March meeting madness!

We're marching toward March, and our next meeting is going to be magnificent!

From Critique to Collaboration will feature two children’s authors discussing their path to creative partnership which resulted in a two-book deal with Simon Spotlight.  

 

Jennifer Bradbury

 Jennifer Bradbury and Stephanie Guerra, both authors of young adult and middle-grade fiction, began as critique partners and decided to jointly write a picture book manuscript.

 

Stephanie Guerra

These two prolific authors will share what they learned about the process of creative collaboration, what they wish they knew before beginning, and concrete strategies for a successful writing partnership. 

The main session of our March meeting will feature a panel of five awesome local Kid Lit librarians from schools and branches of the Seattle Public Library. We plan to cover a variety of topics from tips for planning an author/illustrator visit, to strategies for getting your books on their shelves. Don’t miss it!

Jessica Lucas has been a teen services librarian for the Seattle Public Library since 2006, and worked with teens in volunteer roles for years prior to that. She is an avid reader of YA fiction and adult non-fiction, member of Netgalley and Edelweiss, as well as a Board member of the Children’s and Young Adult Services (CAYAS) Interest Group of the Washington Library Association. Jessica can be found riding her bike or sailing in her free time.

Erin Moehring is currently a Children’s Services Library for the Greenwood Branch of the Seattle Public Library. She grew up in northern Indiana and received her MLS from Indiana University at Indianapolis. She’s worked in libraries for over 6 years, and believes libraries are some of the best places on earth.

Besides being a librarian at Eckstein Middle School, Erin Sterling runs a year-round program called the Literacy Lab, a non-profit that does literacy programs and gives away books to children and families. And if her decorative car is any indication, she may be mildly obsessed with mad scientists and robots.

Nancy Fisher-Allison is the librarian at John Rogers Elementary in NE Seattle. Though her original training was in Russian Studies and Geography, an earlier career in health care research led her to elementary education. Happily, her work allows her to combine a boundless love for children’s literature with information-seeking personality traits, all in the service of K-5 students and teachers.

Pat Bliquez is currently the librarian at McDonald International Elementary School in Wallingford, but was previously at Roxhill Elementary for 20-some years. Pat is highly skilled in a teaching method known as Visual Thinking Strategies. She has helped train many in this way of looking at images, which proves very useful when reading picture books with students.