bethanyhegedus

It’s been a busy week on the Austin Kid-Lit Scene. Last Saturday kicked things off with a panel discussion on diversity, something that is near and dear to my heart. Debbie Gonzales, RA for the Austin SCBWI moderated the panel using questions she had posted to a listserve. On the panel were two buddies of mine Varian Johnson, Don Tate as well as  Lila Guzman and librarian turned author Jeanette Larson. The questions and answers were thought provoking and I was inspired by the conversation, at the end, to comment to the audience that we may have indeed been discussing kids needs and school and library needs but to remember we are personal librarians ourselves. Our bookshelves and the presents we buy for the kids in our lives should be as diverse as the discussion. And, now, wouldn’t you know…Amy Bowllan over on her SLJ blog Writers Against Racism has issued a challenge. To get 100 pictures/snapshots of everyday people reading books by authors of color. Notice Amy didn’t say kids of color but authors of color. So everyone get those cameras ready, snap away, and send those snapshots over to Amy. I think we can get more than 100 photos of smiling faces reading books who challenge and delight and prove that our reading is as diverse as our culture.

And, lookie here…I may not be reading a book but friends Greg and Cynthia Leitich Smith, after the SCBWI meeting, drove me to an Austin mural so I could have my picture taken with Gandhi—the Mahatma that is, in honor of my picture book Grandfather Gandhi (Antheneum, TBA). Ha! Only in Austin!

Also, in the summer issue of the Multicultural Review there is a 6 page article on The Movement, a school visit program Kekla Magoon and I developed around our civil rights era novels. It's an honor to see the program highlighted in the journal and Kekla and I are already devising a new joint program around our MG contemporary releases. It's subscription only but I have a pdf of the article so email me if interested in receiving a copy.

On Wednesday, I got the chance to know Jeanette Larson better over tea and iced coffee. We did a bit of show and tell, her showing me the page proofs of her upcoming Charlesbridge release on hummingbirds, with illustrations by Adrienne Yorinks. (Gorgeous!) And me telling a bit about Truth with a Capital T. We then discussed Brooklyn, found out we had a friend in common—the talented Melanie Hope Greenberg and tried to figure out where to get the best bookmarks for the new releases.

And, later in the week, The Writers’ League of Texas hosted their Third Thursday session at BookPeople with a panel discussion on building your PR Team. Kid-Lit author and NYT bestseller Chris Barton was the author on the panel along with Marilyn Carter and Lisa Lawrence, both marketing and communications consultants. The panel was moderated by none other than WLT Executive Director Cyndi Hughes. (Thanks to Bryan Brah, a prior intern and league member, these meetings are now being captured on the WLT You Tube Channel. Check out last month’s meeting here.) A highlight for me of this month’s meeting was Chris Barton’s reassurance that we writers need to be writing. Yes, we need to think about promotional material, social media, etc…but basically the best advertisement for our brand is to spend our time wisely and how we spend that time most wisely is in creating. And, my fave quote from the eve: “No one is entitled to serendipity,” which had me think of Oprah’s saying about luck being all about the preparation and as authors we slave and prepare and we hand over our words to the world. If something snowballs and is given a wide readership what a blessing.

So, that’s the Austin Kid-Lit scene week in review. Oh, and a big congrats to K. A. Holt whose Brains for Lunch (PW * review) released this week! In honor of the release and accolades, watch the hilarious book trailer.