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Bonnie Bader is the Editor-in-Chief of Early and Beginning Readers at Grosset & Dunlap and also heads up the U.S. arm of Fredrick Warne, which publishes Beatrix Potter, Flower Fairies, and Spot. At Grosset, Bonnie is spearheading the rebranding of Penguin’s leveled readers -- Penguin Young Readers -- which will house readers from every imprint in the house. In addition, she is looking to start up an 8x8 picture book program, and a beginning/early chapter book program. She continues to edit and oversee several series including Hank Zipzer by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver, Katie Kazoo Switcheroo and George Brown, Class Clown by Nancy Krulik, and Frankly Frannie by Amanda Stern. New acquisitions include a series by Lin Oliver to debut in 2012. Bonnie is also proud to be a newly-elected member of the SCBWI Board of Advisors. {top} |
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Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld (Florida 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 become 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, 18, and Kevin, 22 and their rescue dog Harley, who spends as much cowering at thunderstorms in the closet as Linda does reading children’s books {top} |
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 Tamar Brazis |
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Tamar Brazis is Editorial Director of Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet Books. She received her B.A. From Sarah Lawrence College and her M.F.A. from the New School, with a concentration in poetry. After working at HarperCollins for nearly six years, Tamar moved to Abrams where she has focused on picture books and middle-grade fiction for the past seven years, along with a list of music-related adult titles. Some of her projects include the New York Times bestselling Jellybeans series by Laura Numeroff, Me, Frida illustrated by David Diaz, City I Love by beloved children's poet Lee Bennett Hopkins, and Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes, the debut novel by Jonathan Auxier. {top} |
 Laurie Calkhoven |
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Laurie Calkhoven, the author of nearly 50 books for young readers, has always loved reading and writing (arithmetic is another story). In addition to writing her own fiction, she has ghostwritten middle grade mysteries, authored TV tie-in novels under a pen name, and contributed to many nonfiction series for children. Currently she is writing novels for American Girl’s new Innerstar University series along with historical action/adventure novels for her own series, Boys of Wartime, published by Dutton Books for Young Readers. {top} |
 Dorian Cirrone |
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Dorian Cirrone is the author of the young adult novels, Prom Kings and Drama Queens and Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You, which was chosen as an ALA Popular Paperback for Young Adults and named on the Amelia Bloomer List for Feminist Fiction as well as the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age list. She has also written the Lindy Blues chapter books, The Missing Silver Dollar and The Big Scoop. Her poems, shorts stories, and essays for children and adults have been published in literary journals and anthologies. Dorian holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in English and has taught writing at the University of Miami, Nova Southeastern University, and at many workshops and conferences. She has worked as a door-to-door survey taker, a dance teacher, a choreographer, an assistant city editor for a daily newspaper, and a college English instructor. Writing for children and teens has been her best job so far. To learn more about Dorian and her work, visit www.doriancirrone.com {top} |
 Jill Corcoran |
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Jill Corcoran joined Herman Agency in Spring 2009, representing PB, CB, MG & YA. Clients include Anastasia Suen, Ralph Fletcher, Robin Mellom, Sherry Shahan, Martha Brockenbrough, Bev Rosenbaum, Kelly Milner Halls, Kenn Nesbitt, Elaine Marie Alphin, Janet Gurtler, Mariletta Robinson, Kim T. Griswell, & Jen Arena. Currently searching for MG and YA mystery, humor, romance---and even better to have a combo of all 3! Distinctive voice, unique plot and characters who I either want to be, want to have as my BFF or as my boyfriend/girlfriend are books I will definitely request. High-concept is a plus. No high fantasy, poetry or non-fiction. Looking for both traditionally published and debut authors. {top} |
 Barry Furrow |
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Barry Furrow is a pioneer in the field of health law. He is the lead author of “Health Law — Cases, Materials and Problems” (now in its 6th edition), which remains the leading casebook in the field. He is also co-author of the treatise, “Health Law,” which the U.S. Supreme Court has cited three times. Furrow teaches at the Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University, where he is also the Director of the Health Law Program. He is also an Associate Fellow of the Center for Bioethics of the University of Pennsylvania. He has published widely on health-related topics. |
 Cheryl Klein |
