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It’s back!  I’ve been doing my thing, buying lovely adult titles for my library system, and time and again I’ve run across ideas or names that fall squarely in the children’s book realm.  Here then are some real beauties. Things you just might not know about otherwise.

I know and like Elisha Cooper but I’m ashamed to say that before this book was announced I was unaware of his previous memoir A Father’s First Year which was released in 2006.  Since that time, Cooper’s daughter was diagnosed at the age of four with pediatric kidney cancer.  This book examines her treatment, recovery, and what this all did to Elisha himself.  On my To Be Read Shelf.

Thus continuing my series of books about people I know or have met, and yet never had any idea about when it comes to their personal lives.  In this upcoming August memoir, Nadja (who penned Lost in NYC amongst other things) opens up about herself, her mother, and even her grandmother.  It’s a deeply personal work about someone I’m desperately fond of (Francoise Mouly, Nadja’s mother, is the founder of TOON Books, as well as serving as the Art Director of The New Yorker, and she is delight incarnate).  Also on the To Be Read Shelf.

This inclusion is a bit of a stretch.  I really only put it here because in the Library Journal review of the book it said, “Soviet-style medical ethics or lack thereof frame an intimate story that the publicist calls One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest crossed with The Fault Is in Our Stars.”  So there’s that.

Jackie writes something for adults and people get very excited.  Book Expo America hasn’t even happened yet, but I’ve already been seeing this title showing up on lists of Best Books of the Summer and what have you.  I foresee some libraries have problems cataloging this title (the cover looks awfully similar to her YA novels and will be easily confused) but for all that, I suspect it’s going to be a book club hit and a New York Times bestseller.  Just you wait, just you wait . . .

No further comments, your honor.

For those of us floored by M.T. Anderson’s Symphony for the City of the Dead last year, here is a new biography of its star, Dmitri Shostakovich.  And it’s a novel.  It’s out May 10th.  Look for it.

A Garth Williams biography!  Whodathunkit? Seems pretty specialized and for a veeeery small market, but there you are.  I know the estate of Williams doesn’t exactly bend over backwards to allow folks to use his art (even his obscure art) in any context. They must have approved of this book from the start.  Heck, I’ll read it.

At this year's Comic Arts Brooklyn, two of comics most influential curators examined the legacy of Winsor McCay's LITTLE NEMO IN SLUMBERLAND and the development of comics, from the vulgar days of yore to the modern gentile shores.

And another event, this one a screening of a documentary about one of Charlie Hebdo’s earlier controversies followed by a talk with Art Spigelman and Francoise Mouly:

With TOUGH BEING LOVED BY JERKS, director Daniel Leconte (Fidel Castro: L’enfance d’un chef) offers a real-time account of one of the most important trials in the 21st century and dives deep into the political, ideological and media-related stakes of the trial with all key participants. The film features lawyers, witnesses, the media, editorial conferences, demonstrations of support, as well as the reactions of the prosecutors and of Muslim countries. Given new relevance after the January 7, 2015, attacks at the Charlie Hebdo offices, which left 12 dead and 11 wounded, TOUGH BEING LOVED BY JERKS also features candid interviews (and rarely seen behind-the-scenes moments) with acclaimed Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, such as Cabu, Charb, Tignous and Wolinski, who died on January 7. (C) Kino Lorber

 Followed by a conversation with Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman, moderated by Bill Kartalopoulos.

Location:
SVA Theater 
333 West 23rd Street between 8th and 9th Ave. 
Click here for directions

Here are some literary events to pencil in your calendar this week.

To get your event posted on our calendar, visit our Facebook Your Literary Event page. Please post your event at least one week prior to its date.

The topic of the forthcoming Pen Parentis Literary Salon will be “Risqué Words.” Check it out on Tuesday, November 11th at The Andaz Hotel from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (New York, NY)

(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Newbery Medal winner Neil Gaiman sat with TOON Books publisher Françoise Mouly and Pulitzer Prize winner Art Spiegelman to discuss his new graphic novel, Hansel and Gretel. The video embedded above features the entire conversation.

Gaiman confesses that the “Hansel and Gretel” fairy tale really frightens him, but he does believe that children must be exposed to dark stories. Gaiman thinks that “if you are protected from dark things then you have no protection of, knowledge of, or understanding of dark things when they show up. I think it is really important to show dark things to kids—and in the showing, to also show that dark things can be beaten, that you have power.”

