This week, Mo Willems plays ball; Penguin Random House and We Need Diverse Books honor teen writers; Allison Crotzer Kimmel sets off on a book tour/family vacation; and DC mentors future comics creators.
MVP
August 10 was Mo Willems Night at MCU Park in Brooklyn, home of the minor league Brooklyn Cyclones, and the author-illustrator was on hand to throw out the first pitch, sign Pigeon hats and bobbleheads, and mingle with the fans. The 10th book in the popular Pigeon series, The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! (Disney-Hyperion), was released this summer. Here Willems is joined on the field by another one of his characters, Piggie, with Coney Island’s iconic Parachute Jump in the background.
The Write Stuff
Penguin Random House and We Need Diverse Books hosted a daylong celebration and award ceremony on August 8 in New York City for the five student winners of the 2019 Creative Writing Awards. More than 600 high school seniors entered the competition this year, which was open to graduating seniors from public high schools across the country for the first time, expanding the award’s original New York City scope. Students from more than 30 states and 250 high schools applied, representing all regions of the country. The five winners, who will each be awarded $10,000 for their college scholarships, also attended a roundtable discussion on publishing careers, as well as a Networking 101 workshop. (From l.): Winners Kiora Brooks (Maya Angelou Award for Spoken Word) of Topeka West High School in Kansas; Siobhan Cohen (Personal Essay) of Hunter College High School in Manhattan; Nora Carrier (New York City Entrant Award) of Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn; Katherine Sanchez (Poetry) of Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan; and Samantha Kirschman (for Fiction and Drama) of Kenston High School in Chagrin Falls, Oh.
Canine Courage
This summer, author Allison Crotzer Kimmel transformed her book tour for The Eternal Soldier: The True Story of How a Dog Became a Civil War Hero, illustrated by Rotem Teplow (Little Bee), into an unforgettable family vacation. The bicoastal tour included events at the Gettysburg Museum Bookstore in Pa., Hatcher’s Run in Petersburg, Va. (where dog Sallie is buried), the USS Midway Museum in San Diego, Calif., various Barnes & Noble locations, local bookstores, and more. Here Kimmel gives a reading of The Eternal Soldier at South Street Botanical Designs in Ridgeway, Pa.
Girl Power
On August 2, DC partnered with WriteGirl, a creative writing mentorship organization, at its Burbank, Calif., headquarters for the first time for a writing workshop. The event brought 40 YA storytellers—including Mariko Tamaki, Cecil Castellucci, Sarah Kuhn, and many more—into the publisher’s halls to learn about the World’s Greatest Super Heroes, the art of graphic storytelling, and to inspire L.A.-based girls, ages 13–18, to create their own comics.
