Kid Lit Drink Night this Thursday (5/25)!

It's an excuse to hang out with authors and illustrators! 

Meet us at the Roanoke Inn on Mercer Island (1825 72nd Ave SE, Mercer Island, WA 98040)  this Thursday for book talk, beverages and merriment.

Will you have fun? The odds are good (and the goods are odd.).

And someone send us pictures so we can post them on Instagram.

Kid Lit Drink Night - Kicking Off the New SCBWI Season!

This first Kid Lit Drink Night will be at the Dumas Bay Centre to coincide with the Weekend on the Water Retreat. However, you don't have to be part of the Weekend on the Water writing retreat in order to attend this month's Kid Lit Drink Night. It will, however, be held in the same location.

Come hob-knob with fellow authors, illustrators, and children's books enthusiasts. Oh, and this is a BYOBoC (bring your own beverage of choice) which can be anything from wine, beer, orange juice, smoothie, whatever rocks your writer and illustrator boat.

Time:   7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Where: Dumas Bay Centre
             3200 SW Dash Point Road
             Federal Way, WA 98023

I'll be there and we all hope you will be, too!

Cheers,

Kathleen



 

Kid Lit Drink Night - Drinks Optional

This month we are meeting at Redhook Ale Brewery. Don't let the "brewery" part fool you because this is a family affair!

http://redhook.com/

Happy Writing, Illustrating, and Merrimenting!

Reminder: Kid Lit Drink Night Jan. 14!

Don't forget: There are friends and libations waiting for you all!  Come on by!

Save a spot for a Dec. 6 KLDN!

Warning: Unauthorized post! (Exciting, isn't it?)

Your roving Ohio reporter will be in Seattle for an early-December Kid Lit Drink Night on Saturday, Dec. 6, starting about 7:00 p.m. (and earlier if she can swing it). We'll gather at the Elliott Bay Brewhouse and Pub in Burien (on the back side of Sea-Tac airport, kinda, so Joni can whisk herself and her good-looking companion away to a redeye that evening.) And EB (Brewhouse, not White) is even expecting us!

So whether you need to celebrate your NaNoWriMo success (or failure), drown your Thanksgiving-family-gathering sorrows, get a head start on year-end eggnog imbibing, or get the latest scoop from the Far Foreign Republic of Ohio from expat member Joni Sensel, please plan to come say hi, meet some new friends, and pass hugs around to old ones. Hope to see you there!

(And hey Mr. Sullivan, aka co-RA D2, we need a reusable KLDN arty bit, don't you think?)

Kazu, Kartoons, and KLDN

Kazu

Raina

Itching to meet and tip a bev with famous graphic novelists? Here's your chance. New York Times bestselling graphic novelists Kazu Kibuishi (Amulet: Escape from Lucien) and Raina Telgemeier (Sisters) will read from their new books at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, September 26, at the Northeast Branch of the Seattle Public Library.

Flush with all of your public acclaim, they'll join our Kid Lit Drink Night at 8:00 p.m. at the Pub at Third Place. Come chat and chill!

You can read more about both graphic novelists at the links above or through Kazu's video and Raina's website.

KidLit Drink Night next Friday!

Come one, come all, to our annual pre-conference Kid Lit Drink Night on Friday, April 11. Even if you're not planning to attend the conference (and why the heck not?*), you won't want to miss rubbing elbows and lifting glasses with faculty and your fellow tribe members at the Marriott Redmond Town Center starting at 7:00 p.m.

This is always our bubbliest KLDN of the year, usually with visiting booksellers and famous (or infamous) local authors and illustrators, as well as most or all of our conference faculty, so plan to be there. Plenty of non-alcoholic beverages will be available at the no-host bars for all you squirrels who aren't into concoctions such as Nut Brown Ale. We're looking forward to it!

* Really? You're okay with missing the likes of author Franny Billingsley and publisher Justin Chanda? Not to mention editor Claudia Gabel, illustrator Renata Liewska, art director  agent Susan Hawk? A very few seats are still available; get registration info here.

