The Editors Panel Begins!

Moderated by Emma Dryden (at podium), from left to right the editors are: Caitlyn Dloughy, Jill Santopolo, Tiffany Liao, and Daniel Nayeri.

The International, Translator, and Spanish Social

Hosted by Kathleen Ahrens, SCBWI's International Regional Advisor Chairperson, (standing, on the right) and Angela Cerrito, SCBWI's Assistant International Advisor (standing,  on the left) during Saturday's lunch, the gathering convened into smaller groups, focused on Spanish, Translators, Nonfiction, Picture Books, and Novels.

Their discussion prompts:

What are you working on?

What is your current stumbling block?

What is a possible solution?

Finding tribes within the SCBWI community... that's such a big part of the SCBWI Winter conference!

Dan Santat's opening keynote

Dan Santat is an award-winning New York Times best selling author/illustrator who has published over seventy books for kids. His titles include the 2015 Randolph Caldecott Medal winning book, The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, the New York Times best-selling titles, Are We There Yet? and After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again. He is also the recipient of the Silver Medal for outstanding illustration from the Society of Illustrators for Oh No! Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World. He has collaborated with many authors including Mo Willems, Dav Pilkey, Mac Barnett, Aaron Reynolds, Michael Buckley, Tom Angleberger, and Gennifer Choldenko. Dan is also the creator of the hit Disney animated series, The Replacements.


Dan starts out joking about how he has 45 minutes to change all our lives - that's the challenge of a keynote. So instead, he tells us a story about that has the room riveted, and laughing... a story that leads right into his real topic...

Do You Really Know Who You Are? (How Understanding Yourself Can Prepare You For Future Success)

Can you tell a story?

"You can't read a book about riding a bicycle, you have to ride a bicycle."

He speaks about how hard it is to be a judge of your own work, how pride can get in the way of listening, and how important it is to know your own strengths -- and your flaws.

He shares stories of his own journey, including attending his first SCBWI conference in 2002 and how his book dummy was picked up by Arthur A. Levine at the portfolio showcase and he was offered a two-book deal. So, no "tragic rejection story" - but then how his first book, The Guild of Geniuses, wasn't the success he'd hoped.

Then he dug deeper into why, and realized "I need to be better at writing for children."

What did he do? "I learned by working with others." He decided to illustrate other people's books for a while, and he learned from each project.

"If you can look at your earlier work and cringe a little - that means you've improved."

And he talks about 5-7 years in, how he realized he was in the mid-list. And the challenges of that. (Like the heartbreak of how quickly his books weren't re-stocked on bookstore shelves.)

Dan covers so much more, including the see-saw of commercial success and critical success, the challenge of expectation and how winning the Caldecott impacted his creative life, and much more!

He's funny, and humble, and tells us:

"It took me years to find out who I was and what I wanted to say."

And he urges us to do the same.



You can find out more about Dan at www.dantat.com

Kicking off the 2018 Conference

It’s a different scene this year at the annual SCBWI conference in New York City. The organization has transformed this winter conference to provide writers and illustrators with deeper opportunities to study and explore elements of craft.

Instead of doing shorter sessions focused on introductions to editors and agents, the 659 participants are all taking two-and-a-half-hour intensive sessions on everything from middle grade fantasy with Gail Carson Levine to historical fiction with Laurie Halse Anderson, nonfiction with Daniel Nayeri, picture books with Connie Hsu, and so many more extraordinary offerings.

Many people who wanted to come weren’t able to attend the sold-out event. Here’s a pro tip: Mark the dates of the conferences in your calendars. If you think you can attend, sign up the day the conference is announced so you’re not left out in the cold (and that’s literal this chilly weekend in NYC).

There are fewer people at the conference this year to accommodate this change, 659 in all, 300 of whom are published. We come from almost every state (no Alabama or Arkansas), and we do all sorts of things from our day jobs, from crime-scene investigations to law and everything you might imagine in between.

This promises to be a game-changing weekend. Follow along the blog and Twitter hash tag: NY2018SCBWI.

Kwame Alexander presents the Golden Kite for Nonfiction for Younger Readers to Carole Boston Weatherford

Kwame Alexander starts us off with an exciting personal anecdote from his childhood about visiting the Schomberg every year the day after Thanksgiving to help his father sell books, not realizing then, fully, the amazingness of Schomberg until he read Carole Boston Weatherford's sparkling prose in SCHOMBURG: THE MAN WHO BUILT A LIBRARY.

Carole Boston Weatherford is a New York Times best-selling author and poet. Her numerous books for children include the Coretta Scott King Author Award Honor Book BECOMING BILLIE HOLIDAY, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, and the Caldecott Honor Books MOSES: WHEN HARRIET TUBMAN LEAD HER PEOPLE TO FREEDOM, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, and VOICE OF FREEDOM: FANNIE LOU HAMER, illustrated by Ekua Holmes. Carole Boston Weatherford lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

From her CBC Diversity interview Carole says:

My mission as an author is to mine the past for family stories, fading traditions and forgotten struggles. Add to that unsung heroes. When my friend and frequent collaborator Eric Velasquez pitched the idea of a Schomburg biography to me, I was intrigued. Like Schomburg, Eric has roots in Africa and Puerto Rico. I detected Eric’s passion for the project and I could not refuse. I believe this is the book that Eric was born to create. Even though the book had a ten year gestation, I am honored that Eric asked me to collaborate. 

