23 Wednesday Nov 2022
Posted in Toot Your Horn!
Tags
biography, middle grade, picture book, published, publishing, SCBWI community, SCBWI members, young adult
SCBWI members’ publishing news is something to celebrate here at Kite Tales! Check out whose book is coming to a platform near you or around the world. Horn-tooting and digital hi-fives welcome in the comments!
16 Wednesday Nov 2022
Posted in Ask an Editor, Tips and Tools
Tags
authors, Chris Baty, MG, middle grade, NaNoWriMo, nonfiction, novels, writing tips
“Ask an Editor” is a forum wherein SCBWI members submit questions that are answered as part of our quarterly Kite Tales blog.
Hi Christine—This time of year it seems so many writers are participating in NaNoWriMo. What exactly is that and is it worthwhile for kid’s book writers? I’m writing a middle-grade novel.—Jo, Encino
09 Wednesday Nov 2022
Posted in Great News!
SCBWI loves celebrating our members’ successes and noteworthy news, and there are many! Read on to find out who’s got something to shout about. Digital high-fives welcome in the comments!
Continue reading02 Wednesday Nov 2022
Posted in Contests & Grants, Writers Days
Tags
authors, Laurie L. Young, middle grade, Nicholas Ponticello, Patricia Toht, picture book, Ronna Mandel, SCBWI events, Vincent X. Kirsch, young adult
by Brenda Scott Royce, Contest Coordinator
A highlight of Writers Day every year is the announcement of the winners of the writing contest. It’s not only exciting for the lucky ones called to the stage—hearing what the judges had to say about the stand-out manuscripts can also be instructive and inspiring for the rest of us. While cheering on our fellow writers, we just may hear something that sparks an idea for a revision or a whole new story.
Please join us in celebrating the 2022 Writers Day Contest runners-up and winners, who were announced at the SCBWI-L.A./CenCal Writers Day event on Saturday, October 23. Excerpts from the judges’ comments are included in the list of honorees below. If you’d like to contact any of the winners to request their manuscript or discuss publication, please let us know!
Continue reading26 Wednesday Oct 2022
Posted in Contests & Grants, Mentorship Contest, Tri-Regional News
by Joseph Taylor
Editor’s Note: Mentorship proposals are now open to PAL Illustrator members of the Los Angeles Region for the 2023 Mentorship program! Read on to find out more about this rewarding experience and how you can help champion the next mentee!
A few months after starting a new job as editor of Muse magazine, I got the chance to focus on book writing with 2022 SCBWI-L.A. mentee Sarah Gottlieb. I was grateful to SCBWI-L.A. for offering a mentorship focusing on nonfiction for the first time and delighted to get the chance to work with Sarah.
Continue reading19 Wednesday Oct 2022
Posted in Author's Perspective, PAL, Tips and Tools
Tags
authors, Danielle Davis, Mags DeRoma, picture book author, picture books, SCBWI members, school visits, theme, To Make, writing tips
by Danielle Davis
The North Star has always been a beacon for travelers, all over the Northern Hemisphere. A barely drifting constant. A guide.
I believe theme functions as that same kind of beacon for every story—and storyteller.
I’m not a mariner by any stretch, and sea sickness prevents me from even wanting to be one, but here goes:
Continue reading12 Wednesday Oct 2022
Posted in Central Coast, Critique Day, Tri-Regional News
Tags
authors, CenCal, Critique Day, publishing, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, small press, webinar
by Ann Rousseau Smith, SCBWI CenCal News Liaison
Join us for a couple of fun programs this coming November and December. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to write for a small press, be with us in November for our Small Press Webinar. Also, we will be holding a Critique-a Thon, online, in December. Please see the details below for both events.
Continue reading05 Wednesday Oct 2022
Posted in #KTIllustrates, Contests & Grants
Tags
book covers, contest, illustrators, interior art, KTIllustrates, middle grade, picture book, SCBWI members, spot illustration, young adult
Calling all Illustrators! Kite Tales invites you, our illustrator members, to participate in our annual #KTIllustrates Contest: we give you a prompt and you show us your best take. The illustration can be in any medium, for any age range, and any genre. It can be conceptual or literal, spot or spread, as long as it keeps the idea of the prompt as it would apply to children’s books. (If you’re inspired to create a cover illustration instead, go for it!) All are welcome, as long as the final entry follows the guidelines posted on the entry page.
Continue reading28 Wednesday Sep 2022
Posted in Author's Perspective, Writers Days
Tags
authors, editing tips, Hope In The Valley, intercultural, middle grade, Mitali Perkins, nonfiction, picture books, plotting, SCBWI events, Writers Day 2022, writing tips, young adult
Joining us as keynote speaker for Writers Day 2022 is Mitali Perkins! An explorer of boundaries both physical and literary, she has written books for all ages of young readers, including You Bring the Distant Near (nominated for a National Book Award) and Rickshaw Girl (adapted into a film by Sleeperwave Productions) and the upcoming picture book, The Story of Us (Beaming Books, 2022). She seeks to make readers laugh and cry, all while opening their hearts to understanding the mysteries of the wider world.
Jessica Chrysler: Welcome Mitali, and thank you for taking the time to interview with Kite Tales! As an author of picture books, YA and nonfiction for adults, your work crosses categories as fluidly as you explore the theme of crossing borders. What inspires you in your work? And what gives you that spark to take on the next project?
Continue reading21 Wednesday Sep 2022
Posted in Community Corner, Industry News
Tags
American Library Association, banned books week, book banning, censorship, Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson, EveryLibrary Institute, SCBWI community, SCBWI members
The recent rash of documented complaints against specific books in schools and libraries have grown to an overwhelming number. Not only are the numbers concerning, but the complaints are also targeting books on the shelves of public libraries and bookstores all over the country. Books that have helped children learn more about themselves and others in the world are being removed from their hands. Books that have been created by authors who share the same identities of these kids are being censured into silence.
So what can we do about it?
Continue reading