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art has revealed the honorees for the 2014 Carle Honors.  The honor pays tribute to four different children’s creators. Françoise Mouly, publisher and editorial director for TOON Books and art editor of The New Yorker won the "Bridge" honor. Jerry Pinkney, Children's book illustrator was honored with the "Artist" honor. Children's librarian Henrietta Smith was given the "Mentor" honor. Reach Out and Read, which is represented by Brian Gallagher and Dr. Perri Klass, was honored with the "Angel" honor for the efforts in early literacy. The organization will host its ninth annual awards ceremony in New York to celebrate the honors

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In the “Art on the Mind: Comics and Education“ panel at the Brooklyn Book Festival, a group of experts argued that comics deserve a spot in the classroom.

The panelists include Boxers & Saints graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang, The Shark King graphic novelist R. Kikuo Johnson, education expert Professor Barbara Tversky, and New Yorker art editor Françoise Mouly.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

 on BLOWN COVERS

Blown Covers of the New Yorker:

Francoise Mouly, famed art editor of the venerable New Yorker, has started a blog. She writes on FB:

I’m launching a Blown Covers website where I’ll be running weekly themed Blown Cover contests (submit your sketches! I’ll review them all and post the winner every Friday), talking about the week’s New Yorker cover and showcasing my favorite artists.

An audio version of the TOON Books reception, January 12, 2008 in Philadelphia. Q&A with Francoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman.

The first U.S. National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, a children’s laureate for the United States, will be announced on January 3, 2008 by the Children’s Book Council (CBC) and the Library of Congress’ Center for the Book. The position was created to help raise awareness of the importance of children’s literature, and how children’s books help literacy, education, and the development of children’s lives.

The ambassador will have a two-year term, and was chosen for their contribution to children’s literature, known ability to relate to children, and dynamic and engaging personality, among other things.

This position was inspired by Britain’s Children’s Laureate, which has included Quentin Blake (1999-2001); Anne Fine (2001-3) (who set up the wonderful free printable bookplates for children); Michael Morpurgo (2003-5); Jacqueline Wilson (2005-7); and now Michael Rosen.

I think it’s so important that children are encouraged to read and to love books; books nurture children’s imaginations, minds, and souls, and can offer a kind of friendship, advice, and help when children may not have any around them. So anything that encourages children to read–and that reminds adults of the positive effects of reading–is a good thing. And this feels like a very good thing.

If you want to read the entire press release, including the people on the committee who selected the ambassador, and go here.
I’m assuming there’s more information on www.cbcbooks.org as well, but right now their site is down.

IBBY SA has drawn up 100 Representative South African Books for Children and Young People

• The books are recognisably African in character.
• The authors and illustrators are South Africans, or non-South Africans living and working in South Africa.
• The books are in print.
• The books are mentioned in the list in the language in which they were originally written. Many titles have been translated into other South African languages.
• The books are intended for children and young people: we have not included titles that are geared to an adult market, even if popular among younger readers.

For the full list, click on the Title above.

email [email protected]
website www.ibbysa.org.za

To request a printable brochure, please email
[email protected]

The fourth Kids Lit Quiz will be held in SA this October. The quiz is a general knowledge literature quiz and started in New Zealand in 1991 - the brainchild of Wayne Mills, senior lcturer in children's education at the University of Auckland. In SA, children in grade 6 or 7 may enter, in teams of four. The aim is to reward good readers, just as good sportsmen or women are rewarded. Exclusive Books became the official sponsor of the quiz in 2007 and there are regional rounds in Johannesburg, PE, Pmb, Dbn and Cape Town between 4th and 11th October.

Students collaboratively answer 100 questions arranged in ten categories.
(The categories are unknown to contestants prior to the event). For more details contact Marj Brown at [email protected].

The winning SA team is invited to compete internationally in June of the following year. There are also cash prizes and book vouchers to be won.

Last year this time I decided I was finished with blogging. It was an interesting experiment but it was too much work and brought too few returns. So I quit.

Weeks later, a colleague sent me a quick email to say my blog was getting stale. He was looking forward to the next post, he said. I hadn’t promoted the thing (still learning how it works, no time) so I thought my blog was like performing to an empty room. I didn’t realize that over time, fans were filling up the seats.

My colleague was not even the reader I thought would be interested in my folktales and parenting adventures. But there he was, a single White man in his early twenties, newly graduated from varsity; neither a parent, creative writer, school teacher or librarian.

He liked my blog enough to give me a kick in the butt when he thought I was slacking on the job. So I took my chastised self back to the stage and started telling him more stories. I even began to enjoy the experience, once I got into the rhythm of it.

