The Autograph Party!

The finale of the 2018 SCBWI Summer Conference is a celebration of the whole three past days, full of inspiration and community, and chances to meet and have books signed by the amazing conference faculty!

The Roller-Coaster Line for Lois Lowry...


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Kevin Lewis: The Truth About Trucks, Trains, and Toddlers: Creating Enduring Works for the Very Young

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Kevin Lewis! Kevin Lewis! Kevin Lewis! I'd never heard him speak before and he's been one of the highlights of my conference. He's a former editor, current agent and author, so he really knows every facet of the market as well as cares about craft. Run don't walk to any Kevin Lewis talk you can attend, he's also like Mem Fox in giving you a master class on how to read a story out loud. Here're a few of my favorite things I learned from Kevin about writing for toddlers: Keep it short. Understand that your audience is going to exhibit their cognitive abilities. You think your manuscript can be longer than Eric Carlie’s Very Hungry Caterpillar? Think again.  Make the reader (the parent) the star, and make it easy for them to star: Sound it out, toddlers are just getting to know rich language, sound words are delicious and fantastic to include. Study Denise Fleming 's (and Kevin's ) books for great sound words and onomatopoeia. Act it out. Give the parent ac...
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Welcome to the 2018 SCBWI Conference in Los Angeles

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As is our tradition with SCBWI, we kicked off the conference with welcoming remarks from Steve Mooser and Lin Oliver, who founded this organization 47 years ago, when—miraculously, Lin Oliver was a zygote (look it up, chums). Here are some numbers: 1,182 people are with us, 382 of whom have published more than 1,400 books. People have traveled from 18 countries around the world and 48 of the 50 states (South Dakota and West Virginia are apparently in time-out). In addition to all working on children's books, we have people who have day jobs as horse trainers, balloon artists, teachers, massage therapists, stenographers, and even private eyes. Lin introduced us to the wonderful SCBWI staff, pictured. (They are larger in real life.) We will be updating this blog all weekend with updates from keynotes, panels, breakout sessions, and more. And you can also follow Team Blog on Twitter: @mbrockenbrough @devas_t @AdriaQuinones @leewind @cuppajolie @jaimetem And of course @scbwi itself.
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