Sherman Alexie Keynote Continued...

Alexie speaks passionately about those special librarians that hand you those special books, "a book about something beyond on themselves and they still identify with it. That's when the world changes."

"Our books will change lives in a way an adult book can not."

Now speaking about a letter Alexie received. It started, "I've lived in 29 foster homes..." And it goes on to detail the pain and trials of his life. Then there's that sentence "...and then I read your book." Later Alexie meets this kids (now an adult) who tells him that he loved Alexie's book, then read the other books written by Indian writers. He said he then thought he should go back and get his GED. He then told Alexie he now runs the GED program. WOW!

"It happens."

"Accept the responsibility...you are going to save at least one person. What more
could you ask for!"

STANDING OVATION!

Lin Oliver: "I love you, Sherman Alexie!"

POSTED BY JOLIE STEKLY

Sherman Alexie Keynote Continued...

Sharing his true story of having water on the brain. Serious topic, but in Alexie's words, it's seriously funny! He must be getting a laugh every minute (or more)!

Alexie grew up poor and sick. Invisible. His parents were struggling with alcoholism. He didn't have plumbing until he was seven, and he lived in a 125 year old house. But he loved books. And so did his dad. Because his dad read, his house was filled with books.

He was a veracious reader and adults were constantly bringing him books.

He says it's great to get huge packets from kids, the best letters being the ones that are so honest..."We had to read or book and I thought it sucked."

Common theme in letters (no matter who the kid is writing it):

"My choices are being made for me."

"You have to be really sure this is the career you want. People open up their
lives to you on a daily basis. They open up their chest and hand you their
heart."

Talking about banned books. Banners always turn the book into a treasure!

"I'm in the genre of young adult realism. The kids I'm thinking about are
the kids that are unprotected."

POSTED BY JOLIE STEKLY

Opening remarks by Lin Oliver & Sherman Alexie - some highlights

(Pictured above: Bartlett Bear about to blog, Sherman Alexie speaking, and SCBWI TEAM BLOG ready to live blog!)

Hi! Paula Yoo and her stuffed bear Bartlett blogging LIVE at the conference. As a former journalist, this is bringing back nightmare flashbacks of my newspaper days. I thought I left that world behind! LOL! Please follow our Twitter feeds for constant live tweets as well. Mine is at http://twitter.com/paulayoo. I've been tweeting non-stop with live photos so check 'em out! And you even get such SCBWI TEAM BLOG exclusives like what Jay Asher ate for breakfast! (Cheerios, coffee, a banana) and my special "Elizabeth Law Fun Facts" sprinkled throughout the day (did you know she was a lifeguard in high school?)

Right  now, Sherman Alexie is speaking so please check everyone else's Twitter tweets because I'm just blogging instead right now at our blogger table. (We get our own extension cords etc. All the other conference goers are jealous of our hi tech status! LOL!) BTW, I will post a live shot of Sheman Alexie on my Twitter page as soon as I post this blog.

A quick recap so far... the faculty line-up did their traditional "WORD PARADE" where each faculty member said one word that they wanted people to remember and think about during the conference. Sherman Alexie just wondered what the adult authors would do since he is also, of course, a famous adult novelist as well as a YA author. (He ruminated about what word Jonathan Franzen would say...!) 

Some words from the faculty included: "Intertwinkieularity" by Ingrid Law; "Joint Collaborative Process" by Dan Santat, Lisa Yee & Arthur Levine; "Greenhouse fire" by Sarah Davies; "YES!" (with a fist pump) by Nancy Sanders. Please check the Twitter pages of Lee Wind, Jolie Stekly, Suzanne Young & Jaime Temairik for more funny words!

Some statistical highlights from SCBWI Executive Director Lin Oliver:

-- A new record of conference enrollment - 911 registered this year!

-- 712 conference goers are women

-- 120 conference goers are men (LOL!)

-- 40 of 50 states represented (normally South Dakota has never sent someone here but this year, finally, there is a conference goer from South Dakota! She stood up to great applause!)

-- More than a dozen countries are also represented at the conference

-- Almost half of the concert goers have been published

-- Some interesting full-time jobs among conference goers, including a professional beekeeper ("I'm sure she's very sweet," Lin quipped) and one brave man who claimed his job title was "a handsome rogue."

Okay, time to listen more to Sherman Alexie and post a live Twitter pic. He's hilarious and insightful and everyone is laughing at his jokes as he talks about his childhood growing up on the reservation, his education, and how books opened a new world for him. It's both hilarious and poignant. Will post more blogs later with quotes, and fellow bloggers are live Tweeting some of his quotes so check it all out via Twitter and #scbwi09. Stay tuned for more blogs! 

Posted by Paula Yoo 

Sherman Alexie

Things that perhaps only Sherman Alexie can make funny: pulling teeth, carrying the burden of his race, childhood diseases, alcoholism, goverment cheese, three-legged dogs, poverty...

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

Sherman Alexie: The Partially True Story of the True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Our first keynote of the conference and SCBWI is doing it big with Sherman Alexie!

Lin Oliver introduces him as a: poet, short story writer, novelist, and now a writer joining our ranks in children's literature with THE ABSOLUTE TRUE STORY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN.

Huge applause.

He's already getting laughs.

Alexie has theories about the friendliness of the people who write for kids. "We were all freaks. The freak freaks."

POSTED BY JOLIE STEKLY