It Takes a Village to Create a Great Book

It Takes a Village to Create a Great Book

Boulder, Colorado—On May 3-5, 2013, Literary Agent and Executive Director of the Big Sur Writing Workshops Andrea Brown and the RMC-SCBWI will bring a writing clinic to the Chautauqua conference center in Boulder, Colorado. Registration deadline is April 3, 2013.

The workshop is designed for children’s book writers who have a finished or partially finished manuscript (picture book, chapter book, middle grade novel, young adult novel, or nonfiction). It takes a village to create a great book. At Big Sur in the Rockies writers will receive critiques, industry tips, editorial help, and guidance in a personalized setting.

Big Sur in the Rockies offers an intimate workshop experience. The faculty to participant ratio is a maximum of 6:1. For that reason registration is limited to a small number of participants. For more information or to register by the April 3^rd registration deadline please visit the EVENTS page at the Rocky Mountain Chapter SCBWI website, or follow this hyperlink for the registration materials.

Faculty members include Lisa Yoskowitz, editor at Disney-Hyperion, Sarah Shumway, senior editor at Katherine Tegen Books (an imprint of Harper Collins Children’s Books) and three representatives from the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, including the President of the agency, Andrea Brown, agent Jennifer Rofé, and associate agent Lara Perkins. Furthermore the faculty includes an amazing cast of award-winning authors: Laura Backes, Terri Clark, Julie Danneberg, Dian Curtis Regan, Jean Reidy, Denise Vega, and Linda Arms White. For more information about the faculty visit the faculty biography page.

Big Sur in the Rockies gives writers tools to help prepare their work for publication in a highly competitive industry. Daniel Nayeri, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Digital Editorial Director, says there are 180,880,000 unique books in the world. When the average American reads 17 books a year, it’s important for writers to make every effort to perfect their craft.

The Black Rabbit Easter Debut

If you love creating unique Easter baskets for your kids, then you should definitely top this year's basket with THE BLACK RABBIT by Philippa Leathers, illustrations by Dan Yaccarino (Candlewick, January 2013).

When White Rabbit leaves his home he is stalked by a giant Black Rabbit. Readers are in on the joke, as we know it's just his shadow following him.  But White Rabbit runs in fear, with Black Rabbit on his tail, and he lands in the dark forest. Read on to discover how White Rabbit overcomes the trouble ahead.  

This isn't an Easter story, but I'm in love with the rabbit (s). The text is cute, clever, and fun and the the illustrations make me smile (of course they do, it's Dan Yaccarino!).

My yammering about how great this book is shouldn't be longer than than the sparse and perfect words Philippa Leathers presents, so just trust me, read it, and enjoy THE BLACK RABBIT for yourself.

• 
  
• The Black Rabbit ($14.00)
• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick (January 22, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076365714X
• ISBN-13: 978-0763657147

Latest News in Children's Book Publishing

March 2013

Book Expo America (BEA) Announces 2013

BEA has announced the books to be featured on the convention's three "buzz" book panels for adult, young adult, and middle grade books. Convention will take place at the end of May 2013.  During the Children’s Book and Author Breakfast, Octavia Spencer will serve as Master of Ceremonies. Rick Riordan, Mary Pope Osborn, and Veronica Roth will also be at this event.

Children's Book & Author Breakfast

8:00 am - 9:30 am
Special Events Hall

Octavia Spencer Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective: The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (October 15, 2013)	Mary Pope Osborne Magic Tricks from the Tree House Random House Books for Young Readers (July 23, 2013) - - - - - - - - - Magic Tree House #50: Hurry Up, Houdini! Random House Books for Young Readers (July 23, 2013)	Rick Riordan The Heroes of Olympus, Book Four: The House of Hades Disney-Hyperion (October 8, 2013)	Veronica Roth Divergent: Book III Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books (Fall 2013)

BUZZ BOOKS!!

Adult
All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood by Jennifer Senior (Ecco, January 2014)
Knocking on Heavens Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death by Katy Butler (Scribner, September)
Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink (Crown, August)
The Affairs of Others: A Novel by Amy Grace Loyd (Picador, August)
Hitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields by Wendy Lower (HMH, October)
The Facades by Eric Lundgren (Overlook, September)

Young Adult
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (St. Martin's Griffin, September)
Tandem by Anna Jarzab (Delacorte, October)
All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill (Hyperion, September)
Entangled by Amy Rose Capetta (HMH Children's, October)
If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan (Algonquin Books for Young Readers, August)

Middle Grade
A Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates #1: Magic Marks the Spot by Caroline   Carlson (HarperCollins, September)
Counting By 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan (Dial, September)
The Fantastic Family Whipple by Matthew Ward (Razorbill, August)
Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab by Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith (Quirk, November)
The Time Fetch by Amy Herrick (Algonquin Books for Young Readers, August)

Awards

Finalists announced for the 2013 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.  The winner will be announced on March 19, and the 33rd Annual PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction Ceremony & Dinner will be held on Saturday, May 4 at the Folger Shakespeare Library. The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens.^[1] The winner receives US $15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US $5000.The finalists are:

Amelia Gray, Threats (Farrar, Straus)
Laird Hunt, Kind One (Coffee House Press)
T. Geronimo Johnson, Hold it 'Til It Hurts (Coffee House Press)
Thomas Mallon, Watergate (Pantheon)
Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Everything Begins & Ends at the Kentucky Club (Cinco Puntos Press)

Barnes & Noble also announced the winners of their annual Discover Awards:

Fiction: Amanda Coplin, The Orchardist (Harper)
Nonfiction: Cheryl Strayed, Wild (Knopf)

People

Simon and Schuster UK Children's has appointed Elv Moody as the new editorial director for children's fiction, starting in early June. She is currently editorial director at Puffin UK.

At HMH Children's, Mary Wilcox has been promoted to the newly-created position of vp, editor in chief.  In addition,  Adah Nuchi has been promoted to associate editor.

News from Writers House:

Writers House announced that Geri Thoma and Lisa DiMona have joined the agency. “Thoma, who joins on March 18, was previously partner at Markson Thoma, while DiMona, who will start on April 8, was founder and sole proprietor of Lark Productions, a literary agency and book development company established in 1998. "We are delighted that Geri and Lisa are joining our growing team of agents. Their expertise in nonfiction will complement our list and enlarge the scope of the agency," said Writers House chairman Amy Berkower in a statement. In addition, Stephen Barr was recently promoted to senior agent, while Brianne Johnson moves up to agent”.

Business:

The Wallstreet Journal reveals that Len Riggio plans to buy Barnes and Noble.  Per the Journal, Riggo, "notified the board...he plans to propose to purchase all of the assets of the retail business"--comprising the BN superstores, and the BN.com web site. "Riggio plans to make the proposal in order to facilitate the company's evaluation of its previously announced review of strategic options for the separation of its investment in Nook Media."