Here’s the scoop on May's most popular destinations on The Children’s Book Review site, the most coveted new releases, the bestsellers, and kids’ book events.

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Here's the scoop on the most popular destinations on The Children’s Book Review site, the most coveted new releases, the bestsellers, and kids' book events.

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"A really good stand-up comic is a poet; it's about the use of language"� Sherman Alexie, as interviewed in the Iowa Review

This quote explains why I'm a big fan of both Alexie and Shakespeare: neither poet is afraid to make you laugh. (Here's a professor who apparently agrees with me.)

Furthermore, in a satisfyingly serendipitous moment, I just googled "Alexie" and "Shakespeare," to see if anyone else had mentioned the two online in the same breath--- and found out that Sherman Alexie is accepting his 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award at the Folger Shakespeare Library here in D.C. on May 8th.

P.S. If you want more quotes from Alexie, I also saw this at his website:

"A new book, Conversations with Sherman Alexie, edited by Nancy Peterson, includes interviews - ranging from 1993 to 2007- that feature Alexie speaking candidly about the ideas and themes behind poetry collections, short story collections, novels, and screenplays."

This post is part of a month-long celebration of not-quite-daily quotes about poets, poems, and poetry. For more quotes, see the archive of the Poetry Quote of the Day. There are many more National Poetry Month celebrations across the Kidlitosphere.

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I have so many books to talk about but as I craft my thoughts I will digress with this excellence.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Sherman Alexie
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

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National Book Award-winning author Sherman Alexie will read from and sign his new adult book War Dances (Grove), a heartbreaking and hilarious collection of stories that explore the precarious balance between self-preservation and external responsibility in art, family, and the world at large. Brazen, and wise, War Dances takes us to the heart of what it means to be human. The new beginnings, successes, mistakes, and regrets that make up our daily lives are laid bare in this wide-ranging and provocative new work that is Alexie at the height of his powers. Free numbered tickets for a place in the book signing line will be available at 6:30 pm; one ticket per customer in line. Seating for the presentation prior to the signing is limited, and available on a first-come, first-served basis to ticketed customers only.
Tattered Cover Book Store Historic LoDo
1628 16th St.
Denver, Colorado 80202

Reyna Grande came to the United States at age nine to join her father, who had left her behind in Mexico for several years. She went on to become the first person in her family to obtain a higher education. She holds a B.A. and an M.F.A. in creative writing. Her first novel, Across a Hundred Mountains, received the El Premio Aztlan Literary Award in 2006 and an American Book Award in 2007. Grande will read from and sign her new novel Dancing with Butterflies (Washington Square), the story of four very different women whose lives interconnect through a common passion for their Mexican heritage and a dance company called Alegría. Visit Reyna Grande’s website Tattered Cover Book Store Highlands Ranch 9315 Dorchester Street Littleton, Colorado 80129

A book launch featuring editor Patrick Millikin and contributors Charles Kelly, James Sallis, Laura Tohe, Robert Anglen, Kurt Reichenbaugh, Stella Pope Duarte, David Corbett, and Jon Talton

[from Akashic's website]
Brand-new stories by: Diana Gabaldon, Lee Child, James Sallis, Luis Alberto Urrea, Jon Talton, Megan Abbott, Charles Kelly, Robert Anglen, Patrick Millikin, Laura Tohe, Kurt Reichenbaugh, Gary Phillips, David Corbett, Don Winslow, Dogo Barry Graham, and Stella Pope Duarte.

Sunshine is the new noir . . . Phoenix: its name evokes new beginnings, a place to start over fresh, new west rising out of the ashes of the old. From its frontier origins, Phoenix has always had a dark, lawless side. It is a city founded upon shady development deals, good ol' boy politics, police corruption, organized crime, and exploitative use of natural resources. Close proximity to the Mexican border makes the city a natural destination spot for illegal trafficking of all kinds--narcotics, weapons, humans.

Modern-day Phoenix is a textbook case of suburban sprawl gone unchecked. Endless cookie-cutter housing developments, slapped up on the cheap, metastasize outward into the desert. All of the concrete and asphalt traps the heat, raising the temperature to apocalyptic extremes. What does all this mean? Crime, and lots of it.

