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SCBWI Brazos Valley News

 Upcoming BV Events
Summer Conference & Scholarships
Submission Opportunities
Virtual Offerings

Upcoming Brazos Valley Events
If you want to write a book teachers love to read and kids love to re-read, there's no one better to learn from that a school librarian. Guest speaker, school librarian Ro Menéndez will walk us through her duties as a school librarian, including how she engages with both authors, illustrators and readers/students. She will also touch on her work creating teacher's guides for popular books such as The Last Stop on Market Street, Carmela Full of Wishes and Milo Imagines the World (check the guide out here). Join us for a dynamic discussion about the things you can do to keep young readers connected with your story and tap into the purchasing power of school librarians. School librarians are at the daily crossroads between a book's creators and it's readers.

Please register in advance to receive login information (you will get an email with the Zoom meeting ID and password the night before the event). As usual, our meetings are free and open to the public. We encourage you to invite members of the Brazos Valley writing community to join us!
Registration is open! Brazos Valley members attending will be invited to connect through a private Facebook group to enjoy the conference together. Scholarships are available. See below.
FREE to CURRENT SCBWI MEMBERS the fourth slate of weekly webinars featuring renowned children's book creators is happening live via Zoom at 3 pm CDT on Thursdays through June 17.
June 3 -- Meg Medina -- Middle Grade characters
June 10 -- Kelly Starling Lyons -- Chapter Books
June 17 -- Nina LaCour -- Atmosphere

Live attendance is limited to the first 5,000 people to register. The video recording of each workshop will be posted on the SCBWI website twenty-four hours after the workshop ends and will remain up tor two to four weeks.
Submission Opportunities
Charlesbridge and TERC are seeking new picture books for their Storytelling Math series.
Storytelling Math celebrates children using math in their daily adventures as they play, build, and discover the world around them. Joyful stories and hands-on activities make it easy for kids and their grown-ups to explore everyday math together.

The call for submissions says, "We’re seeking engaging and emotionally resonant stories full of heart and humor. We want to see characters we care about, a plot that makes us eagerly turn the page, and math that feels organic and authentic. We’ve found that manuscripts under 500 words work best for this series.

"Storytelling Math books star BIPOC children who use mathematical thinking in their daily lives. To complement the existing books, we are especially interested in #ownvoices manuscripts featuring Black, Indigenous, and Latinx characters."
SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES
Please submit your complete manuscript to storytellingmath@charlesbridge.com by August 1, 2021. Include “Storytelling Math” in the subject line. We will respond to all submissions within two to three months of receipt.
Cricket Media seeks fiction, nonfiction, folktales, poetry, and more for their literary magazines for children and teens: Babybug (ages 0-3), Ladybug (ages 3-6), Spider (ages 6-9), and Cricket (ages 9-14).

"Especially welcome are works by LGBTQIA+ writers/artists, writers/artists with disabilities, and writers/artists of color. We are sensitive to issues of cultural appropriation and misrepresentation." The deadline for submissions is August 15, 2021.

Visit cricketmag.submittable.com/submit for the latest calls for submissions and more details.
Upcoming Regional Events--a sampling of online offerings

Please remember to check the time zone for each offering.
Author Panel: Humor with Heart
June 5th 9AM PDT/11AM CDT

This panel event is free, but please RSVP by CLICKING HERE so we can anticipate the response (Don't worry—you won't be committing!).
 
To view this event live on June 5th,
go to our SoCal SCBWI YouTube channel:
 
LIN OLIVER: The co-founder and Executive Director of SCBWI, author of 50 children’s books, and producer of TV and Film. She has a 3rd book in her hilarious ALIEN SUPERSTAR series co-written with Henry Winkler coming out in October.
 
DEBRA GREEN: Writer of several MG chapter book series and YA books, among them the successful ZEEK MEEKS series. She has recently released a new book called VIOLET AND THE PIE OF LIFE.
 
DONNA BARBA HIGUERA: Winner of Pura Belpre Honor Award 2020- American Library Association, Sid Fleischman Award 2020, Best Books for Youth List 2020- American Library Association, and Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award 2020 for MG book LUPE WONG WON’T DANCE. She also has three more books coming out this year.

Eastern Pennsylvania has two upcoming webinars with agent and award-winning illustrator Shadra Strickland (winner of the Ezra Jack Keats Award and the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award).
 
Join us for one or both!
Writers Who Want to Illustrate Monday, June 7, 2021 @7pm EDT
(Lecture recordings will be available for all participants registered before the event.)
Are you a beginning illustrator? Or maybe a writer who has dabbled in drawings or just toyed with the idea of illustrating your own work? Perhaps you’re a beginning writer who would benefit from knowing how to think more like an illustrator? If any of these sound like you, join literary agent Shadra Strickland for a discussion on just what it takes to become an author-illustrator. Not only will it open doors to query a wider range of literary agents, but knowing what it takes to become an illustrator just might help strengthen your writing as well.
 *Registration for the live webinar link closes 5am the morning of the event.
 
Illustrators Who Want to Write - Thursday, June 10, 2021 @7pm EDT
(Lecture recordings will be available for all participants registered before the event.)
Have you started your publication journey with a focus on illustrating? Have a story that’s blooming in your artwork? Or maybe you’re new to writing and illustrating? Join literary agent Shadra Strickland as she shares experiences from her own journey as illustrator who started to write. Not only will it open doors to query a wider range of literary agents, but understanding story writing just might help strengthen your illustrations as well.
*Series registration closes 5am on Thursday, June 10.

CRITIQUES AVAILABLE–Illustration Portfolios and Picture Books Only
 


90 minute Webinar Thursday, June 17, 2021 at 7 PM Eastern/6 PM Central/5 PM Mountain/4 PM Pacific
With the growing demand for added diversity in children’s literature, it is more important than ever to depict these characters authentically. Pulling from personal experience, the presenter will share various strategies and resources that can help in creating fully-rounded and authentic characters which mirror a different perspective. The pitfalls and false starts many writers encounter will also be discussed as well as approaches to avoid and work through them with the mindset of striving to do no harm. This session is a safe space in which to ask any and all questions in pursuit of telling a more accurate, and well-balanced cross-cultural story.
Webinar Fees – SCBWI Members: $15; Non-members: $25
(includes live webinar and 30 days of recording access)
Optional Written Critique from Leah Henderson following live webinar:
First Page Critique (picture book fiction or nonfiction or MG fiction): $25
Picture Book (Fiction or Nonfiction) Manuscript Critique or 10-Page Manuscript Excerpt Critique (MG fiction): $70
Hosted by MD/DE/WV
TECH SUPPORT
If you are having problems with Zoom or with registering for a Brazos Valley SCBWI event, please contact brazosvalley-ra@scbwi.org. Please note, unless otherwise stated, all Brazos Valley SCBWI events are free of cost. We are currently requiring registration in order to keep our events private and safe from hackers. Your event login information will be emailed to the email address on file in your SCBWI account.