessa stalks Youtube and still enrolls in things like Lilla Rogers classes. She tells us to make a lab for yourself, take a day to learn how to do something on Youtube and improve all your illustration weaknesses in this customized fashion. Paint your own textures and papers so you have your flavor in those textures and also so you don't need to rely on stock sites or worry about copyright. To Vanessa, the ideal is: You want to get to that point where people can't tell, even art directors, if it's digital or traditional. Dyslexia made Photoshop and Illustrator's compl...

Laurie Halse Anderson closes our conference by giving a shout out to her fellow introverts. Especially if this was your first conference, it's hard just to sign up, but you came here, and you aren't in your hotel room right now, so that's all a great job. She thanks Lin and Steve for all they do, for changing the face of the children's book industry around the world. Laurie asks us to take a moment to feel all the feels right now and in the next 24 hours take a chance to write or draw about this weekend so you can turn this into a touchstone moment you can take home with you. Because, Laurie says, we have to go home, back to reality now. In the space we're in right now we feel like we can do anything. The doubt and fear of our everyday life, of the current political situation, the fear of being found a fraud even if you are already published is what stops us from making the work we are so excited to make during weekends like these. Laurie's giving us three ways...

Stacy Innerst ’s picture books have earned numerous honors including the BCCB Blue Ribbon, two Parents’ Choice Gold Medals, and a Smithsonian Notable Book Citation. His illustrations for The Music in George's Head: George Gershwin Creates Rhapsody in Blue, written by Suzanne Slade (Boyds Mills), received the 2017 Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Illustration. Visit  www.stacyinnerst.com . Stacy Innerst's breakout session at the Los Angeles SCBWI Summer Conference was absolutely packed with information about school visits for illustrators. He walked us through his personal school visit slideshow, beginning with the images he uses to introduce himself. In lieu of a typical biographical slideshow (Here's where I went to school; here are the books I made) , Stacy shares images from home, of his son, of books he loved and read as a kid, and things he did as a kid (like scribble in books when he shouldn't have) -- something almost any kid can relate to. He then explains the...

Kelly Barnhill is the author of four novels, most recently The Girl Who Drank the Moon, winner of this year’s Newbery Medal. The Witch’s Boy received four starred reviews and was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Awards. Kelly Barnhill has been awarded writing fellowships from the Jerome Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and the McKnight Foundation. Visit her online at www.kellybarnhill.wordpress.com or on Twitter: @kellybarnhill. Kelly quotes Emily Dickinson "Tell all the truth, but tell it slant…" and lets us know that "I'm here to talk about Fairy Tales." She shares her own journey of reading and discovering fairy tales from childhood. And how she discovered that the yearning for a slanted entry into truth is a universal one. "It covers the pages like moss" "Sharp sharp talons" "A creature made of story" "With the gift and burden of mind" "Princes who would wed you and behead you" "Dark woods, ...

Kate Testerman founded KT Literary in early 2008, after more than a decade in New York publishing. While she concentrates on middle grade and young adult fiction, the agency also represents adult genre fiction, including romance, science fiction, and fantasy, as well as some select narrative nonfiction for teens. Her clients include Maureen Johnson, Stephanie Perkins, Amy Spalding, Trish Doller, Ellen Booraem, Susan Adrian and Matthew Cody. Kate’s interests range from contemporary drama, urban fantasy and magical realism, to adventure stories and romantic comedies. KT Literary is committed to finding diverse stories and Own Voices. Kate is an active member of the SCBWI and AAR, and blessed (or cursed) with a surfeit of optimism. www.ktliterary.com Arianne Lewin is an Executive Editor at G. P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House. She edits picture books, middle grade novels and young adult fiction. Her recent projects include Rachel Hawkins’s novel for middle-graders, J...

