New England SCBWI
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators

Sarah Aronson holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College. Her first novel, Head Case, was published by Roaring Brook Press in September 2007. She has led presentations at the last two New England SCBWI conferences and served as the workshop coordinator for the Highlights Foundation Whole Novel Workshop in October 2007. She received a work-in-progress grant as well as an honor from SCBWI. When she’s not writing, Sarah works in the sales and marketing department at Jewish Lights Publishing.

Laurie Halse Anderson (keynote speaker). Once a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, a magazine editor, and a freelance writer, Laurie had her first book published in 1996: the picture book Ndito Runs. Her first published novel was Speak (1999). It became a National Book Award finalist, a Printz Honor Medal Book, a NY Times Bestseller, and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. It also won the Edgar Allen Poe award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Speak was soon followed by Laurie's acclaimed novels, Fever 1793, Catalyst, Prom, and, in 2007, Twisted, which has spent several weeks on the NY Times bestseller list. In addition, Laurie writes chapter books for elementary age children and picture books for the preschool set. (Halse rhymes with "waltz.")

J. L. Bell has edited books for major publishers and individual authors for over fifteen years, working on two New York Times bestsellers and a National Book Award winner. For young readers, he has written the book Soap Science, historical articles, and short stories. For history fans, he maintains the Boston 1775 blog. He is also an Assistant Regional Advisor for NE-SCBWI.

Amanda Brice holds a day job as an intellectual property attorney for a federal government agency in the Washington, DC, area. Prior to her current position, Amanda worked on Capitol Hill for the House of Representatives’ Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, and in the General Counsel’s Office of the U.S. Copyright Office. She holds a law degree from Arizona State University and an LL.M. in Intellectual Property from The George Washington University Law School. Under her real name, she has published numerous law review and magazine articles on the topics of copyright, trademark, and cyber law. As Amanda Brice, she writes adult and young adult chick lit and romantic comedy.

Janet Buell has five children's books to her credit – including her first picture book, Sail Away, Little Boat, launched in March of 2006. Janet is an elementary school enrichment teacher, and for the past thirty years has taught dozens of writing classes and workshops to children, teens, and adults.

Sue Burgess taught a variety of children’s literature courses at Framingham (MA) State College for 20 years, until her retirement this year. A long-time member of the SCBWI, Sue was designated Member-of-the-year in 1985 for her service as New England RA and critique group leader. For the last 15 years she has been the SCBWI’s Work-in-Progress Grant coordinator.

Toni Buzzeo is a seasoned marketer and the author of seven published picture books with six more scheduled for forthcoming publication. As a career school library media specialist, she was the frequent targeted recipient of many author, illustrator, and publisher marketing efforts as well as the host of countless author visits in her school. She is the co-author of the popular guide to author/illustrator visits in schools, Terrific Connections with Authors, Illustrators, and Storytellers, a must-have book for those who visit schools and libraries as part of their marketing efforts. Toni was the 2000 SCBWI Barbara Karlin Grant recipient.

Kathleen Deady is the author of over 40 books for children, both nonfiction and fiction. She has presented workshops for SCBWI-NE, The New Hampshire Writers Project, and The Monadnock Writers' Group, and has spoken on local TV and radio. She has run writing workshops for children through the Children's Literacy Foundation, and visits schools regularly to share her love of writing and books with children.

Muriel L. Dubois was an educator for 16 years. She has an MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College. Muriel has published over 35 books for children, 20+ middle school social studies units, and numerous magazine articles. She is a member of NH Writers Project and SCBWI. She often does school programs as well as workshops for adults.

Debra Garfinkle writes humorous young adult novels and chapter books such as Storky (Putnam, 2005) (published in four languages), Stuck in the 70s (Putnam, 2007, TV option being negotiated), and the Supernatural Rubber Chicken series (Mirrorstone, 2008). She has given workshops at the SCBWI National Conference and published how-to articles in Writers Digest and the SCBWI Bulletin.

