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Moderated by Emma Dryden (at podium), from left to right the editors are: Caitlyn Dloughy, Jill Santopolo, Tiffany Liao, and Daniel Nayeri.

Hosted by Kathleen Ahrens, SCBWI's International Regional Advisor Chairperson, (standing, on the right) and Angela Cerrito, SCBWI's Assistant International Advisor (standing,  on the left) during Saturday's lunch, the gathering convened into smaller groups, focused on Spanish, Translators, Nonfiction, Picture Books, and Novels. Their discussion prompts: What are you working on? What is your current stumbling block? What is a possible solution? Finding tribes within the SCBWI community... that's such a big part of the SCBWI Winter conference!

Dan Santat is an award-winning New York Times best selling author/illustrator who has published over seventy books for kids. His titles include the 2015 Randolph Caldecott Medal winning book, The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend , the New York Times best-selling titles, Are We There Yet? and After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again . He is also the recipient of the Silver Medal for outstanding illustration from the Society of Illustrators for Oh No! Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World . He has collaborated with many authors including Mo Willems, Dav Pilkey, Mac Barnett, Aaron Reynolds, Michael Buckley, Tom Angleberger, and Gennifer Choldenko. Dan is also the creator of the hit Disney animated series, The Replacements . Dan starts out joking about how he has 45 minutes to change all our lives - that's the challenge of a keynote. So instead, he tells us a story about that has the room riveted, and laughing... a story that leads right into his real ...

It’s a different scene this year at the annual SCBWI conference in New York City. The organization has transformed this winter conference to provide writers and illustrators with deeper opportunities to study and explore elements of craft. Instead of doing shorter sessions focused on introductions to editors and agents, the 659 participants are all taking two-and-a-half-hour intensive sessions on everything from middle grade fantasy with Gail Carson Levine to historical fiction with Laurie Halse Anderson, nonfiction with Daniel Nayeri, picture books with Connie Hsu, and so many more extraordinary offerings. Many people who wanted to come weren’t able to attend the sold-out event. Here’s a pro tip: Mark the dates of the conferences in your calendars. If you think you can attend, sign up the day the conference is announced so you’re not left out in the cold (and that’s literal this chilly weekend in NYC). There are fewer people at the conference this year to accommodate this change, 659 ...

Kwame Alexander starts us off with an exciting personal anecdote from his childhood about visiting the Schomberg every year the day after Thanksgiving to help his father sell books, not realizing then, fully, the amazingness of Schomberg until he read Carole Boston Weatherford's sparkling prose in SCHOMBURG: THE MAN WHO BUILT A LIBRARY. Carole Boston Weatherford is a New York Times best-selling author and poet. Her numerous books for children include the Coretta Scott King Author Award Honor Book BECOMING BILLIE HOLIDAY, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, and the Caldecott Honor Books MOSES: WHEN HARRIET TUBMAN LEAD HER PEOPLE TO FREEDOM, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, and VOICE OF FREEDOM: FANNIE LOU HAMER, illustrated by Ekua Holmes. Carole Boston Weatherford lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina. From her CBC Diversity interview Carole says: My mission as an author is to mine the past for family stories, fading traditions and forgotten struggles. Add to that u...

Kenard Pak gave a delightfully fun and funny acceptance speech for his charming picture book, GOODBYE AUTUMN, HELLO WINTER , which, lucky you! Is a follow up to GOODBYE SUMMER, HELLO AUTUMN. He'd like to thank his art director April Ward, his editor Laura Godwin, his agent Kirsten Hall, editor Sally Doherty, and his wife Jenn. SCBWI will be putting the acceptance speeches up online on the scbwi website so you'll get to to see everyone accepting next week!

The perfect end to a glamorous, golden evening... Toasts! Treats! Author Signings! (Elana K. Arnold signs "What Girls Are Made Of") As Lin said, because we have these books, and this community, we're all winners!