Marisela Treviño Orta has been honored with the 2009 PEN USA Literary Award for Drama for her play Braided Sorrow, a haunting and poetic meditation on the missing women of Juárez, Mexico.

Su Teatro produced the 2008 world premiere of Braided Sorrow to great acclaim. The Denver Post called it "alternately haunting and beautiful." The Rocky Mountain News called it "chilling reality and artful imagining." Westword called it "gutsy." And the North Denver Tribune called it "important."

Other 2009 PEN award winners include Steve Lopez (The Soloist), Dustin Lance Black (Milk), and Elmore Leonard (Lifetime Achievement). Past winners include Ray Bradbury, Neil Simon, Rudolfo Anaya, Steven Dietz, Sandra Cisneros, Cherrrie Moraga, Woody Allen, Sarah Ruhl, Barbara Kingsolver, and Charlie Kaufman.

Treviño's amazing play (her first) had previously won the 2007 University of California, Irvine Chicano/Latino Literary Prize. Braided Sorrow was also featured in Su Teatro's 2007 New Play Reading Series, a project that illustrates Su Teatro's commitment to produce, present, and promote new and exciting work by Chicanos and Latinos from across the U.S. and beyond its borders.



Metropolitan State College of Denver has announced that artist and educator Delilah Montoya is the 2009 Castro Distinguished Professor. Montoya is Associate Professor of Photography at the University of Houston. As the announcement says, her work, "grounded in the mestizo/a experience of the Southwest and borderlands, brings together a multiplicity of syncretic forms and practices from those of Aztec Mexico and Spain to cross-border vernacular traditions all of which are shaded by contemporary Native American customs and values." There are a variety of events planned during her stay on campus, October 11 -14. You can get all the details and complete agenda on the Metro State website, here.

One special piece of the schedule is that Montoya's 10’ x 8’ Photo Mural, La Llorona in Lilith’s Garden will be on display beginning in late September through the closing reception at the Institute for Women’s Studies and Services, 1033 Ninth Street Park.

One of Montoya's talks is entitled Codex Delilah, Six Deer: Journey from Mexicatl to Chicana. Montoya approaches the Spanish/Indian encounter from a mestizaje perspective. As a Chicana, Montoya is conscious of how the historical contributions of women have been undermined or completely ignored. This project attempts to correct that injustice by rethinking the traditional interpretation of the European/ Native Encounter. The narrative of this artist book is viewed from the perspective of Six Deer, a fictional young Mayatec girl from the Tutuepec region near present-day Mexico City. From her home to the nuclear weapons laboratories in New Mexico, the codex details Six Deer's journey of enlightenment.

All events free and open to the public. To RSVP to any event or to find out more information, please contact Mercedes Salazar - [email protected] or 303-556-3124.

The Castro Professorship
The Richard T. Castro Distinguished Visiting Professorship was initiated in 1997 to foster multiculturalism, diversity and academic excellence at Metropolitan State College of Denver. The professorship brings renowned Latina and Latino scholars, artists and leaders of distinction to Metro State to conduct classes, seminars, performances and lectures for students, faculty and the larger Denver community. Richard T. Castro Distinguished Professors have included the following luminaries:
• Cherrie Moraga, playwright, poet, essayist and educator
• Carlos Fuentes, novelist and diplomat
• Carmen Lomas Garza, artist and author
• Ana Castillo, novelist and poet
• Dolores Huerta, United Farm Workers vice president
• Richard “Cheech” Marin, actor and art collector

In honor of the recent chile harvest, the beginning of fall, and the misunderstood relationship many of us have with chile - Jalapeño, Serrano, Bolita, Güerita, Ancho, Anaheim, even Red Peter - here are a few lines of affection for my favorite condiment.

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I dare you to open Sherman Alexie's new collection of poetry, Face, to any page and not be yanked in by your neck.  I love many things about Alexie's work, but prime among them is that he bangs open the door of each poem and invites you in straight away.