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Cheryl Klein is Executive Editor at Arthur A. Levine Books /Scholastic. She edited Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork, winner of the Schneider Family Medal; The Snow Day by Komako Sakai, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book; and A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce, winner of the inaugural William C. Morris Award for a YA debut novel, among many other novels and picture books. Her book Second Sight: An Editor's Talks on Writing, Revising, and Publishing Books for Children and Young Adults was published in March. Please visit her editorial website at www.cherylklein.com. {top} |
 E.B. Lewis |
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Earl Bradley Lewis was born on December 16, 1956, in Philadelphia, PA. Inspired by two artist uncles, as early as the third grade, Lewis displayed artistic promise. Beginning in the sixth grade, he attended the Saturday morning Temple University School of Art League and studied with Clarence Wood. Lewis attended the Temple University Tyler School of Art. There, he discovered his medium of preference was watercolor. During his four years at Temple, Lewis majored in Graphic Design and Illustration and art education. After graduating, he taught art in public schools for twelve years. Presently, Lewis teaches at the University of Arts in Philadelphia. In 1992, E.B. began painting illustrations for the book, Fire On The Mountain and his career as an “Artistrator” was launched. To date E.B. Lewis has illustrated over 50 picture books and has received numerous awards including: 2003 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner for Talkin' About Bessie |
 Natalie Lescroart |
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Natalie Lescroart: After completing the Columbia Publishing Course, Natalie Lescroart began her career at Penguin Group ( USA ) as an editorial assistant with Grosset & Dunlap/PSS! in August 2010. There, she worked on middle-grade series titles by Nancy Krulik, Kate McMullan, and Lin Oliver, as well as Tomie dePaola’s My First Angels and an upcoming Madeline activity book. She is the editor for Dinkin Dings, a UK pick-up series by Guy Bass, and an adorable monster alphabet book that will be coming out this summer. Currently, Natalie’s focus is on the Penguin Young Readers program, early readers, and working on Frederick Warne titles with Bonnie Bader. She is eager to find the next easy-to-read classic! {top} |
 Jessica Martinez |
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Jessica Martinez was born and raised in Calgary, Canada. As a child she played the violin, read books and climbed trees incessantly. She went on to study English and music at Brigham Young University, and since then has been a high school English teacher, symphony violinist, elementary school teacher, violin teacher, and mother. She currently lives in Orlando, Florida with her husband and two children. She is the author of Virtuosity, published by Simon Pulse. Her second novel comes out in fall 2012, also with Simon Pulse. For more information please visit: www.jessicamartinez.com {top} |
 Janeen Mason |
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Janeen Mason, award winning author-illustrator, has fourteen books to her credit these days (four of the titles she wrote as well as illustrated). Members of SCBWI might remember when Janeen brought her illustrated picture book manuscripts to our conferences and hoped to find a publisher. She did. Now a solo exhibition of Mason's original picture book illustrations was featured in seven museums and cultural institutions around Florida, and more exhibits are in the works for 2012. She's a popular speaker at schools, on the radio, and in workshops. Janeen says, "Picture books are a primary source of inspiration which have enormous consequence in our culture. They provide the introduction to a lifetime of creative imagination and appreciation for the arts. This is powerful juju in a landscape of ever accelerating technology." Ms. Mason is active in the arts, appointed to the Florida Council on Arts and Culture by two Senate Presidents, where she served as the Vice Chair. In 2011 Florida Secretary of State, Kurt Browning, appointed her to the board of directors of Citizens for Florida Arts, and she is the past Illustrator Coordinator for SCBWI Florida. For more information please visit: www.JaneenMason.com, or follow her blog at www.JaneenMason.blogspot.com {top} |
 Diane Muldrow |
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Diane Muldrow is an editorial director at Golden Books/Random House. She has worked in publishing for over twenty years, editing mass market, licensed, and trade picture books for young children, including the iconic Little Golden Books. Diane is also a prolific author of books for kids of all ages. Diane edited Golden Legacy: How Golden Books Won Children’s Hearts, Changed Publishing Forever, and Became an American Icon Along the Way, by noted literary historian Leonard Marcus (Random House, 2007). In 2007, to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Little Golden Bookline, she and Marcus co-curated an exhibition of original Golden Books illustrations, which is currently touring the country. Diane was a dancer, actress, and spoken-word performer in New York’s avant-garde scene in the late 1980s/early 1990s. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in Fine Arts (Dance), and in Magazine Journalism, from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. {top} |
 Laura Murray |
