A Twitter View of #NY13SCBWI

So many moments are still resonating for me!

Whether you attended or not, there's lots to gain from looking back over the 14th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference through the lens of twitter.

The top re-tweeted tweets are..

Martha Brockenbrough ‏@mbrockenbrough "Always think of your audience. Never think for your audience." - Mo Willems #NY13SCBWI

Kit Grindstaff ‏@kitgrindstaff It's not about getting your book published. It's about what those books can DO ~ J Andrews & EW Hamilton. #whywewriteforkids TY.#ny13SCBWI

Lee Wind ‏@leewind "art is hard work... take the time and look at yourself and enjoy what you do." - Isabel Warren-Lynch at #ny13scbwi

Alex Brown ‏@gravity_fail09 "Overnight success usually means nine years of work beforehand." - Molly O'Neill on comparing other writers' stories to your own #NY13SCBWI

Leila Easa ‏@hypnagogica #NY13SCBWI @molly_oneill favorite advice: "Stop trying to write to the market. Write what's emotionally true to you.

Martha Brockenbrough ‏@mbrockenbrough Mary Brown: What parents will buy for kids is totally different than what schools will buy. @glenrockbooks #NY13SCBWI

Lee Wind ‏@leewind "When I was a teenager, I was exactly the right age to have my life changed by books." -Meg Rosoff #ny13scbwi

Brooks Sherman ‏@byobrooks "A robust independent bookselling community is absolutely crucial." --Jon Fine, dir. of author & publisher relations, Amazon #NY13SCBWI

margot miller ‏@margotmiller "It took me 8 years from the dummy to the time of publishing. Just hang in there. Be tenacious" - Barbara McClintock #NY13SCBWI

Cathy Nolan ‏@cnolanart #NY13SCBWI "Your deep style is the intersection of all the other styles you adopt" Illustrator Shaun Tan

But you can search the entire twitter stream for #ny13scbwi and find lots more wonderful gems, like these:

Jodi Kendall ‏@Jodi_Kendall Mo Willems on picture books: "We're trying to make stories that are going to be read a milliondy billiondy times." #NY13SCBWI

Mimi Cross ‏@mimicross Line for Shaun Tan is not a line but a spiral-- makes sense. #authorbooksigning #NY13SCBWI

 Claudia Pearson ‏@pearsoncrz #NY13SCBWI fabulous conference - can't wait to get home and start writing. Oh wait, I can start now

 Emily Jiang ‏@EmilyJiang I just spent almost 10 minutes fangirling about Julie Andrews to Shaun Tan. He is a very kind and patient listener. #ny13scbwi

 Jessica Lanan ‏@jalanan "We don't write books to be read. We write books to be read a milliondy billiondy times." #MoWillems #NY13SCBWI

 Leila Easa ‏@hypnagogica Shaun Tan: "The action all takes place in the gaps between the pictures and the silence surrounding the page." #NY13SCBWI

 Elena Perez ‏@elenabooks first time attending as a published author is cool, but meeting people who know my work? Superthrill #ny13scbwi

 Martha Brockenbrough ‏@mbrockenbrough SCBWI member Bridget Zinn died two years ago. Her first novel, POISON, comes out next month: http://tinyurl.com/btv2lzr #poison #NY13SCBWI

 Kim Harrington ‏@Kim_Harrington I love this. RT @mbrockenbrough "Fail big if you have to, but go down trying." - Margaret Peterson Haddix #NY13SCBWI

 Genetta Adair ‏@GenettaAdair "Tell the story you've been afraid of." Margaret Peterson Haddix #ny13scbwi

 Stacy Mozer ‏@smozer Jane Yolen: The best thing you can do for your career is to join @scbwi #NY13SCBWI

 Lee Wind ‏@leewind "You won't get fame and fortune if you ignore the deadline." -Tomie dePaola #ny13scbwi

 Emily Jiang ‏@EmilyJiang Editor from Simon Pulse says there are very few books subbed with gay characters and they want more. #ny13scbwi

 Kris Dinnison ‏@krisdinnison "The truths I'm most interested in are the ones that can't be spoken about directly." -Shaun Tan @scbwi #NY13SCBWI Wow

As you can see, it's really easy to get carried away - there are hundreds of tweets, and it's a great resource to get a taste of what happened, remember wonderful moments, and be inspired...

