Wanna know what you missed?
On August 3-6th the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators held their 41st annual summer conference in Los Angeles. What an amazing opportunity! The whole place oozed with creative energy. Editors, agents and authors both published and pre-published, took over the halls, elevators, guest and meeting rooms of the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza.
At the orientation we were told that 1,234 attendees registered for three full days of Keynote speakers and workshops. Lin Oliver and Stephen Mooser, the founders of SCBWI welcomed everyone and kicked off the conference. Arthur Levine, Vice-President of Scholastic and publisher of his own imprint Arthur A. Levine Books, was the first keynote speaker, giving his perspective on timeless books. Timelessness, he told the audience, comes from an intimacy between the reader and author, an authenticity. He also challenged the room full of writers to build anticipation in their stories, rather than just going for the surprise.
Tony Diterlizzi, New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of both picture books and chapter books including the middle-grade series, The Spyderwick Chronicles (with Holly Black) followed Mr. Levine with an entertaining and inspirational keynote challenging everyone to never abandon imagination. Workshops followed the morning keynotes led by agents, editors and leading authors. Attendees could choose from a wide variety which included PROtrack, recommended for published attendees, an illustrators track and a nonfiction track.
After lunch, Sara Shepard of Pretty Little Liars and Lying Games fame talked about maintaining momentum in a series and Patricia Maclachlan, Newbery winning author of Sarah, Plain and Tall, gave us a peek into her life and writing. Afternoon workshops included Rubin Pfeffer on agent client relationships, SCBWI successes shared their stories and Emma Dryden talked about how to create an author platform through social networking. Dan Gutman ended the day on a humorous keynote. Everyone was invited to attend a pizza party celebrating the SCBWI published attendees. Also available were a variety of critique sessions and other social opportunities, including yoga.
Saturday kicked off with Karen Cushman Newbery award winner for The Midwife’s Apprentice and an editor’s panel. After another information packed morning of workshops, covering everything from book packagers to craft and an overview of the digital landscape. After a break for lunch, Clare Vanderpool, Newbery winner for Moon over Manifest, shared her crossroads where craft and creativity meet and Deborah Underwood, author of the New York Times bestsellers, The Quiet Book and The Loud Book! talked about the power of quiet. The afternoon held more workshops from ebooks and apps to compelling non-fiction.
In her afternoon keynote, Ruta Sepetys told the powerful story of her 24 hours in a Lithuanian prison researching for her book, Between Shades of Gray, for which she won the 2007 SCBWI Work-in-Progress grant, and also this year’s Golden Kite Award for fiction. Afterwards, Deborah Halverson gave the much anticipated yearly update of the market needs and trends. Saturday closed with a Hippie Hop, where everyone got their groove on and enjoyed a chance to mingle and dance with faculty and industry insiders.
Sunday opened with an agents panel and a picture book panel, then another full morning of workshops, with more craft, marketing and industry info. Tim Ditlow gave us an inside look at Amazon Publishing, Lauren Rille covered the picture book process from start to finish, and Deborah Halverson taught her attendees to talk like a teen, “even though you’re so not one!” Next came the Golden Kite Luncheon & Awards Presentations. Follow this link for a list of the winners http://www.scbwi.org/Pages.aspx/2012-Golden-Kite-Award-Winners
More workshops in the afternoon (are you exhausted yet? I was!)Bryan Collier shared how it starts with The Word in the illustrators track, Marianne Wallace talked about writing narrative nonfiction nature books and Jennifer Bosworth shared how to be a conspicuous writer, helping readers discover your work, plus much more. The final keynote speaker was Gary Schmidt, a Newbery and Printz Honors recipient and National Book Award Finalist. An autograph party finished off the conference, with writers lingering to exchange information and say goodbye.
But that wasn’t all! Yet another full day of Writers’ Intensives followed on Monday for those who had the stamina and an extra hundred bucks. Monday’s schedule included three-hour long intensive workshops and two more agent panels. Also available was an intensive track for illustrators.
Well worth the effort and expense, I plan to make the SCBWI summer conference an annual event on my calendar. Hope to see you there next year!