Newbery winning author Kwame Alexander answered business questions along with his agent Arielle Eckstut.  Some generated tips Build relationships with your local independent bookstore even before you sell a book.  Have a plan that has reach.  Know what you don't know and surround yourself with people who know. When you are searching for an agent, you need to identify all that you want in an agent. You've got to make the hard decisions that are going to impact your career positively.  With his books, Kwame never mentions poetry.  Consider putting some money aside from an advance for promotion or travel to help promote your book.  Make connections with librarians and booksellers.  Marketing energy should all depend on your book, and you know your book better than anyone else.  Figure out a desired mechanism to engage with your audience when presenting your book. Do it in a way that is you.  To get love, you have to give love. To give love you h...

Kendra Levin is an executive editor at Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, where since 2005 she has worked on a wide range of children’s literature from picture books to young adult novels. She has edited the New York Times bestseller Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton, Printz Honor winner The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry, Theodor Seuss Geisel award winner Don’t Throw It to Mo! by David A. Adler, Society of Illustrators Gold Medal winner The Lost House by B.B. Cronin, and the work of authors including Janet Fox, Deborah Freedman, and others. Kendra also helps writers as a teacher and certified life coach, and is the author of The Hero Is You , a grounded self-help guide to a healthier writing process. Visit her at www.kendracoaching.com and follow her @kendralevin. Kendra Levin is an editor at Viking Children's Books and the author of The Hero Is You, a book that uses The Hero's Journey to help writers find the right path and process for them...

Salt to the Sea win the 2017 Golden Kite Award for YA Ruta Sepetys is an internationally acclaimed author of historical fiction published in over fifty countries and thirty-six languages. Sepetys is considered a “crossover” novelist as her books are read by both students and adults worldwide. Her novels, Between Shades of Gray, Out of the Easy, and Salt to the Sea are all New York Times bestsellers and are currently in development for film and television. Ruta is an SCBWI success story and two-time recipient of the Golden Kite Award. Ruta tells us that while "Salt to the Sea" is her third published novel, it's not the third book she's written. She relates the very funny story about her first book written, the one she wrote when she was nine years old – and the whole conference room is laughing at how that first book of hers was banned. And how that experience "stole my courage" and she didn't write again for over 20 years. 12 years ago she came to this c...

Winner of the 2017 SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Illustration:  The Music in George's Head, illustrated by Stacy Innerst The Music in George's Head , illustrated by Stacy Innerst (written by Suzanne Slade, published by Calkins Creek), was honored at the 2017 SCBWI Golden Kite Ceremony for Excellence in Picture Book Illustration. Stacy's dream-like paintings accompany the story of how George Gershwin composed his masterpiece Rhapsody in Blue . In his acceptance speech, Stacy credited his achievement to the harmony of his collaborative partners:  George Gershwin's music and author Suzanne Slade's manuscript which "illustrated itself, and read like a piece of music." "My mother used to play the piano. My twin brother and I used to sit on either side of her while she played the music of Gershwin. I still remember the music resonating through the wood of the piano. Suzanne's manuscript brought me right back to that place." Stacy's a...

"We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement That Defied Adolf Hitler"  Russell's editor Dinah Stevenson accepts on Russell's behalf, sharing Russell's written remarks, a poignant memory of a train ride in California to visit his father in Hollywood contrasted with a boy his own age taking a different train ride at the very same time on the other side of the world, a train ride to a Nazi extermination camp. "The ghostly image of that doomed boy haunted my thoughts. I wondered if he collected comic books, like I did… We might have been friends." Wanting to write about the Holocaust but from a unique angle, "I searched for an approach that would reveal… some hope amid the ruins of history." And then, quite movingly, "I would like to dedicate this particular golden kite award to that boy on a train ride to oblivion. He might have grown up to become one of us."

The Golden Kite honors two for best picture book text -- a winner and an honoree. And the winners are.... Winner: The Christmas Boot by Lisa Wheeler Publisher: Dial A touching Yuletide story about a lonely woman who finds a mysterious boot in the snow. Honor:  Time for Earth School, Dewey Dew by Leslie Staub Publisher: Boyds Mills Press A nervous alien deals with being the only non-human at his new school. Golden Kite award winner for best picture book text Lisa Wheeler shared the inspiring, nearly 20-year journey she took to the SCBWI Golden Kite stage. "Let me just take a breath because this is the year I've decided I get to enjoy moments, and this a moment I've enjoyed," Wheeler said. "The story behind the Christmas Boot  is very inspiring -- especially for those of us who have been in the trenches for years." "It was December of 1998. I was working at Toys R Us in the children's book department," she recalls. "As I left work one day, ...