How about you?  Have you blogged about YOUR conference take-aways or experience?  If so, leave us a comment and a link here in comments!

The Winners of the On-The-Verge Emerging Voices Award!

The SCBWI established the new On-The-Verge Emerging Voices Award with funding from Martin and Sue Schmitt of the 455 Foundation.  The grant was created to foster the emergence of diverse voices in children’s books.  The grant is designed to be given to two writers or illustrators who are from an ethnic and/or cultural background that is traditionally under-represented in children’s literature in America.  But this year, three writers have been selected!

I had the chance to ask each of our inaugural winners a few questions to find out more.  And here they are, the On-The-Verge Emerging Voices Award Winners...

Alex Brown!

Alex Brown

Lee:  Tell me a bit about the work you submitted that won you the grant.

Alex: Seventeen year-old Sebastian Reynolds just met Sora Walton, who happens to be the other universe’s version of his dead girlfriend – which was freaky enough without the whole “she can predict violent crimes before they happen” thing.  Sora’s ability causes her to dream about Bastian’s death every night, and it involves her, a knife, and lots of blood.  But, hey, at least she doesn't want to kill him.  Now they’ve got two months to figure out why Bastian ends up on the wrong side of her knife.  Great.

Lee:  Can you share about your journey so far in children's literature?

Alex:  I'm fairly new to the world of children's literature (at least from the writing perspective - I've been consuming children's literature ever since I could read, and, before I could read, I'm pretty sure I was all about the pictures in whatever books I could find!).  In the summer of 2012, I finished my first novel, which was an attempt at YA high-fantasy.  It was a fairy tale re-telling that I'd been working on for a couple of years, and when I finished it I was pretty amazed that I'd actually finished writing a book that had started out as a way to pass the time during the nights when I was the Resident Advisor On-Duty and couldn't leave my residence hall.  

I had no idea I could actually write a whole book, and, honestly, those feelings still haven't gone away, and probably never will.  I nervously sent the book to some friends, just to see if I was any good at this writing thing, and their feedback was more enthusiastic than I deserved - but, without their cheers and pushing, I wouldn't have had the courage to start my second novel.

I wrote ASTRAL after I got a little more involved in the writing community online, and had a good bit of it written by the time my Regional SCBWI conference came around (shout-out to all the wonderful people in the Midsouth Region!).  All of the positive feedback ASTRAL received at the conference pushed me to believe not only in myself and my abilities, but also to believe in my characters and their story.

I was very excited that I finished revising ASTRAL in time to apply for this award. I knew I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't at least throw my proverbial hat in.  So, I closed my eyes, hit send, and still can't believe that I was lucky enough to be one of the three winners selected!  There aren't enough words out there to describe how it feels to be selected as one of the Inaugural winners of the On-The-Verge Emerging Voices Award, but the ones that come kind-of-close are: proud, amazed, shocked, grateful, and honored!

Lee:  Can you share with us your hopes/plans for the 14th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference?

Alex:  I had such an awesome time at my regional conference in September because I got to meet people who were as passionate about children's literature as I was, so, I hope that I can meet even more people with this passion at this conference!  I'm very excited to absorb all of the information that I can about the publishing industry and hopefully take away a few techniques to make me a better writer!  I also can't wait to meet the other Emerging Voices award recipients, and hopefully talk them into swapping stories! 

My biggest priority, though, will be to just enjoy my time at SCBWI New York because, well, it's in one of my favorite cities, and I'll spend two days talking about children's literature.  Oh, and Julie Andrews is going to be there.  I can't wait!

Mary Louise Sanchez!

