SCBWI Florida Regional Conference FACULTY BIOS January 17 – 19, 2014 *( Airport Sheraton * Miami, Florida

YOUR SCBWI FLORIDA TEAM

LINDA RODRIGUEZ BERNFELD (SCBWI Florida Co-Regional Advisor) has worked in radio, television, and newspapers. Today she’s a freelance writer, interviewing teens for positive people stories. She also writes newspaper stories about as many children’s writers as she can. Linda helped revive SCBWI in Florida when she started the Miami Mini-Conferences in 2001 which later became the Florida Regional Conference. She was able to get the first conference going when she overrode everyone’s objections and declared “conferences aren’t that much work.” Over the years, the conferences have gotten more and more complicated but they remain just as much fun. This is the year that Linda hopes to break out of the pack and actually finish a book. Linda is married to Jerry Bernfeld and has two sons, Brian, 20, and Kevin, 24 and their rescue dog Harley, who spends as much time cowering at thunderstorms in the closet as Linda does reading children’s books.

GABY TRIANA (SCBWI Florida Co-Regional Advisor) is a YA author, wedding cake designer, writing workshop instructor, and ghostwriter. Her books, BACKSTAGE PASS, CUBANITA, THE TEMPTRESS FOUR, and RIDING THE UNIVERSE (HarperCollins), have earned the IRA Teen Choice Award, ALA Best Paperbacks, and HISPANIC MAGAZINE'S Good Reads of 2008. Her obsessions include Halloween, Disney World, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, driving fast cars, hosting parties, and spending time with her husband and three boys. Her historical mystery WAKE THE HOLLOW is currently out on submission, as well as her Hollow Theory sci-fi EARTH AS WE KNOW IT. Gaby’s romantic time-travel fantasy, SUMMER OF YESTERDAY, about River Country, Disney’s abandoned water park, will be released in July,

2014. She is represented by Deborah Warren of East/West Literary and is currently at work on a magical YA novel called CAKESPELL. Visit her at www.gabytriana.com and @GabyTriana on Twitter.

CURTIS SPONSLER (SCBWI Florida Assistant Regional Advisor) was born an artist and nerd – and he is damned proud of it. He applies his passion as a 3D animator and motion graphic designer and has received an Emmy for his animation, along with numerous other awards (Telly, Addy, and more). Curtis' creative direction and design have been seen on national TV networks, cable channels, and before large convention audiences for over 25 years. His first published book was The Focal Easy Guide to After Effects, a tutorial reference guide for beginning to intermediate artists and broadcast industry designers. Curtis lives in Orlando, Florida with his wife of 26 years, two children of both flavors, and a fuzzy mutt named Sasha. He is currently revising his novels, REALM OF THE PAW and CHARLOTTE’S W3B UNRAVELED, as well as drafting his newest YA novel, NOWHERE WOLF.

LINDA SHUTE (SCBWI Florida Illustrator Coordinator) was a latchkey bookworm growing up in West Miami when she was inspired by Kate Seredy's books to be an author/illustrator. Characters in Linda's 14 picture books range from leprechauns to Chesapeake explorers. She earned an art degree at FSU and taught Children's Book Illustration at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota. Linda has enjoyed being Florida SCBWI Illustrator Coordinator for three years.

GUEST FACULTY

STACY ABRAMS is the editorial director for Entangled's Teen (print/digital) and Ember (digital-first) lines, as well as for the short romance digital imprint Bliss. She started in the publishing industry in 2002, most recently leaving a seven-year stint at Bloomsbury Publishing's children's division to join the Entangled team. With Entangled Stacy has edited such high-caliber and best-selling authors as Amy Spalding, Lisa Burstein, Cindi Madsen, Rachel Harris, Renee Collins, and Kelley York. She earned her Bachelor's in English at Northwestern University and currently resides in Chicago with her husband and too-cute puppy. Find her on Twitter at @StacyAbramsEdit.

VIVI BARNES was raised on a farm in East Texas where her theater-loving mom and cowboy dad gave her a unique perspective on life. Now living in the magic and sunshine of Orlando, Florida, she divides her time writing, working, goofing off with her husband and three kids, and avoiding dirty dishes. Her debut novel, Olivia Twisted, is a contemporary reimagining of the classic Oliver Twist. Hackers play a central role in the story, but don't worry, your computer is safe around her. Vivi is represented by Pam van Hylckama Vlieg of Foreword Literary.

Before publishing Relativity, CRISTIN BISHARA worked as a professional copywriter, and taught composition and fiction writing at the university level. She has an M.F.A. in creative writing. Cristin lives in Florida with her husband, two girls, and rescued racing greyhound.

