Listen to SCBWI's newest podcast: A Conversation with Cheryl Klein

Cheryl Klein is the editorial director at Lee & Low Books, which publishes a wide array of children’s and YA books by and about marginalized people, particularly people of color. She is also the author of The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults (W. W. Norton); its previous self-published incarnation, Second Sight; and two forthcoming picture books. Prior to her work at Lee & Low, she spent sixteen years at Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic, where she edited a number of best-selling and award-winning titles. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and can be found online at cherylklein.com and as @chavelaque.

In this two-part conversation with Theo Baker, Cheryl speaks of the insights she’s gained as an editor, the importance of diverse voices, the publishing and writing sides to the question “who can write what?”, telling the story of your heart, and her own books, the writing craft “The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults” and the picture books “Things with Wings” and “Thunder Trucks.”

Listen to the episode trailer here.

Current SCBWI members can listen to the full podcast here (log in first!)

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Arthur A. Levine and Cheryl Klein make a teenager's dream come true...

The perfect story for our USA celebration of Thanksgiving...

This short MSN Video is about how Publisher, Editor and SCBWI board member Arthur A. Levine, along with Executive Editor Cheryl Klein worked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to make Stephanie Trimberger's wish come true.

In Stephanie's own words:

“My life is not easy, and books just help me get away.  And if I could do that for one other person, it would be awesome.”

Watch the video here - it's beautiful.

I love when Arthur says,

“You never actually know when the book that you have made is the book that saves somebody’s life, the book that makes somebody feel like they have hope, the book that makes somebody feel that they’re not alone. It just shows you how the work that we do can touch kids, and so that makes you feel so grateful.” 

Sadly, Stephanie passed away last week.  But I'm so glad she got to have her wish come true.  It's made me think a lot about being thankful, and for that I'm grateful.

You can read more about Stephanie and her debut novel here.  And thanks to the amazing Martha Brockenbrough for letting me know about this inspiring and heart-wrenching story, so I could share it with you.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Serendipity Literary's YA Novel Discovery Contest

In honor of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), Regina Brooks, agent, founder of Serendipity Literary Agency, and author of WRITING GREAT BOOK FOR YOUNG ADULTS, is offering a contest for YA novelists--and no pitch or query is necessary. Instead, says Regina, "this contest is meant to encourage the aspiring YA author to get started on that novel by offering an incentive for completing the first 250 words."

Here are details:

• The top 20 submissions will all be read by a panel of five judges comprised of top YA editors (see below). 
• Of the 20, judges will choose the top five submissions and provide each author with commentary. 
• These five winners will also receive a free one-year subscription to THE WRITER magazine. 
• ONE Grand Prize Winner will win a full manuscript reading and editorial consultation from Regina Brooks and free 10-week writing course courtesy of the Gotham Writer’s Workshop. 
• The first 100 writers to enter will receive free autographed copies of WRITING GREAT BOOK FOR YOUNG ADULTS

Entries via website only.
(click here for the form)
The deadline is November 30th.

Judges (in addition to Regina Brooks):

• Nancy Mercado, Executive Editor at Roaring Brook Press
• Nicole Raymond, Editor at Candlewick
• Cheryl Klein, Senior Editor at Arthur Levine Books
• Leila Sales, Editor Viking
• Evette Porter, Editor at Harlequin
• Leah Hultenschmidt, Executive Editor at Sourcebooks

This is a great opportunity to get your work seen by some wonderful editors and a top agent--and win some great prizes. To learn more about Regina Brooks and Serendipity Lit, check out the website. For more information on the contest, click here.