Mary Louise Sanchez

Lee:  Tell me a bit about the work you submitted that won you the grant (pitch me!)

Mary:  Some nuggets of truth about my mother's life in Wyoming and my father's life in New Mexico inspired my middle grade story, THE WIND CALLED MY NAME.  The dust storm winds of the Great Depression blow Margarita, an eleven-year-old Hispanic girl, from her ancestral New Mexico home to Wyoming where she wants to maintain her culture and yet make a new friend, but challenges to her family's security cause Margarita to ask an unfamiliar saint for help.

Lee:  Can you share about your journey so far in children's literature?

Mary:  The Golden Books, my travels with Heidi to the Alps in the third grade, and the Grimm Brothers and Andersen fairy tales were my introductions to children's literature. In college I took a children's literature course where we read many Caldecott and Newbery books and I discovered the award winning story,...And Now Miguel, which was authentically like my father's sheep herding childhood in the same northern New Mexican Sangre de Cristo mountains. The seed to read the best in children's literature had taken root probably because I saw my culture depicted in a story!  I continued to read the honor books and later introduced them to our children and to the children I taught. Eventually I became an elementary school children's librarian and became even more passionate about children's literature. As I continue to read, I read with a writer's eye. My many stuffed children's book characters now look down at me from our bookshelves and inspire me to share my own stories which are worth telling and reading.

Lee:  Hopes/plans for the conference?

Mary:  I plan on being awestruck at the conference, yet know I'll meet people who can help me make my stories the best they can be. I hope this inaugural Emerging Voices Grant will motivate the children's literature world to publish stories so that Hispanic families see themselves in high quality, universal stories. All children need to be exposed to different viewpoints and to the variety of Hispanic cultures.

and Sandra Headen, Ph.D.!

Sandra Headen, Ph.D.

Lee: Please tell us about the book that you entered into the contest!

Sandra:  CATO'S LAST HOME RUN is an historical, young adult novel about two baseball teams; one black, one white; and their experiences with racial violence and reconciliation in the Jim Crow south of the 1930’s. The teams are hostile towards one another at first, but when black players are attacked by white boys who call themselves, The Rebel Clan, they work together to keep the players safe. Their actions build stronger ties between black and white communities.

Lee:  Tell us about your journey so far as a children’s book writer.

Sandra:  Most of my career was spent in academia, conducting research in public health and collaborating with federal, state and local agencies on community-based initiatives to prevent tobacco use. The Ujima Youth Initiative with African American teens was one of the most satisfying programs I participated in. When I left the university, I became a consultant and, finally, had time to write. The resulting novel, CATO'S LAST HOME RUN is a reflection of my upbringing in the south as well as my passion for communicating with teens like the ones I worked with in public health. Interestingly, I was writing a different book when I discovered two books about baseball that changed everything: We are the Ship by Kadir Nelson, about Negro League baseball, and The Brooklyn Nine by Alan Gratz about a family of baseball players in different historical periods. Although I waited most of my life to become a full-time writer, I have been enormously blessed. Excerpts from CATO'S LAST HOME RUN garnered second place finishes in two contests sponsored by the Writer’s Colony at Dairy Hollow and placed third in SCBWI’s Works in Progress. My selection as a winner in SCBWI’s On the Verge-Emerging Voices competition is surprising and exhilarating! I see it as the first pillar in my journey as a children’s book author and look forward the adventures that await in the coming acts.

Lee:  What are your hopes for the conference?

Sandra:  My primary goal for the conference is to sell my novel, CATO'S LAST HOME RUN. I am planning to pitch the book to as many agents and publishers as I can find who have advertised their interest in young adult novels with historical, sports, or multi-cultural themes. For starters, I have enrolled in Breakout Sessions with Julie Scheina of Little and Brown and Nancy Siscoe of Random House. In addition to selling my book, I am looking forward to having the opportunity to network with so many writers of children’s books. I know that I will acquire a wealth of contacts who will enrich my life for years to come. Finally, I am excited to connect with writers in the Carolina region whom I have not had the pleasure of meeting. 