Kelly Fineman is a children’s writer and award-winning poet. She regularly posts about poetry on her blog, Writing and Ruminating. A judge for the poetry category of the 2006 CYBILS Awards and Poetry Coordinator for the 2007 CYBILS Awards, Kelly’s poems have been published in the Summer Shorts anthology from Blooming Tree Press and in Highlights for Children magazine.

Greg Fishbone is the author and illustrator of The Penguins of Doom, an epistolary novel for children, teens, and penguins of all ages. Since 2001, Greg has served as webmaster and Assistant Regional Advisor for the New England Regions of SCBWI. In 2006, he started the Class of 2K7 group for debut children’s and young adult novelists. Greg has over a decade of web design experience and has been blogging for seven years.

Kevin Hawkes (Keynote Speaker) Kevin is an author and illustrator with over 35 children’s books to his credit. Kevin’s books span from nonfiction (Handel Who Knew What He Liked), to zany (My Little Sister Ate One Hare). Bright blue skies, oversized babies and the play of light and shadow push the intensity of emotion and focus in Kevin’s illustrations. Kevin, whose parents were in the Air Force, spent time in France as a child. European fairy elements of castles and dark forests often show up in his work. Kevin began his career with an illustration degree from Utah State University and selling children’s books in Boston. Kevin currently lives in Maine. His most recent titles include Library Lion (a NY Times bestseller), The Wicked Big Toddlah, and Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly.

Emily Herman is a writer and teacher who lives on the coast of Maine. She has written a picture book, Hubknuckles (Crown, 1985); a chapter book, The Missing Fossil Mystery (Hyperion, 1996); and a writers’ reflection kit, Stones from the Muse, with Jennifer Jacobsen (Simon and Schuster, 1997), in addition to mystery series books and emergent readers.

Sharon Lane Holm is an illustrator whose experience encompasses 13 years as an award-winning art director and over 17 years in children’s publishing. She wrote and illustrated Zoe’s Hats, published by Boyds Mills Press. She has presented her step-by-step process used in creating a children’s picture book at Connecticut State Reading Association, Massachusetts State Reading Association, and WesConn University, and to students from kindergarten through adulthood.

Mark Peter Hughes formed a rock band after being kicked out of eighth grade music class for throwing a spitball. His latest novel, Lemonade Mouth, is a Top 10 BookSense Pick and has been nominated as a 2008 ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. A faculty member at the Rhode Island College/ASTAL Writing Institute, Mark recently appeared at the 2007 NESCBWI Encore Workshops Event in Salem, NH, and was guest author at the SCBWI 2008 Whispering Pines Retreat.

Victoria Jamieson is a designer for Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. She designs YA, middle grade, and picture book jackets and interiors, and is always on the lookout for new illustrators. Additionally, she works as a children’s book illustrator herself. Her first book as author-illustrator will be published by Bloomsbury in 2009. You can see her work on her illustration blog.

Carrie Jones holds an MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College. She was the 2006 recipient of the Maine Literary Award and Martin Dibner Fellowship. She is also an award-winning columnist and journalist. Carrie’s first novel, Tips on Having a Gay (Ex) Boyfriend, was nominated YALSA’s Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers. She has presented at Vermont College, SCBWI-Los Angeles and NESCBWI.

Lita Judge combines her love of history, science, nature and art to write and illustrate children’s books. Her first picture book, One Thousand Tracings, is winner of the 2008 International Reading Association Children's Book Award for primary fiction, and was selected as an ALA Notable Children's Book. She enjoys sharing her creative process for writing and illustrating picture books in classrooms and art exhibitions. She lives in Peterborough, NH.

Yolanda LeRoy is the Editorial Director at Charlesbridge. She has worked with David McPhail, Linda Sue Park, Eve Bunting, Kathryn Lasky, Tony Johnston, Caroline Arnold, Iza Trapani, and Jerry Pallotta, among others. She began her career in publishing at Charlesbridge and has also worked as an editor at Candlewick Press. She is a former executive board member of the Foundation for Children's Books, a Boston-based nonprofit organization for children's literacy, and is the founder of Pubs in Pubs, a social and networking organization for children's publishing professionals. Yolanda studied Russian language and literature at Harvard College, and she enjoys performing as a singer and actor in the Boston area.