Laurent Linn presents the Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Illustration to Kenard Pak

Kenard Pak gave a delightfully fun and funny acceptance speech for his charming picture book, GOODBYE AUTUMN, HELLO WINTER, which, lucky you! Is a follow up to GOODBYE SUMMER, HELLO AUTUMN.

He'd like to thank his art director April Ward, his editor Laura Godwin, his agent Kirsten Hall, editor Sally Doherty, and his wife Jenn.

SCBWI will be putting the acceptance speeches up online on the scbwi website so you'll get to to see everyone accepting next week!

And the Golden Kite Awards evening ends with Champagne and Book Signings by the Winners!

The perfect end to a glamorous, golden evening...

Toasts!

Treats!

Author Signings! (Elana K. Arnold signs "What Girls Are Made Of")

As Lin said, because we have these books, and this community, we're all winners!

Vanessa Brantley Newton presents the Sid Fleischman Award for Humor to Crystal Allen for "The Magnificent Mya Tibbs"

Vanessa spoke movingly of how, as a child with dyslexia, she wishes she could have had Crystal Allen books to read.

Crystal thanked the Lord, her family, agent, editor, and then, touchingly, her character Mya Tibbs: "For teaching me to walk the walk, not just talk the talk." She describes getting to know her character (who loves country music) and how she herself didn't like it... until she realized she hadn't given it a chance.

It's touching, and funny, and so fitting as she accepts the Sid Fleischman Award for Humor!

Jane Yolen Presents the Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text to Carolyn Crimi for "There Might Be Lobsters"

Jane calls "There Might Be Lobsters" a "Perfectly told picturebook."

Carolyn Crimi accepts the award, and shares a moving letter from a reader, Jordan, and tells us to "Download your own fight song" and "know there's a Jordan out there waiting for your story."

Chelsea Clinton takes the stage at the Golden Kite Awards

Chelsea Clinton speaks about being a reader, first as a child, and now as a parent.

She tells us about her inspirations, and the “Too small to fail” initiative of Clinton Foundation, aiming at bringing books to the book deserts in our country – where there are so few age-appropriate books for children.

Cheering the evening ahead, she tells us,

“I’m so thankful to be part of your community.”

The 2018 Golden Kite Awards are underway!

Lin and Steve welcome us all!

"Who are you reading?" The Golden Kite Awards Gold Carpet question...

Linda Sue Park (right) : arc of "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland, and Anna Dobbin "I'm Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez

Adria Quinones: "You Can't Touch My Hair" by Pheobe Robinson

Laurie Halse Anderson (left): "Love" by Matt de la Pena and Loren Long and Crystal Allen: "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds

Kristin Daly Rens: "my author Crystal Allen's 3rd manuscript in her "The Magnificent Maya Tibbs" series"

Gina Carey: "My son Max is named after Max in "Where The Wild Things Are" - we're always reading that!"

Tim Travaglini and Alesxander: "Dickens ghost stories"

Bruce Coville: "Deep Work" by Cal Newton

Pat Cummings: "Another Brooklyn" by Jacqueline Woodson

Veronique Sweet: "Musicophelia" by Oliver Sacks

Jim Averbeck: "The winners of the Golden Kite Awards!"

Mr. Hafeez: "Rebound" by Kwame Alexander

Ruta Sepetys (left): "Svetlana Alexievich: The Unwomanly Face of War" and Courtney Stevens: "Born a Crime" by Trevor Noah

Ellen Hopkins: "a manuscript for a friend"

Kim Turrisi: "Someday, Somewhere" by Lindsay Champion

Peter Brown: "The Book of Dust" by Philip Pullman 

Laurent Linn: "The Big Umbrella" by Amy June Bates

#NY18SCBWI is just days away!

The SCBWI 19th Annual Winter Conference is sold out, and whether you'll be attending or not, make sure to follow along on here at our SCBWI Conference Blog and on social media with the hashtag #NY18SCBWI!

SCBWI Team Blog will be covering the Golden Kite Awards, the keynotes (Dan Santat! Angie Thomas!), the panels (Agents - including Kirsten Hall, Erin Murphy, Molly O'Neill, Brooks Sherman, and Marietta Zacker, and Editors - including Caitlyn Dlouhy, Tiffany Liao, Daniel Nayeri, and Jill Santopolo), the Portolio Showcase, and so much more!

It's going to be amazing...

Illustrate and Write On!
Lee

Thank You! (And Save The Dates For #NY18SCBWI and #LA18SCBWI

Thank you for following along for #LA17SCBWI with us!

Team Blog #LA17SCBWI: from left, Sona Charaipotra, Jaime Temairik, Lee Wind, Jolie Stekly, and Susie Ghahremani.

And here are the dates for the 19th Annual Winter Conference in New York City: February 2-4, 2018.

With full-day intensives for both writers and illustrators
Juried Portfolio Showcase with grand prize
Network with top editors, agents, and publishers
Be in the center of the children's publishing industry
Workshops, Keynotes, networking, and much more!

Online conference registration will be posted in October at scbwi.org

And for the 47th Annual Summer Conference in Los Angeles: August 3-6, 2018.

With over 75 workshops and 15 keynote speakers
Monday post-conference intensives
Special hands-on workshops for illustrators, Craft intensives for published, self-published, and pre-published authors
Individual manuscript or portfolio critiques
Juried portfolio showcase with grand prize and mentorship opportunities

Online conference registration will be posted in March 2018 at scbwi.org

Autograph Party