An announcement/invitation from SCBWI-WI member Miranda Paul: Just an announcement/reminder of our upcoming Northeast quadrant SCBWI Meet-up. Details: * *FRIDAY, JULY 26, 2013 - 12:00 noon - 2:00 p.m. **@ Kavarna Coffeehouse in Green Bay (143 N. Broadway, GB, 54303). * Feel free to bring a pitch, synopsis, or MS for critique. Also, bring your stories to share! Many of you have scored a contract, landed an agent, or had an article or piece of poetry published this year. We'd love to hear all about it. Also, feel free to bring name suggestions for possible speakers for upcoming meetings or our annual NE workshop in 2014.* * *After the meeting....(around 2:30ish) - **Casual backyard soiree (w/ wine) at Miranda's house in Green Bay. Just for fun!* *An RSVP to mirandapaulbooks@gmail.com is appreciated (she will give you directions to her house when you RSVP).* Hope you are all having a GREAT summer. See you soon! Miranda
News From the Children's Corner
Following are details about a Carthage College event, “Wisconsin Women Write for Children”, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on May 14 at the Women’s Club of Wisconsin
Wisconsin Women Write for Children Event
Come for desserts and coffee in a beautiful historic mansion.
Barbara Joosse, JoAnn Early Macken, Lisa Moser
The Woman’s Club of Wisconsin
(Free valet parking available)When:
Tuesday May 14th
Doors open at 6:00 pm
Program is from 6:30-8:30 pm
Registration fee is $15, with $5 for students.
Registration
Registration is open. Walk-ins
are welcome at the event itself
Make checks payable to The Center for Children’s Literature
Mail to: Carthage College, 2001 Alford Park Drive, Kenosha, WI 53140
Jstewig@carthage.edu 262-552-5480
The first of each month, members of Wisconsin’s chapter of the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators announce their good news of the previous month, generally good reviews, honors and awards, and newly published work. Here in their own words is their news from the month of April:
JoAnn Early Macken
In addition to the Wisconsin Women Write for Children event, I'll be teaching picture book classes in both Milwaukee and Madison over the next couple of months. Here are the details: Writing a Children's Picture Book, 5 Thursday evenings starting May 9 at UW-Milwaukee School of Continuing Education (downtown in the Grand Avenue mall). Details and registration info are at http://www4.uwm.edu/sce/course.cfm?id=24087 Children's Picture Books: Write and Submit Your Stories, Jun 17-21, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. each day at UW-Madison. More info is at http://continuingstudies.wisc.edu/lsa/writing/wbtl/wbtl-sessions.htm Ann Angel There are also some interesting writing courses available this summer at Mount Mary College that children's writers might find appealing. These include a six-week Writing Healing Stories workshop, a course for fiction and nonfiction writers called Pushing Boundaries which will be taught by Madison's Chris Mohar, and a picture book workshop that is in-person on Wed evenings and includes an online component. For more information, you can go directly to the website: http://www.mtmary.edu/summerschool.htm or email me personally. For kids, RedOak writers summer writing camp is again offering the camp on Mount Mary's campus. For more information on that camp, please go to http://www.mtmary.edu/camps.htm Pat Zietlow Miller I've sold two picture books. One, The Quickest Kid in Clarksville, sold to Chronicle Books. It's fiction, but it's inspired by Olympic sprinter Wilma Rudolph. The other, tentatively titled Roads, sold to Little, Brown. It's a lyrical look at the roads we take in life -- both literal and metaphorical. Dori Chaconas I've been fortunate enough to be offered a contract from Viking for a tenth book in the easy-reader series, Cork and Fuzz. Emily Kokie Personal Effects is a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award (the winner will be announced in June). As part of the celebration leading up to the award presentation, on May 22 I will be doing a reading in Chicago with 8 other finalists. Details: http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/Lambda-Literary-Awards-finalist-reading-May-22/42576.html Miranda Paul My second picture book went to auction, and my agent and I have accepted an offer from Neal Porter at Neal Porter Books! Roaring Brook and Neal Porter Books have produced some of my very favorite picture books, and this is a significant honor for me. I'm also proud of the fact that it's a rhyming book, and non-fiction! Kate Heling Debbie (Hembrook) and I are pleased to announce that our picture book CLOTHESLINE CLUES TO JOBS PEOPLE DO (Charlesbridge) was named to the 2013 Best Children's Books of the Year list by the Children's Book Committee. We've also recently received word that this book will be coming out in paperback in Spring, 2014. And even more exciting........we've been offered a contract for CLOTHESLINE CLUES TO SPORTS PEOPLE PLAY, publication date of August, 2015. We anticipate that the new CLOTHESLINE CLUES book will have the same illustrator, Andy Davies from the UK. Janet Halfmann
Eggs 1, 2, 3: Who Will the Babies Be? (Blue Apple Books) won the Lupine Picture Book Honor Award from the Maine Library Association. The award recognizes an outstanding contribution to children's literature of Maine.
