The latest SCBWI Brazos Valley news

Volume 2 | April 8, 2020

SCBWI Brazos Valley News

Hello, Brazos Valley,

What a month it’s been, wow. We hope you’re all safe and healthy and doing your best to stay sane amongst all this craziness. Please know that SCBWI has been working hard to try and make life a little easier for its members, be it through the Emergency Fund , free digital workshops (read on) or simply providing us with some words of comfort and guidance from the kid lit community ( see video ).

Here in the Brazos Valley we’re cooking up some ideas to keep us all connected and inspired as well. Please be sure to take our member survey as that will help us create programs suited to our region’s needs!

( Even if your membership hasn't been renewed for a while, we would like to hear from you.)

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Member Survey

Help us help you! Please take our survey and let us know what type of programming and resources you’re interested in. Even if your membership hasn't been renewed for a while, we would like to hear from you. Your entry will be private and anonymous.

Take the Survey

Brazos Valley Events

Monthly Meeting via Zoom:

Novels in Verse with David Bowles

April 29, 2020

10:00 am - 11:30 am

Our guest speaker, Texas author David Bowles, will be interviewed by Romy Natalia Goldberg about his award-winning novel in verse They Call Me Güero – A Border Kid’s Poems. The interview will be preceded by a member meet & greet from 9:30-10.

Please register for free in advance for this Zoom meeting by clicking here . After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Can’t make the meeting? Don’t worry! A replay will be provided for all registrants after the meeting.

Feel free to submit questions ahead of time to [email protected] . PartDaicipants will have a chance to ask questions after the interview as well.

David Bowles is a Mexican-American author from south Texas, where he teaches at the University of Texas Río Grande Valley. He has written several titles, most notably The Smoking Mirror (Pura Belpré Honor Book) and They Call Me Güero (Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award, Claudia Lewis Award for Excellence in Poetry, Pura Belpré Honor Book, Walter Dean Myers Honor Book).

They Call Me Güero is available for purchase from Cinco Puntos Press and other booksellers. Please consider supporting bookstores in this difficult time by purchasing your copy from an independent bookseller.

Presenting Brazos Valley Book Report!

Please join us for a new way to connect with and learn from our Brazos Valley SCBWI members. This is a new offering we had in the works Before COVID-19 turned our world upside down. We will meet monthly via Zoom for a “show and tell” about the kid lit books we have been reading (think of the book report segments from Reading Rainbow). We’re still ironing out details so please answer our member survey - we’ll do our best to choose a time that works best for the majority of our members.

Resources for Members

FREE to CURRENT SCBWI MEMBERS

SCBWI is offering a new Digital Workshop program: a series of weekly, one-hour webinars featuring renowned children’s book creators, editors, agents, and art directors. The Digital Workshops take place live via Zoom and are available free of charge to any SCBWI member anywhere in the world. This is a rare opportunity to learn from some of the best teachers in children’s publishing, all at no cost to you!

If you can’t make the live event, a full recording will be posted on the SCBWI website twenty-four hours after the workshop ends and will remain up for one month. Log in with your SCBWI member password, and participate, learn, and grow.

Workshop #1: Big Picture Revision for Middle Grade and Young Adult Novels with author Kate Messner is ready for viewing. Registration opened April 6 for Workshop #2: Outstanding Openers: How to Grab Your Readers Right from the Start with Sara Sargent, Executive Editor, HarperCollins Children’s Books, on April 9, 1:00pm-2:00pm PDT.

Click here for registration and more information

Regional Webinars

SCBWI Regional Webinars

SCBWI webinars sponsored by various regions are a great way to learn from industry pros! Reduced pricing is available for members, so be sure to log-in before signing up. Please note all SCBWI webinars have now been moved from the Nevada SCBWI page to a new page on the SCBWI website. Click through on the button to the left.

SCBWI Connects

So many creators of children’s books have risen to the call for help from teachers and parents during the COVID-19 crisis by creating online materials that will entertain, instruct, and inspire children and young people. Some are reading their books and discussing them. Some have created mini-lessons on art or history or craft projects. Some are doing the equivalent of a school visit with a presentation and slide show. Check out the directory of what our published and listed (PAL) members are making available online.

Upcoming Events--a sampling of online offerings

SCBWI Austin 2020 Writers & Illustrators Working Conference May 2-3

Austin's conference h as moved online! Speakers include Laurie Halse Anderson, Ben Clanton, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Liz Garton Scanlon, Don Tate, editors Karen Chaplin (Harper) and Tiffany Liao (Henry Holt), art director Danielle Carnito (Lerner), agents Stephanie Fretwell-Hill and Laurel Symonds, and many, many more.

Learn through keynotes, breakouts, and intensives on picture books, novels, illustration and professional development. Get more details and register here . ( Please note, the Austin regional team is still confirming the final schedule, but they are aiming to keep it close to the current schedule. They will update the conference pages when everything’s finalized.)

Illustrator event with Matthew Forsythe

Date: April 11, 2020

Time:10am Hawaii Time/3pm Central Time

During his presentation, intended for illustrators, Matt will give us a closer look into his process. He will talk about his thumb-nailing and design process, and what materials and tools he uses to bring his illustrations to life. He will be sharing progress images of a painting at different stages of completion and discussing what decisions are going into each step of the process. We will have time after the presentation for questions.

Recording will be up for one week after the event for the participants to view.

Tickets are $25 for members. Register here.

SCBWI Montana's Virtual Writing Retreat

Saturday, May 16, 2020, 10am EST

Due to the coronavirus situation, SCBWI Montana has moved our face-to-face writing retreat to a virtual event on Zoom. Our guest faculty member is Talia Benamy, associate editor at Philomel Books (an imprint of Penguin Young Readers). Talia will show us ways to take our writing careers to the next level.

Register for all three sessions or pick one or two that fit your needs best. All attendees will be able to submit a manuscript to Talia after the event. For more information about Talia Benamy, visit the Philomel website .

Retreat Sessions

10am EST Session 1: Welcome and “Creating Characters” Presentation (1 hour and fifteen minutes, including Q &A)

11:30 am EST Session 2: Perfecting Your Pitch: The Power of An Awesome Query Letter (1 hour and 15 minutes, including Q &A)

1pm EST Session 3: Best Practices for Authors, Q and A session, Closing Remarks (1 hour and 30 minutes)

Cost: $15/session for SCBWI members or $25/session for non-members

Inking and the Comics Market with Jerry Bennett

April 25, 2020 10am Alaska Time/1pm Central

Have you always wanted to know more about comics and how to create them?

This 90-minute webinar is perfect for illustrators or writers who want to learn more. Jerry Bennett will talk a bit about his journey, how to ink for comics, show some of his process, and talk about alternative comic markets he has successfully utilized that you might not be aware of yet. Bring your comic book work-in-progress, if you have one, or just come to learn more about the process. Find our more and register here .