Olympic Peninsula Young Writers Conference

From the Bremerton/Seattle ferry enroute to home. Love those islands...

Hello all. About this time of night two weeks ago I was just pulling in to my Port Angeles, WA hotel room. I spent two of the following three days speaking with almost 1000 students at the Olympic Peninsula Young Writers Conference in Port Angeles and Bremerton, WA. Elementary school kids from all over this far western part of the state gather every spring to share their work, listen to us author types and, to spend a day or two away from school in an energized and creative setting.

A room full of writers!

My fellow author/illustrator participant this year was Richard Jesse Watson. An SCBWI Golden Kite Award winner for picturebook illustration, he does some fantastic artwork, and you should definitely check him out.

Thank you very much to Sarah F. and all of the other OP ESD staff members and volunteers who make this happen. It was a huge thrill for me to participate!

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Let me also plug two FANTASTIC illustrated young adult books that I recently finished reading. Both contain some heavy hitting (sometimes read "controversial") subject matter, but the humor in the first and the beauty of language in the second should make these sought after additions to ANY high school list of required reading.

First, Sherman Alexi's Absoulutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little Brown, 2007) is amazing. Completely captivating and well deserving of its praise. It made me laugh out loud -- a rare feat for books that I have read of late. Perfectly paired with cartoon illustrations by Seattle illustrator Ellen Forney. I want to read more of Mr. Alexi's work!

In a different but no less excellent vein, Margarita Engle's The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano (Henry Holt, 2006) is a book that wants to be read out loud. Written in verse, to honor the poet whose life it imagines, this book is an wonderful example of "voice" in literature. I could not read it in silence. Sean Qualls, one of many Brooklyn -based illustrators whos work I admire, created the black & white interior art. As lovely and evocative as his images are, I only wish that we could have seen them in color -- or at least on some paper that would give them the stage that they truly deserved. In any case, don't miss this one either.