SCBWI National Conference

I’ve returned to work after spending the weekend at the SCBWI National Conference http://www.scbwi.org/Conference.aspx?Con=2 It was a particularly good list of speakers this year, including the delightful Jennifer Hunt, literary genius Sherman Alexie, illustrators David Wiesner and Dan Yaccarino, agents Steven Malk and Sarah Davies, who gave insightful presentations, as well as many, many other writers, editors, and others, talking craft and business. For a complete blow by blow check out Paula Yoo’s blog http://paulayoo.com/

Anna Webman -Literary Agent

I am thrilled to announce that this past month I signed with literary agent extraordinaire Anna Webman at Curtis, Brown, Ltd. For more information about Anna see Curtis, Brown’s website: http://www.curtisbrown.com/ and for the interview with Anna that originally inspired my submission to her, see the QUERYTRACKER blog: http://querytracker.blogspot.com/2009/04/interview-with-literary-agent-anna.html

Grandmother Have the Angels Come? Book Trailer

Denise made a book trailer for Grandmother Have the Angels Come? (2009 Little, Brown)

by Denise Vega, Illustrated by erin eitter kono

Joshua G. Squirrel

Recently I've been working on some projects with a ground squirrel named Joshua whom I met while visiting Palm Springs. He lives in the Mohave Desert, west of Vegas and is in possession of an i-phone. We've been communicating via e-mail, etc. and he's just started a blog. Apparently he is also tweeting. You can see his blog at http://joshuagsquirrel.blogspot.com/

PUNK WIG Honored

PUNK WIG has been selected by Bank Street College of Education's Children's Book Commitee as a "Best book of the Year" and will be included in the 100th anniversary edition of THE BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR to be published in September, 2009

Picure Book Artists Association Spring Poster

Visit http://www.picturebookartists.org/ to see everyone's spring art.

Young Writers' Conference -Alta Vista

I enjoyed a wonderful school visit this past Friday at Alta Vista Elementary School with the Young Writers' conference. http://www.youngwritersconference.org/index.html The conference (they do many throughout the year at southland schools) is exceptional because it is run in the same format as an adult writer’s conference. The kids pick break out sessions with professional writers who specialize in everything from screenplays, novels, blogging, technical, music, children’s and more. I did presentations to third graders, talking about imagery, symbolism, and the creative process. I than gave them an illustration to inspire their writing. Their work was amazing! Some wrote in poetic, brief, almost haiku form, others wrote two pages with complex plots, (Obviously the novelists in the group) others were very serious critiques of the image. What I found most fascinating is how willing all of the kids were to stand up in front of the group and share their work. They were all so proud. It was a such pleasure!