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Yesterday's bleak rain had nothing on Kelly Writers House. Indeed, as it so often does, the old house on Locust Walk sheltered the alums and prospective students, the local community and faculty who braved the weather and found their way in. It sheltered and fed them.

We were there to talk about the making of books for younger readers. We were ably, intelligently led by Liz Van Doren, Editorial Director of Book Publishing for Highlights for Children and Boyds Mills Press. We—Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve, Lorene Cary, Jordan Sonnenblick, and I—were, perhaps, as different as four writers could be.

Where do books begin?, we were asked, and one said with an image, and one said with tone and sound, and one said with a plot, and one said with an idea about the world, an idea about books as vehicles for getting something done.

What do we do about those adult figures who figure in books for the young? Make them real, one said. Don't let them overwhelm the story, one said. There's a reason why Harry Potter was an orphan, one said.

How do we make historical fiction pop?, we were asked. By making the characters gritty (a graffiti artist, a thief, an angry pregnant girl), one said. By not worrying about whether or not the story pops, but about whether or not it feels lived in and true, another said.

How do we maintain authenticity in the voices of our young characters?, we were asked. By hanging out with teens and listening to how they talk, we all said. By testing our work in laboratories made of child readers, one said. By not being afraid to write differently, one said, for not all teens sound the same, not all fit the currently popular formula of some parts ironic softened by some parts tender.

And so we went—building on each other, challenging each other, defending one's own cover art as being fully born of the book itself (okay, Jordan, that tag is for you). A rigorous conversation moderated by a woman with great knowledge. So many in the audience with leading questions of their own.

Respect for the form, for the art, for all the ways that we can write to the music in our heads—that was what was on display yesterday. Different instruments. Different beats.

With great thanks to Jessica Lowenthal, for making this event possible and for doing such consistently fine work at the Writers House (Jessica has made it possible for former New Yorker fiction editor/former Random House editor/author of the fine My Mistake Daniel Menaker to visit the House next February 24, but more on that soon). With thanks to Ilene Wong, for this photography, above. With thanks to all who came. (Kathye, Chelsea, so many — I'm looking at you.)

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I leave in an hour for five days away with my father—a trip we've been looking forward to for quite some time. I thought that maybe I'd try to write while gone. I won't. I'll be riding my bike through the pine paths of Hilton Head Island instead. Walking the beach. Reading a book or two.

I need not to work for awhile.

I will return in time for the Alumni Authors Panel for Homecoming Weekend—with Lorene Carey, Jordan Sonnenblick, Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve, and Liz Van Doren—at the University of Pennsylvania. I hope to see some of you, perhaps some of my former students, there.

Happiness and peace to you in the meantime. I'm signing off of the blog for a spell.

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Elizabeth Rose Staton has good news! She has been offered a contract for her first picture book! HENNY, a story about a young chick who is born just a little different from everyone else in the barn, and learns how to use her special gift to come into her own.

Elizabeth completed the artwork (pencil and watercolor) this past October, and the book is slated to be released early in 2014 (Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books).

I asked Elizabeth about the story behind how she landed the contract. This is what she said:

Everything about it happened very quickly…I think my head is still spinning! I attended the SCBWI conference last January in New York, and participated in the portfolio show. A New York agent picked up one of my cards and phoned me about a week after I got home. We discussed my work, and what I was working on (“Henny”) and, next thing I knew, she offered me representation! Just about the time “Henny” was ready for my agent to shop, our regional (Western Washington) conference rolled around. I asked my agent if it would be a good idea for me to take the dummy to the conference and she said, go for it! Long story short, one of the conference faculty, an art director for Simon & Schuster, saw Henny, and the next thing I knew S & S had called my agent and offered me a book deal! I might add… all this was going on around the time of my Illustrator Saturday feature, and I am sure it helped with my “credibility!” So, as you can see, I am totally an SCBWI success story! It has all been such a fun, whirlwind experience and I am really looking forward to getting another book out there

Here is a sneak peak at a piece of interior art from Henny:

Melissa Sarver ( you might have met her at the conference in June) has joined Folio Literary Management as the co-director of international rights and will continue to represent authors in the areas of Young Adult, select literary and upmarket adult fiction, narrative non-fiction, business books and cookbooks. She was previously at The Elizabeth Kaplan Literary Agency.

At Little, Brown, Heather Fain has been promoted to associate publisher, in addition to her ongoing duties as marketing director.

Liz Van Doren has been promoted to editorial director, book publishing at Highlights for Children and Boyds Mills Press.

At Orion, Jane Sturrock has been promoted to editorial director, non-fiction.

Congratulations to all!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Filed under: Agent, authors and illustrators, Editors, Kudos Tagged: Eilzabeth Rose Stanton, Folio Literary, Little Brown Heather Fain, Liz Van Doren, Melissa Sarver, Simon and Schuster

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