Congratulations to Collette Childers and Sindhu Vijayasarathy!  From right to left: Sindhu, Collette, and members of the Schmitt family whose 455 Foundation supports the SCBWI On-The-Verge Emerging Voices Award!

Judy Blume needs no introduction, and this is a room full of children's book creators who are so very thrilled to be having coffee and dessert with her. Judy is a master of transformation. She says we have to go back a 100 years to hear the start of her journey. As a young wife and mom, Judy was a creative who found herself stir crazy at home with her children. She needed to be creating. Even Judy Blume started by writing rhyming picture books that she illustrated badly. Fun tidbit: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret was unagented book. After 50 years of writing books, Judy and her husband George have now opened a bookstore in Key West, FL. 15,000 books and 5,000 titles. Books & Books  @ The Studios of Key West is a locally-owned, nonprofit, independently-minded neighborhood bookstore. "I have always believed that writers never retire," Judy says. Lin asks if Judy has retired from writing. Judy expresses that she's written everything she wanted to say, but ...

Denise Deegan is a hybrid author with novels both traditionally and self-published. Denise’s coming-of-age, historical novel, Through the Barricades won the 2016 SCBWI Spark Award, an annual award that recognizes excellence in children’s books published through non-traditional publishing platforms. Denise’s novels have been published by Penguin, Random House, Hachette and Lake Union Publishing. The three novels in her contemporary young adult series, The Butterfly Novels, published by Hachette, were bestsellers in Ireland. Denise has just self-published the trilogy in territories where she retains rights. www.denisedeegan.wordpress.com . Kara Levin is a first time children’s book author and clinical psychologist. Dr. Levin’s debut picture book, Soldier, won the 2016 SCBWI Spark Award, an annual award that recognizes excellence in children’s books published through non-traditional publishing platforms. Kara juggles being a psychologist, writer, and mother of twin seven-year-old sons. ...

Lisa Wheeler is the award-winning author of over 35 children’s books including Even Monsters Need to Sleep and the popular Dino-Sports series. Lisa's book, The Christmas Boot, is the 2017 SCBWI Golden Kite Award winner for Picture Book Text. Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum is the 2017 Michigan Reads! One Book, One State Children’s Book Program recipient. Her other awards include The Michigan Mitten, Texas Bluebonnet, and the Theodore Geisel Honor given by the American Library Association. Check out Lisa’s website at: www.lisawheelerbooks.com Packed house for Lisa Wheeler's session at the SCBWI Summer Conference. Lisa breaks down what she sees some of the important ingredients that form a picture book character: dialogue, the author's voice, description (or, more importantly, minimalism with description); the character's name (make sure not to pick a name so limiting that nothing else can be remembered or said about him); internal monologue; the character's relationship to s...

Jennifer Laughran joined Andrea Brown Literary Agency in 2007 after a long career as a bookseller, buyer and event coordinator. Always on the lookout for sparkling YA and middle grade fiction with unusual and unforgettable characters and vivid settings, she loves funny books, thrilling books, romantic books, books that make her cry, and all-around un-put-downable books… and her true favorites are all of the above. Some clients include author-illustrators like Giselle Potter, Don Brown, Raul the Third and Phoebe Wahl; middle grade authors like Daniel Pinkwater, Kate Messner, Alex Gino and Linda Urban; YA authors like Erin Jade Lange, Paula Stokes, Karen Rivers and Ellen Emerson White, among others. Visit www.andreabrownlit.com . Prolific agent extraordinaire Jennifer Laughran, an actively acquiring agent at Andrea Brown Literary, has an awesome, engaging presence, online and off. And you can, too. Here are some of her kickass tips about how to prime your book for success.  1) Be e...