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This month, our Oxford University Press staff toured Chicago, Illinois for the Midwest Political Science Association's 74th Annual Conference.

The post MPSA’s 74th annual conference re-cap appeared first on OUPblog.

Registration just opened this week for the ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco. Are you coming? If so, here are some highlights as far as what you can expect from YALSA during this bustling, busy conference. And don't forget to check the conference wiki for even more information on San Francisco attractions, transportation, and more.

Ticketed Events

A Few Other YALSA Sessions

This is far from a full listing, so be sure to check online for even more great programs and panels to take part in at Annual! If you also work with children, be sure to check out ALSC's event listings. If you work with teens in a school setting, you may find more sessions of interest offered through AASL. If you often collaborate with other organizations, ASCLA has you covered.

See you in San Francisco in June!

This is a guest post from Susy Moorhead, a member of the Local Arrangements Committee for Annual 2015 in San Francisco.

In full disclosure: As I cannot mention all of the movements that call the Bay Area home nor can I give them full justice. I am going to briefly discuss a few of my favorites and I fully admit that Oakland, where I work, and San Francisco, where I live, will figure prominently.

The San Francisco Bay Area has long been an important spot for progressive social change. Many of the movements that started here or had this Area as an epicenter of activity you may already be familiar with. Some of the ones I find especially interesting are the Black Panthers, the American Indian occupation of Alcatraz, the push for equal opportunities for undocumented students and educational justice for all, and LGBT rights. Youth have been and continue to be very important parts of these movements. I will share brief overviews with you and give you links so you can find more information before your trip to the 2015 American Library Association conference and perhaps even visit some of these places.

The Black Panthers had their home in West Oakland. The core practice of the Panthers was its patrols which monitored police behavior and challenged police brutality. The Panthers are credited with starting the Free Breakfast Program for Children in 1969 in a church in West Oakland. Did you know that co-founder Huey P. Newton was 24 at the time the Party was founded? Did you know that Bobby Seale, first treasurer and first member of the Party, was 16 years old when he joined? Sadly, no museum for the Black Panther Party exists, but if you are interested in learning more about them, you should visit the African American Museum and Library of Oakland or the Oakland History Room at the Main Library of Oakland Public Library.

The Occupation of Alcatraz by the Indians of All Tribes occurred from November 20, 1969, to June 11, 1971. Many students, especially from the University of California at Berkeley, were part of the Occupation. You can visit Alcatraz and still see some of the evidence of the Occupation. Annually there is the Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Gathering to honor all indigenous peoples of the Americas and to promote their rights. I believe this Occupation was the first of its kind in the United States and perhaps served as a model for later Occupy movements of the early 2010s.

The push for immigration reform is happening nationwide and the Bay Area is certainly one of the hotspots, and young people are heavily involved. Great strides have been made in improving the educational opportunities for undocumented students. Although the United States government has yet to pass the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, California has passed our own DREAM Act. It is a package of state laws that allows undocumented students access to financial aid for higher education. Instrumental in getting this act passed were high school and college student activists. On May Day in 2006, a reported 20,000 people of all ages, including many high school students from all over the Bay Area, marched in a sea of white shirts protesting new legislation that would have raised penalties for illegal immigration.

The Bay Area is also a battleground for the larger movement of educational justice, which includes improving educational opportunities for undocumented students. Educational justice is the idea that all children deserve equal access to a quality education, regardless of race, ethnicity and socio-economic status. In Oakland on May 17th, 2005, the anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, 400 teens took part in Take Back Our Schools Day. Some of their demands included: non-compliance with No Child Left Behind, restoration of local control to Oakland schools, and no high school exit exam. The Oakland City Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting their demands.

