SCBWI

Society of
Children's Book Writers
and Illustrators

Michigan

Michigan

  • SCBWI stands firmly against bias, oppression, or unfair treatment of people based on their identity elements. As we feel the pain of what is happening today in America and in the treatment of our Black citizens, we renew our commitment to equity, inclusion, and equal justice for all. To read more about our stand, here is our position statement on equity and inclusion: At SCBWI, we recognize that publicly committing to equity and inclusion is crucial to our membership and the readers we serve. Words, stories, and images are powerful: They define who we are for ourselves and for others. Historically, content creation that reaches a wide audience of children and teens has been intertwined with a legacy of privilege, oppression, bias, and racism. We acknowledge that, as part of the children’s publishing industry, we share in that legacy.   We accept the challenge and responsibility of becoming agents of change by affirming the need for increased representation in every facet of the children’s and YA book industry, including but not limited to race/ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender and gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, citizenship, and religion. To fulfill our mission of supporting the creation and availability of quality books for every young reader in all regions of the world, we commit to championing equity and inclusion throughout our organization by striving to:   –identify and dismantle inequities within our policies and practices –expand inclusivity in our leadership, membership, and volunteer corps –increase the social consciousness of our members through substantive learning opportunities –continually examine and renew that commitment in our events, programming, online initiatives, publications, awards and grants, community outreach, and education efforts   As creators of books for children and teens, we have both a unique responsibility and a powerful opportunity to help young people create an equitable, inclusive world. We look forward to listening, learning, and leading.
  • We’re delighted to announce that SCBWI-MI will hold TWO novel mentorship competitions next year.   The mentors are: Patrick Flores-Scott and Kelly J. Baptist. You may enter only one of the mentorship competitions The mentorships include a year-long mentorship (six exchanges of material and critiques) with Patrick or Kelly.   Patrick Flores-Scott was a long-time public school teacher in Seattle, Washington. He’s now a reading tutor and early morning writer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Patrick’s first novel, Jumped In, was named to the 2014 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults list, a Walden Award finalist, a Washington Book Award winner, an NCSS/CBC Notable Book for the Social Studies, and a Bank Street College Best Books of 2014. His second novel, American Road Trip, ​received multiple starred reviews and is a 2019 Best Fiction for Young Adults pick, and a TAYSHAS Texas reading list selection. An interview with Patrick will be posted on the Mitten Blog on April 8.   Kelly J. Baptist was born and raised in the great state of Michigan. She’s lived in Alabama, Florida, and Minnesota, but somehow found herself right back in her home state. Kelly won the 2015 We Need Diverse Books short story contest, and her winning entry is included in the middle grade anthology, Flying Lessons and Other Stories. A follow-up to that story, Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero, is available from Crown Books for Young Readers. Kelly also won the 2017 Lee and Low New Voices Honor Award for her picture book, The Electric Slide and Kai. Kelly is a huge Kobe Bryant fan, and incorporates Mamba Mentality in all aspects of her life, especially writing! An interview with Kelly will be posted on the Mitten Blog on April 15.   Eligibility: Any SCBWI member who lives in Michigan for at least part of the year may enter. Exception: Won-And-Done – if you have previously won a writing mentorship (picture book text, novel or nonfiction) from SCBWI-MI, you are ineligible for this competition. Please have a complete draft of your novel before you enter either competition.   The Submission Window is April 25 – May 16, 2022. The registration platform will open at 9:00 am on April 25. Registration closes at 6:00 pm on May 16, or when we receive 30 applicants, whichever comes first. Check MichKids and social media to find out how many spaces remain. Registration fee is $20, nonrefundable (payable by credit card).   Click HERE to Register.     The mentorship judges are: Kristin Bartley Lenz, Tracy Bilen, Kelly Barson, Heather Smith Meloche, Jean Alicia Elster and Erin Brown. Three judges will be assigned to each mentorship. Every registered applicant receives a brief critique from three judges.   Click here for Submission Instructions   The winners will be announced in June or July.   For questions, contact SCBWI-MI mentorship coordinator, Ann Finkelstein.   Read more about the SCBWI-MI mentorship program and its past winners and mentors.
