March 2015
MARFÉ
FERGUSON DELANO’S JOURNEY FROM EDITOR TO WRITER
All her life, Marfé Ferguson Delano has heard this question: “Where did your name come from?” And all her life, she has given the same answer: her parents made it up by combining “Mar” from Marie, her mother’s name, and “fe” from their family name, Ferguson. They pronounced it Mar-Faye. Later, when Marfé began studying French, she added her own touch with an acute accent mark over the “e.”
Delano was born in Memphis, Tenn., but lived in many other states as a child, including North Carolina, Georgia and finally New Jersey, where she graduated from high school. No matter where she was living, she loved to read, play the piano and sing.
She earned a degree in English from Duke University in 1980 and moved to New York to work as an editorial assistant at Charles Scribner’s Sons. After marrying, she moved to Alexandria, Va., where she worked first as a copy editor and then as a staff writer for Time-Life Books. At Time-Life, she wrote on topics ranging from Civil War artillery to Native American spirituality to psychic dentistry to alien abductions. Once her children were born, she began working from home as a freelance writer. In the late 1990s, an editor from National Geographic familiar with Delano’s work at Time-Life offered her the chance to write a children’s book. The result was Sky, her first book published by National Geographic and the beginning of her career as a children’s author. In addition to researching and writing her own books, Delano does some freelance editing for National Geographic.
On March 19, Marfé Ferguson Delano will discuss her long career as both an editor and writer of children’s books. Her recent titles include Master George’s People, Earth in the Hot Seat: Bulletins from a Warming World and Helen’s Eyes, as well as three nonfiction picture books: Frogs, Butterflies, and Clouds. In 2014, she ventured into the adult market with Welcome to the World: A Keepsake Baby Book, which she also plans to discuss.
Date: Thursday, March 19
Parking: metered parking is available until 7 p.m. Parking after 7 p.m. is free.
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. Congratulations to Guild Members Receiving National Awards
2. The April 25 Nonfiction Award Event Honoring Steve Sheinkin
3. A Call for Book Donations
4. Brian Selznick to Deliver the Arbuthnot Lecture in D.C.
5. Local Librarians and Authors to Meet
6. Mary Amato Nominated for Guild Membership
7. An Upcoming Symposium on Using Culturally Diverse Literature
8. Of Wine and Words
9. NEA's Read Across America
10. The Virginia Festival of the Book
11. Kwame Alexander's February Program
12. Member News
13. Link to an Interview with Andy Shallal of Busboys and Poets
14. Internet Tips from Sally Canzoneri
THE CHILDREN'S BOOK GUILD CONGRATULATES...
KWAME ALEXANDER
Winner of the 2015 Newbery Medal for
The Crossover
and...
DEBORAH TAYLOR
Recipient of the 2015
Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award
for Lifetime Achievement
from the American Library Association
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW
for the
2015 Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award Presentation and Luncheon
Honoring Steve Sheinkin
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Noon to 3 p.m.
Clyde’s Restaurant of Gallery Place, 707 Seventh Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
Tickets are $35
Luncheon selections will include a vegetarian option.
To register online please visit: http://childrensbookguild.org/component/content/article/42-general/613-nonfiction-award-event-payment
Or make checks payable to Children’s Book Guild and mail with names of attendees and contact information to: Ellen Butts, 4523 Dorset Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD 20815
BOOK DONATIONS NEEDED!
The Guild will be giving baskets of members' books to two deserving D.C. public schools (an elementary school and a middle school chosen by Turning the Page) at the April 25 Nonfiction Award luncheon. Book collection starts now! Please bring donations to the March 19 business meeting. For more information or to make other arrangements, contact Joan Waites at jwstudio@msn.com.
BRIAN SELZNICK TO DELIVER THE ARBUTHNOT LECTURE IN D.C.
