Lisa Yee's Blog: Famous Authors Blog

So then after the grand gala, there was much more going on at the SCBWI Conference.

The Golden Kite Luncheon was wonderful, especially since it was the 40th one held. SCBWI founders, Lin Oliver and Stephen Mooser were honored . . .

Both have done a magnificent job, starting with three members and growing the organization to over 22,000 with chapters all over the globe. At this year's conference attendees from 49 of the USA's 50 states were represented (hey North Dakota, where were you?). Of the record 1,342 people there were 150 men -- an all-time high, and attendees came from 20 countries including Egypt, Australia, Canada, France, Hong King, S. Korea, Malaysia, Iran, and Germany, Syria.

And now for everyone's favorite subject . . . math!

42% of those at the conference were published.
There were 243 artists/illustrators, 660 writers, 74 editors/publishers, 32 filmmakers, and 1 Peep. (If those numbers don't add up exactly, pretend they do.)

Sid Fleischman Award winner Alan Silberberg was at my table. Seven years ago, I was at the luncheon to receive that award, and this year I was a judge . . .

Alan's speech was moving, heartfelt and funny, just like his book. Here he is with last year's Sid Fleischman winner, Allen Zadoff, with Alan and me . . .

Jenni Holm won the Golden Kite for fiction. Here she as she was being introduced to the crowd of 1,300 . . .

And here's Jenni after she gave her acceptance speech . . .

At the close of the luncheon, Richard Peck gave an amazing and powerful speech. Everyone leapt to their feet when he was done, even Judy Blume . . .

Illustrators were well represented at the conference. Whoa! It's Kadir Nelson and David Small . . .

But wait! Who's that with David? Why it's author Sarah Stewart, who also happens to be married to him, and with her is her bear, Richard . . .

Mary Pope Osborne was so sweet with Peepy . . .

There was sooooo much that went on at the conference, that I thought I'd best give you a short break and blog again later. But as I leave you, here are Richard Peck and Judy Blume arguing over who Peepy liked better . . .

(We'll never tell.)

Oh! And one more thing? If you're working on a book and want to know about revision and beyond, then CHECK THIS OUT. It's a workshop I'll be teaching in September!

Oh! Oh! And one more last thing . . . WARP SPEED's been nominated for YALSA's 2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults! Squeeee!!!!

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.