Take the direct address of the opening of "War Stories":

"I've got an uncle who punched a man's eye
Straight out of his skull. My uncle died
Young, but the one-eyed man turned eighty-five"

Or the titles which are as inviting as flashing FREE FOOD signs:

"Naked and Damp With a Towel Around My Head, I Noticed Movement on the Basement Carpet"

or the one below, "How to Create an Agnostic"
Read the rest here

For more about my reaction to hearing Sherman Alexie speak at the Fairfax Fall for the Book Festival, see my post from yesterday, Worked Over and Messed Up.  For those not disturbed by profanity, see his website, Falls Apart, for more poetry.

Poetry Friday is hosted today by poet Susan Taylor Brown at SusanWrites

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I went to hear Sherman Alexie speak this week,* and it messed me up.

During his talk, he acted out a scene in which his dad gets drunk and tells his seven-year-old self and all his gathered young friends about how women. . .  NO, can't write that here on the blog.

Okay, he talked about giving President Clinton grief for his "my grandmother was Cherokee" attempt at empathy, and then, later, he describes Clinton embracing him with "Big-Mac breath," leaning in to whisper in his ear "Alexie, you're----"  NO, can't write that either.

Maybe, maybe, I could tell you about his description of President Obama's inauguration on TV, in which he noted the huddle of emaciated, hippie vegan white women with ugly shoes swaying arm in arm with the Aretha-sized, fur-coat-wearing, Baptist-churched and well-heeled black women, one of whom had a fox head dangling off her wrap---which kept hitting a vegan woman in the head.  Okay, I got through that one. But it was way funnier when he told it.

Alexie is as profane, achingly hilarious, and fearless in his public presentations as he is in his fiction. As a huge fan of his, I listened with alternate awe, discomfort, and glee. I bought a book of his poetry, FACE, which I hope to feature tomorrow for Poetry Friday.  I had to drag myself away from his autograph line, which was at least a hundred people long, by doing the mental math (100 people x 1 minute each = 100 minute/over an hour-and-a-half wait.)

But when I attempted to get back to my own work the next day----THUD. I realized how badly he'd worked me over.  I'm not fearless. I'm not profane. (Sometimes, I'm funny. I give myself that.) But all I could write in my notebook was: nothing I write really matters. Why should people care? BLAH.

Has this ever happened to you? Not jealousy, but a realization of your limitations as a writer?

I got over it, first by realizing that writers have different roles. Some are here to blurt out the truth. To overwhelm you with a barrage of jabs to your prejudices and fears.  Others tread on little cat feet. They are stealth. The potions they administer flow through your veins slowly and when you wake up a little more beautiful than you were the day before, you never trace it to their subterfuge.  Either is good. Change happens.

The other thing that helped is that I went back and re-read his poem, "Water," published in his collection, One Stick Song.  It ends with the phrase "two parts heartbreak and one part hope." I realized that is exactly what fiction is. I dove back in to my revisions, looking for both the heartbreak and the hope, but more willing to allow the heartbreak in. Thank you, Mr. Alexie.

*Mr. Alexie was accepting the Mason Award at the Fall for the Book Festival at George Mason University.

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In the "how did I miss this????" category:

If you need an enthusiastic Alexie introduction, I blogged about him three times. I'll be bringing my copies of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Reservation Blues, and Flight. And hoping that they're selling all his poetry books.

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The Inkys are the award in Australia that reflects what teenagers want to read. Voted for online by the readers of Insideadog (a project of the Centre for Youth Literature, State Library of Victoria), there are three awards: the Golden Inky for an Australian book, the Silver Inky for an international book, and the Creative Reading Prize, won by a young person for a creative response to a book they love, in any format they choose.

Today, August 20, the 2009 Inky Awards have been launched online with the announcement of the award longlist by two of this year’s judges, Steph Bowe and Adele Walsh. Australian youth, their teachers and anyone else interested in Australian youth literature were encouraged to join in the free, interactive on-line launch - but if you missed it, you can still watch it by following the link at the end of Insideadog’s announcement here. It’s great to see The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and Skim by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki up for a Silver Inky!

On October 9 the shortlist will be announced and on-line voting begins. The winners will be announced on Thursday, November 26 at the State Library of Victoria. Everyone is invited to join in this free event, meet the winners, talk books and enjoy some special surprises!

