Is the cooler weather a motivation for you to sit more often at your desk and create your next award-winning story or illustration? It is for me, because i am a warm-weather person. Speaking of awards, did you received your Swiss region newsletter at the beginning of September? In it is a section about awards. SCBWI as an organisation does its best to encourage children's writers and illustrators, and one of the ways it does this is to give out awards. Did you know that there are over 20 different awards and grants you could receive from SCBWI? i thought i highlight some of them here. These are the ones with upcoming datelines in November and December this year. 1) Jane Yolen Mid-List Author Grant - dateline November 1, 2019. This grant was created to honor the contribution of mid-list authors and aims to help raise awareness about their current works-in-progress. See details here. 2) Golden Kite Award (2nd wave submission) - dateline July 1 - November 15, 2019 (for books published in the second half of 2019). This award recognises excellence in children’s literature in six categories: Young Reader and Middle Grade Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Nonfiction for Younger Readers, Nonfiction for Older Readers, Picture Book Text, and Picture Book Illustration. It is the only children’s literary award judged by a jury of peers. See details here. 3) Emerging Voices Award - dateline September 15 - November 15, 2019. This award is for any writer or writer/illustrator from an ethnic and/or cultural background that is traditionally under-represented in children’s literature in America. (Including but not limited to: American Indian, Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic, Pacific Islander). See details here. 4) Sid Fleischman Humor Award - dateline November 30, 2019. Given with the Golden Kite Awards, the Sid Fleischman Humor Award is an award for authors whose work exemplifies the excellence of writing in the genre of humor. See details here. 5) Magazine Merit Award - postmarked on or before December 15, 2019. This award is presented annually for original magazine work for young people; one in each category of fiction, nonfiction, illustration, and poetry, to honor SCBWI members’ outstanding original magazine work published during that year. See details here. 6) Spark Award - dateline November 15 - December 15, 2019. This award is an annual award that recognises excellence in a children’s book published through a non-traditional publishing route. See details here. You can view the complete list of awards and grants from SCBWI here. Do check out these awards and grants. They are most definitely worth your time and effort to enter for them. All the best! Now get working on that masterpiece! Sandra Yoong-Chia This is our 5th post of this series. This time it is with one of our members who has recently self-published a really cute-looking picture book. Let's meet Justin Plunkett and get to know him and his wonderful little book. Tell us about your new book Oskar and Nanuk is my first children's book. It is a story about a llama and sloth helping each other find themselves. When a storm threatens to turn Nanuk into a soggy mop, she decides to leave her hill and find shelter from the rain in the jungle. The following morning she awakens to the alarming sight of an odd looking beast with long, clawed arms, hanging above her. It’s Oskar, a sweet but slightly smelly sloth. When Nanuk realises that she’s lost, Oskar offers to help. The marvellous view from his perch in the tallest tree for miles is filled with rainbows and promise. But something scary keeps him from chasing adventure - a rather unsettling earthworm experience. Together, Oskar and Nanuk work to overcome their fears and they find far more than what they were expecting. The story is told in rhyme. It has super colourful illustrations throughout, it is 32 pages long and is self published. What inspired you when working on this project? There were two books in particular that inspired me, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ by Maurice Sendak and ‘Hello Lighthouse’ by Sophie Blackall. Far from children’s literature, the songwriting of Nick Cave always blows me away. Listening to him, I imagine the words leaving his mouth, where, instead of falling clumsily to the ground, the words dance with each other like smoke. I love reading lines that are playful but carefully crafted, often with the use of assonance, onomatopoeia and rhyme. In the early stages of writing I joined the Masterclass website and watched most of the writers’ courses. Tell us about the creative process for this book. When my son was born, I knew that I would make start making something for kids. I didn’t exactly know whether it would be furniture, clothing or something else. I decided to develop a kids brand using two names I’d resonated with during the process of naming future babies, Oskar and Nanuk. I chose the sloth and llama as they both had really distinct visual characteristics and they could play off each other well. They