Attending #NY21SCBWI? Join me and some special faculty guests at Tuesday Feb 16th's LGBTQ+ and Allies Social!

It's one of my favorite times of the year... And my favorite safe space gathering of community within the larger SCBWI community!

And even though the SCBWI Winter Conference is an all-virtual event this 2021, there's still going to be an LGBTQ+ and Allies Social!

Are you writing, illustrating, or translating works for kids, tweens, or teens with LGBTQAI2+ characters or themes? Or are you thinking of doing so? Then this is the social for you!

I'm hosting, and you can join in. 

Day: Tuesday February 16, 2021

Time: 4pm Pacific - 5pm Pacific

We'll be gathering in a safe space zoom room, and our special faculty guests will include Jane Yolen (multi award-winning author of 386 books for kids and adults)

The "How Do Dinosaurs..." series may be better known, but this is the most recent of Jane's titles.

Heidi Stemple (author of, most recently, with Jane, I Am The Storm)

Laurent Linn (author/illustrator of the YA novel Draw the Line and art director at Simon & Schuster

along with SCBWI staff moderators April Powers, Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer at SCBWI

Julian Petri,

SCBWI Executive Director Lin Oliver,

Associate Executive Director Sarah Baker,

Director of Special Projects Kim Turrisi,

as well as Claudia Pearson and Debra Schmidt.

Conference registrants will receive a PDF schedule with event links. On clicking to join, you'll have to register for this zoom social with your name and email, and then you'll be welcomed in.

We hope to see you there. Stay safe,
Lee

***UPDATE Tuesday Feb 16, 2021 at 11:30am Pacific: If you're registered for the conference, check your email for a special link to this event.***

Briar Rose - A Young Woman Discovers Her Grandmother's Holocaust Survival Story (And A Gay Partisan Fighter Holds The Key)

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

Rebecca's grandmother Gemma always told her the fairy tale story of Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty), while at the same time not saying anything of her own history.  All the family knows is that Gemma escaped Europe just before World War Two.  On her death bed, Gemma reveals that she is the princess in the fairy tale, and makes Rebecca promise to find out the truth of her story.

Rebecca discovers among her grandmother's papers proof that she came to the United States during the war, not after.  A young journalist, Rebecca ends up following the trail of clues all the way to Poland, where she meets Josef, now elderly, who holds the key that will unlock Rebecca's grandmother's true history of surviving the Holocaust... the story of Briar Rose.

Haunting and important, weaving the Holocaust in with a famous fairy tale, history, romance, and a gay hero among others, I read this remarkable book in one sitting.  

Add your review of "Briar Rose" in comments!

October Mourning: A Song For Matthew Shepard

OCTOBER MOURNING: A Song For Matthew Shepard by Lesléa Newman

On the night of October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay, twenty-one-year-old college student was lured from a Wyoming bar by two young men, savagely beaten, tied to a remote fence, and left to die. The Gay Awareness Week was beginning at the University of Wyoming, and the keynote speaker was Lesléa Newman, discussing her book Heather Has Two Mommies. Shaken, the author addressed the large audience that gathered and remained haunted by Matthew's murder.

October Mourning, a novel in verse, is her deeply felt response to the events of that tragic day. Using her poetic imagination, the author creates fictitious monologues from various points of view, including the fence Matthew was tied to, the stars that watched over him, the deer that kept him company, and Matthew himself. More than a decade later, this stunning cycle of sixty-eight poems serves as an illumination for readers too young to remember, and as a powerful, enduring tribute to Matthew Shepard's life.

I had the opportunity at the 2012 SCBWI Winter Conference in New York City to sit down with Jane Yolen (award-winning author of over 300 books for young people!) to hear the scoop about the latest book coming out from a member of Jane's writing group, the incredible and ground-breaking author Lesléa Newman.)



Lesléa and her publisher gave me permission to share two of the poems from the book here:

from the Prologue, pg. xv

THE FENCE
(before)

Out and alone
on the endless empty prairie

the moon bathes me
the stars bless me

the sun warms me
the wind soothes me

still still still
I wonder

will I always be out here
exposed and alone?

will I ever know why
I was put on this earth?

will somebody someday
stumble upon me?

will anyone remember me
after I'm gone?

and, from page 16

THE FENCE
(that night)

I held him all night long
He was heavy as a broken heart
Tears fell from his unblinking eyes
He was dead weight yet he kept breathing

He was heavy as a broken heart
His own heart wouldn't stop beating
He was dead weight yet he kept breathing
His face streaked with moonlight and blood

His own heart wouldn't stop beating
The cold wind wouldn't stop blowing
His face streaked with moonlight and blood
I tightened my grip and held on

The cold wind wouldn't stop blowing
We were out on the prairie alone
I tightened my grip and held on
I saw what was done to this child

We were out on the prairie alone
Their truck was the last thing he saw
I saw what was done to this child
I cradled him just like a mother

Their truck was the last thing he saw
Tears fell from his unblinking eyes
I cradled him just like a mother
I held him all night long

Jane's right.  The poems are stunning, and so powerful.

"OCTOBER MOURNING: A Song For Matthew Shepard" is out today.  Add your review in comments!

How Do Dinosaurs Learn How To Write For Children? They Go Hear Jane Yolen's Keynote at the Winter SCBWI Conference!

A Special Sunday post to share with you all exciting News about the 2010 Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators Winter Conference in New York City...

Jane Yolen,



author of over 300 books (Including Fantasy and Picture Books like "How do Dinosaurs Go to School?") and winner of The Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, a National Book Award nomination and SCBWI's own Golden Kite Award (among a ton of others...) will be the closing Keynote speaker on Sunday, January 31st, 2010!

It is an amazing opportunity to hear a legend in the world of Children's Literature!

Early Registration for the Conference ends January 4, 2010 - and if you are a writer or illustrator for children and Teens, it would be a wonderful Holiday present for yourself - and a great way to start off the 2010 leg of your career!




Stay tuned at this blog for more pre-conference scoops as well as exclusive interviews with the Awe-inspiring Author Jacqueline Woodson - who will be presenting the Saturday Lunchtime Keynote and the multi-talented Laurent Linn, Art Director, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, who will be leading a break out session called "The Real Deal About Visual Story Telling." All that and much more from me and the rest of SCBWI Team Blog...

Great stuff ahead, and hope to see you at the Winter Conference!

Namaste,
Lee