Middle Grade Mayhem!
Join SCBWI-Illinois' Hyde Park/South Side Chicago Network for an evening of all things middle-grade! We'll feature a panel discussion about writing for middle-grade readers with six Chicago authors who have new middle-grade novels: Kate Hannigan, Carolyn Crimi,
Keir Graff, Liesl Shurtliff, Shirin Shamsi, and Lisa Jenn Bigelow. Come for discussion about how to approach series, whether plotting or "pantsing" works, getting words onto a page, promoting books, connecting with agents, and connecting with editors and kids and classrooms, along with so much more!
At 57th Street Books
RSVP HERE (Please note that your RSVP is requested but not required.)
About Lisa Jenn Bigelow: Lisa Jenn Bigelow is the critically acclaimed author of the middle grade novels Drum Roll, Please and Hazel’s Theory of Evolution, and the young adult novel Starting from Here, which was named a Rainbow List Top Ten book by the American Library Association. A born-and-bred Midwesterner, she serves as a youth librarian in the Chicago suburbs during her non-writing hours.
About Kate Hannigan: Hyde Park children's author Kate Hannigan writes fiction and nonfiction for young readers. Her latest novel, Cape, is the first of a three-book series with Simon & Schuster/Aladdin and blends graphic novel elements with historical fantasy. Kate's picture book biography, A Lady Has the Floor, received four starred reviews, was named a Junior Library Guild Selection, and was praised by Kirkus Reviews as “an excellent, well-researched model of its genre, which will inspire children to do whatever they desire in life, no matter what immediate restrictions exist.”
About Liesl Shurtliff: Liesl Shurtliff grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah the fifth of eight children. Her seven siblings tortured her but she really likes them now. She loved dancing, singing, playing the piano and reading books by Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, and Roald Dahl. She also read Grimms’ Fairy Tales so often she wore through the binding. Today she lives with her husband and four children in Chicago, which is a wonderful city except that it is decidedly flat and very cold in the winter. When she writes, she often wanders back to her childhood and gathers the magic that still remains. She hopes to share that magic with children everywhere.
About Shirin Shamsi: Shirin was born and raised in the UK, and now makes her home in the Chicago suburbs. Laila and the Sands of Time is her debut middle-grade novel. Shirin has raised six children—three human and three cats—all of whom have provided much inspiration for her stories. When she is not writing, Shirin enjoys reading, oil painting, and spending time with family.
About Keir Graff: Keir Graff is the author of funny and fantastical middle-grade adventure novels including The Phantom Tower (named a Best Children’s Book of 2018 by the Chicago Tribune) and The Matchstick Castle (an official Illinois Reads 2018 selection). He also writes books for grown-ups—some of them under fake names! A longtime resident of Chicago, he lives near the shore of Lake Michigan with his wife Marya, sons Felix and Cosmo, and cats Toothless and Totoro. Follow him on Twitter at @KeirGraff and find out more at www.keirgraff.com.
About Carolyn Crimi: Carolyn Crimi enjoys snacking, pugs, Halloween, and writing, although not necessarily in that order. Over the years she has published 15 funny books for children, including Don’t Need Friends, Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies, Where’s My Mummy?, There Might Be Lobsters, and I Am The Boss of This Chair. She is very excited about her first novel for kids called Weird Little Robots, which will be coming out in 2019!
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