Announcements

UTAH CHILDREN'S WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS

Announcement List--September 4, 2003

This month's author interview is with Sharlee Glenn.


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CONGRATULATIONS

to Mark and Cara Buehner, whose book, SUPERDOG: THE HEART OF AHERO, is on the cover of the HarperCollins Children's Book hardcover winter/spring 2004 catalog.

to Shannon Hale, whose book THE GOOSE GIRL received a starred
review in School Library Journal.

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NEW BOOKS

from Kristen Randle, SLUMMING, a YA novel.

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COMING SOON

Fall, 2003
from Kimberley Heuston, DANTE'S DAUGHTER, a Young Adult novel, Front Street.
from Ron Woods, the Dell Yearling paperback edition of THE HERO.

October, 2003
from Ron Woods, the large-print edition to THE HERO. Thorndike Press.

March, 2004
from Sharlee Glenn, KEEPING UP WITH ROO, a picture book, from Putnam.
from Mark and Cara Buehner, SUPERDOG: THE HEART OF A HERO, a picture book, from HarperCollins.

Spring, 2004
from Dana Kessimakis Smith, A WILD COWBOY, a picture book, from Hyperion.
from Gloria Skurzynski, ARE WE ALONE? SCIENTISTS SEARCH FOR LIFE IN THE MILKY WAY, National Geographic Books.
from Gloria Skurzynski, VIRTUAL WAR, paperback edition.
from Rick Walton, MINI-MYSTERIES, American Girl.

Summer, 2004
from Rick Walton, A VERY HAIRY SCARY STORY, a picture book, Putnam.

Fall, 2005
from Rick Walton, SUDDENLY, ALLIGATOR, a picture book, Gibbs Smith.
from Rick Walton, BUNNY CHRISTMAS, a picture book, HarperCollins.
from Rick Walton, MRS. MCMURPHY'S PUMPKIN, a picture book, HarperCollins.

Fall, 2005
from Sharlee Glenn, JUST WHAT MAMA NEEDS, a picture book, Putnam.

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APPEARANCES AND EVENTS

September 8, 2003--Ken Baker will be visiting Northridge Elementary in Orem, Utah.

September 17--Shannon Hale will be doing an Educator's Night at the King's English bookstore.

September 18-October 16--Kim Williams-Justesen will be teaching a class, Thursday nights, on Writing for Children at the Sandy U of U extension.

September 19, 2003--Salt Lake Community College will be holding a Children's Book Festival. The Festival will be held in two sessions 9:00 AM-12 noon at South Campus (1575 S. State Street) and 2:00 PM -5:00 PM at Jordan Campus (3400 W. 9000 So.). 

SLCC has chosen to present this Children's Book Festival to encourage young people to enjoy reading and writing. This year's festival will focus on "Utah Children's Authors". Some of the writers presenting this year will be Rick Walton, Randall Wright, Carol Lynch Williams, Mette Ivie Harrison, Laurel Brady, Trudy Harris, Becky Hall, Ken Baker, Ron Woods, Sharlee Glenn, Sherry Meidell, Kim Williams-Justesen and many other wonderful authors. 

This year's Festival will cater to students from 1st to 12th grades. The students will attend workshops and readings, as well as will enjoy demonstrations, and visit non-profit community booths. The 7th-12th grade students will have a special track that will focus on improving their writing skills and will give them a chance to interact with published authors. The students will generally attend with their own school class, but are also welcome to attend the festival with parents, or as with the teenage students, they may attend on their own. 

Storybook characters will be roaming the Festival halls, and will be interacting with the children. Prizes will be given out randomly during the festival. Authors will be available for book signings, with their books being sold at both campus locations by the SLCC Bookstore. Scholastic Books will also be on hand to sell books to those attending the Festival. 

If you are interested in attending yourself or with a class or group of students, please get a hold of Pam Burggraf at the contact information listed below. We hope to see you at the SLCC Children's Book Festival!
Pamela Burggraf
Coordinator, Program Development
Salt Lake Community College
4600 South Redwood Road
Business Building 230
P.O. Box 30808
Salt Lake City, UT 84130
(801) 957-3121
Pamela.Burggraf@slcc.edu

September 20--Shannon Hale will be doing an Educator's Night at Barnes and Noble///.

September 22-October 27--Kim Williams-Justesen will be teaching a class, Monday nights, on Fiction Fundamentals at the Bountiful U of U extension.

September 27--Sherry Meidell will be doing a book signing at the Kaysville Library from 11:30 am-1:00 pm. She will give any child who comes a postcard with an illustration on one side and a quick sketch of themselves on the back.

October 2, 2003--Ron Woods will be speaking at the Idaho Council of Teachers of English.

October 3, 2003--Carol Williams and Kim Williams-Justesen will be presenting in Boise to the Idaho Council of Teachers of English, and to the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

October 3, 2003--Ron Woods will be speaking at Hillside Junior High in Boise, Idaho.

October 16--Shannon Hale will be presenting at the Books of Wonder bookstore in New York City.

October 18, 2003--Most of the Utah authors and illustrators of books for young readers will be presenting at the UCTE convention.

October 24, 2003--Wendelin VanDraanen, author of the Sammy Keyes mystery books, will be speaking at the BYU Harold B. Lee Library Auditorium at 10 am. For nformation on Wendelin and her books, go to www.writerswrite.com/journal/dec01/vandraanen.htm, or www.randomhouse.com/kids/vandraanen. For more information about the event, contact Janice Card at janice_card@byu.edu.

