10 Wednesday Sep 2025
Posted in Great News!
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Caroline L. Perry, Dan McCauley, Laura Segal Stegman, Margaret Finnegan, Molly Ruttan, PB Rippey, Rosalind Barden, Sasha Mayer, SCBWI community, SCBWI members, Sherry Shahan, Tim Cummings
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 reading07 Wednesday May 2025
Posted in Industry Conferences, Los Angeles, PAL, SoCal, Tri-Regional News
Tags
Ann Suk Wang, Annelouise Mahoney, authors, Book Festivals, Dan McCauley, Events, Glenda Galvan-Garcia, illustrators, Janie Emaus, Jennifer S. Pitts, Joy Hwang Ruiz, Judy Campbell-Smith, Kimberly Tso, Kobina Commeh, Kumiko Yamada-Yuge, LATFoB, Lauren Gallegos, Lori Polydoros, Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Molly Ruttan, PAL, PAL events, R.S. Mellette, Sasha Mayer, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, W.R. Miller, writers
by Jennifer S. Pitts
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
Though originally a tribute to the ancient Persian royal couriers, this enduring phrase also perfectly captures the spirit of SCBWI’s LA and SoCal PAL members, who braved unpredictable weather to complete their own “appointed rounds” at the 2025 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.
Continue reading21 Wednesday Aug 2024
Posted in Great News!
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Andy Narwhal, Andy Nordvall, Brenda Scott Royce, Caroline Arnold, Charlotte Sherman, Erika Lewis, J. Dianne Dotson, Josh Oaktree, Kelly Hollman, Lee Wardlaw, Margo Sorenson, Molly Ruttan, Nasrin Aboulhosn, Nelly Buchet, Rosalind Barden, SCBWI community, SCBWI members, Scott Slater, Sherry Shahan
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 reading27 Wednesday Dec 2023
Tags
authors, Benson Shum, Brady Smith, Cara J. Stevens, Christine Van Zandt, Courtney Stevenson, craft, illustrators, Imelda Hinojosa, inspiration, Jackie Huang, Karol Ruth Silverstein, Kitty Felde, Laura Hunt, Laura Taylor Namey, Lucy Hamilburg, Molly Ruttan, Philana Marie Boles, publishing, publishing tips, quotes, Savannah Brooks, SCBWI community, Vincent X. Kirsch, writing tips
Editing Kite Tales has its perks. One is being among the first to see, hear, and be able to use the many uplifting ideas expressed by the blog’s kidlit guests during the year. Another is being one of the first to look back at year’s end and take inspiration anew. Here are some of my favorite 2023 moments gathered up in KT’s traditional list of 10 inspiring quotes. (Plus some extra inspo via the images.) Scroll through. Click through. Catch a thermal current and be uplifted. Thank you to everyone who brought words, pictures, and stories to the blog this year. Thank you to our readers! May you continue to soar in 2024.
Continue reading10 Wednesday May 2023
Posted in Industry Conferences, Industry News, Los Angeles, PAL, SoCal
Tags
Annelouise Mahoney, authors, C.K. Malone, Caroline L. Perry, Glenda Armand, Heather Buchta, illustrators, Janie Emaus, Jennifer Pitts, LATFoB, Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Molly Ruttan, PAL events, published, R.S. Mellette, SCBWI community, SCBWI members, Tina Athaide, writing
by Annelouise Mahoney
The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is an annual tradition of literary wonder. It’s the Coachella of book festivals, the largest in the country.
This year, as they do each year, the SCBWI Los Angeles chapter extended an invitation for its PAL members to sell and sign their books at a festival booth. SCBWI SoCal joined the L.A. chapter at the festival for the first time ever, sharing Booth #826. PAL members of the two regions who signed up could choose a two or three-hour time slot for either Saturday or Sunday of the event.
Continue reading22 Wednesday Feb 2023
Posted in Author's Perspective, Illustrator's Perspective
Tags
authors, illustrator tips, illustrators, Molly Ruttan, picture book, publishing, SCBWI members, Something Wild, writing tips
Molly Ruttan’s gorgeously illustrated, award-winning picture books often feature gently humorous, fantastical happenings cast within real-life settings. This unique perspective is at the forefront in the forthcoming Something Wild, which publishes next week (2023, Nancy Paulsen Books / Penguin Random House). Something Wild is the recipient of a Kirkus starred review.
Judy Faulkner: Welcome back to Kite Tales, Molly! You’ve been super busy since your appearance in 2019, when your illustrator debut, I Am a Thief!, came out. Now your fourth book is about to launch—your second as author-illustrator. Tell us about it!
Molly Ruttan: Thank you so much for having me back! It’s always such a pleasure to connect with my SCBWI family.
Continue reading18 Wednesday Jul 2018
Posted in Central Coast, Tri-Regional News, Writers Days
Tags
agents, Allison Moore, Andrea Loney, Antoinette Portis, Carol Heyer, editors, erry Pierce, Hannah Mann, Happy LaShelle, Lorin Oberweger, Lynn Becker, Maria Middleton, Mathew Rivera, Molly Ruttan, Sarah Jane Abbott, SCBWI events
By Ann Rousseau Smith, SCBWI CenCal News Liaison
SCBWI CenCal ArtWorks Re-Cap
By Laura-Susan Thomas, CenCal Illustrator Coordinator
Our amazing and talented faculty this year at ArtWorks were Maria Middleton, Art Director for Random House Children’s Books, and Antoinette Portis, author-illustrator of Not A Box, an ALA Geisel Honor book, and Not a Stick, one of the New York Times Ten Best Illustrated Books of the Year. Maria Middleton kicked off the day with lots of creative energy, informing us how a middle grade cover gets created, coming up with unique characters and world building, and including a live drawing exercise for all our illustrator attendees. Antoinette inspired us all to get creative, explore, find and work out those perfect picture book images and storytelling. Continue reading
05 Wednesday Apr 2017
Posted in Contests & Grants, Industry News, Writers Days
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Brian Won, Cheryl Bommarito Klein, Christina Wise, Cindy Marcus, Crystal Kite Award, Eliza Wheeler, J.R. Krause, Jill Tuckman, Kara B. Wilson, Kate O'Shaughnessy, Kes Trester, Kristen Baum, Laura Belevica, Molly Ruttan, Outer Space Bedtime Race, Sara Bayles, Sue Alexander Service and Encouragement Award, Tony Piedra, Wherever You Go
While Writers & Illustrators Day on Feb. 25 gave attendees a roadmap for projects upcoming and in progress, it also was a day to honor the creative and volunteer success of SCBWI members. Read on to find out the winners of the Sue Alexander Service and Encouragement Award, Crystal Kite Awards and Writers & Illustrators Day writing and illustration contests.
The 2016 Sue Alexander Service and Encouragement Award, selected from member nominations and presented to an SCBWI member for outstanding volunteer service, went to Jill Tuckman, SCBWI-LA webmaster.
Here’s what Sally Jones Rogan, SCBWI-LA co-regional advisor, said when presenting the award: Continue reading
Kite Tales 