  • Newsflash! SCBWI Announces New Benefits for Members who are self-publishing! Check it out HERE Do you have indie questions? Depending on the indie path that you are considering, you may contact one of the three advisors below that best fits your direction. Indie publishing would include hybrid publishing (combines aspects of traditional and self-publishing), vanity publishing (publishers do it all for a price), self-publishing (the author does it all), and digital. All of these various publishing methods would fall under the indie umbrella. In an effort to provide the most current and accurate information for our members we have three indie advisors: Melissa Bailey - Picture Book, David Stricklen - Middle Grade, and Melanie Hooyenga - Young Adult. You should also consider their particular path to publishing. Who may best answer your individual questions?   Meet the SCBWI-MI INDIE ADVISORS     David Stricklen – SCBWI-MI Indie Coordinator & Middle-Grade Author In his former life, David was an airport police chief with 30 years of experience in law enforcement. After retiring, David went all in on his creative side. He has written a series of three sought-after MG fantasy adventure books: Beneath and Beyond, Through the Eyes of the Beast and The Heart of the Swarm. His new release is a contemporary MG fiction entitled Ripley Robinson and the Worm Charmer, which is reviewer recommended by KIRKUS Review and featured in their monthly magazine. His books and school visits are filled with magic and creativity. David’s reverse perspective painting was a Grand Rapids ArtPrize (largest attended art competition in the world) 3D 2018 popular vote finalist and a post prize Colors of Community 3D & 2D popular vote first place (ArtPrize category). David is on the Michigan Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI-MI) leadership team and is also the Michigan SCBWI indie coordinator, Grand Rapids Shop Talk coordinator and the overall Michigan Shop Talk Administrator.     Melanie Hooyenga – Young Adult Author  Multi-award winning young adult author Melanie Hooyenga writes books about strong girls who learn to navigate life despite its challenges. She first started writing as a teenager and finds she still relates best to that age group. Her award-winning YA sports romance series, the Rules Series, is about girls from Colorado falling in love and learning to stand up on their own. Her YA time travel trilogy, The Flicker Effect, is about a teen who uses sunlight to travel back to yesterday. The first book, FLICKER, won first place for Middle Grade/Young Adult in the Writer’s Digest 2015 Self-Published eBook awards, and the Rules Series has won ten awards, including Finalist for MG/YA in the BookLife Prize. When not at her day job as Communications Director at a local nonprofit, you can find her wrangling her Miniature Schnauzer Owen and playing every sport imaginable with her husband Jeremy.     Melissa Bailey – Picture Book Author/Illustrator Hi! I’m Melissa, but feel free to call me Mo. I’ve been a member of SCBWI since 2013 and have been illustrating children’s books since 2009, including 2 award winners and a feature in Kirkus Review’s 2019 Fall Preview. In 2018, I reached my goal of becoming an author-illustrator with Pug Is Happy (published by a pygmy indie publisher) and have co-authored and illustrated the upcoming picture book Imara’s Tiara (fall 2020). With the help of SCBWI, research, experiences clients have generously shared with me, and my own insatiable curiosity, I’ve worked hard to learn all I can about the ins and outs of the children’s book publishing industry (both traditional and indie) and try my best to keep current with ever-evolving trends and changes. I’m here to help make your publishing journey less confusing and more successful.   Access More Information about the SCBWI-Trailblazers HERE!