were a funny combo, opposite in so many ways. To get to know them better I drew cartoons and developed lots of little vignettes that helped me clarify who they were and what they wanted. I thought a lot about the structure, the conflicts and character arcs and then I wrote the story. I loved it when it was done and shared it with a few people. It became clear very quickly that it was far too long. It rhymed in some places and not in others. But it was way too long. I think I ended up writing 4 or 5 versions, with each one getting shorter. By the second version I felt ready to start illustrating and over about three months I went from sketches to finished work. The illustrations were done on my iPad Pro with the Apple pencil and the software I used was Procreate. Even after the drawings were complete I kept editing and tweaking the writing. The rhyming spread. It was getting really hard to stay motivated towards the end. When I learned that the process of getting a publisher on board could take 6 months to a year I decided to self publish. After all that work, waiting 6 months for a response was too great an anticlimax. I want to get this book out into the world. Much of my careers has been focussed on branding and marketing so, equipped with a relevant skill set, I feel optimistic about building brand awareness. I remain open and interested in finding a traditional publisher as they are clearly experts, while I am merely impatient. Did you encounter anything unexpected while working on this project? I guess I was naive and enthusiastic when I started. It felt easy at first. The editing process was harder than I’d expected, writing became more and more difficult. The illustration was largely a breeze but when I needed to prep the artwork for IngramSpark, the Print on Demand platform for self publishers, I ran into a really difficult issue. As a designer I’ve printed thousands and thousands of things for clients over the years but I’d never encountered a print specification that included an ink coverage limit. IngramSpark threatened to reject books that exceeded their ink density limit of 240%. I won’t go into technical details, but as a result of this ink limitation I had to spend a week fine-tuning each drawing so that it would print the bright and saturated colours I’d intended. When I received the first printed prototype it felt small in my hands. I needed to push the book to it’s largest possible format, and with a better sense of how to edit the colours, I went back to editing the pictures. Now for something completely different! Seaside or Mountains? Why? While the Alps here in Switzerland are naturally breathtaking, there are shameless tribes of octogenarians who whip past me on the trails, filling me with despair as I desperately need air. I prefer the seaside in spite of my fear of sharks. As a kid, waist deep in the sea, I found myself face to face with a shark swimming towards me in a tall rising swell. When the wall crashed into whitewater, all oceanic sports were permanently washed from my future. But later in life, the natural beauty of Cape Town left an equally profound mark on me. No bite marks, but brilliant orange sunsets over the sea that stay with me still. Thank you for this insightful interview. It's quite inspiring to meet someone who has taken the bold step to self-publish. We wish Justin all the best with his picture book and in future writing/illustrating endeavours. sandra yoong-chia Bio - Justin Plunkett Like most people I wear many hats. I’m dad to a beautiful 3 year old. I’m husband to a wonderful Swiss who inspired me to leave the country of my birth, to join her in the land of hers. I’m a South African designer, illustrator and artist. Today I call the sweet little city of Schaffhausen home. I grew up in a family of avid explorers, every school holiday became an expedition to deserts, jungles and the African bush. I learned to drive a Land Rover at 11 and watched my dad fix them on beaches, salt pans and mountain passes. When I tell stories of my wild childhood to Europeans, they sound far fetched, torn from the adventure books I loved to read during the hours and hours of driving. I had time to imagine and can’t remember being bored as a kid. In my career I’ve zigged and zagged. I’ve had terrific mentors and hopped from advertising to animation to design. I could always draw. As a restless 5 year year old with pneumonia the only way my mother could keep me in bed was sitting in bed with me. She taught me to draw birds. She was an illustrator and interior designer and as a kid I remember looking up through our glass dining room table littered with markers, papers and french curves. My dad was a creative director in an advertising agency and could draw great cartoons. With my mom’s help I won art competitions at school and my hungry ego found a steady source of approval and admiration. Decades later, I picked up awards and professional recognition and created work I’m still very proud of. When I became a dad, the wonderful world of children books reopened