The Centre for Youth Literature promotes reading as an active, pleasurable and essential activity for all young people. It also offers exciting and affordable book events for young people and professionals. Teenagers and children meet great writers and talented young actors - bringing reading to life. Professional learning programs and the biennial Reading Matters conference keep adults in touch with crucial issues and ideas in youth literature - read about events at this year’s conference in May here, here and here.

The Insideadog website is Australia’s number one website for teenagers about books. It’s chock full of features including news, book reviews, a writer-in-residence blog, author interviews, links, competitions and lots of opportunity for contributions from young readers! For anyone interested in youth literature, teens or otherwise, I highly recommend taking some time to browse this amazing site!

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My SCBWI Summer Conference Tweets Transcript (#SCBWI09)...

Stealing an idea from Lee Wind (who says in Hollywood, it's referred to as "liberating" an idea), I've collected all the tweets I posted from the time I left the house for the SCBWI Summer Conference until I got home--when I wasn't blogging, I was tweeting. (I may have corrected a few misspellings and boo-boos.) Click here to find all the #SCBWI09 posts and see what everyone at the event was saying.

• The last thing I want to do first thing in the morning: clean up cat barf. Guess what I just did?
• My (awesome) brother just picked me up for the airport. I know, I'm surprised as you are that I got up this early.
• Worst CVG security line ever! Walked straight on to my (exit row) seat when I got to the gate.
• A guy in the back of my plane had a seizure. First time I've been on flight where they paged for a doc. Nice delay in CVG. Just left LAX!
• Why are LA cabs always uncomfortably hot?
• The cabbie has hockey playing curious George hanging from his rear view mirror which makes me like him better. Wish he would get off phone
• At faculty dinner sitting with @EllenHopkinsYA, @Suzanne_Young, David Diaz and others. The bartenders make fab cosmos.
• David Diaz kicked our butts at Hannah Montana Uno #SCBWI09

• Ahh. King size hotel bed. Goodnight, tweeps. Lots of tweets and blogging tomorrow! #SCBWI09
• #scbwi09 SCBWI TEAM BLOG @PaulaYoo; @leewind; @cuppajolie; @jeaimetem; @suzanne_young #followfriday
• Breakfast with Team Blog in The Breeze. Everyone is playing with devices. We start conference coverage in an hour. #SCBWI09
• Just went last in the faculty word parade. My word: blog! #SCBWI09
• Sherman Alexie has the room laughing. #SCBWI09
• Sherman Alexie can go seamlessly from tragedy to comedy. #SCBWI09
• Sherman Alexie has perhaps the best story ever about how books helped him get through childhood. #SCBWI09
• Sherman Alexie: "I'm rich but I still have class issues." #SCBWI09
• Sherman just dropped a very appropriate F-bomb. #SCBWI09
• Sherman: "The book is safe. The book is where I can hide." #SCBWI09
• Sherman: "It's easy to hand a book to a kid that's about that kid." The challenge is to engage a kid in a book that isn't. #SCBWI09
• It's super cold in the conference ballroom but David Wiesner's beautiful images will warm me up. #SCBWI09
• David Wiesner is showing clips from The Shining in relation to his process. Makes sense in person. #SCBWI09
• David Wiesner loves him some movies. Now he's discussing 2001: A Space Odyssey. #SCBWI09
• But really, is it any surprise movies inspire Wienser? Look at his books if you're not sure. #SCBWI09
• Lobby court restaurant is trying to starve me and make me late.
• Lin Oliver is telling contest winner jokes. There are some witty peeps here. Oh--door prizes! #SCBWI09
• Editor panel going on. I love listening to editors discuss books they're passionate about. #SCBWI09
• Ari Lewin from Hyperion: bookstores love series. Stand alone connected stories, even better. # SCBWI09
• RT @gregpincus: #scbwi09 Tweetup tonight at 9 in the lobby bar area. Come say "hi" or something longer than 140 characters!
• Agent Marietta Zacker is reading the first paragraph from an unpublished novel she says "gives her shivers" every time she reads it #SCBWI09
• Marietta Zacker said she recently counted how many manuscripts her agency receives daily. Answer: 10. #SCBWI09
• Check out the secret stuff behind the book jacket of Frank Portman's latest novel, Andromeda Klein

