Toot Your Horn!

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toot

 

ElevenEleven and Holding, by Mary Penney Hershey, HarperCollins, ages 8-12, Middle grade fiction, ISBN: 978-006-240-5740, released 6/07/2016.

 

 

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Great News!

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GreatNewsSCBWI 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!

 

 

NINELIVESCylin Busby’s new MG novel, The Nine Lives of Jacob TIbbs, has received two starred reviews so far (from SLJ and Booklist) and was just picked as an Amazon “Best Book of the Month.” Thank you to all the wonderful supportive SCBWI members!

 

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SCBWI Community Corner with Annie Ruygt

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307418_602235109791062_487416659_nThe Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is a dynamic community of professionals and aspirings. Read on for a member’s story about how SCBWI has influenced their work and connected them to publishing professionals, life-long friends, and the tools they need to share their stories with children of all ages.

I’ve been hearing the term “tribe” quite a bit these days. At a music festival I attended last year, everyone referred to their small communities as tribes. The festival even built a small village of Teepees and wooden shelters for people to hang out in. Then I noticed the term surfacing in magazines, online, and among the social groups I attended in San Francisco. “Find your tribe!” they said. What is this phenomenon, I thought? Have I been blind to it all along, or is it actually trending?

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Sue Alexander Service and Encouragement Award 2016

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And the winner is . . . Beth Navarro!

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Beth Navarro, Sally Jones Rogan, and Sarah Laurenson

At this year’s Writer’s Day, Sally Jones Rogan, LA’s Regional Advisor, presented the 2016 Sue Alexander Service and Encouragement Award. Here are her words:

“The Sue Alexander Service and Encouragement Award is presented to a regional volunteer who has shown exceptional dedication to SCBWI Los Angeles.

The Region is completely volunteer run, from the LitMingle coordinators to the website guru, to the Regional coordinators, and everyone in between who makes up our successful organization of more than 1,300 members. Continue reading

Central Coast Regional News, Second Quarter 2016

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by Ann Rousseau Smith, CenCal News Liaison

 

SCBWI CenCal’s Mentor Program 

Congratulations to our 2016 Mentees

Picture Book: Laurie Daley, Doreen Maulhardt, and Susanne Whitehouse

Middle Grade: Cindy Marcus

Young Adult: Linda Hearn Continue reading

SoCal Regional News, Second Quarter 2016

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by Francesca Rusackas, Regional Advisor

Spring is always a time of energy and renewal. With that in mind, our wonderful Regional Illustrator Coordinator, Gina Capaldi, is coming up with plenty of opportunities for illustrators (and writers) to improve their skills and make connections.

Our 2015, exhibition, Imagine! The Art of Children’s Books Illustration, was a huge success and Gina is already at work on plans for 2017!

the door

The door

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SCBWI Los Angeles at the L.A. Times Festival of Books

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2016-04-09 11.04.55How do you get 150,000 dedicated book buyers to consider your book? How do you get 50 authors and/or illustrators together to sell their work to those 150,000 eager buyers? The answer is the Los Angeles SCBWI booth at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Continue reading

SCBWI Members at Wonder Con: Where Many of Us Have Gone Before

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2016-03-26 18.59.33Do the words “comic book convention” sound scary to you? Overwhelming? Completely irrelevant to you as a children’s book author or illustrator? Think again. Even if your work isn’t “in genre,” you can still learn a lot. If you want to know what kids are into right now, or your creative juices need a boost, there’s no better place to go than a Con.

This year Wonder Con, the smaller, gentler, but just as fun little sister of the San Diego Comic Con, was held in Los Angeles. In addition to sneak peaks of superhero movies, geektastic T.V. shows, and panels about everything from new anime to the real science in sci-fi, there were kids everywhere!

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Stephanie Stein: Editor’s Perspective

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wd2016_SteinHarperCollins Children’s Books editor Stephanie Stein works on a range of YA and middle grade fiction by authors including Kiera Cass (the Selection series), Erin Hunter (Warriors), and Cynthia Hand (The Last Time We Say Goodbye). As faculty for this year’s SCBWI Los Angeles Writer’s Day, Stephanie gave a compelling keynote address, “Writing Your Book (Not Someone Else’s)” and a breakout session on what to expect from an editor when you’re revising your work together. Kite Tales caught up with her after LAWD16 for a follow-up on defining your writer’s voice, why that’s essential to getting published, and why everyone’s path to publishing looks different.

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LA Regional News, Second Quarter 2016

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by Sally Jones Rogan, Co-Regional Advisor, SCBWI – Los Angeles

Hello SCBWI –Los Angeles! If you attended our recent Writer’s Day at the Skirball Cultural Center, you will already know that Sarah Laurenson shared some rather “big” regional news. After many years as Co-Regional Advisor, first with Lee Wind and then with yours truly, Sarah has decided to step down for a well-earned rest!

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Sally Jones Rogan (left) and Sarah Laurenson (right)

It was on Sarah and Lee’s watch that SCBWI obtained its nonprofit status. With that came more rules, regulations, more scrutiny—and many more RA volunteer hours needed than ever before. Sarah tackled all of these new challenges with aplomb and by the time I came onboard three years ago, there was a “system” in place for just about everything! Who knew that spreadsheets could be an art form?

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