doors to the past, and this is the reason you are reading this now. In our fourth interview with our published members, we are excited to speak to Eleanor Peterson whose non-fiction picture book, Jurassic Rat, was published in June 2019. Eleanor lives in Italy and because there is no Italian region at the moment, and she is just a hop across the border, the Swiss region has adopted her as part of our region. Tell us about your new book. Most folks know about dinosaurs but how many know about Jurassic rats? This is the story of one Jurassic rat, the size of a cat, who faces enormous dangers going in search of food for his family. Unfortunately, because he’s a bit on the clumsy side, Rat gets into all sorts of troubles tripping over logs, dropping precious eggs, and coming face to face with a terrifying allosaurus. Will Rat live to feed and snuggle with his family one more time before going out and doing it all over again? What inspired you when working on this project? My roof rats inspired me. I know it may seem strange, but it’s true. If it hadn’t been for them, I wouldn’t have a book. I was surfing the web on how to get rid of roof rats without killing them and fell upon a few articles about rats that were unearthed in Spain and China belonging to the Jurassic period. I had a story about the evolution of a species. I went for it. As for the roof rats, I put my kitty up there, and they disappeared. Now I have the pigeons. Sigh! Tell us about the creative process for this book. I did some research on the Jurassic period, then wrote the story and set it aside for a while. Then I attended an illustration course for picture books with the Children’s Book Academy run by Dr. Mira Reisberg. I had to pick a story to illustrate. Jurassic Rat was my choice. I illustrated the whole story then I had a one-on-one with Mira Reisberg, and she suggested a few edits for both the illustrations and text. Did you encounter anything unexpected while working on this project? Definitely! Illustrating a children's picture book is far from easy. I spent hours illustrating it, but in the end, I had a book dummy. What I didn’t expect, was a call from Mira Reisberg that is the art director for the Spork Imprint. She was interested in the story, but she asked me if someone else could illustrate the book? I was thrilled and accepted. It came to me as a surprise. If you’re curious as to why my illustrations didn’t work for children age 5-8 well, here’s an image (to the right). My illustrations were too realistic and scary. Now for something completely different! City or Countryside, Why? Countryside. I feel at one with nature. Nature walks clear my mind and make me happy. Then, I can go back home and put my butt in seat once again and revise my work. Cities are chaotic, noisy, and stinky. I try to avoid cities, but at times I must go to Genoa (Italy). I come back home a nervous wreck. I don’t know how people cope with living in big cities. Thank you for this delightful interview. It was such a joy getting to know Jurassic Rat. Thank you Eleanor for sharing your creativity process with us. We wish you all the best for your future writing and illustrating adventures. sandra yoong-chia Bio - Eleanor Peterson Eleanor has been called a Druid; she talks to trees, creeping critters, and animals. While she waits to hear back from them she paints, makes puppets, and plays with clay. She has a BS in Environmental Sciences and Territorial Management and has shared her passion for nature by teaching animal tracking to Middle Graders. She is an SCBWI, CBI, CANSCAIP member, and a graduate of the Children’s Book Academy. Eleanor is a Canadian author/illustrator residing in Italy. Website: https://www.eleanorannpeterson.com It was a beautiful sunny morning when a number of us met at Neuchâtel train station. We hopped on the train to go a little ways out of the city center. It certainly was lovely weather to take a walk through the vineyards where we got an amazing view of the sparkling lake and were absorbed in engaging conversations about life in Switzerland, work, travel, kids and of course, books. Then we headed down to the lake for a cold drink at a nice local café, where we heard about someone's latest picture book project and an impromptu crit happened. With some rumbles in the tummies, we looked for a picnic spot and settled down for lunch. After which, we looked over another wonderful picture book project. Properly inspired, we got to work on our individual work-in-progress.
i think it was a fantastic way to spend a few hours with fellow creatives. Thank you to everyone who came and made it an inspiriting time. sandra yoong-chia This is our third post in this series, featuring our published members. Let's have a chat with Julie Abery whose debut board books, Little Panda and Little Tiger were published in March 2019. Tell us about your new books. Little Tiger and Little Panda are the first two board books in a series published by Amicus Ink. Written in rhyme, with active verbs, they follow the adventures of the young animals as they venture out alone for the first time. The fun texts are beautifully paired with warm and inviting illustrations by Suzie Mason. What inspired you when working on these projects? The inspiration for Little Tiger came first. I had researched tiger-ish words in the library with a thought that one day I would write a story. I forgot all about them until I decided to enter Vivian Kirkfield’s 50 Precious Words contest and stumbled across them in my notebook. And that is how Little Tiger was born. Tell us about the creative process for these books. As I mentioned, Little Tiger was written first, but Little Panda was written thanks to an editor’s feedback who thought that it might be possible to write other ‘little’ books using the same writing formula I had created with Little Tiger. To my delight, she was right, and I now have four ‘little’ stories, and a fifth waiting in the wings just in case! The creative process was a pretty smooth one. Amicus wrote to my agent, Essie White, in spring 2017 to ask if the texts were available and contracts followed quickly. They sent us some links to potential illustrators and then confirmed that Suzie Mason was the chosen artist. I was thrilled as I loved Suzie’s charming style. I had no revisions at all for Little Tiger and one word to change in Little Panda. Amicus worked very collaboratively and shared preliminary sketches in December 2017, and by May 2018 I had seen the full colour artwork and was working on the next two books! Perfect! Did you encounter anything unexpected while working on these projects? I did! I realised when I was writing these ‘Little’ books that there wasn’t an inexhaustible list of rhyming active verbs, so I created an excel chart showing which pairings I had already used to make sure I didn’t repeat myself! Now for something completely different! City or Countryside, Why? COUNTRYSIDE! I am a country girl at heart…I have always lived in the countryside. I am a dog lover, a walker, and a runner! I love forest trails and nature! Thank you Julie for sharing with us your creative journey as a published author. These books are adorable and we wish you all the best with the rest of the 'Little' books, as well as your other books in the future. sandra yoong-chia Bio - Julie Abery Julie Abery is a children’s author and former Pre-K teacher. Originally from England, she has spent half of her life living in Europe, bringing up her three (now grown up) children and experiencing new languages and cultures. She now calls Switzerland home. Julie’s debut board books Little Tiger and Little Panda were published in March 2019 with Amicus Ink, with a further two in the Amicus Little Animal Friends series publishing in Spring 2020; a nonfiction picture book biography entitled Yusra Swims from Creative Editions (Spring 2020); a true story João and Dindim the Penguin, Kids Can Press (Fall 2020) and nonfiction picture book Sakamoto and the Sugar-Ditch Kids from Kids Can Press (Spring 2021). She is represented by Essie White of Storm Literary Agency. Website: littleredstoryshed.wordpress.com Twitter: @juliedawnabery Facebook: @julieabery 5 May 2019 Riding the wave of the excitement of Day 1, we jumped into Day 2 of the Europolitian 2019. The day started with lovely door prizes being given out and the announcement of the winner of the Portfolio Showcase. Congratulations Devon Holzwarth from the Germany/Austria region! #europolitian19SCBWI Then it was onto an invigorating panel discussion which covered topics such as social responsibility, authenticity of our stories, trends, the difference between the industry then and now, taboo topics in children's literature, diversity and the power of a story. On the panel were Kathi Appelt, Maria Middleton and Alice Sutherland-Hawes. Sufficiently caffeinated from our coffee/tea break, we go into the morning workshops which delved into topics such as illustrating book jackets, building strong characters and rights. Then it was time to fuel our stomachs to get more energy for the afternoon workshops. The afternoon was filled with talk about digital portfolios, creation of a novel and querying basics. A quick coffee/tea break and then it was onto the Mentor Program and Undiscovered Voices. Thank yous were said and gifts were presented. All too soon it was time for the closing keynote by Kathi Appelt; Whirled P's, which gave us words such as places, people, pets, problems, power, PLAY, partnership, profession and POSSIBLE! My personal take away is this: When you're doing your life's work, your life works! Next on the agenda was regional networking sessions as well as a few more consultations. And that concluded Day 2. Monday was given over to Peer Critique Cafe. I have to say, for me, my critique group was a great group. Thank you, ladies, for a wonderful crit! Below are some pictures for you to enjoy. Here are a couple of links to some other posts about the Europolitian; one from a faculty member, and one for an attendee. Update: another post about the Europolitian from the Germany/Austria region. Do you feel like you missed out? Or maybe you really want to go to another SCBWI event? Well, if you are a member of a SCBWI region, your RA will keep you updated. If you are not a member, join up! Hope to see you at our next event. Sandra Yoong-Chia 4 May, 2019 It was the first day of the conference, we started bright and early with registration opening at 7:45 am. It was fabulous to see people arriving early and all excited about the day. #europolitian19SCBWI Elisabeth Norton, RA for Switzerland, welcomed all the attendees and after a few administrative announcements, we were treated to an inspiring opening keynote by Chitra Soundar. Chitra filled us with much passion for our craft and gave us practical steps to build our foundation that would help us to scale our scaffolding to success. The panel discussion, which followed next, gave an overview of marketing in the publishing market and touched on aspects such as; building relationships, book covers, authenticity, brand/platform, online presence and trust. On the panel were Andrew Ruston, Chitra Soundar, Molly O'Neill, and Naomi Colthurst. Then it was time for a coffee/tea break to stretch our legs, refreshing ourselves before diving into the workshop sessions. The four workshops covered topics such as illustrating picture books, writing picture books, aspects of fiction writing as well as a look at how first pages can change through the editing process. Lunch break was next and conversations flowed over burgers and soup. The afternoon workshops looked at humour in children's literature, crafting a stand-out manuscript and more illustrations for picture books. There was another opportunity for chit-chat at the afternoon coffee/tea break. Then we headed back into the last set of workshops for the first day. This time, there were discussions about the creative process, author visits and a session which covered almost every aspect of publishing. Whew! That was a packed day, filled with loads of stimulating and thought-provoking sessions. But we were not quite done yet; a lovely apéro and networking time followed. Individual consultations with industry experts took place at the same time. Finally, it was off to a well-deserved dinner for all of us. Below is a slideshow, featuring some of the highlights of the day. Stay tuned for Day 2. Sandra Yoong-Chia I apologise that this series of posts did not get posted live during the Europolitian 2019 Conference. I had trouble getting the WIFI to work in my room. The Europolitian 2019 ended 2 days ago, with the last event being the Peer Critique on Monday morning. But I will start this series of posts with the pre-conference activities on Friday, 3 May. #europolitian19SCBWI In the late afternoon on Friday, various groups assembled at the Youth Hostel in Zurich. The Scrawl Crawl group was the first to set off with illustrators, laden with their pens, pencils, paper and digital drawing pads, to capture the many animals and people at the Zurich Zoo. Next, the Walking Tour group walked down the street to catch the bus and tram, heading for Paradeplatz, to meet the professional tour guide. The Creative Cafe group settled themselves at a large round table in the lobby of the Youth Hostel, working on their work-in-progress projects. Participants from all three groups then met up again at the publisher, Nordsüd's office. We were very warmly welcomed by Nordsüd, who lay on a lovely apero. We were able to purchase some of their books at a special SCBWI rate. It was also a great opportunity to speak to them about the work and industry of children's publishing. You can see some photo moments from the pre-conference activities below. Look out for the next post which will feature the first day of the conference proper. Sandra Yoong-Chia It's another three sleeps till the SCBWI Europolitian Conference 2019! Or two sleeps if you are coming for the pre-conference activities. #europolitian19SCBWI I am very excited and can't wait to listen to wonderful speakers, attend inspirational workshops and, of course, meet all the people who will be there. It really is the people who make the event; it's the organisers, the faculty and the attendees coming together. Everyone there to talk about the world and work of writing and illustrating for children's books - it will be smashing! I hope to blog live from the conference so stay tuned for the posts. Sandra Yoong-Chia Now what does an image of a clock tower and some orange umbrellas have to do with the upcoming Europolitian Conference 2019 in Zurich, from 4th to 5th May? #Europolitian19SCBWI Well, it's a shot from the test run of one of the pre-conference activities on offer at the conference. Sounds interesting? Mysterious? It could even be the inspiration for your next creative piece. So if you have not signed up for the conference and are still thinking about it, stop thinking and go sign up here! Registration closes 20 April 2019, 12 AM, Swiss Time. We have just a handful of places left. See you at the conference! sandra yoong-chia |
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