• Just rode the elevator with a guy who bathed in cologne. I can still smell it. #SCBWI09
• Karen Cushman just took the stage. I love her books. #SCBWI09
• Someone's phone just rang. Karen Cushman: "Sounds like the ice cream man is here." #SCBWI09
• Cushman: Writing is like exercise. I wanted to do it, planned to do it, but never got around to doing it. Until she was in her 50s. #SCBWI09
• Karen Cushman quoting a poet: Write what you know. This should leave you with a lot of free time. #SCBWI09
• Karen Cushman: I figured I could say 'shitty first drafts' since Sherman said 'f*** you' yesterday. (Big laughs.) #SCBWI09
• Karen Cushman: Tell the truth--the emotional truth, the truth of your passion, the truth revealed from you research. #SCBWI09
• Karen Cushman: publication isn't the only reason to write. Let go of the outcome. #SCBWI09
• Karen Cushman: Like Flannery O'Connor, I write what I can. #SCBWI09
• Holly Black is leading an active discussion on critique groups. Blog posts soon. (No wifi in Brentwood room.) #SCBWI09
• Holly Black always wears cool shoes. #SCBWI09
• Holly Black just had the people in her session write something, swap with a partner, and tell each other what's good about it. #SCBWI09
• Ellen Hopkins: "The $8000 advance I got for Crank was not life changing." #SCBWI09
• Ellen Hopkins: There were dark phases in my life. I got through them. I worked them into my writing. #SCBWI09
• Ellen Hopkins is making me cry. I wish you were all here listening to her story. #SCBWI09
• Ellen Hopkin's Crank sold on 75 pages. #SCBWI09
• It took 2 1/2 years for Crank to hit the NY Times bestseller list. #SCBWI09
• Ellen Hopkins: Learn the rules before you break them. #SCBWI09
• Courtney Bongiolatti (S&S); "Literal hell or metaphorical? Because that would be important for the synopsis." #SCBWI09
• #SCBWI09 Conference F-Bomb Count--number of keynote speakers who have have dropped the f-bomb so far: 4. (I'll update you as f-bombs happen)
• Wendy Loggia (Delacorte) googles writers before she takes them on. So watch what you say in the blogosphere, tweeps. #SCBWI09
• Wendy Loggia: Contrary to popular belief, we do not take pleasure in crushing writers' dreams. (She's given a great session). #SCBWI09
• Our sundae came with an extra gravy boat of fudge.

• Doing last minute presentation prep for my breakout session Practical Online Promotion. #SCBWI09
• Holly Black: Fantasy has real stuff to say about our own world and real things to say about us. #SCBWI09
• Holly: We have to believe in the fantastical when we read it. World building is one of most difficult things for fantasy writers. #SCBWI09
• Holly Black: In many ways fantasy resembles historical fiction. #SCBWI09
• Holly Black's crazy theory: fantasy plotting is slightly different than non-fantasy plotting
• Holly Black: When I started, I wrote a lot of scenes with elves sitting around drinking coffee and experiencing ennui. #SCBWI09
• I'm talking about twitter
• Just left the Golden Kite Luncheon. Getting ready to blog Marla Frazee's session, How Your Words Inspire Me to Draw Pictures #SCBWI09
• Marla Frazee: I [illustrate] one page at a time and I do them in order. Because I'm a Capricorn. #SCBWI09
• Elizabeth Law: Egmont's profits go to children's charities. They are technically an not-for-profit publisher. #SCBWI09
• Elizabeth Law: Writers need to know what the hook is for their books. Elevator pitches aren't two minutes long. #SCBWI09
• Elizabeth Law: She thinks agents are important and advises writers to find one. "I rely on agents to weed things out for me." #SCBWI09
• Elizabeth Law: "Winslow the Whale spouted emotions through his blow hole." (Posted because it's just as funny out of context.) #SCBWI09
• Elizabeth Law on social networking: Join networks, make comments, make friends, don't be embarrassed to talk about your work. #SCBWI09
• Elizabeth Law: "If anyone does introduce me to my future husband, there's a contract for you at Egmont." #SCBWI09
• @mbrockenbrough That was one excellent banana.
• @chavelaque Thanks! And thank you for contributing. (Everyone be sure to read Cheryl's great piece on revision in the 2010 CWIM.)
• I'm having my final breakfast at The Breeze at the Century Plaza. (I recommend the oatmeal.)
• On my way to my least favorite airport LAX. (It is no CVG.)
• My cab driver's name is Igor. That's kinda cool. I've never met an Igor. (He's a very good driver.)
• Just drove past a Live Nudes place right next to Carl's Jr. I'm so not in the Nati.
• I'm standing in the line to get to the next place I will stand in line. LAX: you are living up to my expectations.
• Number of times 20-something dude in security line said 'dude' in his 5-minute phone call: 13. (I counted.) Dude. His Vegas trip ROCKED!
• I'd forgotten all about humidity until it smacked me in the face outside the airport.
• Back in the Nati and stuck in LA-style traffic. But someone's here to help.
  