The Bay Area is well known as one of the epicenters for various LGBT movements. A great place to see a lot of history is the GLBT History Museum. According to their site the museum “is the first full-scale, stand-alone museum of its kind in the United States. The museum celebrates 100 years of the city's vast queer past through dynamic and surprising exhibitions and programming.” You can also visit the James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center in the Main Library of San Francisco Public Library. According to their site the Center “is the gateway to collections documenting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered history and culture, with a special emphasis on the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to books, periodical and archival collections, the Center sponsors changing exhibitions and public programs.” The Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) Network was founded right here in the Bay Area in 1998 “to empower youth activists to start Gay-Straight Alliance clubs to fight homophobia and transphobia in schools.” By 2005 the GSA Network was nationwide. The Hayward Gay Prom is one of the oldest and continually running gay proms for those 20 and under. You can watch a 2011 documentary, Now We Can Dance: The Story of the Hayward Gay Prom, on YouTube. The documentary, created by three Hayward librarians and a group of teenagers, interviews young people attending that prom and civic leaders who helped organize the first dance.

Lastly, I want to mention some of the great places in the Bay Area where people can raise their voices on these issues and many more. Perhaps you have heard the work of the first group on National Public Radio. Youth Radio trains diverse young people in media and technology. They were founded in 1992 in Berkeley and moved to downtown Oakland in 2007. They now have bureaus in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Washington, DC. You can watch, listen, or read about their work on their web site or perhaps even plan a visit when you are in the area. Youth Speaks creates “safe spaces to empower the next generation of leaders, self-defined artists, and visionary activists through written and oral literacies.” They were founded in 1996 in San Francisco. They present local and national youth poetry slams and festivals. They might be hosting an event during Annual, so check their site closer to the time. You may have heard of author Dave Eggers and educator Nínive Calegari’s 826 Valencia. They were founded in 2002 to “support students ages six to eighteen with their creative and expository writing skills and to help teachers inspire their students to write.” There are now seven chapters nationwide. 826 Valencia has a really cool pirate supply store you should visit.

I hope you enjoy your visit to San Francisco and are able to experience some of its beauty and progressive history outside of the Moscone Center. By the way, did you know that the Moscone Center is named for George Moscone? He was San Francisco’s 37th mayor, and he was assassinated by Dan White on November 27th, 1978 along with city council member Harvey Milk. Milk was the first openly gay elected official in the United States. When the voluntary manslaughter verdict for Dan White was announced the White Night Riots occurred. The events led to increased political power for the gay community...

I could just go on and on….

Regina Griffin, Executive Editor at EgmontUSA

Regina Griffin is the Executive Editor of EgmontUSA, where she acquires Middle Grade and Young Adult, historical fiction, fantasy, paranormal, edgy contemporary  fiction and graphic novels.  At Egmont she has acquired such titles as the YA paranormal romance, The Dark Divine, the hilarious middle-grade book, Vordak the Incomprehensible: How to Grow Up and Rule the World; both of these books came out of meetings at the New Jersey SCBWI Conference in Princeton.  The humorous middle grade titled, Leaving the Bellweathers, the historical novel Riot and the picture book Looking Like Me by Newbery Honor-winning New Jerseyan, Walter Dean Myers, the paranormals, Siren and Raised by Wolves, and the Wish You Were Dead thrillogy by Todd Strasser.

John Cusick, Agent at Scott Treimel Agency

John M. Cusick is a literary agent for authors of young adult and middle-grade novels with S©ottTreimelNY. He is the author of the young adult novel Girl Parts  (Candlewick Press, 2010), and the forthcoming Cherry Money Baby.  He is also a managing and founding editor of Armchair/Shotgun, a Brooklyn-based literary magazine. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 2007 where he wrote his first novel on a SmithCorona Electric (now kaput). He lives in Brooklyn with his girlfriend and their imaginary cat, Garrus.

While the Scott Treimel Agency accepts the gamut of juvenile genres, John’s personal genres of interest are Middle Grade, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, and even better if any of these has an edgy voice.

Sean McCarthy, Agent at Sheldon Folgelman Literary Agency

Sean works on children’s books for all ages at the Sheldon Fogelman Agency in NYC. www.sheldonfogelmanagency.com He especially likes edgy narratives with flawed, multi-faceted characters. His clients include Hyewon Yum, Mark Fearing, and Hillary Homzie, and he has worked with a variety of authors and illustrators, such as Richard Peck, Mo Willems, and Jerry Pinkney.

In picture books, he looks more for dynamic characters, off-beat humor and especially clever endings (think Mo Willems or George McClements).