October 25, 2003--Rick Walton will be discussing picture book writing, from 10-11 am, at the Salt Lake Public Library, Conference Room B.

November 4, 2003--Several Utah authors and illustrators will be speaking at the BYU HBLL Auditorium, at noon.

November 15, 2003--Ron Woods will be speaking at the Utah Council of the International Reading Association.

March 18-19, 2004--UVSC/SCBWI Forum on Children and Literature. 
Main speakers will include Newbery award winner Richard Peck, and award winning author/illustrator Debra Frasier. Mark your calendars. For more information as it becomes available, go to www.uvsc.edu/conted/c&w.

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UTAH AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR WEBSITES

Ken Baker -- www.bravemonster.com
Ann Edwards Cannon -- www.aecannon.com
Chris Crowe -- www.chriscrowe.com
Alane Ferguson -- www.alaneferguson.com
Shannon Hale -- www.shannonhale.com
Mette Ivie Harrison -- www.metteivieharrison.com
Sherry Meidell -- www.sherrymeidell.com
Julie Olson -- www.jujubeeillustrations.com
Gloria Skurzynski -- http://gloriabooks.com
Will Terry -- www.willterry.com
Rick Walton -- www.rickwalton.com
Carol Lynch Williams -- www.carollynchwilliams.com
Randall Wright -- www.booksbywright.com

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW--SHARLEE GLENN


Sharlee Mullins Glenn was born in Vernal, Utah and graduated from high school in Twin Falls, Idaho. After serving a mission in Italy, she returned to BYU where she earned a B.A. and then an M.A. in Humanities with a dual emphasis in English and Art History. She taught at BYU for a number of years before giving up academia for the writing life. She has published essays, short stories, articles, and poetry in The Southern Literary Journal, Women's Studies, Irreantum, Wasatch Review International, and BYU Studies. 
Recently she decided to turn her focus to writing for children. Her first novel for young readers, Circle Dance, was published in 1998. Other publications include One in a Billion (a picture book), and a number of stories in Cricket, Ladybug, and the Friend. Two more
picture books are forthcoming from G. P. Putnam's Sons-- Keeping Up With Roo (Spring 2004), and Just What Mama Needs (Fall 2005). She lives in Pleasant Grove with her five children.


1-- Why did you decide to become a writer?

I'm not sure I ever *decided* to be a writer. That's just what I am. I write. I can't help it. Even if I didn't write stories or books, I would write--letters, journal entries, notes to myself on scraps of toilet paper, very creative shopping lists (chopin liszt), etc. Writing is how I process life.

At some point, however, I must have made the decision to try and become a *published* writer. I think I was about seven when that happened.

2_--Who is your favorite character that you have written?

Probably Roo, the title character in my forthcoming picture book, KEEPING UP WITH ROO (Putnam, 2004). Roo is based on my real-life Aunt Martha and, like Martha, she is spunky, irrepressible, and loyal.

3--If you could change one thing about being a writer, what would it be?

Hmmm. I'm not sure I would change anything about being a writer. I would change some things about *me* that sometimes get in the way of my being a writer though. I would become less obsessive-compulsive about housework, for example. I would love to
be able to just ignore those dirty dishes and piles of laundry and WRITE!

4-- Do you remember the very first piece of fiction you wrote?

No, but I used to create fiction orally all the time when I was little! Boy, could I tell some good whoppers. I think I probably started writing stories and poems as soon as I could write anything. I started my first novel, THE BRICADIA GIRLS, when I was 11 years old.

5-- Who are your favorite authors?

Adult writers: Eudora Welty, Jane Austen, Barbara Kingsolver, Toni Morrison, Anne Tyler, Flannery O'Connor, Dostoevsky, Virginia Woolf

Children's Book writers: Karen Hesse, Sharon Creech, Lois Lowry, Betsy Byars, Patricia MacLachlan, Katherine Patterson, Louis Sachar, Kevin Henkes

YA writers: Joan Bauer, Virginia Euwer Wolff, Chiam Potok

6--Do you have any specific goals as a writer?

Sure, same as everybody. I want to win the Newbery. :-)

7-- What was your favorite book as a child?

Picture Book: SNIP, SNAP, AND SNUR AND THE RED SHOES

Novels: FROM THE MIXED-UP-FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER and LITTLE WOMEN

8-- What are you working on now?

Lots and lots of picture books. I'm also rewriting CIRCLE DANCE and plugging away on another middle-grade novel. And I dabble periodically at writing for adults--poems, short stories, essays.

9--Do you ever write about UT?

I did in CIRCLE DANCE. It is very autobiographical and is set on the Uintah-Ouray Indian Reservation in northeastern Utah where I grew up.

10--What is the hardest thing about being a writer?

Writing.

11-- What is the easiest thing about being a writer?

Writing.

12--What good advice do you have for people who want to be writers?

If you want to write for children, you have to love (and understand) children, you have to love (and understand) children's books, and you have to know the business. Join SCBWI, do your homework, read, read, read, interact with kids, then get out there and WRITE.


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Are you, or do you know an author or illustrator of books for young readers? Are you sponsoring a children's literature related event? Is there something else related to this list that we should announce? Send announcements to rick@rickwalton.com.

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