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Book Update: Bright is backin hadns of Awesome Agent. Cross your fingers! I feel its done - I rewrote beginning and ending in addition to edits _ added material resulting in an additional 12,000 words. Now tween book is at 63,000

It is 10 pm (LA time) and our day really just ended.

Went for breakfast this morning with Lindsey Leavitt, Katie Anderson, Sarah Francis Hardy, and Kimberly Derting. (SFH had the best egg pizza - yum! and LL had a tower of sticky buns!! Yum yum! Me? the healthy oatmeal boring. Tomorrow I am going all out :)

The morning started off with Sherman Alexie, author of ...Diary of Part Time Indian...

he was so funny. But under all the humor was a guy who turned his painful childhood into a dream existence. A kid with brain damage, bad vision, poor, lived on an Indian reservation. A kid who found a way to escape from his hard childhood with books.

Here are some of my "Ah ha" moments (for more detail you can go to scbwi's blog.)

"when you give a kid a book he naturally identifies with than you expect him to connect with it. But when you give a kid a book that is outside his normal comfort zone, and he finds a way to connect with it - that is when you begin changing the world."

"The power of books is amazing. They find a way yo the people that need them the most. Whether its 1 person or 100,000. Every book has the destiny to change at least one person."

"As a children's author - you must accept responsibility of writing for a young audience; prepare to be lonely because it is hard work, and know when you write it - it will impact people."

Next was David Weisner (Flotsam)

"He talked about the films and books that impacted his illustrations and writing. He showed a journey of how he got to Flotsam. How all of his books led up to that one."

"Writing is a personal journey. We don't write with a certain kid in mind. We write from our kid. From our hearts, experiences, and memory. Kids just happen to be touched by them."

"Think about all the stuff that you thought was cool when you were a kid. There is a story in each thing that stood out to you."

Ingrid Law - Savvy

Write with creativity and courage
Read the book "Spunk and bite"
Push voice further than you thought possible.
exercise: write a crazy sentence - then ask questions. This is how Savvy started - one crazy sentence and a bunch of questions.
Trust your instincts, be wild and playful, have a beginner's mind, be courageous, take risks, and don't be afraid to break the rules - you can always rein them in
pretend you are always a tourist and see things with a new eye.
be sure to look up when you walk around so you can observe the nuances of life

Sarah Davies - Greenhouse Literary (love her!!!)

world rights - all languages in world
world english rights - english language anywhere in world
hard to see Us fiction in UK. less space for YA market

Ways to spread international buzz:
Scouts - represent foreign publishers
Publishers marketplace - sign up and watch foreign right sales
understand foreign market
Pub weekly features on international authors
Bologna Frankfurt conferences/book fairs

Advice for global sales
consider world when you write
have market in mind
middle grade needs strong sales
YA fiction with unique voice and premise

Audio Books
1) primary - when they exploit own rights
2) secondary - sells rights to someone else

what helps international sales
global appeal
unique voice
Non fiction and PB do not sell as well as MG/YA
unusually ideas
awards/sales figures
love young boy fiction
concepts and setting that transcends cultures

see you tomorrow!