Congratulations to Alex, Mary and Sandra!

And if you'll be at the upcoming 2013 SCBWI Winter Conference, make sure to say hello to these On-The-Verge Emerging Voices!  Not yet registered?  While Friday's intensives are sold out, there are a limited number of spaces still available for the Saturday (February 2, 2013) and Sunday (February 3, 2013) of the conference.  You can find all the details here.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Give Yourself The Gift of a SCBWI International Conference: #NY13SCBWI

There is still room in the 14th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference in New York City (February 1-3, 2013) but workshops are filling up... Don't miss your opportunity to learn what editors and agents are looking for!

Treat yourself (or a loved one who writes and/or illustrators for children and teens) to a weekend of...

Keynotes!  
Hear from Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Meg Rosoff, Shaun Tan and Mo Willems!)

Networking!   
There's the Saturday Night GALA Party, and right afterwards, three different socials:  Illustrators, International, and LGBTQ Chat!

Editors! 
Publisher Jennifer Besser (G.P. Putnam's Sons), Executive Editor Rosemary Brosnan (HarperCollins Children's Books), Executive Editor Francoise Bui (Delacorte Press), Sue Fletcher (Candlewick Press), Executive Editor Arianne Lewin (G.P. Putnam's Sons), Executive Editor Krista Marino (Delacorte Press), Moly O'Neill (Katherine Teagan Books/HarperCollins), Julie Scheina (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), Editorial Director Yolanda Scott (Charlesbridge), Senior Executive Editor Nancy Siscoe (Knopf Books for Young Readers),

Art Directors and Creative Directors!
Creative Director Patrick Collins (Henry Holt Book for Young Readers), Executive Art Director Isabel Warren-Lynch (Random House)

Agents!
Brenda Bowen (Sandford J. Greenburger Associates), Alexandra Penfold (Upstart Crow Literary), Chris Tugeau (CATugeau: Artis Agent LLC),

Craft!
There's still room in Friday's illustrator's intensive, but only waiting lists for the writers' intensives!  

Business!
Mary Brown (owner of Books, Bytes & Beyond), Robert Brown (National Sales and Program Manager at Scholastic Book Fairs), Jan Constantine (General Counsel for The Authors Guild), Jon Fine (Director of Author & Publisher Relations, Amazon), Peter Glassman (found and President of Books of Wonder),

Inspiration!
Floyd Cooper (over 90 children's books published and more than 2000 book cover illustrations!), Pat Cummings (author and/or illustrator of over 35 books for young readers), David Diaz (winner of the Caldecott Medal!), The Brothers Hilts (team illustrators who recently won the Founder's Award from The Society of Illustrators), award-winning author Matthew J. Kirby, Barbara McClintock (her books have been named four times to the NY Times Best Illustrated Books of the Year list!), Linda Sue Park (Newbery Medal Winner!), David Ezra Stein (a Caldecott Honoree for 'Interrupting Chicken'), Mark Teague (illustrator of the How Do Dinosaurs? series written by Jane Yolen), and Jane Yolen herself (author of almost 300 books for children!)

#NY13SCBWI will be full of opportunity, and best of all, your community.

Come join us!  Early Registration closes January 4, 2013.  And don't forget to check out some of our pre-conference interviews with conference faculty members, including Printz award-winning author Meg Rosoff, Charlesbridge Editorial Director Yolanda Scott, and editor at HarperCollins' Katherine Tegen Books Molly O'Neill.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Opportunity Knocking at #NY13SCBWI

SCBWI offers you craft, business, inspiration, opportunity and community... and nowhere is that more true than at our international conferences, like the upcoming 14th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference in New York, February 1-3, 2013.

Some of the unique opportunities for writers include the Friday Writers Roundtable Intensive, where you get to sit with an acquiring agent or editor and read them a few pages of your work and get immediate feedback.  (There are only 8 spots left in this intensive!)

