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Oct. 5 to 7, 2007
Oakland Convention Center
SCBWI SF North & East Bay region will host a cooperative table at the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) trade show from Oct. 5 to 7.

There is a $25 fee to display SCBWI titles at the table. On Oct. 5, there will be a day of educational programming for authors and illustrators on The programs will be How to work the trade show for author (by Cynthia Frank of Cypress House); How to promote your book by Lissa Rovetch (author of the Hot Dog Bob series); How to create a community of readers and booksellers by Paula Hendricks, one of the directors of LitQuake, a San Franciso city-wide celebration of books.

If you have books you'd like to display or if you would like to attend the educational panels, please contact Margaret Speaker Yuan at books4women@yahoo.com

NOT AN SCBWI EVENT
Posted by Margaret Speaker Yuan, RA SF North/East Bay

Litquake is a San Francisco city-wide celebration of books and literature. The children's segment of the celebration is called Kidquake. It will take place on Oct. 10 at the SF Main Library.

I received the following description from the Kidquake director: "Kidquake last year consisted of two assembly programs that school groups signed up for. About 400 kids per assembly, open to schools in SF. One assembly is grades K-2 (but no kindergartners came last year, a little early in the year for a field trip for the young ones, I think) and the other is grades 3-5. No middle schoolers.

We had 4 authors per assembly. "We also do some workshops for one class at a time (they are chosen by lottery to get to have the workshop). "It's possible that we might expand to one more assembly and include 4 more authors, but at the moment, just planning to do what we did last year. "So---FYI we are not looking for either YA books nor little baby picture books. Last year the hardest age group to find local authors for was the grades 3-5."

If you would like to be considered as a presenter for Kidquake, please email me your bio, your list of publications, your web site address, your email and snail mail addresses, and a description of a potential workshop. I will send your info on to the director of Kidquake.

http://www.litquake.org/index.php

Best Regards, Margaret Speaker Yuan RA SF North & East Bay

books4women@ yahoo.com

SALO Grant for school visit in Sacramento Area

Dorothy Leland together with librarian Penny Kastanis worked on getting a grant program going for school libraries through an organization called SALO (Sac Area Library Organization. ) Every year, SALO now gives 10 grants of $250 to schools who otherwise would not be able to have an author visit. The idea is that $200 is for the author, and $50 is to buy the author's books for the library. (We know it's not big money for the author, but we sought out Sacramento-area authors who were willing to visit a school for that amount--and a number of people on this list came through.) SALO has now just given out its second round for grants--and Penny is wondering if there are any more authors out there who would be willing to be considered for this. If so, you can email her at pkastanis@comcast. net or call her at (916) 455-5682.

The Mountain View Second Saturday Series

The Mountain View Series is a wonderful opportunity for writers and illustrators to hear published authors share their knowledge and experience.

All the events will be held on the second Saturday of the month, so mark your calendar.

BOOKING AGENT/CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS CONSULTANT

Susan Katz founded, KatzConnects, an agency which offers school booking services as well as website/curriculum guide development and presentation consults. She promotes the work of many prolific clients, representing over 250 books!

Susan's goal is to connect authors and illustrators with schools and libraries, as well as to help authors and illustrators connect their books with the curriculum. Katz Connects does all of the following for several prolific author/illustrators: 1) Book school and library visits, 2) write curriculum connection activities for websites and mailings and 3) help design and plan the content of school/library/conference presentations.

As such, she welcomes the opportunity to represent you. Please feel free to email her at katzconnects@aol.com for further details.

Susan B. Katz is a National Board Certified Teacher with over 12 years experience as a bilingual, elementary educator and educational consultant in literacy. She's spoken at several SCBWI conferences on how to integrate books with the curriculum.

New Book! Writing Children's Books For Dummies

Best-selling authors Lisa Rojany Buccieri and Peter Economy are proud to announce their latest arrival: Writing Children's Books For Dummies (Wiley).

In this book, Lisa (who is a long-time member of the Los Angeles Chapter of SCBWI with more than 100 children's books under her belt) and Peter take the often mysterious and complex task of writing a children's book and getting it published and put it into easily understandable terms.

