SCBWI Central Coast Regional News, Second Quarter 2018

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book talk online, illustrators, Lynn Becker, Mary Ann Fraser, Mary Penney Hershey, mentorship, picture books, SCBWI events, workshops

By Ann Rousseau Smith, SCBWI CenCal News Liaison

A Changing of the Guard

By Mary Ann Fraser

Change seems to be one of the few reliable constants at play in the universe, and so it is with our region. I will soon be moving, and since regional advisors must live within the areas they serve, as of March 1, 2018 I officially stepped down from my post. Thankfully, the talented, hard-working, and did I mention best Assistant Regional Advisor a region could ask for, Rebecca Langston-George, stepped up to take my place. I have no doubt that she will do an outstanding job. I have thoroughly enjoyed serving our region for the past many years, first as Regional Kite Tales Editor, then as Illustrator Coordinator, and most recently as Regional Advisor. Before all of that, along with Lisze Bechtold, I also coordinated several local SCBWI Illustrator Retreats. As a result, I have had the joy of meeting and working with so many people I admire and the honor of calling many of them friends. I will miss you all, but please know that in my heart I will forever be a CenCal Gal!

Wishing you all endless inspiration and great success in all you do,

Mary Ann

SCBWI Cen-Cal 2018 Mentor Program

Our 2018 Mentee is…

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Author and Illustrator Mary Ann Fraser’s Lessons After 60 Published Books and Counting

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Book Launches, Charlesbridge, illustrator tips, Mary Ann Fraser, publishing, writing tips

Mary Ann Fraser is the author/illustrator of 60 fiction and non-fiction books for children. Her latest picture book, Alexander Graham Bell Answers the Call (Charlesbridge), was published in August.

Fraser is also the Regional Advisor for SCBWI’s Central-Coastal Region. She talks to Kite Tales about her prolific career and shares lessons learned over the years.

Erlina Vasconcellos: Congratulations on your new book, a nonfiction look into the childhood of Alexander Graham Bell. How did you choose him as the subject?

Mary Ann Fraser: First, thank you for the opportunity to share my journey toward this latest book. As always, I am so grateful for the support and encouragement of my friends and peers that make up this amazing community we call SCBWI.

In 2012 my husband and I visited the Alexander Graham Bell Historic Site in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. I was amazed at Bell’s endless curiosity, inventiveness, and desire to help others, particularly the deaf, and was struck by how his life’s work seemed inevitable from the time he was a young lad. His mother was deaf and his father and grandfather were speech therapists. At the museum bookstore, I asked if they had any picture books on Bell. The cashier said they didn’t but wished they did. That’s when bells (excuse the pun) started ringing, and I realized I had my next project.

EV: After 60 books, how do you stay inspired and keep things fresh? Is your method for generating ideas different from when you began?

Debut Author and Illustrator Jennie Palmer: A Speedy Path to Publishing

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Abrams, Jennie Palmer, Jessica Sinsheimer, Mary Ann Fraser, SCBWI community, SCBWI members, Summer Conference, Writers Day

The book industry is filled with tales of people who toil on a story for years before being published. Author and illustrator, Jennie Palmer, isn’t one of them.

Palmer had taken classes on the art and craft of picture books at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she was an illustration major. After graduating, she put that knowledge aside when she became a production designer whose credits include work on the television show Blue’s Clues and 12 years designing floats and balloons for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

And then came the idea for a picture book about witches – a glimmer of an idea that solidified as she was cleaning up after her family’s weekly pizza night.

In 2014, she attended her first SCBWI Summer Conference with an outline. She didn’t have a dummy or a portfolio, but three years later that story, The Wompananny Witches Make One Mean Pizza, would be published by Abrams.