The DC Public Library is proud to be hosting the 2015 Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children. Award-winning children’s author and illustrator Brian Selznick will deliver a presentation titled "Love Is a Dangerous Angel: Thoughts on Queerness and Family in Children's Books." The event is scheduled for Friday, May 8, at 7 p.m., at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G St., NW, Washington, D.C. Doors open at 6 p.m. A reception with book sales and signing will follow. Registration is free, but tickets are required. Click here to register: https://selznicklecture.eventbrite.com
A program for families titled "A Visit with Brian Selznick" is planned for Saturday, May 9, at 2 p.m. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library. Children may ask questions of Selznick during the first portion of the program. They will then have a chance to meet him and have up to four books signed. Books may be purchased onsite or brought from home. These programs offer an opportunity to explore the multimedia, interactive exhibit, "Building Wonder, Designing Dreams: The Bookmaking of Brian Selznick," and to try out a variety of staff-led activities related to Selznick’s books. Children can build an automaton or create their own “cabinet of wonder.” Call 202-727-1248 for more information.
A MEETING OF THE MINDS: LOCAL LIBRARIANS AND LOCAL AUTHORS
Local librarians don’t always know how many amazing authors are in the area! Help them get to know you. Join local librarians at the next meeting of the Metro Washington Independent School Librarians Association. MWISLA members would love to meet you and hear about your school presentations. You can offer a "teaser” or just share how you do your presentations. The librarians range across all grade levels, so please come regardless of the ages you target. They will even reserve parking for you.
Date: Thursday, April 30
Time: 9:30 to 10:30 – the meeting itself
Time: 9:30 to 10:30 – the meeting itself
10:30 to 11 – a
casual gathering time
Location: St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School (Lower
School Library)
400 Fontaine St.,
Alexandria, VA 22302
If you are able to attend or have questions, please
contact Grace Bell at gbell@sssas.org or
Cynthia Grady at gradyc@sidwell.edu.
MEMBER NOMINATION: MARY AMATO
Jacqueline Jules nominates Mary Amato for membership in the
Children’s Book Guild in the author category. Mary Quattlebaum seconds the
nomination.
Amato, who gave a wonderful and inspiring talk to the
Children’s Book Guild in December 2014 at Busboys and Poets, is the author of
15 books of fiction for children and young adults. Her books include
state-award winners—The Chicken of the
Family (Buckeye Award), Please Write
in This Book (Maud Hart Lovelace Award) and The Word Eater (Arizona Young Readers Award)—as well as two new
YA novels that incorporate her original songs, Guitar
Notes and Get Happy. Her books
have been translated into many foreign languages, optioned for television and produced
onstage. Over the years, she has had numerous essays, poems and articles published
in newspapers and magazines, including The
Washington Post, Parenting and Mothering.
A popular professional speaker, Amato has given talks at
ALA, IRA and ALAN, and for numerous state and local educational organizations
and book festivals. A former public school teacher, she has taught writers at
all age levels, from preschoolers to graduate students. Currently, she teaches
extensively around the country and offers classes in fiction, poetry,
songwriting and more for kids and adult writers in her private studio.
A proud resident of Silver Spring, Amato is actively
involved as a volunteer and executive board member with the Silver Spring Town
Center, Inc., a nonprofit organization that brings more than 80 free arts and
cultural events to Downtown Silver Spring each year. She facilitates and hosts
the quarterly interdisciplinary, performance-based Arts Salon in the beautiful
Kramer Art Gallery in the Silver Spring Civic Center. More information about
her salon can be found by joining its Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SilverSpringArtsSalon/.
She also performs as a singer-songwriter and occasionally as a guest vocalist
for various bands. A new song series is in the works, due out in September.
About joining the Guild, Amato says: “Every luncheon that
I’ve attended over the years has been valuable and revitalizing. The energy of
this amazing group of writers, illustrators, librarians, book professionals and
book lovers is unique. Now that I’m an empty-nester, I feel as if I have the
time to fully embrace Guild membership and am so honored to be considered.”
For information about Mary Amato, please visit her general
website at www.maryamato.com or her YA
books and music website at www.thrumsociety.com.
Please attend Of Wine & Words, The Reading Connection's annual fundraiser.