AWP comes to Seattle

If flying to New York for the mid-winter SCBWI conference is out of your budget, you might want to consider registering for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference here in Seattle for a fraction of the cost. It's happening this month at the Washington State Convention Center from February 26 through March 1 and registration is open NOW. There are loads of breakouts geared toward writing for children and amazing faculty including E. Lockhart and our own Laura McGee Kvasnosky and Tina Hoggatt.

Even if attending the conference is not in your plans, join us for Kid Lit Drink night on Saturday, March 1, at Rumba from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

We scribbled, we scrawled...

...we dribbled, we drawled.

Such was the scene at our most recent Kid Lit Drink Night, held December 27 at the Tippe and Drague Ale House on Beacon Hill.

It was a warren of like-minded knuffle bunnies, all cozy in the corner while legions of canine fans came for Husky Fight Hunger Bowl game, which was available on multiple TVs. Dawgs and bunnies filled the house, and draughts and pints were shared by all. It was a post-holiday treat to see Joni Sensel, our beloved former RA and current blog editrix, back in the city after an extended midwestern sojourn. Among the many who came to the warren in the corner were: Kevan Atteberry, Tina Hoggatt, Suzanne Kaufman, Elizabeth Rose Stanton, Laurie Thompson, Brenda Winter Hansen, and Dana Sullivan (who howled with the Dawg Pack at every nuanced ref's call, when he wasn't scribbling to save his life). It was, you could say, A Very Good Night.

Here's the proof:

WA/OH Scribble & Scrawl KLDN

Last chance!

Missed too many 2013 KidLit Drink Nights? Made every one and don't want to break your record? Want to ring out the year in style? Here's your last ever (in 2013) chance to rub elbows with your creative family — SCBWI WWA's first interstate KLDN! (Well, not really, but who's checking?) Washington and Ohio will enhance interstate relations when the icy Midwestern state sends emissary Joni Sensel to raise a cider in her home turf (more or less). Illustrators are requested to provide informal, peek-over-their-shoulders entertainment, since notebooks, drawing supplies, and writing supplies are welcome. Writers are dared to do the same and see if they can get a complete sentence written in that environment.

"Y'all gonna come and see me then, right, hon?" asks Joni, Ohio Exile. (Everyone in Ohio says "hon.") "I miss you!"

Friday, Dec. 27, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Tippe & Drague Alehouse
3315 Beacon Ave. S.

Don't miss the last KLDN of 2013!

Recap: KLDN, Island-style

Despite technical difficulties, the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA) hosted a lively evening with Richard Jesse Watson on Sunday night. His lecture and gallery reception not only highlighted the creative process and his own artistic journey, but proved that a great storyteller doesn't need a projector to hold an audience spellbound––especially when describing his first siting of Susi, the love of his life, in junior high. 

The exhibit, Richard Jesse Watson, Inner Zoo, Outer Orbit, on view through January 5, showcases 30 years of RJW's amazing children's book paintings as well as playful sculptural works that will either give you nightmares or visions of sugarplums.

Jennifer Mann then led SCBWI members through a freezing cold evening to the farthest possible bar on the island, the Harbour Public House ("The Pub") for food, drink, and a loud and wide-ranging discussion about politics, painting, and potato fries. Islanders tried not to rub it in when the mainlanders had to run for the ferry. We had such a good time that one cell phone and one set of keys were lost (since found, by amazing grace) and one of the hosts ran out on his/her bar tab (since tracked down, but under litigation).

Anonymous artist's rendition of the festivities at the Pub.

This show at BIMA is not to be missed! Call RJW with at least an hour's notice and he will join you for drinks afterwards.

––Tina Hoggatt and Dana Sullivan

Get Wild at Kid Lit Drink Night Next Saturday!

The weather's turning and it's time to fortify ourselves against the cold and dark by gathering our writerly and illustratorly selves together in good cheer! That gathering will be Saturday, September 28, starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Noble Fir in Ballard. The Noble Fir has the reputation as the favorite and best-attended gathering spot for our KLDNs, so please come find out why. And don't forget the best dirty limerick contest! All entries must be read aloud by the writer, decisions are final, judges are allowed to be fickle and capricious and sore losers will be required to come up with a dirty haiku on the spot. See you next Saturday! (Hosted by Brenda Winter Hansen, who owes me a drink)