Sarah Baker's Welcome To #SCBWIWinter22

Welcome to #SCBWIWinter22! This opening session featured Sarah Baker, new Executive Director of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, with help from ASL interpreter Lynne Kelly.

Sara thanked Lin Oliver for her many years of service as SCBWI's Executive Director since co-founding the Society. Congrats to Kim Turrisi, the new Director of Programming and Content. Kim is responsible for programming both National Conferences, digital workshop slates and special events. You can find out more about SCBWI staff on their updated "Who We Are" Page.

There are over 2000 of us attending (both live and asynchronously) the virtual SCBWI Winter Conference this year, spread out across the world. 42 different countries are represented!

Sarah says that although the SCBWI is hoping to resume in-person events in 2023, they still promise to continue to have substantial virtual content to help keep the events accessible.

The Golden Kite Gala, usually part of the SCBWI Winter Conference, will be a special separate event on March 15, open to the public. Jason Reynolds will be speaking at the event!

Sarah talked about the exciting upcoming events at the conference, and encouraged all to check out the Conference Portfolio Showcase, where over 200 members' artwork is on display.

Next up is the first keynote of the day, with New York Times best-selling and award-winning author, Kelly Yang!

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For those who want to know more about SCBWI's new Executive Director:

Sarah Baker is the Executive Director of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She joined the SCBWI staff in 2011, and most recently held the position of Associate Executive Director. Her career in children’s book publishing began at Penguin Young Readers Group, where she designed children’s books for six years. Sarah leads the SCBWI staff and works closely with the Board of Directors, the Advisory Council, and the official SCBWI volunteers. She graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara with a major in Studio Art and is a children’s book illustrator and ceramicist. Her favorite part of working for SCBWI is seeing the community flourish and the members thrive as artistic creators.

You can also find more about Sarah Baker here:

Sarah Baker's website: SarahLynnBaker.com

On Instagram: @sarahlynnbaker

On Twitter: @sarahlynnbaker