Of Wine & Words is a festive evening supporting children's books and family literacy in the DC metro region. You'll find delicious food from top local restaurants, wine and beer tastings, an exciting live auction and a chance to catch up with old friends and make new ones. Proceeds from the event help introduce the magic of reading to nearly 1,500
at-risk children in the DC metro community.
at-risk children in the DC metro community.
Tickets cost $125, and will be available March 20, 2015, at www.thereadingconnection.org.
HENRY COLE says, "This is the best party...great people, great food, great event!"
NEA'S READ ACROSS AMERICA
Celebrate the joy of reading on March 2, the National Education Association’s Read Across America Day! Read Across America is a celebration of reading for all ages. Schools and libraries are busy organizing events and activities to not only celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss but also to honor authors and illustrators everywhere for their ability to open the doors to imagination and learning. You’ll find downloadable materials at www.nea.org/readacross. You can also fill out a pledge form to let NEA know what you’re doing, and find links to Read Across America's Pinterest, Facebook and Flickr pages.
THE VIRGINIA FESTIVAL OF THE BOOK
The Virginia Festival of the Book has announced
its full 2015 schedule. Participating authors include three National Book Award
recipients: Katherine Paterson, Mary
Szybist and John Casey; three
MacArthur Fellowship “genius” grant recipients: Edwidge Danticat, Kay Redfield Jamison and Charles Lewis; two Edgar Award recipients: Maureen Corrigan and Joseph
Kanon; two Pulitzer Prize recipients: Charles
Wright and Lucinda Franks; Nieman
Fellow Beth Macy; and National
Heritage Fellow musician and luthier Wayne
Henderson.
In addition, for the first time the Festival will
feature three Newbery Award recipients: Katherine Paterson (Bridge to Terabithia, 1978, and Jacob Have I Loved, 1981), Kate DiCamillo (The Tale of Despereaux, 2004, and Flora & Ulysses, 2014) and Kwame
Alexander (The Crossover, 2015).
Paterson, featured in the Saturday night
headliner program, Stories in Our Lives,
has written dozens of children’s books and received every major award for
children’s authors, including two international honors for her body of work:
the Hans Christian Anderson Medal for writing (1998) and the Astrid Lindgren
Award for Lifetime Achievement (2006). Paterson will discuss her new memoir, Stories of My Life.
Stories in Our Lives, to be held Saturday,
March 21, at 8 p.m. at the Paramount, will also feature Blake Bailey, author of The Splendid Things
We Planned: A Family Portrait, as well as biographies of John Cheever,
Charles Jackson and Richard Yates, and the designated biographer of Philip Roth;
Maureen Corrigan, author of So We
Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures and book critic
for NPR’s Fresh Air; and Edwidge Danticat, author most recently
of Claire of the Sea Light and of the memoir Brother, I’m Dying. Television star, film studio owner and
author Tim Reid will host. Tickets are available for $15 through the Paramount
Box Office.
Information about additional Headliner events
featuring Kate DiCamillo, Beth Macy,
Frances Mayes and Karin Slaughter
can be found at VaBook.org.
The 21st annual Virginia Festival of the Book
will be held March 18-22, 2015, at 77 locations throughout Charlottesville and
Albemarle County. It is produced by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities,
Virginia’s state humanities council and an affiliate of the National Endowment
for the Humanities, and presented by the Virginia Center for the Book, an
affiliate of the Library of Congress’s Center for the Book.
THE FEBRUARY GUILD LUNCHEON WITH KWAME ALEXANDER
by Betsy Harvey Kraft
When Kwame Alexander got two early and fabulous reviews for
his novel The Crossover, he called
his publishing-savvy father (who had not read his son’s previous 17 books) for
some advice. “Should I write thank you
notes to the reviewers?” he asked. His
father advised against it. No
matter. The accolades kept pouring in,
and by the end of the year Kwame knew the protocol. He was cool. But when he got an early-morning phone call telling him he’d just won
the 2015 John Newbery Medal, he and his wife couldn’t stop yelling and jumping
up and down.