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  • A note from Outreach Coordinator, Isabel Estrada O'Hagin~ Do you remember the moment when you entered your first Shop Talk or SCBWI-MI workshop with a tinge of nervousness, and then someone in the room smiled and said hello? These friendly gestures led you to feel welcomed and allowed you to feel like you belonged—so you stayed! Fortunately, we’ve been able to adjust through the covid19 protocols and have said hello through our screens and monitors! As your Outreach Coordinator, I invite you to share these moments with our community to celebrate and reaffirm the importance of how we foster relationships within SCBWI-MI. Our new column, It Starts with Hello, will highlight these positive personal memories that may inspire others. Based on my own experiences, I can attest those welcoming moments made me feel seen and valued. From the conference organizers and Shop Talk Coordinators who ask for first-time participants to stand and be recognized, to the empathetic person who invites you to join their table at lunch, together we form a network of creative kidlit professionals. Many of these relationships develop into long-lasting friendships and a support system we often need in our line of creative work. The stories you submit will be shared on The Mitten blog throughout 2022. Send your It Starts with Hello submission (under 300 words) to Isabel Estrada O’Hagin by December 20, 2021, at: ohaginib@gmail.com Note: I will post a second call for these submissions in 2022 as a reminder. Start thinking about which welcoming moment you’d love to share with us!
  •   SCBWI-Michigan is pleased to offer these upcoming bookselling and promotional opportunities to our PAL and Full members! Watch your email inbox for more information on each event and click the highlighted Event Link below. Want to become a member? Click HERE DATE EVENT AND LINK TO EVENT # OF TABLES PER DAY # OF CREATIVES PER TABLE TOTAL # of CREATIVES June 4 READING ROCKS IN ROCKFORD Krause Memorial Branch - Kent District Library 140 E Bridge St Rockford, MI   3 10:00- 1:00 2-3  8 July 30 LOCAL AUTHOR BOOK SALE AT STERLINGFEST Sterling Heights Public Library 40255 Dodge Park Rd Sterling Heights, MI   1 per shift Shift 1: 10:00 - 1:00 Shift 2:  1:00 - 4:00 3 6 Sept. 18 KERRYTOWN BOOK FEST Morris Lawrence Bldg at Washtenaw Community College 4800 E. Huron River Dr Ann Arbor, MI   3   4 12 Sept. 23-25 FUNKY FERNDALE Nine Mile Road west of Woodward Ferndale, MI   2 Friday 3:00 - 7:30 Saturday 10:00-7:30 Sunday 11:00 - 6:00 4 24 (8 per day)  November 11 MAME Conference Speed Dating Event Kensington Hotel 3500 S. State St Ann Arbor, MI         TBD     TBD     TBD  Dec. 3-4  ANN ARBOR HOLIDAY FAIR Washtenaw County Fairgrounds 5055 Ann Arbor-Saline Road Ann Arbor, MI  2 Sat. 9:00 - 4:00 Sun 10:00-4:00  4  16 (8 per day) If you want to participate in the event on your own (not as part of SCBWI-MI's opportunity), contact the coordinator for that event. In that case, SCBWI-MI has no responsibility for your table space, book sales, or promotions.
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  • Linked below are local and regional resources posted with the full intention of supporting teachers all over the great Mitten State in their efforts to bring equity and inclusion to their classrooms. Here you will discover informative blogs, helpful organizations, and an army of authors and illustrators ready and willing to walk beside you in preparing students to thrive emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. Our mission is to support the creation and availability of quality children’s books in every region of the world, we recognize that those books must reflect the rich diversity of our human family. The only way to do that is to support educators, writers, illustrators, and translators that reflect every lived experience. As a global organization, we acknowledge that inclusion looks different in every corner of the world. No matter who you are, how you identify, where you live, what your abilities/disabilities are, whom you love, and what you look like, we want you here. Welcome!   