In fiction, Sean is drawn to realistic dialogue and understated, concise writing. He would love to find a graphic novel that doesn’t delve too deeply into the “Superhero” side, or an adventurous, high-concept middle grade. He is not currently interested in high fantasy or query letters that pose too many questions.

Melissa Sarver, agent at Elizabeth Kaplan Literary Agency - MELISSA joined the Elizabeth Kaplan Literary Agency in 2006 where she had the good fortune of working with award-winning children’s author E. Lockhart, and soon began representing authors writing for Young Adult. She looks for contemporary/realistic fiction, both literary and commercial; mysteries; urban fantasy; magical realism, and issue-based stories. She’s drawn to dark tales with brilliant prose and strong voice as well as quirky stories with a fresh sense of humor, and heartbreaking romances. She especially enjoys multicultural stories and similarly emotional stories with dystopian themes. She also considers Middle Grade fiction and Picture Books.

Melis

With so many new people signing up for our various events, some are getting confused on exactly what each one offers.  So I wrote up the descriptions that people could refer to when they had questions on the NJSCBWI events.  I’m sure I have missed things.  If you have attended one of these events and notice something missing, please let me know.

FIRST PAGE SESSIONS:

Everyone who attends gets to hear their first page read.  These areheld during the week, starting at 4pm, ending a little after 6 PM.  There is an optional dinner is provided withthe editors.  Dinner usually ends by 8 PM.  Costs for members: $30, plus $30 for dinner.

All the first pages are read aloud by volunteer readers and two editors/agents give feedback on what they heard.

Everyone brings three copies of a first page of a single manuscript with them. Do not put your name on the paper, but do include a title and indicate the genre (picture book, chapter book, middle grade, young adult, non-fiction).

Your manuscript must fit on a single sheet of paper. If you submit a second sheet, only the first one will be read.

Use standard manuscript formatting—double spaced, 12 point Times New Roman or Courier font, one-inch margins all around, half-inch indents for each new paragraph, single column of text. Start at the top of the page, though, instead of spacing down like you normally would for a first manuscript page.  (This applies to all submissions, at all events)

A first page has 23 printed lines (not sentences!), including the title, of text from your manuscript.  That means if you have a picture book, you will be able to get a large portion of your manuscript on that first page.  It does not mean only the sentence or two
that would appear on the first physical page of the printed book.

If your text rhymes, put each rhyme on a new line. Do not leave a blank line between stanzas.

MENTORING WORKSHOPS

These workshops are one day workshops, typically held on Sundays.  Breakfast is available at 8:15 AM.  Program starts at 8:45 AM.

Everyone attending receives a 20 minute one-on-one critique.  Novel Attendees submit the first 30 pages of their manuscript along with a synopsis, 35 days prior to the workshop.  Picture book people submit their full picture book 35 days prior.

Everyone is placed into Writing Groups for peer critiques.  These are exchanged with your group a month before via e-mail. Each member of the group will read and critique the other group member’s submission prior, so everyone is ready to discuss their critique for each.

When one person in your group is meeting with their editor, someone else’s manuscript is being discussed by the group.

Lunch is provided in the cost of the workshop and attendees get to sit at lunch with the editor/agents.

Before and after lunch we have a First Page Session (Please see above description).

The day ends with a Q & A with the editors/agents.  End time is no later than 5 PM.

WRITER’S RETREAT

This is a small Weekend Workshop. Two editors spend the weekend no more than 18 attendees.  Start time 3 PM Friday.  End time 3 PM Sunday.  All meals are included in the cost of the weekend.  All meals are with the editors/agents.

Everyone receives a 45 minute one-on-one critique with their mentor.  The first 30 pages, plus synopsis or a full picture book text is submitted 35 day prior to the weekend to give the editors/agents enough time to critique.

At this time everyone will e-mail the other people in their group their manuscript, so they also will have time to critique in advance of the workshop.  Novel groups normally contain 5 per group. Each group critique receives 45 minutes, too.

Other things included during the weekend:

First Page Session (See above).

Various Workshops:

Example:  This year we are having Pitch and Blurb Writing