Attendees at the February Guild luncheon got to share some of Alexander’s excitement when he recounted moving and funny tales of his anxiety before the announcement—and his lifelong passion for words and eliciting an emotional response from his readers.
 |
| Kwame Alexander answered questions asked by interviewer Mary Quattlebaum at the February Guild meeting. |
When asked about early influences on his writing he recalled being an avid childhood reader. His enthusiasm waned in adolescence
until his parents encouraged him to read Mildred D. Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. That book was followed by other influences: a
biography of Malcolm X; Claude Brown’s Manchild
in the Promised Land; and the poetry of Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, Shakespeare,
Pablo Neruda and E. E. Cummings. When he
enrolled in Giovanni’s classes at Virginia Tech, his love of poetry led him to
recite poems as a London street performer. Now he is in demand for classroom appearances and is producing new
books. He is also the founder of the Book in a Day (BID) project, which enables
young students to see themselves as readers and writers.
The Crossover, in
its original form, wasn’t a slam-dunk.
Alexander received more than 20 rejections and was ready to self-publish
his book. After he spent years revising
and working with a writing coach, Houghton Mifflin editor Margaret Raymo
accepted the book for publication. “Don’t
let the ‘no’s’ define your project,” he encouraged Guild members. “We’re at our best when our passion becomes
our job.”
Oh, and one thing more. His dad actually read The Crossover. By then Alexander knew it was a very special book.
MEMBER NEWS
Barbara Ann Porte's story "Recalculating the Truth," starring Shahrazad, Queen Elizabeth and Monica Lewinsky, appears in the current issue (#104) of Hanging Loose magazine. The same issue includes two newly translated pieces by Colette. Barbara asks, "Could any company be more thrilling than that?"
SUSAN STOCKDALE's new picture book, Spectacular Spots, has been published by Peachtree. It is a companion to Susan's earlier book Stripes of All Types (Peachtree, 2013). Kirkus Reviews calls Spectacular Spots “a spot-on animal gallery for budding naturalists.” Click here to learn about Susan’s many upcoming Spectacular Spots book events, including a Politics and Prose presentation on March 12.
The Children's Book Council has selected Frida & Diego, by CATHERINE REEF, as a Notable Social Studies Trade Book. Frida & Diego is also one of Booklist's Top Ten Multicultural Nonfiction titles for the year.
LAURA MURRAY's picture book The Gingerbread Man Loose on the Fire Truck was selected to be a Dolly Parton Imagination Library book this year. The Imagination Library partners with communities across the country to foster a love of reading by providing preschoolers and their families with a specially selected book each month, mailed to their address. Laura writes: "Being from Nashville, Tenn., and having taught at an inner-city school there for seven years, I feel such a connection with this program and am so honored that they chose The Gingerbread Man Loose on the Fire Truck to be a part of it."
SUE FLIESS's touch-and-move novelty picture book, Tons of Trucks, made it into a lift-the-flap promotion with Costco. Also, the illustrator, Betsy Snyder, recently partnered with TOMY, and some of the illustrations from "Trucks" will be on sippy cups sold at Walmart.
One of SALLY CANZONERI’s photographs was chosen for inclusion in the Capitol Hill Art League exhibit Food For Thought, which runs from March 7 to April 16 at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, 545 7th Street SE in Washington, D.C. The opening reception will be held on March 7 from 5 to 7 p.m. Food writer and NPR commentator Bonny Wolf, who juried the exhibit, will speak at the reception. Sally herself was selected as one of the teaching artists to conduct workshops as part of the Celebration of the Creative Spark, organized and funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. The celebration includes a number of creativity workshops for children, youth and teachers, as well as a keynote speakers series, and will run throughout March.
AN INTERVIEW WITH ANDY SHALLAL
An interview with Andy Shallal, owner of the Guild's regular meeting place, Busboys and Poets, appeared recently on the En Route Traveler website. In it Shallal talks about the restaurant chain's founding and describes some of his most memorable experiences with food. He also recommends dishes on the menu that Guild members may want to sample when visiting Busboys and Poets on their own: http://www.enroutetraveler.com/an-interview-with-andy-shallal-of-busboys-and-poets/.
