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Category Archives: Industry News

Book Banning: What YOU Can Do to Stop Censorship

21 Wednesday Sep 2022

Posted by Jessica Chrysler in Community Corner, Industry News

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American Library Association, banned books week, book banning, censorship, Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson, EveryLibrary Institute, SCBWI community, SCBWI members

The recent rash of documented complaints against specific books in schools and libraries have grown to an overwhelming number. Not only are the numbers concerning, but the complaints are also targeting books on the shelves of public libraries and bookstores all over the country. Books that have helped children learn more about themselves and others in the world are being removed from their hands. Books that have been created by authors who share the same identities of these kids are being censured into silence.

So what can we do about it?

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Your 2020 Guide to Book Festivals, Conventions, and SCBWI Events

15 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by Jessica Chrysler in Industry Conferences, Industry News, Writers Days

≈ 2 Comments

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Books Festivals, business, ComicCon, Conventions, Critique Day, Down The Rabbit Hole, LA Comic Con, LitFest, marketing, news, OC Book Fair, PAL events, SCBWI events, Working Writer's Retreat, Writers Day, writing

Need a creative pick me up? How about a new avenue for book promotion? Or maybe you just need some quality time with like-minded writers and illustrators working on their craft. SCBWI has you covered on the craft of kidlit and our region’s list of local book festivals and conventions is sure to broaden your creative perspectives!

SCBWI Sponsored Events for 2020

MARCH 28
Writers Day
Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles
WritersDay_Panel_2019
Dive into craft and “Discover the Words Worth Keeping” with a full day of keynotes, critiques and agent pitch sessions. A special pre-event intensive with Harold Underdown will also give a new perspective on approaching revision to polish your work in progress. Contests, manuscript reviews and scholarships will also be available. Need more insight? Read author Charlotte Offsay’s recap of last year here.

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SCBWI Members Help the Getty Bring Art and History to Life for Young Readers

23 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by Erlina Vasconcellos in Author's Perspective, Illustrator's Perspective, Industry News

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Abrams, Annie Won, Getty Publications, Janine Pibal, Julie Berry, Michelle Thies, Nick Geller, Scholastic Press, Viking Children's Books

getty2

Each year, the J. Paul Getty Museum hosts more than 100,000 children on field trips to view the vast art collection at its two locations: the Getty Center atop the Santa Monica Mountains and the Getty Villa in Pacifica Palisades. Add to that those who visit with their families and take part in family-centered events and activities.

The effort to make art interesting and digestible for children extends to Getty Publications, which in recent years has increased its efforts to publish for the youngest readers, said Getty Senior Editor Elizabeth Nicholson.

“The goal is to support understanding and appreciation of art for all audiences — art, archeology, humanities, ancient world,” she said.

Although some books are published to accompany a Getty exhibit, they’re all meant to be readable on their own.

“They’re not meant to be didactic,” Nicholson said. “They’re meant to be fun.”

The books, available through the Getty and also distributed by Abrams, range from picture books to young adult graphic novels. They include two picture books by SCBWI members: author Julie Berry and illustrator Michelle Thies.

Cleo-and-Cornelius-p2-3
Berry is writing the picture book Don’t Let the Beasties Escape This Book! to be published in conjunction with the exhibition, Book of Beasts, a major display of medieval bestiaries — illustrated volumes about beasts real and imagined. It will open in May 2019 at the Getty Center. Berry, has experience with history and research. Her young adult novel, the Printz Honor book The Passion of Dolssa (Viking Children’s Books), is set in the thirteenth century.

Thies, a background artist for the Cartoon Network show Unikitty!, illustrated the picture book Cleo and Cornelius: A Tale of Two Kitties and Two Cities. The book, co-written by Elizabeth Nicholson, Janine Pibal and Nick Geller, was published in conjunction with the exhibit Beyond the Nile: Egypt and the Classical World, currently on view at the Getty Center.

