News & Events

Am excited that Shake Rag Alley have rescheduled our writing retreat, Mining the Story, this year and that we’ll still get to teach and meet the students in the beautiful old mining town of Mineral Point. Join us if you’re free! The new dates are September 25-27, 2020 (click link for details).

I’ll be hosting this event on behalf of SCBWI Oak Park and Bolingbrook Networks. Join us to hear the wonderful Kate Hannigan talk about Exploring the Genres That Get Us Most Excited About Writing for Young Readers. To register, see this link.

Chicago children’s author Kate Hannigan writes fiction and nonfiction. Her standalone historical mystery THE DETECTIVE’S ASSISTANT (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) won the 2016 Golden Kite Award for middle-grade. Her new historical fantasy series THE LEAGUE OF SECRET HEROES (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin) blends superheroes and real-life figures from WWII. Weaving in chapters presented in graphic novel format, Book 1, CAPE, published in August 2019, and Book 2, MASK, hits shelves August 2020. Kate’s nonfiction graphic novel THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE: RISING FROM THE ASHES (First Second) publishes in June 2020. Her nonfiction picture book biography A LADY HAS THE FLOOR: BELVA LOCKWOOD SPEAKS OUT FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS (Boyds Mills) explores the life of a remarkable but forgotten figure from history.

Looking forward to the fourth annual Writing Retreat: Mining the Story at Shake Rag Alley in May. I’ll be talking about Your Inner Child, An Exercise in Narrative Distance alongside a brilliant faculty of Christine Maul Rice, Patricia Ann McNair, Shawn Shiflett, Eric May and Philip Hartigan. For more details, click the link: https://shakeragalley.org/annual-retreats/writing-retreat/

Thank you Butler Children’s Literature Center for hosting the 2020 CaldeNott Awards this weekend! Was fun to read the excellent list and chime in as a “committee member.” Here are the results: https://butlerspantry.org/2020/02/04/2020-caldenott-results/Congratulations to the winning and honor books! 📚🏆🏅🏅🏅

Was so thrilled to learn that these sculptures of Kitty and Leah (characters from my picture book, MINE!, illustrated by Laura Hughes) have been created. Aren’t they gorgeous?! Thanks for sending me the photos, Allison Nix Marshall.

Just spent a very happy two days in the beautiful town of Galena, IL at their Lit Fest. Thank you to the wonderful team at the Galena Public Library and the enthusiastic teachers and students at the Galena Primary School. I had a blast!

 

As I puttered around the internet recently, I stumbled upon some cute reviews of Mine! that I hadn’t seen before by Johnson Babies, Lilinhaangel and Diary of a First Child. A nice discovery.

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This story was a little corker. Click here to read my review.

I’ll be presenting at the fourth annual Mining the Story writing retreat at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts next year (May 29-31), alongside a wonderful faculty including Patricia McNair, Shawn Shiflett, Chris Maul Rice, Eric May, and Philip Hartigan. It’s a three day event in an inspiring location in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. To find out more, click here. Join me if you can!

This picture book made me chuckle. How about a sloth as a pet? Click here to read my review.