Fresh off her Newbery win, Rebecca Stead will visit the U Village Barnes and Noble on Feb. 1 at 7 p.m.If you haven't read WHEN YOU REACH ME yet, this is your chance to get a signed copy and meet the author everyone's so gaga over.The official details:Rebecca Stead (author of When You Reach Me):... Continue Reading →
19th Annual Writing and Illustrating for Children Conference–registration is now open!
Don't delay! We expect the conference to sell out well in advance, and space in the additional opportunities is very limited. For more information and to register, please visit our online registration page.
Ripped from the headlines
Wouldn't this make a funny plot for a novel? From the New York Times: A Facebook Movement, Against Mom and DadBy SUSAN DOMINUSThey feel her pain. At the Spence School and Greenwich High and Fullerton Union High and Nyack High and Narragansett High, teenagers and near-teenagers, 806 as of Friday morning, are waving a virtual... Continue Reading →
And the medals go to…
Rebecca Stead wins the Newbery for WHEN YOU REACH ME; Jerry Pinkney, the Caldecott for THE LION & THE MOUSE; and Libba Bray, the Printz, for GOING BOVINE.For the long list of books acknowledged by the American Library Association, click here.
What’s a Mary Sue?
Kate Testerman at KT Literary has the scoop:I had several questions on my live blog yesterday about Mary Sues. Karen asked, “What lets you know a character is a Mary Sue from the query or the sample pages?” And Allreb added, “I’d also be really curious to know what you consider a Mary Sue character,... Continue Reading →
Join a critique group
Here's an invitation from Lois Brandt, our critique group coordinator:A critique group is a meeting of professional writers or illustrators. (Professional doesn’t necessarily mean members are published, it means that group members are working hard on the craft of writing and/or illustration.)Critique groups get together in-person or online to comment on each other’s work. Members... Continue Reading →
Publishers seeking amazing debuts
This comes from Alan Rinzler's blog: “Everybody’s looking for the next big thing — a work of great literary fiction from an unknown writer who’s never been published.”That’s according to Jay Schaefer, an editor-at-large at Workman Publishers in New York City and its subsidiary, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.Schaefer, a publishing veteran best... Continue Reading →
Good news for Ann Teplick
She writes: "I am a 2010 CityArtist recipient, having received funds from the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs for a collection of poems entitled The Beauty of a Beet, Poems from the Bedside. These poems explore the struggle and beauty at the bedside of loved ones who are dying, and incorporate Japanese death... Continue Reading →
Operation Teen Book Drop
Each year Operation Teen Book Drop--an annual event started by our own readergirlz--delivers about 10,000 new books to teens in need. In 2008 and 2009, rgz, YALSA and GuysLitWire worked with publishers to deliver 20,000 books to teens in hospitals.This year, another 10,000 books will go to teens on Native American Reservations and tribal lands,... Continue Reading →
8 tips for dealing with rejection
As we enter the post-holiday submission season, Kathy Temean has some timely advice on her blog:Use the Susan O’Keeffe method. In case you don’t know Susan, she is a very successful author. One day she shared what she tells herself. “I may not be the best writer in the world, but I know I am... Continue Reading →