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Laura Murray was an Elementary teacher before becoming a children’s author. At the beginning of each school year, a freshly baked Gingerbread Man managed to escape from her class! Her rhyming picture book, The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School (GP Putnam’s Sons), was inspired by this yearly romp through the school. Two months after its release, Gingerbread Man, became an Amazon children’s bestseller and went into a second printing with Putnam. It was also chosen as a Junior Library Guild Selection and received a starred ALA Booklist review. Laura credits much of her debut success to SCBWI – networking, knowledge, and wonderfully supportive people. She met her awesome agent at a Florida SCBWI conference as well. A sequel, The Gingerbread Man Loose on the Fire Truck, is forthcoming, as Laura dives into another genre – a middle grade adventure/mystery. www.LauraMurrayBooks.com {top} |
 Donna Jo Napoli |
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Donna Jo Napoli is professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College, mother of five, grandmother of two, and author of more than seventy books for pre-K through high school. Her work ranges from gothic horror to contemporary humor, and she loves to swim in traditional tales -- religious, folk, fairy, mythological. She had three works come out in 2011: LIGHTS ON THE NILE, a novel set in 2530 BC in Egypt |
 Greg Neri |
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Greg Neri is the Coretta Scott King Honor-winning author of Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty, and a two-time American Library Association Notable Book honoree. He was the 2010 recipient of the International Reading Association’s Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award for his first book, Chess Rumble. His novels include Surf Mules and his latest, Ghetto Cowboy, was named a Junior Library Guild selection. He lives in Tampa, Florida with his wife and daughter. His website is: www.gneri.com {top} |
 Lin Oliver |
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Lin Oliver is a leading children’s book author and writer-producer of family films, television series and movies for children. With her co-author Henry Winkler, she writes the New York Times best-selling book series, HANK ZIPZER: WORLD’S BEST UNDERACHIEVER, which has sold over three million copies. Lin is also the author of four comedic novels that comprise the WHO SHRUNK DANIEL FUNK? Quartet from Simon and Schuster, which feature the comedy misadventures of a shrinking boy and his identical mini twin brother. Lin’s newest release is SOUND BENDER, a adventure science fiction middle grade novel she co-authored with her son, Theo Baker. SOUND BENDER is available from Scholastic as of November, 2011. A second SOUND BENDER novel is under contract. Lin has two additional children’s book series under contract. ALMOST IDENTICAL, a three book series from Grosset & Dunlap, is about identical twin tweens who are in the process of establishing individual identities. And her new four book series, GHOST BUDDY, co-authored with Henry Winkler will premier in January, 2012, from Scholastic. In television, Lin produced the long-running series, HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS for Universal, for which she wrote over 30 episodes. She also produced the animated series CORDUROY for PBS and WAYSIDE for Nickelodeon. In the feature film arena, she has produced THE TRUMPET OF THE SWAN, based on E.B. White’s award-winning novel, and the Emmy-award winning FINDING BUCK McHENRY. She is the co-founder of the SCBWI, an international organization of 22,000 writers, illustrators and publishers of children’s books, and serves as its Executive Director. {top} |
 Linda Shute |
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Linda Shute grew up in Miami and earned her art degree at FSU. She has been illustrator or author/illustrator of 14 picture books. The latest, Captain John Smith's Big and Beautiful Bay, by Rebecca C. Jones, was released in August. She taught Children's Book Illustration at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota and has served 2 years as your Florida SCBWI Illustrators' Coordinator. {top} |
 Curtis Sponsler |
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Curtis Sponsler was born an artist and nerd - 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 began AniMill, a boutique motion graphics and 3D animation company, in 1994 and has been trying to close it ever since… For his first published book, “The Focal Easy Guide to After Effects”, he wrote and designed a 256 page tutorial reference for beginning to intermediate artists and broadcast industry designers. He credits Steven King, Tom Clancy, and Michael Crichton with helping him overcome his dyslexia and distain for writing because their stories appealed to the demented nerd inside. Curtis currently lives in Ocoee, Florida with his wife of 24 years, 2 children of both flavors, and fuzzy mutt named Sasha. He is currently revising his first children’s novel (that has nothing to do with computers) titled “Realm of the Paw: Cleopatra's Necklace.” {top} |
 Marietta Zacker |
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Marietta Zacker has experienced children’s books from every angle – teaching, marketing, publishing & bookselling. As an agent, she is thrilled to help make all those worlds collide. She thrives on working with authors who make readers feel their characters’ emotions & illustrators who add a different dimension to the story. She is also Book Curator at an independent toy store & bookstore. {top} |
