SCBWI Europolitan Conference ~ Paris 2013: Faculty

Heather Alexander
Associate Editor
Dial Books for Young Readers (US)
website | twitter
Heather Alexander is an Associate Editor at Dial Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group. Some of her favorite projects include Nerve by Jeanne Ryan, published as Addict in France, and My Family for the War, winner of the Batchelder Medal for most outstanding translated children's book. It was originally published in Germany as Liverpool Street. Some of her favorite picture book projects include I Know a Wee Piggy by Kim Norman, and the Charlie and Lola series by Lauren Child.

Lenore Appelhans
Writer
blog | twitter

Thanks to her father's job in the US military, Lenore Appelhans became addicted to travel early. To date, she's visited nearly 60 countries and has stepped on every contintent except Antarctica. She currently lives in Frankfurt, Germany, with her husband and three fancy Birman cats. Her novel, LEVEL 2, published by Simon & Schuster BFYR is "immensely layered" (VOYA) and "a gripping debut" (NYT Bestselling Author Megan McCafferty). The second book in The Memory Chronicles is due early 2014. Her debut picture book, Chick-O-Saurus Rex, illustrated by husband Daniel Jennewein, will be published by Simon & Schuster BFYR in July 2013. She has been blogging about books at Presenting Lenore since 2008.

Minju Chang
Agent
BookStop Literary Agency (US)
website | facebook
Minju Chang joined BookStop Literary Agency in 2006. She represents all categories of children’s books, from picture books to middle-grade to YA. She enjoys humorous—even wacky—picture books with heart; gripping adventure novels; school stories with a strange, unexpected twists; magical realism; intense and eye-opening literary fiction; evocative historical fiction; and relationship-driven teen novels. Though she has a wide range of interests, she finds she is always drawn to funny, clever, and gutsy characters with big attitudes; stories that pack an emotional punch; unlikely heroes and misfits; and anything related to 19th-century British literature.

Strawberrie Donnelly
Art Director
Little Tiger Press (UK)
Little Tiger Press is a creatively-led, independent children's book publisher based in London. Strawberrie has been splashing happily in the pool of children's publishing for over 20 years ~ working for HarperCollins, Puffin Books and Macmillan Children's Books among many others.
As a published illustrator with experience on both sides of the commissioning process, Strawberrie is uniquely placed to offer advice, insight, tips and tricks to illustrators taking their first steps into children's book publishing. Bring sketchbooks, your portfolio, biscuits...and a shedload of energy for what promises to be a lively, interesting and honest session about the highs, lows and realities of children's book publishing.

Sara Grant
Writer website | blog | twitter
Editor Working Partners (UK)
Sara Grant was born and raised in Washington, Indiana, a small town in the Midwestern United States. She graduated from Indiana University with degrees in journalism and psychology, and later she earned a master’s degree in creative and life writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
As a senior commissioning editor for Working Partners, a London-based company creating series fiction for children, Sara worked on ten different series and edited more than 90 books. She also writes books for children and teens. Dark Parties, a dystopian thriller, is her first young adult novel. Her second novel for teens is titled Half Lives and will be published in May 2013. And the first two books in Sara’s new series for young readers – Magic Trix – will be published in 2013.

Daniel Jennewein
Illustrator
website

Daniel was born in Mainz, Germany, in 1972. He's been drawing since kindergarten, where he could be found drawing skulls and hooks, to the irritation of some adults. He grew up in the countryside and spent a fair amount of time hanging out in treehouses.

Daniel started his studies at Art Center College of Design near Montreux, Switzerland, and finished up in Pasadena, California, with a BFA in Graphic Design in 1998. He's worked as an Art Director and has been illustrating freelance since 2010. In 2009, his first picture book Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? was published by Balzer & Bray (an imprint of HarperCollins), which was followed by a sequel, Teach Your Buffalo to Play Drums. In Summer 2013, Chick-O-Saurus Rex, a picture book he collaborated on with his wife, will be released by Simon & Schuster BFYR. He lives with his wife, Lenore Appelhans, and their three fancy Sacred Birman cats.

Jennifer Laughran
Agent
Andrea Brown Literary Agency (US)
website | blog | twitter
Jennifer Laughran began her career in agenting after working as a long-time children's bookseller. She joined Andrea Brown Literary Agency in 2007. Clients include authors and illustrators like Ilsa Bick, Daniel Pinkwater, Calef Brown, and Kate Messner, among many others. Jennifer only reps books for children and young adults, and is drawn to fiction with unusual and unforgettable characters and vivid settings. She enjoys all kinds of books, whether realistic comedies or richly imagined magical adventures; the common thread in the stories she loves is an off-beat world view.

