23 Wednesday Aug 2023
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 Aug 2023
Posted in Contests & Grants, SAG, Writers' Retreat
Tags
Cara J. Stevens, Julia Edwards, PB Rippey, R.S. Mellette, SCBWI community, SCBWI members, Sue Alexander Grant, Working Writer's Retreat
by Brenda Scott Royce, SCBWI-L.A. Contest Coordinator
We’re thrilled to announce this year’s winner of the Sue Alexander Grant, Julia Edwards, for her middle grade novel “I Speak for the Trees”! Here’s what the judges had to say about her excerpt:
“The opening pages of this middle grade novel grabbed me immediately, and the witty narrator had me hooked. While funny and smart, the environmental angle put this over the top for me, in terms of a super layered and entertaining read.”
“Written in a fun, fast and lively style, ‘I Speak for the Trees’ begins at ‘drool o’clock,’ as protagonist Phoenix Moonbeam Reising, a.k.a. Fifi, is awakened by one of her sister’s frequent night terrors. The reader is quickly thrown into a fully drawn family in which the mom is a throwback to the hippie days, the dad has gone mysteriously missing, and the sister is suffering from climate change anxiety….Fifi herself is opinionated, sardonic, smart, and not afraid to get into a physical fight.”
Continue reading12 Wednesday Jul 2023
Posted in Community Corner, Illustrators Day, SoCal, Tri-Regional News, Writers Days
Tags
agents, authors, editors, illustrators, Laura Taylor Namey, Lauren Rille, Lisa Johnston Hancock, Lucy Hamilburg, Megan Ilnitzki, Reggie Brown, Savannah Brooks, SCBWI community, SCBWI members, SCBWI SoCal, Scott Sussman, Tina Athaide, Writers & Illustrators Day
by Beverly Plass, RA SoCal SCBWI
Join SCBWI SoCal at Cal State University Fullerton or on Zoom on October 7, to learn about craft and book publishing, connect with professionals in the industry, and mingle with other SCBWI attendees.
SoCal’s FALL HARVEST WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS DAY will take place Saturday, October 7, 2023, from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. You can attend in-person at California State University, Fullerton OR participate via Zoom. Lunch is provided for in-person attendees.
Continue reading05 Wednesday Jul 2023
Tags
authors, CenCal Writer's Day, editors, illustrators, Jaime Zollars, Jen Rofe, Karen Jameson, Kitty Donohoe, Lin Oliver, Melissa Manlove, Mona Alvarado Frazier, Patrice Karst, SCBWI community, SCBWI members
by Ann Rousseau Smith, SCBWI CenCal News Liaison
Join SCBWI CenCal for Writer’s Day 2023!
WRITER’S DAY: SPARK THE FIRE WITHIN is a two-day event this year. The first day is in-person at a new location, the Camarillo Library, on Saturday, September 9. Doors open at 8:45 am, coffee and pastries for early arrivers. Event begins at 9:30 am and ends at 3:30 pm. Lunch will be provided.
Day One includes writing contests, written critiques, first lines feedback, 4-corners critique meet-up, door prizes, book sales, and a tour of the Camarillo Library Children’s Room, aka the Pirate Ship.
Continue reading28 Wednesday Jun 2023
Tags
authors, craft, digital, illustrator tips, illustrators, improv, Laura Hunt, process, SCBWI community, SCBWI members, sketch comedy, watercolor, writers
In SCBWI-L.A.’s latest Twitter Banner Contest, illustrators were asked to submit their most creative response to our prompt: KITE NIGHT. The winning contestant’s artwork is featured on the Los Angeles Region SCBWI Twitter profile until the next contest, with a feature article published here on Kite Tales.
We’re excited to announce Laura Hunt as our winner! Laura is an author-illustrator who grew up in Connecticut and now resides in Los Angeles with her college sweetheart, young son, and old Yorkie. Her dummy received an honorable mention from PB Party 2023. Her comedy writing background includes writing sketches on a house team for the Upright Citizens Brigade, and her work has been featured on Funny or Die and HuffPost.
Read on to learn more about Laura, her tools and tips, and what inspires her work.
Continue reading21 Wednesday Jun 2023
Posted in Central Coast, Industry Conferences, Industry News, Tri-Regional News
Tags
Beatty Award, California Library Association, Lisa Kerr, Mark H. Parsons, Peach Rebellion, SCBWI members, Wake Sleepy One, Wendelin Van Draanen
by Mark H. Parsons
The California Library Association awarded this year’s prestigious John and Patricia Beatty Awards (“The Beatty”) to two CenCal SCBWI members.
Founded in 1989, the Beatty annually honors the creator of “a distinguished book for children or young adults that best promotes an awareness of California and its people.” The winners are selected by a committee of children’s librarians from throughout California.
Continue reading14 Wednesday Jun 2023
Posted in Community Corner, Great News!, Toot Your Horn!
Be heard.
Whether you’re a PAL member, independently published, or pre-published, Kite Tales wants your stories about your experiences in kid lit. Writers, illustrators, translators, editors, publishers, agents, teachers, librarians, and more welcome!
Continue reading07 Wednesday Jun 2023
Posted in Toot Your Horn!
Tags
board book, Graphic Novels, middle grade, nonfiction, 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 high fives welcome in the comments!
31 Wednesday May 2023
Posted in Community Corner, 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 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.
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