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 →