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A few days ago I posted information about the writer’s Retreat we are having on October 1-3 at the Hyatt Regency in Princeton, NJ.  I am happy to announce that Kristin Daly Ren (Remember she got married last year, so we need to get used to her new name) has agreed to join us for the weekend.  Here is a little information about Kristin:

Kristin Daly Rens first became interested in children’s books as a career in high school, when she worked in her local public library shelving—and often covertly reading!—books in the children’s room. While studying at Boston College she became sidetracked by a newfound love for the works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and decided to learn German in order to get her Masters in Comparative Literature. In 1999, degree in hand and thoroughly finished with academia, she made the decision to return to her original love, children’s books, and moved back to New York to become an Editorial Assistant at Golden Books. In January 2002, she began working at HarperCollins, where she has been for the past eight years and counting. In May 2008 she joined the team at Harper’s newest imprint, Balzer & Bray.

Kristin has been privileged to work with authors and illustrators such as Michael Bond, Valeri Gorbachev, Charles Santore, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Jack Prelutsky, and Barbara McClintock. Currently, she is especially excited to be working with several talented newcomers to the Harper list, including Sudipta Bardhan, on the picture books Pirate Princess and Hampire!; Audrey Vernick, on the biography She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story and the humorous picture books Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? and Teach Your Buffalo to Play Drums; Diana Peterfreund, on the YA unicorn hunter fantasy Rampant and its upcoming sequel, Ascendant; and debut author Crystal Allen, on the middle-grade novel How Lamar’s Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy.

As an editor Kristin is interested in Picture Books through to Young Adult and includes fantasy, graphic novels & rhyme.  She is very selective with non-fiction and historical novels, but does do them.  Anyone who knows Kristin, knows she is a great choice for the weekend.  You will love her.  Hope to be able to announce the second editor soon.  I have other goodies to talk about in tomorrow’s post and some new ideas.

Did you know that 12 or more cows is called a flink?  Thought I would share what I just learned from a Snapple bottle.

Kathy

8 Comments on Kristin Daly Ren Editor at Blazer & Bray, last added: 6/17/2010

Yesterday I went to the SCBWI-FL conference in Orlando, and followed the poetry track, where we spent the whole day with Lee Bennett Hopkins, who has done numerous anthologies for children, and Kristin Daly from Harper Collins, who aquires poetry, picture books, and a few other things.

A couple things I learned about writing poetry:
1. Make every word count...there is no room for fillers.NO 'empty calories' allowed. That means do not use the words JUST, BUT, AND, THE, QUITE. Each syllable of a poem must move it to action.

2.Watch out for uneven or forced meter...do not give the editors an excuse for dumping your poem.

3. Don't be afraid to stand out from the pack. Use themes based on basic childhood experiences...with a new twist.

There are three types of poetry books:
1. Original poetry...your own collection
2. General anthology...a conglomeration of poems with little or no connection
3. Specific anthology...theme-based books. These sell the best.

Poetry-friendly magazines:
Babybug, Boy's Quest, Cicada, Cricket, Hopscotch, Iguana (must be originally written in Spanish), Odyssey.

Poetry-friendly publishing houses:
Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin
Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux
Greenwillow Books
Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon and Schuster
Wordsong/Boyds Mills

And, I would say, Harper Collins.

At the end we had 'Poetry Idol.' Our assignment was to write a poem about something that began with the same letter as our last name. I won.It was a great day...and has inspired me to get writing on poetry again... Read the rest of this post