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Peggy's Pages BlogĀ 

Golden Kite Winners and Conference Links

I returned from the SCBWI National conference in LA last week and am beginning to get my mind back. What a conference! With over 1,100 attendees, it was a wonderful meeting of other children's writers, editors, booksellers, librarians and others in children's publishing. It was also an update on the business of children's books, inspirational, and as always, a place to learn and improve your craft. I especially enjoyed meeting new people, seeing old friends, and sharing ideas and friendship with other Regional Advisors and Assistant Regional Advisors.

Read on-going highlights posted during the conference on the SCBWI Team Blog, led by Alice Pope at: http://scbwiconference.blogspot.com/

One of the highlights of the week was attending the Golden Kite Awards Luncheon on Sunday. The acceptance speeches were humbling and inspiring.

It began with Paul Fleishman presenting the award for humor, named for his father, children's author Sid Fleishman, who passed away early this year. The recipient was Alan Zadoff for his book, "Food, Girls and Other Things I Can't Have." Qualities that merit the award besides humor are depth, substance, and heart.

If you ever have the opportunity to hear Ashley Bryan speak, you will never again read poetry the same way. He ended his acceptance of the award for non-fiction by reciting a poem by Eloise Greenfield.

Accepting the award for picture book text, Marion Dane Bauer talked about the poetic language of a picture book. After which John Parra spoke about the illustration half of the book when he received the award for picture book illustration.

Julia Durango, our neighbor from the wonderful SCBWI group in Illinois, received the award for fiction and gave a heart-warming speech during which she said that she puts secret messages to her sons into her books.

Although honor recipients were not presented at the conference, it's worth noting here that our own Indiana SCBWI author, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, received the Golden Kite Honor award for fiction for her wonderful picture book, Bella and Bean.

Christopher Cheng, from the Australia chapter of SCBWI, was named SCBWI Member of the Year, and it couldn't have gone to a more deserving person.

Golden Kite Recipients:
Fiction: Julia Durango for "Sea of the Dead," S&S
Non-Fiction: Ashley Bryan for "Ashley Bryan: Words to My Life's Song," Atheneum
Picture Book Text: Marion Dane Bauer for "The Longest Night," Holiday House
Picture Book Illustration: John Parra for "Gracias Thanks," Lee & Low Books
Link to award recipients: http://www.scbwi.org/Pages.aspx/Golden-Kite-Award-Recipients

Congratulations to all!

More conference notes to come!
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