Tags
Alexis O'Neill, Lee Wind, Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, The Recess Queen
Alexis at a school visit.
This year’s SCBWI-L.A. WritersDay boasts some fantastic faculty members, all dedicated to helping attendees get to know the kids, editors, and others who make up their target audience. Two of those faculty members are former SCBWI Regional Advisors and current authors, Alexis O’Neill and Lee Wind. Alexis is a veteran teacher, author, and popular school visit presenter. Her books include The Recess Queen, Loud Emily, The Kite That Bridged Two Nations, and more. Lee is the author of the young adult novel, Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill, named a BookLife Prize Semi-Finalist, one of Publishers Weekly’s Top Five Independently Published Middle Grade and Young Adult Books of 2018, and is the founding blogger and publisher of I’m Here. I’m Queer. What The Hell Do I Read?, an award-winning website about books, culture, and empowerment for Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Questioning and Queer youth, and their Allies. And it’s our lucky day because both of them agreed let us pick their beautiful brains leading up to Writers Day!
SARAH PARKER-LEE: We’re so excited to have you both as faculty this year! Alexis, whose column for the SCBWI Bulletin, “The Truth About School Visits,” has been helping members since 2006,is doing a breakout session about new research on school visits. Interacting with readers is a universal experience for kid lit authors. Can you both tell us about one of your most meaningful ones? Or one of your early blunders, so we can learn from your mistakes? Continue reading
HAPPY HANNUKAH! There is a lot to celebrate this season, including SCBWI members’ publishing news! Check out whose book is coming to a platform near you or around the world:
Hanukkah Hamster, by Michelle Markel, illustrated by Andre Colin, Sleeping Bear, ages 5 – 7, Picture Book, ISBN: 978-1-58536-399-5, released 09/15/2018.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! SCBWI members have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season, including this GREAT NEWS! We love celebrating our members’ successes and noteworthy news, so read on to find out who’s got something to shout about. Digital high-fives welcome in the comments!
Hatching Chicks in Room 6 by 
#KT250 is a Kite Tales quarterly community contest, but unfortunately this quarter we did not have enough entries to complete the contest. So instead, we’re offering you some tips as you prepare your work for any kind of contest submission and re-posting all our winning entries from this year! We’re so grateful for all who participated and made our first contest year so special. We can’t wait to see what you do next year!
This year’s 
JC: I have to agree on the karaoke! It’s always my favorite part of the retreat since it gets everyone out of their quiet, writerly shell. I also really enjoyed the presentation by 
Join us for a weekend of writing, revising, and crafting your pitch at an ocean side resort. In addition to craft workshops and the opportunity to pitch your work to an agent, you’ll enjoy sunset fire pits and s’mores overlooking the ocean, life-size checkers and chess games atop the cliff, and strolls on the sand.
What happens when Southern California Mingle Coordinators gather together? Magic. A few weeks ago, Jennifer S. Pitts and SCBWI-L.A. provided the venue for this special meeting.
Kite Tales 