The New Jersey Children’s Writer’s Guild

Hooray for Bread!, a picture book story written by NJCWG Co-founder Sheila Wright, has been accepted to the 2010 Rutgers Council On Children’s Literature One-On-One Plus Conference.

Each year, the One-On-One Plus Conference provides professional “one-on-one” mentoring to the authors of 80 manuscripts selected from a pool of several hundred submissions. This is Sheila’s second time at the Conference, and we wish her good luck!

(for information on preparing a manuscript for submission to the Conference, visit Rutgers’ About One-On-One Plus page)

HungerMountain, the VCFA journal of the arts, is sponsoring the Katherine Paterson Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing:

One overall first place winner receives $1,000 and publication!
Three runners-up receive $100 each. We choose one runner-up from the YA (young adult) entries, one from the Middle Grade entries, and one from the Picture Book or Writing for Young Children entries.

The 2010 contest judge is author Holly Black; the postmark deadline is June 30th, 2010.

Good luck to any members who decide to enter!

Our thanks to member Danielle Ray for her notice about the contest!

Congratulations to member Al Walker, whose work took first place in The Hot Pink Hubcaps Writing Competition!

The competition was founded this year by NJCWG member Danielle Ray, and she has offered to make this an annual event for Guild members. This year’s winner received a three day paid trip to BookExpo America in New York City.

To read Al’s winning entry, and to learn more about Danielle’s journey as a writer, visit bookremarks.net.

Our thanks to Danielle for her generous support of The New Jersey Children’s Writer’s Guild, and congratulations to Al on his big win!

Just a quick reminder that The International Women’s Writing Guild will be holding its 59th Big Apple Conference on April 17th and 18th. This year’s special events include a memoir workshop and an open house featuring a number of authors and agents. Thanks to member Kathi Kurz for giving us a heads-up about this event!

MARIANNE BAHMANN, Coping With the Limelight: A Manual on Stage Fright, BookSurge Publishing, 2009

SHERRY ELLIS, Now Write!: Fiction Writing Exercises from Today’s Best Writers and Teachers, Tarcher, 2009;Illuminating Fiction, Red Hen Press, 2009

HELEN FOGARASSY, The Midas Maze, PageFree Publishing Int’l, 2007

BARBARA HALL, Sadie’s Secret, Author House, 2007

JODY LAGRECA, Afternoon Tea, Xlibris 2008, Suburban Weird, Xlibris, 2008

PATRICIA JEAN LAPIDUS, Red Hen’s Daughters, CreateSpace, 2009

DAHLMA LLANOS-FIGUEROA, Daughters of the Stone: A Novel, Thomas Dunne Books, 2009

JONNA-LYNN MANDELBAUM, Unpredictable Crossing, Outskirts Press, 2009

GRACE ZOLLA PROTANO, As Long As You Can See the Clock, You’re Okay: South Brooklyn in the ’50s, Outskirts Press, 2009

PEGGY SAPPHIRE, In the End A Circle, Antrim House, 2009; A Possible Explanation, Partisan Press, 2006

CARREN STROCK, A Writer’s Journey: What to Know Before, During and After Writing a Book, Gray Rabbit Publishing, January 2010

SUSAN TIBERGHIEN, One Year to a Writing Life: Twelve Lessons to Deepen Every Writer’s Art and Craft, Da Capo Press, 2007; Looking for Gold: A Year in Jungian Analysis, Daiman Verlag, 2008

MINGMEI YIP, Petals From the Sky, Kensington, March 2010

Full attendance is $180 for IWWG members, and $220 for non-members.

Just a reminder to our Bridgewater Critique Group about the Hot Pink Hubcaps Competition, so generously sponsored by Danielle…

All entries must be sent to NJCWG webmaster Joshua Wright by April 1^st.

Joshua will remove names from the entries, and email to all participating members copies of manuscripts for blind voting.

Your submission’s word count must not exceed 500 words, and participants may not vote for themselves.

Votes should be sent directly to Danielle (along with your name). The winner will receive a trip to Book Expo America!

The NJCWG is one year old!

To celebrate, we’re hosting a party at Lilly’s on the Canal in Lambertville, NJ this month. Lilly’s is a charming cafe/restaurant situated along the New Jersey Canal just before the Lambertville-New Hope Bridge. We’ll be enjoying the afternoon in Lilly’s courtyard; please note that Lilly’s is a “bring your own wine” establishment. If you haven’t yet reserved your spot and wish to attend, please contact Sheila ASAP.

We’re looking forward to seeing members from all of our critique groups. We hope to see you there!

On display until January 9th, Rutgers’ ongoing exhibit My Infant Head offers a unique opportunity to explore the history of poetry for children in England and America:

As well as examining various scholarly histories, the exhibition includes many rare and unique objects held by Special Collections and University Archives, and original art from the children’s collections of Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum.  It also features a soundscape of children’s poems read by members of the Rugters community.

The exhibition is being held in the Scholarly Communication Center, 4th floor of the Archibald S. Alexander Library on the College Avenue Campus.

Sponsored by The New Jersey Children’s Writer’s Guild, award winning children’s author and illustrator Dar Hosta will offer a thorough introduction to independent book publishing on Saturday, December 6th at 2:00pm at the Hunterdon County Library on Route 12 in Flemington, NJ. The presentation will outline what independent publishing is and what it isn’t, and explain the process of independent publishing. Links and resources for authors’ own projects will also be provided.

The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited, and reservations are recommended.

Reservations may be made by calling 908-788-1434 or by visiting Hunterdon County Library web site events page.

A question and answer session as well as a book signing will follow the event.

Australian author and artist Graeme Base, best known for his picture book Animalia, will be greeting visitors this evening at the Clinton Book Shop, located at 33 Mainstreet, Clinton, New Jersey, from 6:30pm - 8:00pm.

Mr. Graeme is often noted for the “incredible depth” of his entertaining animal artwork.

For more information, please visit the Clinton Book Shop web site.

An overcast sky couldn’t dampen the fun at the biannual 2008 Dodge Poetry Festival in Waterloo, New Jersey!  We happened to visit on “teen day,” and so the Festival - which is typically attended by dozens of luminaries and thousands of visitors - was especially bustling.

Tomorrow is the Festival’s final day; if you’re looking for a unique way to spend the weekend, we heartily encourage you to attend!

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