GETTING STARTED

The reason I’m telling this story is to make the point that writers and illustrators who are initially sceptical of blogging can make it work for them too. Also, you can get over the stumbling blocks and get to enjoy the experience. Some of the issues to keep in mind when starting a blog are:

1) Setting up a blog is not as hard as many people fear. Most blogging platforms provide step by step instructions as you register, write and publish your first post. You can explore the site later to learn what else you can do and add interesting features over time
2) Do short posts if you have time limitations. C. Hope Clark, American writer and publisher of Funds for Writers generally has about two paragraphs and a picture in each post.
3) To find something to blog about will require serious thought, so your parameters are clear. What are you willing to talk about regarding your life? What would get you into trouble with your employer/ publisher/ family/ friends? Keep in mind that whatever you write will be for public consumption, and thanks to Google cache, your posts will remain on the Internet even if you delete your blog.
4) Pace yourself and post once a week or so. Burnout is common among bloggers.

PROMOTING YOUR BLOG
1) Judge your blog traffic by the quality of your visitors (strong interest in subject), not the quantity.
2) Most blogging gurus suggest bloggers on same subject visit each other’s blogs and leave a comment. Do it judiciously and don’t waste your time cultivating people who won’t reciprocate.
3) Experts also advise bloggers to provide visitors with unique, practical resources they can use.
4) Writing about other people is an effective way to build community. It allows the people who you interview to bring their own community to your blog.
5) Publish short essays/articles to drive traffic to your blog. We’re not talking about complicated stuff here. Just a short piece – sometimes as short as 250 words - based on work/writing or life experiences and resources. Ezine Articles and similar portals accept such articles and serve as distribution points.
6) Invite friends and relatives to visit your blog. My personal choice was not to invite them at the beginning. I wanted to put my best foot forward, because they are the people who will potentially market the blog for me. If they like it, they’ll brag to colleagues and friends: “check out my cousin Damaria’s blog here. She’s very talented, don’t you think?”
7) Link your blog to aggregators, so people outside your network can see your posts. Local aggregators include Afrigator.co.za and Amatomu.co.za. Also check out Jacketflap.com. It has over a thousand writers, illustrators, agents, publishers and librarians.
STORY IDEAS
1. Post a picture/doodle a week.
2. Post a poem, a short short children’s story every other week.
3. Interview experts your readers would be interested in talking to. All you have to do is type up 5 burning questions and email them, clean up the copy and post it.
4. Link to interesting articles/resources you found on the web.
5. Find free articles on your subject, ready to be published at Ezine Articles (www.ezinearticles.com).

THE BENEFITS
Here are some lessons I learnt after blogging for 18 months:
1) A blog is an online place for you to showcase your work. You can refer editors to your online portfolio/clips.
2) You can allow readers to subscribe, which in turn allows you to build a captive audience you’ll market your books to.
3) There is also a growing international trend for bloggers to collate some of their posts into non-fiction books. A good local example is Tertia Albertyn, the Cape Town based woman who started blogging about her infertility and in vitro fertilisation procedures. Her book, So Close, published by Oshun Books, was based on the blog.
4) It provides a platform for new writers to practise writing and to get feedback on their work.
5) You meet very interesting people.

RESOURCES
The many reasons people blog
http://quasifictionalviews.blogspot.com/2007/06/fine-art-of-blogging_14.html
Sample blogs in the children’s publishing field
www.jacketflap.com
Choose a platform
Platforms I’m familiar with are Blogger (www.blogger.com), Wordpress (www.wordpress.com ) and My Digital Life (www.mydigitallife.co.za; local, owned by my employer.)

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Damaria Senne is a journalist and author based in Johannesburg. She blogs about writing and parenting at http://damariasenne.blogspot.com. Read her business/technology articles on the telecommunications industry (Internet and cellphones) at www.itweb.co.za.

SCBWI had a stand at the Cape Town Book Fair where members of SCBWI displayed examples of their work.

LeAnne Hardy from Jo'burg was one writer who took advantage of the opportunity to display her books. Other authors included Wendy Hartman and Reviva Schermbrucker.

Illustrators also displayed their books as well as examples of their work. Gauteng illustrators whose work was on display included Joan Rankin and Yvette de Beer. Other illustrators who displayed their work included Marjorie van Heerden and Paddy Bouma.

The stand was very busy throughout the fair. Many people went through portfolios and looked at the books published by SCBWI members. They took down names of writers and illustrators whose work they could commission. A popular attraction were the beautiful posters for sale. These were done by renowned artists such as Piet Grobler and were snapped up by eager teachers and librarians.

The SCBWI stand was next to the IBBY stand which displayed some wonderful examples of South African books. A large number of exciting children's events were also organised.

All in all, children's books were prominent at the Cape Town Book Fair.