PETER BROWN has always loved telling stories. Growing up in New Jersey, he drew pictures to tell stories of whimsical characters and scenes from his imagination. Then as a teenager, he fell in love with writing, and told his tales with words. While studying at Art Center College of Design, Peter’s love of both words and pictures led him to take several courses on children’s books. And before long he knew he’d found his calling. After graduating from Art Center Peter moved to New York City to be closer to the publishing industry. He was working on animated TV shows when he was hired to write and illustrate his first picture book, Flight of the Dodo. Peter quickly signed up his second and third books, and his career as an author and illustrator of children’s books was under way. Peter’s books have earned him numerous honors, including two E.B. White Awards, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book award, a Children’s Choice Award for Illustrator of the Year, two Irma Black Honors, and four New York Times bestsellers. He is also a recipient of a 2013 Caldecott Honor for Creepy Carrots!, written by Aaron Reynolds. Peter lives in Brooklyn, New York.

KAT BRZOZOWSKI has worked at Thomas Dunne Books, a division of St. Martin’s Press, since the fall of 2009 after interning at the Maria Carvainis Agency, Foundry Literary + Media, and Writers House. Her acquisitions include Blonde Ops, pitched as The Devil Wears Prada meets James Bond for teens; Push Girl, co-written by and based on the life of Chelsie Hill, one of the stars of the Sundance Channel original show “Push Girls” (for which Kat appeared on reality television in the show’s season finale); How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You by Tara Eglington, in which a teen is cast in Much Ado About Nothing and must avoid having her first kiss with her co-star and the bane of her existence; and Hello, I Love You, about a teenage girl from a famous country music family who attends a boarding school in Korea and gets swept up in the K- pop fandom when she falls for a teen idol. She is eager to acquire young adult fiction across a wide range of genres: romantic, contemporary YA with a great hook; dark, contemporary fiction with a strong female protagonist; mysteries, suspense, and thrillers; horror; and sci-fi. She is especially interested in YA with crossover appeal as well as anything that reminds her of Veronica Mars. Some of her current favorite YA authors include Gabrielle Zevin, John Green, and Laini Taylor (with Lois Lowry and Beverly Cleary being her favorite YA/MG writers of all time).

TONI BUZZEO - Working both from her colonial farmhouse in Buxton, Maine and her sunny winter nest in Sarasota, Florida, New York Times bestselling author Toni Buzzeo writes many things, especially picture books. She has published 18 books for children, most recently Lighthouse Christmas (Winner of the 2012 Time of Wonder Award), Once Cool Friend, Stay Close to Mama, Inside the Books: Readers and Libraries Around the World, and But I Read It on the Internet! Her books have won state and regional awards and garnered much recognition over the past decade. Toni also wears the hat of a seasoned educator. A former college and high school English teacher, Toni then became a practicing Library Media Specialist for sixteen years and was named the 1999 Maine Library Media Specialist of the Year. In that hat, she writes many professional books (11 to date) and articles, curriculum based on children’s literature, as well as teaching and promotional guides for children’s books. Toni is a frequent keynote and workshop speaker at international, national, state, and regional writing, reading, library, and teaching conferences. She is also a regular visiting author in schools here in the U.S. and abroad. Learn more at www.tonibuzzeo.com.

NANCY J. CAVANAUGH lives in Florida with her husband and her daughter. This Journal Belongs to Ratchet is her first book, but she has been writing for almost twenty years. Like her main character, Nancy is pretty handy with a ratchet and is able to take apart a small engine and put it back together. She learned her mechanic skills from her husband, a former industrial arts teacher. In addition to her mechanic’s hat, Nancy has been an elementary and middle school teacher as well as a school librarian. One of her favorite parts of writing for children is being able to say “I’m working” when reading middle grade novels. Nancy enjoys visiting schools and sharing her love of writing with students. She also enjoys sharing her expertise about writing and children’s literature with teachers and librarians. Her second middle grade novel, Always, Abigail, is coming in October 2014.

CHRIS CRUTCHER’s years as teacher, then director, of a K-12 alternative school in Oakland, California through the 1970’s, and his subsequent twenty-odd years as a therapist specializing in child abuse and neglect, inform his thirteen novels and two collections of short stories. “I have forever been intrigued by the extremes of the human condition,” he says, “the remarkable juxtaposition of the ghastly and the glorious. As Eric ‘Moby’ Calhoun tells us at the conclusion of Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, ‘Ain’t it a trip where heroes come from’.” He has also written what he calls an ill-advised autobiography titled King of the Mild Frontier, which was designated by “Publisher’s Weekly” as “the YA book most adults would have read if they knew it existed.” Chris has received a number of coveted awards, from his high school designation as “Most Likely to Plagiarize” to the American Library Association’s Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award. His favorites are his two Intellectual Freedom awards, one from the National Council for Teachers of English and the other from the National Coalition Against Censorship. Five of Crutcher’s books appeared on an American Library Association list of the 100 Best Books for Teens of the Twentieth Century

(1999 to 2000).