WEB WANDERINGS AND WARNINGS
by Sally Canzoneri
In an effort to assuage my guilt about how much time I spend online and on Twitter and playing with my iPad, I'm passing along these tidbits.
A Fun Site – for artists and followers of artists. If you’ve suffered through the misery of preparing an artist's statement, or of reading a few of them– or you are just a good writer who enjoys send-ups of bad writing–you will enjoy www.artybollocks.com. It’s a web site that generates wonderfully bad artists' statements in both full-length and Twitter versions. If you find one you particularly like, you can have it put on a tee shirt. You are bound to get into some interesting conversations if you walk around with phrases like this on your clothing: “Ever since I was a postgraduate I have been fascinated by the theoretical limits of the human condition.” “What starts out as hope soon becomes corroded into a manifesto of power, leaving only a sense of nihilism and the possibility of a new synthesis.”
On a More Somber Note – Whether we like it or not, many of us have reached the point when we have had to deal with the possessions of a deceased loved one, or are no longer able to block out those pleas to “remember [some good cause] in your estate planning.” The Creating a Living Legacy (CALL) initiative of the Joan Mitchell Foundation is “designed to provide support to older artists in the areas of studio organization, archiving [and] inventory management, and through this work create a comprehensive and usable documentation of their artworks and careers.” At http://callresources.org/ the foundation provides “ a publicly available resource to assist an artist, artist’s assistant, Legacy Specialist, family member, or friend of an artist in the process of career documentation.” My brief look at the guides and workbook materials there left me thinking that this would be a useful resource, not only for Guild members who are visual artists, but also for those whose legacy is made up of written work.
Finally, a Warning – A recent story in Ars Technica (http://tinyurl.com/qckfra8) says that cyber attacks via Adobe Flash are becoming so frequent that Adobe cannot put out patches fast enough to keep up. The part of the story I found most scary is that cyber criminals are increasingly using Flash as a way to install malware on people’s computers, particularly ransomware. Ransomware is the stuff that encrypts everything on your computer so you cannot get to it, until you pay (in bitcoins, no less) for a key to release it–and the key may not work. It is a particularly vicious, difficult form of malware to deal with.
You can look at the article and comments to learn more, but my takeaways from this story are:
1. Set your web browser so that sites that use Flash cannot open Flash without your approval at each site. (You can do this in the add-on manager for your browser.)
2. If a site uses Flash, skip the site unless you have a really good reason to go there.
3. If your own web site uses Flash (because all that animation is so, so cool), give a sigh, then get Flash off your web site, because many people will skip past your site out of caution.
4. BACK UP! BACK UP! BACK UP! Someplace away from your hard drive. Yes, you've heard that before; but now you really do need to do it, even if you are not at all tech-savvy. Even seriously non-nerdy folks can sign up for cloud-based backup services. And none of us wants to be like the NPR reporter who found herself in a Brooklyn laundromat late one night trying to send bitcoins to pay the ransom to free her mother’s precious photographs and other files.
One more thing: don't get smug if you are an Apple user. These attacks are on anyone who uses Flash–whether on machines running Windows, Mac OS X or Linux. These cyber-criminals are equal opportunity attackers.
Do you have a publication date for a new book, a local appearance coming up or an award nomination to tout? Don't be shy! The Guild has its own Twitter account (@ChildrensBookGuild) and is looking for news to tweet. Just send your news to Caroline Hickey (carolinesmithhickey@gmail.com
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NOTE ABOUT THE CHILDREN'S BOOK GUILD NEWS: Would you rather print your newsletter than read it online? Current and past issues now available for printing on the Guild's website at http://www.childrensbookguild.org/guild-newsletters. Look for the "Newsletter" tab on the left side of the Guild website. There is also a "Printer Friendly Version" link on the top left hand side of this blog.
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