Before penning Writing Children's Books For Dummies, Lisa and Peter took a look at ALL the major books on the topic to ensure that their new book covered EVERY essential topic in the most up-to-date and comprehensive way. From brainstorming great ideas and all the elements of writing a great story (plot, characters, dialogue, pacing, POV, drama, etc), to polishing and editing your words and finding an agent or publisher, then promoting and publicizing your book, Rojany Buccieri and Economy include it all—and more. Interviews with industry insiders add great information.

Writing Children's Books For Dummies is available now at a bookstore near you, or on Amazon.com, BN.com, and other retailers.

SCBWI 2007-2008 Sierra Nevada Mentor Program

Applications are available at www.nevadascbwi.org for the 2007-2008 Sierra Nevada Mentor Program. The program is open to all SCBWI members by APPLICATION and acceptance.

The mentor program matches members who are producing near publishable work with experienced professionals for a six month exchange of work and ideas. Seventeen people will be accepted into this program and they will be chosen, by blind application process, by the mentors who will work with them. The schedule includes attendance at the Sierra Nevada Fall Conference in Virginia City Nevada, October 13 and 14, 2007 where you will meet your mentor and attend the conference. The conference fee, but not travel, lodging or meals, are included in the Mentor Program fee.

Next, you will have at least 3 exchanges (revisions and responses) with your mentor by mail, e-mail, phone, or in person, (as your geography and needs dictate) over the next six months. The mentor program culminates with a Mentor Retreat in Virginia City, Nevada for the mentors, mentees, and a guest editor on April 11, 12, 13, 2008.

Cost of this retreat weekend is covered by the mentor fee. You will spend time with your mentor and others he/she has worked with in small group sessions, meet in small groups with the guest editor, and have time for relaxing, networking, and writing/drawing.

Application deadline is July 1, 2007. Full details are available on the Sierra Nevada Region website.

Fee is $785.

This is a competitive program and is not designed for beginners. We welcome applications from outside of Nevada - but in the event of a tie for a spot - preference will be given to the Sierra Nevada member. The mentors are: Terri Farley, middle grade and series, Bruce Hale middle grade, humor, author illustrated work; Ellen Hopkins, YA and verse; Deborah Nourse Lattimore, illustration and picture book writers; Susan Hart Lindquist, middle grade, YA; Stephen Mooser picture book writers, early chapter books. Guest editor is Jim Thomas of Random House. For questions e-mail Suzy Williams at nevadascbwi@charter.net

None of these are SCBWI events.

Book festivals where your publisher can participate and showcase your book. If you're there to promote the book and talk about it to the people at the festival, so much the better. Alternatively, you can book a booth and sell your own books. Yet another way to participate is to call the festival organizers and offer to give a presentation as one of the show's speakers.

AASL – American Association of School Librarians
Reno October 25-28, 2007.
Norca members who are signing up for this event are welcome to e-mail Suzy Williams at nevadascbwi@charter.net if they want recommendations for places to stay or if they want to be invited to any events Sierra Nevada SCBWI may sponsor at that time.

Volunteer for Musing Our Children
October 15-19, 2007

The Muse Reading and Writing Appreciation Week will be an ongoing project we are hoping to inspire and attract writers, parents, and teachers from around the world.

Our goals: to reach around the globe visiting schools and to offer free handouts and information to everyone who would like to be involved in helping children and parents understand the value of reading and writing.

This year's Reading and Writing Appreciation Week will take place on October 15 - 19, 2007.

We are asking writers and anyone else who'd like to volunteer to set an appointment at any time within October 15 - 19 and visit either an elementary school and read to a classroom, or visit the older elementary classes or even high schools and talk to them about what it means to be a writer. When the Appreciation Week is over and done with, we invite those who took part in some way in their part of town, to send us any pictures you may have taken with the classes visited, comments from teachers and children about your visit, and your own thoughts. We'll post these in our EVENTS page for everyone to see and perhaps be inspired to join our quest. Handouts for different age groups will be offered for FREE to download on this site.

For more info please visit: http://musingourchildren.tripod.com//