Equity and Inclusion Resource Library SCBWI | Resources for Asian and Pacific Islander Children’s Book Creators SCBWI | Organizations and Resources Supporting Black Lives SCBWI | Disability Employment Awareness Month Resources SCBWI | National Hispanic Heritage Month Resources SCBWI | Native, First Nations, and Indigenous Creators | Organizations and Resources SCBWI | Resources for Women Children’s Book Creators   Partnerships & Endorsements:  The Equity & Inclusion Corner (scbwimithemitten.blogspot.com)- The SCBWI-MI E & I Team is energized to create a stronger SCBWI-MI community that includes, engages, and embraces disparate voices. Michigan | The Teachers’ and Librarians’ Corner (scbwi.org) - SCBWI-MI is proud to partner with teachers and librarians to provide students with the resources to expand their love of reading. Inkluded (getinkluded.com)-Inkluded Academy is a tuition-free publishing course taught by industry professionals. Raising A Reader - Our mission is to engage caregivers in a routine of book sharing with their children from birth through age eight to foster healthy brain development, healthy relationships, a love of reading, and the literacy skills critical for school success. Black Men Read - Expanding Possibilities Through Storytelling: At Black Men Read, we’re changing lives and learning by exposing kids to powerful stories and powerful role models. Every child deserves to feel seen, loved, and valued. To make that happen, we elevate Black men as storytellers and community leaders. BlackCreatorsHQ (@blackcreatorsinkidlit) - A community of Black authors and illustrators. Increasing Black representation in all genres of literature. We Need Diverse Books – diversebooks.org - Dedicated to creating a world where every child can see themselves in the pages of a book. The Brown Bookshelf - The Brown Bookshelf - The Brown Bookshelf is designed to push awareness of the myriad Black voices writing for young readers. WATCH the LatinX KidLit Book Festival! - KidLit TV - A diverse group of parents, educators, librarians, kid lit creators, and award-winning filmmakers working together to create fun new ways to reinforce an appreciation of reading that children will carry with them for the rest of their lives. Diversity in Middle Grade. - From The Mixed Up Files: Mixed-Up Files Middle-Grade Authors are a team of writers and readers of middle-grade books with the shared goals to celebrate and generate enthusiasm about books for 8-12 year olds. Guides by Deb: A free resource consisting of over 300 CCSS & NGSS-aligned educator guides showcasing contemporary literature for children and young adults - Celebrating Black History Month at Guides by Deb   Authors & Illustrators from Michigan  Kinyel Friday of KinYori Books which promotes literacy among Black families, while encouraging children to love themselves while they’re young.  Books titles: I Am My Hair: Tanya learns a lesson about self-love after she gets made fun of by her classmates. Therefore, her parents help her appreciate the uniqueness of her hair and of herself as a whole. Swim Like the Fishes: Charles is super excited to go on his family’s beach vacation. But, there’s one major problem- he can’t swim!   Jean-Alicia Elster Books titles: Who's Jim Hines?: Who’s Jim Hines? is a coming-of-age story about a 12-year-old African American boy coming to terms with the racial realities of Detroit in 1935. The Colored Car: In the summer of 1937, after a train trip down south, a twelve-year-old African American girl discovers some life-changing truths about her world both in her hometown of Detroit  How It Happens: Focusing on three successive generations of African American women, How It Happens is a story of race relations, miscegenation, sexual assault and class that explores how these women struggled to overcome the numerous racial and gender obstacles they faced as they staked their claim to the American dream.   P.J. Bass Book title: Together with Dad! Andy's Adventure-Filled Week!: A father and son sharing experiences during a week. The book introduces days of the week, big and small quantities, and social-emotional interactions. Perfect for children 2-6 years old!   Deborah Diesen Book title: Equality's Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America: A nonfiction rhyming picture book appropriate for all ages, looks back at the activists who answered equality’s call, working tirelessly to secure the right for all to vote.    Chandra Ziegler Book Title: Let Nature Be Your Teacher: Planet Earth is our only home. Earth is our collective Mother that we must honor, cherish, and respect.   Laura Benson-Hadley Book title:  The Padmin Stone: Seventeen-year-old Blakely Caplan is counting down the days to college – until she and best friend Cameron enter a portal to war-torn Noríah.   Heidi Woodward Sheffield: Book titles: BRICK BY BRICK (Winner of the Ezra Jack Keats Award):
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Welcome!

The strength of SCBWI lies in its individual members. Whether you are a creator, publisher, reviewer, librarian, bookseller, educator, or simply someone with a love of literature and a desire to see the best in the hands of children, we invite you to get to know us better. SCBWI-Michigan is

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