Kendra Marcus
Agent
BookStop Literary Agency (US)
website | facebook
After teaching elementary school in California, Kendra started a bookfair business in the bilingual schools in Mexico City where she developed a strong interest in publishing and children’s books around the world. On her return to the US in 1984, she started BookStop Literary Agency. Since then, the agency has grown to be one of the most well-known and well respected agencies for children’s book writers and illustrators.
Kendra gravitates toward texts and illustrations for quirky and funny picture books, fiction and unusual non-fiction. She is also interested in stories with Hispanic or Latino characters, and is always thrilled to find unforgettable and vivid voices or stories that will bring her to tears.
Kendra has worked with such well-known authors and illustrators as Kathryn Erskine, Gary Soto, Lela Nargi, Gerald Morris, Frank Remkiewicz, Pam Muñoz Ryan and Corey Rosen Schwartz, among many others.

Hazel Mitchell
Writer-Illustrator
website | blog | twitter
Hazel Mitchell is the illustrator of about a dozen books for children and publishers include Charlesbridge, Kane Miller, Free Spirit, Mackinac Island Press, Beacon, Learning A-Z. Several of her books have won awards including How to Talk to an Autistic Kid from Free Spirit Publishing, which won Foreword Review's Gold Medal at ALA in 2012 and was a finalist in Books for a Better Life awards 2012. Originally from Yorkshire, Britain, she moved to America in 2000 and lives and works in Maine, New England. She has two dogs, two horses, a cat and several snow shovels. New books upcoming in 2012 from Charlesbridge and Kane Miller and she is currently working on projects that include a graphic novel and an illustrated MG.

Anne Nesbet
Writer
website | twitter
Anne Nesbet teaches Russian literature and the history of film at the University of California, Berkeley. She lives near San Francisco with her husband, several daughters, and one irrepressible dog. Her middle-grade fantasy set in Paris, The Cabinet of Earths, came out in 2012 from HarperCollins. The sequel, A Box of Gargoyles, also set in Paris, comes out in May 2013. A third mysterious book, known as Still Extremely Untitled, will appear in 2014. It is not set in Paris, but that's all we know for sure at this point.

Sandra Nickel
Writer
Sandra Nickel holds a Masters in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has published in The Looking Glass and the first chapters of her middle grade novel, Saving St. Martha's, will be published by Hunger Mountain this spring. Before turning to writing, Sandra studied acting for three years in New York City. If you were a fan of New York's acting scene, you might have caught her in some very dark, very serious off-off-Broadway showcases or serving up coffee as "Sandy" on As the World Turns.

Amy Plum
Writer
website | twitter | facebook | youtube
Amy Plum is the author of the Die for Me series, a YA trilogy set in Paris. The first and second book, Die for Me and UNTIL I DIE are international bestsellers, and have been translated into eight different languages. The third book, If I Should Die, will be released in May 2013.
Amy grew up in Birmingham, Alabama before venturing further afield to Chicago, Paris, London and New York. An art historian by training, she can be found on most days either daydreaming or writing (or both) in a Parisian café.

Jenny Savill
Agent
Andrew Nurnberg Associates (UK)
website | twitter
Jenny Savill of Andrew Nurnberg Associates Ltd (ANA) is Sara Grant's agent. ANA is a leading UK literary agency with an international focus - having Associate Offices in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, China and Taiwan. Jenny joined ANA in 2002, where she represents authors of fiction and non-fiction writing for both children and adults. Her background in working creatively with young people, coupled with a life-long love of children’s books, has led Jenny to build an exciting roster of children’s and YA authors at ANA. She represents, in addition to Sara, Sean Cummings, Keren David, Katie Dale, Sharon Jones, Sara Grant, Helen Moss, Ellen Renner, Andy Robb and Pat Walsh. Jenny is on the look-out for authentic voices, strong plots and magnificent storytelling. She loves the idea of extraordinary things happening in ordinary settings and is particularly fond of stories that are offbeat yet accessible. Jenny is a member of SCBWI UK, a regular at their annual conference, and was thrilled to be an UNDISCOVERED VOICES judge in 2012. She is also an online mentor for the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook. Jenny lives in London with her husband and children. [represents children's MG/YA (no PB)]

Elizabeth Law

Editor

twitter

Elizabeth Law is a children's book editor and publisher who has been in the business for nearly 30 years. Currently on sabbatical in Paris, Elizabeth was formerly the publisher of Egmont USA. Before that she worked as Associate Publisher at Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers and in many editorial roles for Viking Children's Books. Among the authors and artists she has worked with as editor and publisher are Tony di Terlizzi and Holly Black, Dan Gutman, Adam Rapp, Mary Pope Osborne, Ilsa J. Bick and Allen Zadoff.

CONFERENCE VOLUNTEERS
The SCBWI Europolitan Conference ~ Paris 2013, Vive la Créativité is our first multi-regional conference in continental Europe. A different region will host the conference biennially. Here's the team of SCBWI volunteers that are working to bring you a conference that inspires and helps move you forward in your career in children's books.

Co-Coordinators

Tioka Tokedira
Location, Faculty & Schedule Coordinator
Regional Advisor, SCBWI France
2013 Host Region
tokedira[at]aol.com

Kirsten Carlson
Art Director, Illustration Events Coordinator, Scrawl Crawl Co-coordinator
SCBWI International Illustrator Coordinator &
Regional Advisor, SCBWI Germany+Austria
2015 Host Region
scbwi.germany[at]gmail.com