There's also the novel intensive on Friday, but that is now sold out.

For illustrators who attend the Friday Illustrator's Intensive, there is the Portfolio Showcase, a private viewing of your portfolio for over two hundred specially invited art directors, editors and agents from children's publishing.  A jury of industry professionals will select a winner and runners up.

And for everyone, there's the Saturday evening Gala Cocktail Party, where you can mingle and network with faculty, colleagues, industry insiders and meet fellow writers and illustrators from your region.

These are in addition to the substance of the conference, a weekend packed with Keynotes (have you checked out the All-Star Faculty list?), a Booksellers Panel on "What's Selling?", and your choice of two of eleven "What Hooks Me" Break Out Workshops (hear directly from art directors, creative directors, editors and publishers - check out the schedule for details!)

Craft, Business, Inspiration, Opportunity and Community...

Come join us at #NY13SCBWI!  You can find out more and register here.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Registration for #NY13SCBWI Opens Friday Oct 19, 2012!

It's the biggest event of the winter, in New York City!  (Feb 1-3, 2013)

Check out the faculty and schedule announced so far and more details are rolling out...

There will be a private portfolio showcase for illustrators, a Gala Party on Saturday evening, and a new Elements of the Novel intensive on Friday (as well as the Writers Roundtable where you get to read your work to an acquiring agent or editor and the Illustrators Intensive - Lessons Learned: A Candid Conversation about Arriving, Surviving, and Thriving as a Picture Book Illustrator.)

The roster of faculty and keynote presenters is beyond impressive:  Mo Willems! Shaun Tan! Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton! Margaret Peterson Haddix! Meg Rosoff! Matthew Kirby! Lewin! Krista Marino! Floyd Cooper! Barbara McClintock! David Ezra Stein! Jane Yolen! Linda Sue Park!

Registration opens tomorrow (Friday, October 19, 2012) at 10am pacific standard time at scbwi.org
(There's even a discount rate on a block of hotel rooms.)

This Winter Conference will be full of amazing opportunities, craft, business, inspiration and community... and we hope to see you there!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

EXTRA! #NY13SCBWI - Registration Opens Friday October 19, 2012 For The SCBWI Winter Conference!

Exciting News!

The 2013 SCBWI Winter Conference in New York City (tweetily known as #NY13SCBWI) is happening February 1st to 3rd, 2013. The conference runs two days (Saturday and Sunday) with an optional Friday intensive.  It promises to be an incredible weekend of craft, business, inspiration, opportunity and community!

You want details?

Here are just some of the Keynote presenters:

Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton

Margaret Peterson Haddix

Meg Rosoff

Mo Willems

and

Shaun Tan

There will also be a Booksellers Panel on "What's Selling Now" and smaller breakout sessions called "What Hooks Me" featuring ELEVEN acquiring editors and art directors from publishing houses including HarperCollins, Scholastic, Penguin, Candlewick, Little Brown and Simon and Schuster.

There are three different Friday Intensives to select from:

The Writer's Roundtable - A small-group critique of your work by an acquiring editor or agent plus two panels.

Illustrator's Intensive - Lessons Learned:  Candid Conversations about Arriving, Surviving and Thriving as a Picture Book Illustrator featuring acclaimed illustrators including Floyd Cooper, Barbara McClintock, David Ezra Stein and Shaun Tan.

Elements of the Novel - A 50-person workshop that will explore and examine the elements of novel writing with Margaret Peterson Haddix, Jane Yolen, Meg Rosoff, Matthew Kirby, Linda Sue Park, Krista Marino and Ari Lewin.

Three days to take your career writing and illustrating for children and teens to the next level!

More details will be released at scbwi.org throughout the week, leading up to registration opening this upcoming Friday, October 19, 2012 at 10am Pacific Time!

Be Aware:  This conference will sell out!

Want more insight into what a SCBWI New York International Conference is like?  Check out our Official SCBWI Conference Blog for SCBWI Team Blog's take on the last one! 

Hope to see you there,

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee