Book Drive

This year’s conference book drive benefited Book ‘Em. This organization provides tens of thousands of books to needy children in Nashville every year. Thank you to everyone who donated books and a special thank you to David Arnold for coordinating the book drive.

Cheryl Zach Scholarship Winner

SCBWI Midsouth RA, Kristin O'Donnell Tubb with Judy Rawles

Congratulations to Judy Rawles, winner of this year’s Cheryl Zach Scholarship, a conference scholarship in honor of SCBWI Midsouth's founder, Cheryl Zach.

More Photos from the Conference

Common Core Curriculum

Beth Frerking, high school librarian and president of the Tennessee Association of School Librarians speaks about the Common Core Curriculum.

The Common Core Curriculum is a set of standards, not curriculum, per se. Standards are the goal and the curriculum is how to get there. There is an emphasis on math, reading, & writing.

Essential Shifts:

Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction.

Reading, writing & speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary & informational.

Regular practice with complex text and its academic language.

Beth gives the example of students reading The Diary of Anne Frank. Previously, students would read about World War II and the Holocaust before reading the book. Now students read the book first.

Questions in a book's educational guide should be text dependent. They must take the student back into the text to answer the questions. 

For more information visit:

Common Core Standards

Tennessee Department of Education

Student Achievement Partners

Read Tennessee

5 Keys to a Healthy Author-Agent Relationship

Author Bethany Griffin and agent Michael Bourret talk about the author-agent relationship.  They have worked together since 2010.

Their 5 keys to the Author–Agent Relationship are:

Openness

Trust

Clarity

Humor

Communication

Michael says If an agent makes an offer & what they see for your career is not what you see for yourself, maybe they’re not the right agent for you. 

You should trust your agent’s advice – on the project you’re writing, submissions,  and how the agent represents your work.

Bethany says Humor and communication are important with your agent.

To learn more about Bethany's books, visit her website here. Michael is with Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. Visit their website here.

SCBWI Midsouth Contest Winners

Illustrator Contest

Winner: Mary Uhles for her illustration Lin and the Hurricane Morning

Mary Uhles


Fiction Manuscript Contest Winners

Picture Book Category:

Winner: SPRIG by Patsi B. Trollinger

Patsi B. Trollinger

Middle Grade Category:

Winner: AMANDA JOHNSON, EXTRA ORDINARY  by Kurt Hampe

Honorable mentions:

THE UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY OF CURLEY HINES by Mary Knight

YUJIN by Lois Sepahban

Mary Knight, Kurt Hampe, Lois Sepahban

Young Adult Category:

Winner: MOSQUITOLAND by David Arnold

Honorable mentions:

TRAVELS WITH ELVIS by Carole F. Stice

HAIRT BEFORE DAWN by Grace Howell

BOOMERANG by Helene Dunbar

Helene Dunbar, David Arnold, Grace Howell

Jay Asher on Co-Authoring

Jay Asher co-wrote The Future of Us with Carolyn Mackler. Jay and Carolyn met at an SCBWI conference. They only knew each other as authors, not friends.
 

Key to the project: They had similar philosophies on storytelling.

 
When choosing your writing partner, know your weaknesses and your strengths. Find someone who complements you.

Talk about how much you want to brainstorm, outline, and edit the other person.

Find a premise that you equally want to write.

Any disagreement between co-authors can be resolved by looking at the question: How does this affect the book's message or tone. 

Crystal Kite Award

This year’s Crystal Kite Award was presented to Sharon Cameron for The Dark Unwinding (Scholastic Press 2012).  

Each member of SCBWI votes on their favorite book for the annual Crystal Kite Award. The Midsouth is included in a division with Kansas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky & Tennessee.

To learn more about Sharon and her books, visit her website here. 

Josh Adams - A Prolific Platform: Marketing Yourself and Your Work

Josh Adams, together with his wife Tracey, runs Adams Literary, a boutique literary agency exclusively dedicated to the children's and YA markets. Before becoming a literary agent, Josh worked in marketing and brand strategy.

Josh's ABCs to Marketing are:

AUDIENCE – Know who your audience is. Who are you trying to communicate to?

BRAND IMAGE – The Core idea that you are trying to convey to your audience.

COMMUNICATION – Communicating your brand image through various ways to your audience.

Learn more about Adams Literary at their website here. Follow them on twitter at @adamsLiterary.

Autograph Party and Portfolio Showcase

The 2013 SCBWI Midsouth Fall Conference kicks off Friday evening, September 20th, with a Dessert and Autograph Party for conference attendees from 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. There will also be a Portfolio Showcase highlighting the work of the illustrators attending our conference. You may pick up your conference folder at the registration desk.

The booksigning from 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. is open to the public. It will be held on the 1^st floor of the conference hotel.

Embassy Suites

820 Crescent Centre Dr.

Franklin, TN 37067

The following Authors/Illustrators are signing:

Jay Asher

Bonnie Bader

Tracy Barrett

Shellie Braeuner

Sharon Cameron

Susan Eaddy

Chris Everheart

Bethany Griffin

Rae Ann Parker

Patsi Trollinger

Kristin Tubb

Kristi Valiant

Jessica Young