June 2024

Join us in celebrating our Members' News!

Authors and illustrators, share your good news!

Book Awards!

Writer's Spotlight!

Illustrator's Corner!

#DRAW

THIS!

Tonya Duncan Ellis celebrated her picture book launch They Built Me For Freedom: The Story of Juneteenth on

June 9th at Project Row Houses Community Gallery near Emancipation Park. Tonya has more engagements this month. Find her on Instagram to stay updated @TonyaEllisBooks

Our PAL Coordinator, Sydney Dunlap and her book, It Happened on Saturday, has made it to the final round for the Crystal Kite Awards. Visit the SCBWI Crystal Kite Awards Portal to cast your vote for Sydney or any nominee before June 21st!

"Freddie the Flyer" WINS Atlantic Readers’ Choice Award!

We are proud to announce that Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail's won the Reader's Choice Award this month.

"A gorgeous picture book that pays homage to aviator Freddie Carmichael — the first Indigenous commercial pilot in the Arctic —with each month of the year highlighting moments from his life, the beauty of the North and the power of dreams."

Congratulations Danielle!

Writer Spotlight

Are you a published author? Would you like to be featured in one of our monthly newsletters and website? Get your bio & cutest headshot ready and complete the short application. Application is open now! Got more questions? Email Kaye!

Local Author Spotlight: Katherine Briggs

Katherine Briggs crafted her first monster story at age three. Since graduating from crayons to laptop, she continues to devour and weave fantasy tales while enjoying chai tea. She, her coadventurer husband, and rescue dog reside outside Houston, where she classically educates amazing middle school students, teaches ESL to adults, and enjoys studying other languages. Find her online at https://katherinebriggs.com and Instagram @katherinebriggs_author

Illustrator Corner

Local Illustrator Spotlight:

Are you an illustrator? Do you know an illustrator from our region that you would like to nominate for our SPOTLIGHT? We want to feature you all! Please email Jennie at houston-ic@scbwi.org for a chance to be featured in an upcoming newsletter.

SCBWI Minnesota:

How to Pitch Your Graphic Novel

July 16, 2024 (registration closes on July 14): Creating a graphic novel pitch package can be intimidating to many authors and illustrators but this workshop will break this mystifying task into a simple checklist. Using examples, we will discuss what to include, what to avoid, and how to best present yourself and your story to convince an agent or editor that you and your project are worth it. We will touch on putting together pitches in general but the main focus will be on graphic novel pitch packages. Through this workshop, you will hopefully get a better idea of how to go from having a great story to getting it published.

DrawThis Prompt!

The June prompt is: BARBECUE

Every month we develop a long list of potential #scbwiDrawThis prompts to choose one word or phrase that will challenge our illustrator members to dig deep and draw. Our goal is to find words rooted in a unique action, mood, point of view, or character theme. We also hope this practice will help you develop new art for your growing portfolios. Share your work with us! We want to see what you create!

#scbwiDrawThis

Illustrator Gallery

Adding your illustrations to your SCBWI profile is a great way to showcase your talents, build a portfolio, and connect with industry professionals.

Visit: https://www.scbwi.org/galleries to view the SCBWI illustrator gallery.

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