NORMA DAVIDS is an actress, director, and private coach for actors, writers, and public speakers. She’s a member of Screen Actor’s Guild and Actor’s Equity, and has had the awesome experience of working with Barbra Streisand and Jose Ferrer, among others. She was Artistic Director of her own acting school and theatre, and is a former high school drama, speech, and creative writing teacher. She holds a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts, and as a college professor, she helped students to “take the scary” out of public speaking. When working with writers, she specializes in adding depth to emotional scenes, strengthening character development, and preparing them for presentations.

STEVEN DOS SANTOS is the author of the YA Post-Apocalyptic series, The Culling – The Torch Keeper Book One, which was released on March 8, 2013 by Flux Books. The first sequel to The Culling, entitled The Sowing, will be released on March 8, 2014. The Culling has been nominated for the 2014 Rainbow List, a joint project of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table and the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association. In addition, The Culling has also received an excellent review from the Voice of Youth Advocates, or (VOYA), the leading library journal dedicated to the needs of young adult librarians, the advocacy of young adults, and the promotion of young adult literature and reading. Steven dos Santos studied Motion Picture production at University of Miami and graduated from Florida International University with a B.S. Degree from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications Television Broadcasting program. His training includes script writing, copy writing, and all aspects of T.V. production.

LOIS DUNCAN is the author of over 50 books, ranging from children's picture books to poetry to adult non-fiction, but is best known for her young adult suspense novels, which have received Young Readers Awards in 16 states and three foreign countries. In 1992, Lois was awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award, presented by the School Library Journal and the ALA Young Adult Library Services Association for "a distinguished body of adolescent literature." In 2009, she received the Katharine Drexel Award, awarded by the Catholic Library Association "to recognize an outstanding contribution by an individual to the growth of high school and young adult librarianship and literature." Six of her novels – , Killing Mr. Griffin, Gallows Hill, Ransom, Don’t Look Behind You, and -- were made-for-TV movies, and has been optioned as a big screen movie. I Know What You Did Last Summer and were box office hits. Two new books, News For Dogs and Movie For Dogs complete the Hotel for Dogs trilogy. She has just completed revising ten of her earlier teen novels to "bring the characters into the 21st Century" by updating their clothing (no longer any polyester pants suits) and giving them computers and cell phones. Visit Lois at www.loisduncan.arquettes.com and on Facebook.

KRISTEN MCLEAN is a book futurist, a consumer zoologist, and an idea omnivore. She is also the founder and CEO of Bookigee, a Miami-based company that builds disruptive data products and analytics for the book-publishing ecosystem. Kristen is an eighteen-year veteran of the book business with a wide range of experience including retail, marketing, and consumer research. As leading industry analyst, she speaks and consults all around the world about the digital transformation of books, reading, smart data, and new strategies for the publishing business. Follow her on Twitter @BKGKristen

AMMI-JOAN PACQUETTE is a senior agent with Erin Murphy Literary Agency, representing all types of children’s and YA literature. She is also the author of the novels Paradox (Random House, 2013), Rules for Ghosting (Walker, 2013), and Nowhere Girl (Walker, 2011), and the picture books Ghost in the House (Candlewick, 2013), Petey and Pru and the Hullabaloo (Clarion, 2013), and The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Mermaids (Tanglewood, 2012). In her agent acquisitions, Joan is particularly drawn to richly voiced, unforgettable characters and settings, as well as tightly paced, well-plotted stories with twists and turns that keep you guessing right until the end. Visit her on the web at www.ajpaquette.com

SARA PENNYPACKER is the author of fourteen children’s book, including the award- winning, New York Times bestselling Clementine series, the Stuart books – recently reissued, Pierre in Love, which won the Golden Kite Award, Sparrow Girl, and four Flat Stanley books. Her latest book is Summer of the Gypsy Moths. Ms. Pennypacker travels widely to speak about literacy and to encourage reading and writing. She is the founder of the ShareOurBooks.org program which lends books provided by authors for community reads. Visit her at www.sarapennypacker.com