Berry and Thies answered our questions about their books via email. The interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

BRING ON THE BEASTIES

ERLINA VASCONCELLOS:  Congratulations on the Don’t Let the Beasties Escape This Book! How did you become involved with this project?

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SCBWI Events, Book Festivals, and Conventions Happening in 2018

21 Wednesday Feb 2018

Posted by Erlina Vasconcellos in Industry News, SCBWI Summer Conference, Tips and Tools, Writers Days

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Andrea Custer, Book Festivals, Book Fests, Claire Moore, conferences, Conventions, Helena Ku Rhee, Jacob Gerhardt, Lynn Becker, PB Rippey, Sarah Parker-Lee, SCBWI Annual Summer Conference, SCBWI members, Summer Conference

Hone your craft and connect with other writers, illustrators, and children’s book industry professionals at this year’s book fests and events. Grab your calendars and mark these dates.

Here are the dates for SCBWI’s biggest events for 2018:

Writers-Illustrators-2017-2March 3
Writers Day
Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles
This is a full-day to immerse yourself in expert keynote speakers, manuscript critiques, and agent pitch sessions. This year’s event, themed “Time to Level Up!,” offers writers a choice of three different levels based on experience and goals.
Read PB Rippey’s writer’s perspective on 2017’s event. Last year’s event also included illustrators. Read Lynn Becker’s illustrator’s perspective.

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Volunteer as a STAR Reader, Keep Kids Reading

11 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by Sarah Parker-Lee in Community Corner, Industry News

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

literacy, reading to kids, volunteering

Most folks in kid lit were big readers, and writers, as soon as they could string together sentences, myself included. But literacy among children isn’t a given. Kids’ book sales have been rising, which is great news, but there are still huge populations of kids who are underserved and overlooked when it comes to literacy. And that isn’t just bad for kid lit sales, it’s bad for society at large. According to the NEA, “…poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement…And deficient readers are less likely to become active in civic and cultural life, most notably in volunteerism and voting.” Nobody wants that! So I decided to do something about it, and there’s an easy, fun way that you can too: Continue reading →

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Vroman’s Steve ‘Mr. Steve’ Ross Shares Lessons From Storytime

28 Friday Apr 2017

Posted by Erlina Vasconcellos in Industry News, Tips and Tools

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Bony Becker, Ezra Jacks Keats, Helen Palmer, Jon Agee, Kady MacDonald Denton, Mo Willems, Mr. Steve's Storytime, P.D. Eastman, Sandra Horning, Scott Campbell, Steve Ross, Valeri Gorbachev, Vroman's

Steve Ross (AKA Mr. Steve) doing story time at Roman's Books in Pasadena.Steve Ross has worked at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena since 1989, but chances are good that if you call the store and ask for him by his first and last name, the employee on the phone will think you have the wrong number.

That’s because Ross is known simply as Mr. Steve, as in Mr. Steve’s Storytime, a Vroman’s staple that takes over a bright corner of its voluminous children’s book section twice a week. Since taking the helm of Storytime in 1993, Ross has become a store icon whose image is captured in life-sized cardboard cutouts displayed around the store.

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2016 Sue Alexander Service & Encouragement Award, Crystal Kite Award, and 2017 Writers & Illustrators Day Contest Winners

05 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by Erlina Vasconcellos in Contests & Grants, Industry News, Writers Days

≈ 2 Comments

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Brian Won, Cheryl Bommarito Klein, Christina Wise, Cindy Marcus, Crystal Kite Award, Eliza Wheeler, J.R. Krause, Jill Tuckman, Kara B. Wilson, Kate O'Shaughnessy, Kes Trester, Kristen Baum, Laura Belevica, Molly Ruttan, Outer Space Bedtime Race, Sara Bayles, Sue Alexander Service and Encouragement Award, Tony Piedra, Wherever You Go

While Writers & Illustrators Day on Feb. 25 gave attendees a roadmap for projects upcoming and in progress, it also was a day to honor the creative and volunteer success of SCBWI members. Read on to find out the winners of the Sue Alexander Service and Encouragement Award, Crystal Kite Awards and Writers & Illustrators Day writing and illustration contests.