Plus, Little Skink's Tail is on the Just Read, Florida! 2013 Summer Recommended Reading List for K-3. Becky Wojahn My news is that MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT won a 2013 Friends of American Writers Literary Award (http://www.fawchicago.org/)
Kashmira Sheth
I have a book signing coming up for Tiger in My Soup and I hope some of you
can make it. It is on the 14th of May at 7:00 PM at Barnes and Noble west (in Madison).
Michael Kress-Russick
Cricket has asked me to generate four illustrations for a piece of historical fiction to be run in their 75th anniversary issue (Sept).
Please check back after the CWW Awards Banquet next Saturday, May 11. I hope to be able to post some pictures from it on this blog. Meantime, please visit the CWW website at www.wiswriters.org.
Children's Writers Share Good News
Two very talented members of Wisconsin’s chapter of the Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators shared news of their successes this new year.
Miranda Paul’s picture book, One Plastic Bag, has been bought by Lerner/Millbrook and is scheduled to be published in spring of 2015.
Janet Halfmann’s Eggs 1, 2, 3: Who Will the Babies Be? is a 2012 Cybilis finalist and also made the New York Public Library’s “2012 Best List: 100 books for Reading and Sharing”.
Congratulations to both Miranda and Janet.
The deadline for entries in CWW’s writing contests is Jan. 31 — the end of this month. For details, go to www.wiswriters.org.
Up-Coming Writer-Related Events
The following list of events is shamelessly lifted from the most recent issue of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators newsletter:
Mark your calendars for these upcoming Wisconsin book festivals:
September 28-30, 2012: Wisconsin Writers Association fall conference in Wisconsin Rapids. Miranda Paul will give a presentation. See the web site at www.wiwrite.org.
Saturday, September 29, 2012: 2012 Edgerton Sterling North Book and Film Festival and annual Book Fair, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Edgerton High School. SCBWI-Wisconsin will have a booth where we [Wisconsin SCBWI] can sell members’ books. Volunteer if you can help staff the booth. More information is at edgertonbookfestival.com/Book_Fair.html.
October 12-14, 2012: Sheboygan Children’s Book Festival. For kids, teens, families, and booklovers of all ages. The theme for this year’s Sheboygan Children’s Book Festival is Family. [Wisconsin SCBWI] Members Lisa Albert, Ilsa Bick, Jacqueline Houtman, and Rebecca Hogue Wojahn are speaking. See the web site at sheboyganchildrensbookfestival.org.
November 7-11: The Wisconsin Book Festival in Madison will feature a number of Wisconsin SCBWI members, including W.H. Beck, Ilsa J. Bick, Bridget Birdsall,
Kathleen Ernst, Janet Halfmann, E. M. Kokie, Pat Schmatz, and Kashmira Sheth. For more details, see www.wisconsinbookfestival.org.
February 7-9, 2013: The Wisconsin State Reading Association Annual Convention, Frontier Airline Center, Milwaukee. The theme is “Literacy Lifts Lives –Heart…Mind…Voice.” Exhibit viewing times are Thursday, February 7, from 7:30 to 4:30 and Friday, February 8, from 7:30 to 3:00. SCBWI-Wisconsin will have a booth where we can distribute members’ literature and sell members’ books. Watch for information on sending your literature for distribution; volunteer if you can help staff the booth.
Children's Authors, Illustrators Share June News
Following are postings on the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators listserve announcing good news from its Wisconsin members:
Lisa Moser just sold her picture book, Bug Garden, to Candlewick Press. This makes number nine (unless I miscounted) for Lisa.
Dori Chaconas has recorded Don't Slam the Door at a local sound studio for Nutmeg Media. The finished DVD, with audio and video, is meant primarily for schools and libraries. A preview is at www.nutmegmedia.com/catalog/dont-slam-the-door. Miranda Paul sold her first two national magazine submissions. "Eco-Erek's Blue-Green World," a nonfiction piece about the environmental efforts of 11-year-old Erek Hansen, is appearing in the July issue of POCKETS. "Watch Me Grow," an action rhyme that dances preschoolers through the life cycle of a butterfly, is slated for the July/August issue of TURTLE magazine. "They're not book deals or anything," Miranda says, "but both were my first submissions to each magazine and picked off the slush, so you can imagine how amazing each acceptance felt." Malcolm at Midnight, a middle-grade mystery by Becky Wojahn writing at W.H. Beck, is being published by Houghton Mifflin, coming out on Sept. 4 -- just in time for the beginning of school in the fall. A preview is at www.whbeck.com. Becky says Recorded Books have bought audio rights to Malcolm with the audiobook due out in October. The book has also been selected for the middle grade editors' "buzz" panel at the BookExpo of America. More info is at http://bea12.mapyourshow.com/5_0/sessions/sessiondetails.cfm?ScheduledSessionID=18A8C9. There is, no doubt, more good news to come for this month. I'll post as received. Meanwhile, please check out the CWW website for other news and interviews at www.wiswriters.org.