ANDREA PINKNEY is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of more than thirty books for children and young adults. Andrea’s recent nonfiction work, Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America, won the 2013 Coretta Scott King Author Award medal and was named a New York Times Notable Book and a Chicago Public Library “Best of the Best.” Bird in a Box was a Today Show Al Roker Book Club pick. Her picture books include the New York Times bestseller Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down, Sojourner Truth’s Step-Stomp Stride, Let it Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters, Duke Ellington, and Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation, an Oprah Radio featured selection. In addition to her work as an author, Andrea has had an illustrious career as a children’s book publisher and editor. She has published a robust mix of titles, including the Newbery Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Book Award–winner Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis; Allen Say’s Drawing from Memory; The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake; and Toni Morrison’s Remember: The Journey to School Integration. Andrea has also launched many high-profile publishing and entertainment entities, including Hyperion Books for Children/Disney Publishing’s Jump at the Sun imprint, the hugely popular Cheetah Girls series, and the teen book Serving from the Hip by world-class tennis pros Venus and Serena Williams, an Oprah featured selection. Andrea is currently VP, Executive Editor at Scholastic. She was named one of the “25 Most Influential Black Women in Business” by The Network Journal, and is among “The 25 Most Influential People in Our Children’s Lives” cited by Children’s Health Magazine. Andrea lives in New York City with her husband, award-winning illustrator Brian Pinkney, and their two children.

AUBREY POOLE got her start as an editor correcting her friends’ grammar in high school, an effort which naturally guaranteed instant popularity. She is now an associate editor at Sourcebooks, acquiring children’s books from picture books through young adult. Her first YA novel, Send by Patty Blount, was a Junior Library Guild pick. Her middle grade novel, This Journal Belongs to Ratchet, by Nancy Cavanaugh, received a Starred review from Kirkus and is a Core Collection award winner. Aubrey hopes to continue shamelessly courting librarians with her forthcoming middle grade novel The Ninja Librarians.

JEN ROFE is a literary agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Some of her clients include Kathryn Fitzmaurice, author of THE YEAR THE SWALLOWS CAME EARLY and DESTINY, REWRITTEN, and A DIAMOND IN THE DESERT; Barry Wolverton, author of NEVERSINK; Nick James, author of the SKYSHIP ACADEMY trilogy; Samantha Vamos, author of the Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor recipient THE CAZUELA THAT THE FARM MAIDEN STIRRED and the forthcoming ALPHATRUCKS; Meg Medina, author of TIA ISA WANTS A CAR, THE GIRL WHO COULD SILENCE THE WIND, and YAQUI DELGADO WANTS TO KICK YOUR ASS; Crystal Allen, author of HOW LAMAR'S BAD PRANK WON A BUBBA SIZED TROPHY and THE LAURA LINE; Denise Doyen, author of the E.B. White Read Aloud Honor picture book ONCE UPON A TWICE and the forthcoming THE POMEGRANATE WITCH (both from Random House); and Lauren Strasnick, author of NOTHING LIKE YOU, HER AND ME AND YOU and THEN YOU WERE GONE (all from Simon Pulse/S&S). Jennifer is co-author of the picture book, Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch. She has been on faculty for several conferences including the Big Sur Writer's Workshop and numerous SCBWI conferences. Jennifer earned a BA in English with a minor in Social and Ethnic Relations from UC Davis and has a background in secondary education.

AUGUSTA SCATTERGOOD is a librarian, turned book reviewer, now middle-grade novelist. Her first book Glory Be, published by Scholastic Press in 2012, has been named to six state reading lists, was one of Amazon's Best Middle Grade novels of the year, and has been awarded the SCBWI Southeast region's Crystal Kite. Her next historical novel, set in Florida and narrated by a piano-playing, baseball-tossing boy, is also to be published by Scholastic and edited by Andrea Pinkney. Although Augusta is from Mississippi and has lived in no fewer than seven states, she now happily lives in St. Pete Beach, Florida and Madison, NJ. She loves writing about the South and doubts she'll ever be able to set a story in New Jersey or Massachusetts where she remembers shoveling way too much snow.

DEBORAH WARREN, founder of East/West Literary Agency LLC, became an agent after 17 years at Harcourt. With over 30 years’ of experience in the publishing industry, and over 13 years at the helm of the Agency, Deborah specializes in representing authors and illustrators of picture books including Anna Dewdney, James Dean, Gianna Marino, and Antoinette Portis. In addition, she represents a full roster of children’s fiction authors and illustrators—both debut and established--in the board book, concept, illustration, multicultural, middle-grade and young adult markets. In all categories, she’s looking to fall in love with character-driven stories, enhanced by a hook, told in a unique, fresh or distinctive way. Her sweet spot: short, quirky picture books and smartly layered, accessible and compelling MG and YA fiction. Here’s her pitch line to you: “sell me, don’t just tell me!”

LAURA WHITAKER, Associate Editor at Bloomsbury Children’s Books, has worked on upcoming literary thrillers Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst and Vengeance by Megan Miranda and picture books Penguin and Pinecone and Found, both written and illustrated by Salina Yoon. She is particularly interested in innovative, soul-searing literary fiction; edgy, wrenching and unforgettable coming-of-age novels handling sensitive topics and issues; and quirky, funny and honest picture books that present first experiences in an unexpected light. [email protected]. @laura_gemma