Brian Lies is an author and illustrator. He graduated from Brown University, then studied drawing and painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Following school, Brian became an editorial illustrator, working with magazines and newspapers such as the Christian Science Monitor and the Boston Globe. In 1989, he illustrated his first children’s book. Since then, he has illustrated nineteen others, including the New York Times bestseller Bats at the Beach (HMCo., 2006), the upcoming Bats at the Library (fall ‘08), Hamlet and the Enormous Chinese Dragon Kite, and Hamlet and the Magnificent Sandcastle, which he also wrote. Brian is also a frequent contributor to Cricket, Spider, Ladybug and Babybug magazines.

Marcia Amidon Lusted is the author of eleven nonfiction books for kids, including eight titles in Lucent Books’ Building History series and several for Abdo Publishing’s Essential Viewpoints series. She is the editorial assistant at Cobblestone Publishing and a frequent contributor to the company’s six magazines. She also teaches magazine and book writing courses for the Institute of Children’s Literature.

Diane Mayr has a full-time position as assistant director at a public library. In her spare time, she writes for children and has five books published, including Littlebat’s Halloween Story. Her latest is a picture book, Run, Turkey, Run!, which came out in the fall of 2007. She also writes poetry, educational activities, magazine pieces, and a blog. Diane has led or co-led workshops at Writers Day for the NH Writers Project, at the NH Institute of Art, and for NH libraries and library organizations.

Robin Merrow MacCready, author of YA novel Buried, has taught reading and writing for twenty years. Buried is one of New York Public Library’s Best Books for the TeenAge, has been recently nominated by the ALA for Best Books for Young Adults, and won the Edgar Award for Best YA in 2007.

Jennifer Morris is an award winning illustrator and designer. She has illustrated for numerous children’s publications, including her most recent book If a Monkey Jumps Onto Your School Bus, written by Jean Cochran. In 2007, SCBWI awarded her the Don Freeman Memorial Grant. Jennifer’s book May I Please Have a Cookie?, published by Cartwheel, has sold over 250,000 copies.

Bob Morrow is a retired journalist with more than twenty years experience in newspaper, radio and television. He has been publishing children’s magazine stories, poems, and books since 1991 and has a YA novel forthcoming in 2008. He is an accomplished storyteller. Bob has presented workshops for the Society of Collegiate Journalists, the Manuscript Workshop in Vermont, and a number of SCBWI chapters.

Paula Morrow was a children’s librarian for seven years before moving to Cricket Group. She edited Ladybug magazine for its first 15 years and Babybug for its first 11 years, as well as novels, chapter books, and picture books. Representative speaking engagements have included Highlights Workshop at Chautauqua, Maple Woods Writers Conference, Society of Southwestern Authors, World of Children’s Literature Conference, Lake Placid Institute, and SCBWI conferences from coast to coast. She is co-founder of Boxing Day Books.

Andrea Murphy has been writing early childhood curriculum for 27 years. Her published works include two non-fiction books. Andrea has presented literacy workshops for parents of preschoolers, conducted parenting classes, and supported her books with school and library visits. She is a co-founder of the Hogarth Country Day School, where she has been working with young children since 1980.

Anne Sibley O’Brien has written eleven of the twenty-five picture books she’s illustrated. Her most recent, The Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood of Korea (Charlesbridge 2006), won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature 2007 and was named one of Booklist’s “Top 10 Graphic Novels for Youth 2007.” Anne writes the SCBWI Bulletin column “The Illustrator’s Perspective.”

Mitali Perkins studied political science at Stanford University and public policy at U.C. Berkeley before becoming a writer. Her books for young readers include Monsoon Summer, The Sunita Experiment, Rickshaw Girl, First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover, and First Daughter: White House Rules. Mitali maintains a website and blog where she reviews books and chats about life between cultures.

Lynn Plourde is the author of twenty picture books, including A Mountain of Mittens, Dino Pets, and Margaret Chase Smith: A Woman for President, as well as 11 educational books. Lynn worked for 21 years as a speech-language therapist. She has taught a “Writing for Children” course at the University of Maine at Farmington, and she makes 100 author visits a year to schools.