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Hotel parking...$24
Books from the SCBWI bookstore...$26
Glass of wine at the hotel bar...$10

Meeting all my blogging buddies...priceless.

Today alone I met Sarah Laurenson, Jolie Stekly, Lindsay Leavitt, Shelli Wells, Katie Anderson, Sarah Frances Hardy, Lisa Schroeder, Lee Wind, Greg Pincus, Cynthea Liu, Barry Summie, Cindy Pon, Thalia Chaltas, Greg Trine, Paula Yoo and Jill Corcoran...all people who have only existed on the internet before now. But the beauty of it is, when we meet, we already have a common bond--blogging. I'll never question the value of my blog time again. (Okay, I probably will, but then I'll just remind myself how great it was to be in a room of 1000 strangers and be "recognized" because of my blog. I LOVE the internet!)

As for the presenters, wow, just wow. Sherman Alexie kicked off the event with an amazing speech. My notes aren't as good as Sarah Frances, but I'll highlight some of the most memorable quotes for me:

People hand you their lives on a daily basis. They may see your book as somewhere they can pick up ideas for how to deal with their daily lives.

Connecting outside of yourself--that's when the world changes. That should be your aspiration.

Writing for children changes lives in ways an adult book never can. We can alter them forever...in good and bad ways.

The power of these books will find its way to someone who needs it.

Writers for children fully accept their responsibility, unlike other writers.

No matter who you're writing your book for, you're going to save at least one person.

I went to a workshop with Jordan Brown, an editor at HarperCollins who works with the Balzer and Bray imprint (publishing everything from PBs to YA) and Walden Pond Press (a new imprint which will publish middle grade exclusively). His session focused on First Pages. Here were some of his thoughts:

You want to own the reader. Decide what the reader is going to take away from the story and put it there on the first page.

Three most important things to have on the first page: Introduce the MC, Establish voice and character, Tell us what's going to happen.

Character drives plot. The easiest way to get us into a charachter is showing us what's important to that character. (That's the #1 thing for him.) Show us the character's defining attributes. If physical description isn't the most important thing to that character, then you're missing an important opportunity to tell the reader about the character in the best most concise way you can.

Let readers know what's at stake, what the character stands to lose or gain. Your story should tell the most important story that has ever happened in this character's life. If we can only hear one story from this character's childhood, this should be the one that you're telling us right now.

The way characters are different from us is never as important as the way they are the same.

The first page is kind of a self enclosed little masterpiece within the larger story, so strategically placed detail within that can give your reader an idea of what's to come and lead them on to the second page.

You don't need to force conflict. Conflict will arise when you have a bunch of decent characters on stage together. If the main thrust of your book is a conflict, then put it on the first page. But if it's not that cut and dried, you don't necessarily have to start with conflict.

Later in an editor panel, he also made this comment which I thought was great:

Except for Toy Story 2, Pixar has never made a sequel. But you know what to expect when you go to a Pixar movie. Think of yourself as a brand and what you can bring to the childrens book world.

So much more to tell! But I really need to sleep...so I can soak up more tomorrow!

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Alexie speaks passionately about those special librarians that hand you those special books, "a book about something beyond on themselves and they still identify with it. That's when the world changes."

"Our books will change lives in a way an adult book can not."

Now speaking about a letter Alexie received. It started, "I've lived in 29 foster homes..." And it goes on to detail the pain and trials of his life. Then there's that sentence "...and then I read your book." Later Alexie meets this kids (now an adult) who tells him that he loved Alexie's book, then read the other books written by Indian writers. He said he then thought he should go back and get his GED. He then told Alexie he now runs the GED program. WOW!

"It happens."

"Accept the responsibility...you are going to save at least one person. What more
could you ask for!"

STANDING OVATION!

Lin Oliver: "I love you, Sherman Alexie!"

POSTED BY JOLIE STEKLY

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Sharing his true story of having water on the brain. Serious topic, but in Alexie's words, it's seriously funny! He must be getting a laugh every minute (or more)!