The 2016 Sue Alexander Service and Encouragement Award, selected from member nominations and presented to an SCBWI member for outstanding volunteer service, went to Jill Tuckman, SCBWI-LA webmaster.

Jill-Tuckman-SASE2Here’s what Sally Jones Rogan, SCBWI-LA co-regional advisor, said when presenting the award: Continue reading →

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Writers & Illustrators Day 2017: PB Rippey, A Writer’s Perspective

15 Wednesday Mar 2017

Posted by Erlina Vasconcellos in Industry News, Writers Days

≈ 5 Comments

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Lisa Cron, Melissa Manlove, Pam Gruber, PB Rippey

WID3-PBRippeyAuthor and SCBWI member PB Rippey reports on this year’s Writers & Illustrator’s Day.

The Skirball Cultural Center, nestled in the Santa Monica mountains, presides serenely over the 405 freeway’s regular traffic jams, yet is removed from city chaos. Inside, a foyer of vaulted glass, contemporary murals and magical installation lighting exudes a calming aura—one absorbed by the friendly mob checking in to the annual Los Angeles Writers & Illustrators Day on Feb. 25. I sipped complimentary coffee and mingled with chatty strangers, feeling transported from Los Angeles to a rural writer’s retreat. Continue reading →

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A Whale of a Tale Children’s Bookshoppe: Bookstore Profile

25 Wednesday Jan 2017

Posted by Erlina Vasconcellos in Industry News

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A Whale of a Tale Children's Bookshoppe, Adam Gidwitz, Alex Uhl, Fancy Nancy, Jen White, Jenna Bush, JK Rowling, Julie Andrews, Laura Bush, Mo Willems, Mother Bruce, Office Buckle and Gloria, Pax, Peggy Rathmann, Peter Brown, Robin Preiss Glasser, Ryan T. Higgins, Sarah Pennypacker, Survival Strategies of the Almost Brave, The Inquisitors Tale, The Wild Robot

Alex Uhl, owner of A Whale of a Tale Children's Bookshoppe, and JK Rowling

Alex Uhl, left, and JK Rowling

A Whale of Tale Children’s Bookshoppe has been a fixture in Orange County since 1989.

The Irvine store gained a following through owner Alex Uhl’s expert book recommendations and author events, drawing publishing stars like JK Rowling, Julie Andrews, Laura and Jenna Bush, and Lemony Snicket.

Since moving to a smaller location three years ago, Uhl has focused on organizing author events at local schools and libraries.

“Whether you inspire one or five children,” she says. “It’s the glow in their eyes when they say ‘They came to my school.’”

What books are kids gobbling up right now? Continue reading →

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Industry News: Augmented Reality

02 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by Christine Van Zandt, author of A BRIEF HISTORY OF UNDERPANTS in Industry News, Writers Days

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Anomaly, Augmented Reality, Between Worlds, Brian Haberlin, Jay Anacleto, Morton Heilig, Penguin Random House, Skip Brittenham, YA, YA Fantasy

BetweenWorlds_finaljkt.inddI recently attended a demonstration of the amazing Augmented Reality (AR) which accompanies Skip Brittenham’s new YA speculative fiction book, Between Worlds (released August 30th). The AR is created when your mobile device’s camera registers one of the book’s thirteen illustrations, enabling three-dimensional images to literally pop out of the pages. Readers can interact with the characters by tapping these images. The AR also includes additional text not found in the book itself.

Brian Haberlin, Co-Founder of Anomaly Productions talks with us today. Continue reading →

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Founded in 1971 by a group of Los Angeles-based children's writers, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is a non-profit, 501 (c)3 organization. There are currently more than 22,000 members worldwide, in over 70 regional chapters writing and illustrating in all genres for young readers, making it the largest children's writing organization in the world.

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