Leda Schubert is the author of the picture book Ballet of the Elephants, which was a Kirkus and Horn Book best book, was a NY Times Editor’s Choice, and is on the Texas Bluebonnet list. She has served on the Caldecott, Arbuthnot, and Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards committees. She lives in Plainfield, Vermont; teaches at Vermont College (MFA in Writing for Children); and has three more forthcoming picture books.

Susan Sherman is the Art Director of Children’s Trade Books at Charlesbridge Publishing. She received her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1974, and began designing children’s books in 1977. Susan has been art director at Houghton Mifflin and creative director at Little Brown. She has also run her own graphic design business, Ars Agassiz. Susan has worked with Felicia Bond, Jane Dyer, Barry Moser, Ed Young, and Allen Say, among others.

Sarah Shumway is an Editor at Dutton Children’s Books, a hardcover trade imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group. Sarah’s list includes both fiction and non-fiction for the full range of ages, but she is most interested in contemporary, humorous young adult and upper-middle grade fiction, the occasional historical or inspirational fiction, and her favorite picture book manuscripts are always character-driven.

Tanya Stone was an editor before becoming a writer and holds a Master's in Education. She’s published more than 80 books, including nonfiction, picture books, and Young Adult fiction, to starred reviews. Other credits include VOYA, SLJ, and the New York Times. She is a frequent speaker and will present this year at NCTE, IRA, and ALA.

Melissa Sweet has illustrated over 70 children’s books from board books to nonfiction and jacket covers. Her collages and paintings have appeared in many publications, including the New York Times and Martha Stewart Living, and on eeBoo Toys. The first book she wrote and illustrated, Carmine: A Little More Red, was a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book in 2005. Other titles include The Boy who Drew Birds by Jacqueline Davies and Tupelo Rides the Rails, just published with Houghton Mifflin.

Barbara Turner is the author of two picture books: Out and About at the Orchestra and A Little Bit of Rob. She has also published short stories and poetry.

Harold Underdown is a freelance editorial consultant. He has worked at Macmillan, Orchard, and Charlesbridge, and has experience in trade and educational publishing. He is also the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Children’s Book Publishing and runs The Purple Crayon, a website with information about the business.

Padma T. Venkatraman has written Climbing the Stairs (YA novel, Penguin, May 2008 release); Double Stars: The Story of Caroline Herschel (YA biography, 2007); two middle grade fact and fiction books, The Forbidden Temple (2004; 2005) and Mathematwist: Number Tales from Around the World (2007); a 2007 NSTA Recommended picture book, The Albertosaurus Mystery; and over 100 nonfiction articles. She just won one of SCBWI’s Magazine Merit Awards for her article “The Power of Peace,” published in Faces.

Lou Warnycia is the Editorial Director of Cobblestone Publishing, overseeing six magazines (Cobblestone, Faces, Calliope, Odyssey, Dig, and AppleSeeds). Lou’s love of publishing began in 7th grade when he began producing his own homegrown magazine. This eventually led Lou to CD Review, a monthly music magazine, where he worked as managing editor then as editor in chief. Lou also has worked as a financial editor, an associate at a book publisher, a staff writer for a children's marketing publication, and a writer for a textbook company. Lou has presented at the American Library Association national conference, the Los Angeles Public Library, the New Hampshire Writer’s Project, and other regional SCBWI conferences. In 2006 he served on the faculty of the Chautauqua Writers Workshop.

Teri Weidner has illustrated more than twenty children's books, both trade and educational, for authors including Margaret Wise Brown and Jan Karon. A RISD graduate, she taught illustration classes at the New England School of Art and Design. Her picture book Look Both Ways was included in the 2005 Society of Illustrators Original Art Show.

Sally Wilkins has been writing non-fiction for children for more than 20 years. She has written dozens of science and history articles, and her seven published books stretch from first readers to adults. Over the years, she’s also taught secondary school and senior citizens, enjoyed school visits with various ages, and done some freelance editing. Sally has done presentations to groups such as the Wordsmiths Writers Fellowship and the Amherst Area Newcomers.