Last week,
Cyn and I had the pleasure of attending the
Texas Library Association Annual Conference in Houston! Cynthia signed the TANTALIZE series with
Candlewick and also with
Perma Bound Books, and I had the pleasure of my first conference signing of CHRONAL ENGINE with
Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It was great fun to meet librarians and fellow dinosaur enthusiasts! They cleaned us out of books and postcards...
Wednesday was the
Texas Tea YA Author event, sponsored by YART (essentially speed-dating: pairs of authors serially circulated at tables filled with Texas librarians). I was paired with
Mary Lindsey, whose novel, SHATTERED SOULS, has one of the best covers ever (at least, one of the best that doesn't have dinosaurs :-)). We presented our books and swag -- in my case, postcards, author feature brochures, and temporary dinosaur tattoos -- and had some great conversations.
On Friday, Cyn was named the first featured
Spirit of Texas author for high-school aged readers. Check out the page for activities, curriculum tie-ins, and fun! The featured middle-school author was
Andrea White.
Encounters in the exhibit hall or various other venues included out-of-state authors Toni Buzzeo, John Green, Shannon Hale, Kelly Milner Halls, Geoff Herbach, David Lubar, Greg Neri, Dom Testa, and Sara Zarr; and Texans Lynne Kelly, Don Tate, Kathi Appelt, Christina Mandelski, Elaine Scott, Jeanette Larson, Cynthia Levinson, Madeline Smoot, Salima Alikhan, E. Kristin Anderson, Bethany Hegedus, Jessica Lee Anderson, Debbie Leland, P.J. Hoover, Mary Lindsey, Jennifer Ziegler, Chris Barton, Joy Preble, Kelly Bennett, Nikki Loftin, Anastasia Suen, Jo Whittemore, Jeff Crosby, and Shelly Ann Jackson; and countless librarians and publisher marketing and editorial personnel.
Thanks to everyone at YART and TLA, all of the librarians who came to the signings and events, and to the publicity teams at Candlewick and Houghton Mifflin!
Here are some photos:
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| Random sauropod, Houston Museum of Natural Science |
Here's a listing of Austin authors who are going to be signing at TLA in Houston this month. Signings are in the Author Area (AA) unless otherwise noted.
Wednesday, April 18: Jeff CrosbyWIENER WOLF
Disney-Hyperion
Wednesday, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm (Booth 1804)
Cynthia LevinsonWE'VE GOT A JOB: THE 1963 BIRMINGHAM CHILDREN'S MARCH
Peachtree Publishers, Ltd.
Wednesday, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm (Booth 1434)
Cynthia Leitich SmithDIABOLICAL (Tanatalize series, Book 4)
Candlewick Press
Wednesday, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm (AA)
Greg Leitich SmithCHRONAL ENGINE
Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Wednesday, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm (AA)
Jennifer ZieglerSASS AND SERENDIPITY
Random House, Inc.
Wednesday, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm (AA)
Thursday, April 19: Keith GravesTHE ORPHAN OF AWKWARD FALLS
Chronicle Books
Thursday, 10:00 am - 11:00 am (AA)
Don TateDUKE ELLINGTON'S NUTCRACKER SUITE
Charlesbridge
Thursday, 10:00 am - 11:00 am (AA)
Jeanette LarsonHUMMINGBIRDS: FACTS AND FOLKLORE FROM THE AMERICAS
Charlesbridge
Thursday, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm (Booth 1305)
Friday, April 20: Chris BartonCAN I SEE YOUR ID?
Penguin
Friday, 10:00 am - 11:00 am (AA)
Many thanks to the Austin SCBWI for presenting Cyn and me with the above award naming us as Ambassadors for the Austin Kid-Lit Community at the Regional Conference yesterday. We're deeply honored.
Kudos to RA
Debbie Gonzales, ARA
Carmen Oliver, Illustration Chair
Mark G. Mitchell, and the faculty, volunteers, and attendees at yesterday's
Austin SCBWI Regional Conference, "Something for Everybody," at
St. Edward's University!  |
| Airplane hanging in Ragsdale Center |
Faculty included authors
Lisa Yee,
Donna Jo Napoli,
Anastasia Suen, and
Chris Barton; attorney Barry Furrow; editor
Bonnie Bader of Penguin Young Readers Group (Grosset and Dunlap and Price Stern Sloan); editorial director
Diane Muldrow of Golden Books/Random House; senior art director
Patti Ann Harris of Little, Brown; publicist Kirsten Cappy of
Curious City; agent
Sarah Davies of Greenhouse Literary Agency; agent
Jill Corcoran of Herman Agency as well as
Erin Murphy and
Ammi-Joan Paquette (
who's also a children's author) of Erin Murphy Literary Agency.
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| Julie Lake, Mark Mitchell, Jennifer Ziegler |
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 Photo of me with cows, which really doesn't have anything at all to do with this post.
This coming weekend many eyes are on Washington, DC, which is hosting the annual conference of the American Library Association! Make sure y'all say "hi" to Austinites Chris Barton (winner of Siebert Honor), Liz Garton Scanlon (author of Caldecott Honor book), and Jacqueline Kelly (winner of Newbery Honor).
For those staying closer to home, this weekend is also the annual Editor and Agent Conference of the Writers League of Texas! I'll be moderating one panel and speaking on another (see post below for details).
Also in Austin on Saturday from 10 AM to 4PM is the fourth annual African American Book Festival, at the Carver branch of the Austin Public Library. Check out the article in the Statesman, which features Austin YA author Varian Johnson. Also appearing at the festival is Austin author-illustrator Don Tate.
Finally, Cyn will be speaking Saturday night at the University of New Mexico. Her speech is titled TALKING BACK TO BRAM: REINVENTING GOTHICS. If you're in the neighborhood, go check it out!
 The Writers League of Texas has a couple of great events coming up of interest to the youth literature community.
The first, the 2010 agents-editors conference, will be held in Austin on June 25-27. On Saturday, at 10:15, I will be moderating a panel titled Kid Lit: One Hot Market, with editor Mary Colgan of Chronicle Books; agent Laurie McLean of Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents; and Alice Tasman of Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.
At 1:45, Jennifer Ziegler will be moderating a panel called YA, YA, YA Not: How to Tell if your Book is for Adults or Teens or Both, with editor Mary Colgan and author Mari Mancusi.
On Sunday, at 9, Laurie McLean and Alice Tasman will be on a panel titled Trendspotting: The Forecast for YA and Children's Books.
Also on Sunday at 9, I will be on a panel moderated by Clay Smith (Literary Director of the Texas Book Festival), called The Ties that Bind: The Agent/Author Relationship. Also on that panel will be James Fitzerald of the James Fitzgerald Agency, Jill Marr of the Sandra Dijkstra Agency, and author David Marion Wilkinson.
Many other panels (including many of interest to both adult and children's authors) will be ongoing, and the event also presents writers with the chance to "pitch" their work to an agent. Also noteworthy is the Saturday keynote luncheon, which will honor winners of the Writers League Manuscript Contest for 2010.
Check out the conference page here to confirm times.
The second is the 2010 Writing Retreat at Sul Ross University in Alpine. Austin's own Jennifer Ziegler will be discussing "Writing the YA Novel."
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