Alexie grew up poor and sick. Invisible. His parents were struggling with alcoholism. He didn't have plumbing until he was seven, and he lived in a 125 year old house. But he loved books. And so did his dad. Because his dad read, his house was filled with books.

He was a veracious reader and adults were constantly bringing him books.

He says it's great to get huge packets from kids, the best letters being the ones that are so honest..."We had to read or book and I thought it sucked."

Common theme in letters (no matter who the kid is writing it):

"My choices are being made for me."

"You have to be really sure this is the career you want. People open up their
lives to you on a daily basis. They open up their chest and hand you their
heart."

Talking about banned books. Banners always turn the book into a treasure!

"I'm in the genre of young adult realism. The kids I'm thinking about are
the kids that are unprotected."

POSTED BY JOLIE STEKLY

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(Pictured above: Bartlett Bear about to blog, Sherman Alexie speaking, and SCBWI TEAM BLOG ready to live blog!)

Hi! Paula Yoo and her stuffed bear Bartlett blogging LIVE at the conference. As a former journalist, this is bringing back nightmare flashbacks of my newspaper days. I thought I left that world behind! LOL! Please follow our Twitter feeds for constant live tweets as well. Mine is at http://twitter.com/paulayoo. I've been tweeting non-stop with live photos so check 'em out! And you even get such SCBWI TEAM BLOG exclusives like what Jay Asher ate for breakfast! (Cheerios, coffee, a banana) and my special "Elizabeth Law Fun Facts" sprinkled throughout the day (did you know she was a lifeguard in high school?)

Right  now, Sherman Alexie is speaking so please check everyone else's Twitter tweets because I'm just blogging instead right now at our blogger table. (We get our own extension cords etc. All the other conference goers are jealous of our hi tech status! LOL!) BTW, I will post a live shot of Sheman Alexie on my Twitter page as soon as I post this blog.

A quick recap so far... the faculty line-up did their traditional "WORD PARADE" where each faculty member said one word that they wanted people to remember and think about during the conference. Sherman Alexie just wondered what the adult authors would do since he is also, of course, a famous adult novelist as well as a YA author. (He ruminated about what word Jonathan Franzen would say...!) 

Some words from the faculty included: "Intertwinkieularity" by Ingrid Law; "Joint Collaborative Process" by Dan Santat, Lisa Yee & Arthur Levine; "Greenhouse fire" by Sarah Davies; "YES!" (with a fist pump) by Nancy Sanders. Please check the Twitter pages of Lee Wind, Jolie Stekly, Suzanne Young & Jaime Temairik for more funny words!

Some statistical highlights from SCBWI Executive Director Lin Oliver:

-- A new record of conference enrollment - 911 registered this year!

-- 712 conference goers are women

-- 120 conference goers are men (LOL!)

-- 40 of 50 states represented (normally South Dakota has never sent someone here but this year, finally, there is a conference goer from South Dakota! She stood up to great applause!)

-- More than a dozen countries are also represented at the conference

-- Almost half of the concert goers have been published

-- Some interesting full-time jobs among conference goers, including a professional beekeeper ("I'm sure she's very sweet," Lin quipped) and one brave man who claimed his job title was "a handsome rogue."

Okay, time to listen more to Sherman Alexie and post a live Twitter pic. He's hilarious and insightful and everyone is laughing at his jokes as he talks about his childhood growing up on the reservation, his education, and how books opened a new world for him. It's both hilarious and poignant. Will post more blogs later with quotes, and fellow bloggers are live Tweeting some of his quotes so check it all out via Twitter and #scbwi09. Stay tuned for more blogs! 

Posted by Paula Yoo 

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Our first keynote of the conference and SCBWI is doing it big with Sherman Alexie!

Lin Oliver introduces him as a: poet, short story writer, novelist, and now a writer joining our ranks in children's literature with THE ABSOLUTE TRUE STORY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN.

Huge applause.

He's already getting laughs.

Alexie has theories about the friendliness of the people who write for kids. "We were all freaks. The freak freaks."

POSTED BY JOLIE STEKLY

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