Please join us each month for our Twitter Chat sessions with industry professionals lead by our Social Media Coordinator, Valerie Lawson.
Watch our calendar for upcoming chats at oklahoma.scbwi.org. No matter the date, each Twitter chat session will last one hour, from 7-8 PM CST, and we will be using the hashtag #okscbwichat. Email questions to: Valerie Lawson valerierlawson@cox.net
JANUARY 26th – Topic Chat
Topic Chat: Surviving the Pandemic and Still Thriving Creatively. Sharing how we are remaining creative – or not!
To recap this Twitter Chat visit: http://bit.ly/3pqtjMS
FEBRUARY 23rd – Rivkah Lafille
Rivkah Lafille is a Graphic Novelist and the Austin SCBWI Chapter Illustrator Coordinator. Her graphic novel series, STEADY BEAT, was nominated by the American Library Association’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens List. She was nominated as a Lulu of the Year by Friends of Lulu for her work in promoting women in comics, and she won the Austin SCBWI Portfolio Showcase Award, presided over by Caldecott winner and New York Times bestselling author, Dan Santat!
Currently, Rivkah is working on a graphic novel series with First Second.
Learn more about Rivkah on her website here.
Her Twitter handle is @LafilleRivkah
To recap the Twitter Chat with Rivkah Lafille visit: https://wakelet.com/wake/h89-LRORqp7VbuixbVIDM
MARCH 23rd – Kim Rogers
Kim Rogers writes books, short stories, and poems across all children’s literature age groups. She is a contributor to Ancestor Approved coming February, 2021 with HarperCollins / Heartdrum. Her debut picture book, Just Like Grandma, illustrated by Julie Flett, is slated for winter 2023 with HarperCollins / Heartdrum. Her work has also been published in Highlights for Children, the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and many other publications.
Kim is a Cynsations reporter covering children’s-YA writing, illustration, publishing and other book news from Indigenous authors and illustrators. She is an enrolled member of Wichita and Affiliated Tribes and the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. Much of her current writing highlights her Wichita heritage.
She lives in Oklahoma with her husband, two boys, and one ornery, but very cute Chiweenie dog named Lucky.
Learn more about Kim on her website here.
Her Twitter handle is @kimrogerswriter.
APRIL 27th – Topic Chat
Topic Chat: Let’s Talk Process! How do you even write or illustrate a book? Share your Process and Writing Tips!
MAY 25th – Mariana Llanos
Mariana Llanos was born in Lima, Peru. Mariana developed an early passion for writing poetry, short stories, and plays all the way through school. She studied Theatre in the prestigious school CuatroTablas based in Lima, and moved to Oklahoma in 2002. In 2013, she published her first book, Tristan Wolf, which won a Finalist spot in the 2013 Readers’ Favorite Book Award. Since then, she has published several books in English and Spanish.
Using Skype and Google Hangouts, she has visited more than 150 schools in the United States and around the world. These visits allow Mariana to spread her love for reading and writing, as well as to promote understanding and cultural awareness. In 2014 she won the Most Outstanding Latino Artist in Literature given by the Hispanic Arts Council of Oklahoma.
She’s a founding member of #LatinxPitch, an online initiative to books representation of Latino creators in the publishing industry. Mariana’s most recent works include Luca’s Bridge (Penny Candy Books 2019), Eunice and Kate (Penny Candy Books 2020) and the upcoming Run Little Chaski (Barefoot Books 2021).
Learn more about Mariana on her website here.
Her Twitter handle is @marianallanos.
JUNE 22nd – Cassandra Federman
Cassandra was born and raised in Massachusetts, where she spent her childhood reading comic books, playing action figures, drawing superheroes, and participating in all things nerdy (before that became cool).
She graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University and moved to Los Angeles, where she worked in film and television. Over the course of her life, Cassandra has been many things — a hand model, a wrestler, a manatee rescuer, an actor, and a mystic wood elf — but her favorite so far has been a children’s book author/illustrator.
She made her author/illustrator debut in 2019 with This Is a Sea Cow (Albert Whitman). The sequel, This Is a Seahorse, came out in 2020 and received multiple starred reviews.
Learn more about Cassandra on her website here.
Her Twitter handle is @CassFederman.
JULY 27th – Topic Chat
Topic Chat: Let’s Talk Business! What happens after you sign? Practical questions you want answers to life of being an actual working writer or illustrator.
AUGUST 24th – TBD – SCBWI OK Fall Event Speaker
SEPTEMBER 28th – Ginny Myers Sain
Ginny Myers Sain comes from a long line of writers, but her first love has always been the theatre. When she was a kid, she spent a lot of time creating characters and plots for her little brother and sister to act out. As a reader, she’s drawn to the creepy, the strange, and the spooky. As a writer, she enjoys creating dark and mysterious stories that exist in the in-between spaces where magic feels most possible. Her debut YA novel, DARK AND SHALLOW LIES, which is scheduled to release this fall, has all of these elements.
Ginny currently lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her teenage son and a very cowardly Doberman named Shipley. When not working in the theatre or writing, you’re likely to find her listening to true crime podcasts, eating tacos, or planning a trip to Walt Disney World.
Learn more about Ginny on her website here.
Her Twitter handle is @stageandpage.
OCTOBER 26th – TBD – SCBWI OK Fall Event Speaker
