Oceanside Beach View

The Instructors are:

DAVID GREENBERG author of illustrated, humorous picture books from Bantam, Little Brown, Farrar Straus Giroux, and Dutton (which is also publishing his first novel).:

SLUGS
BUGS!
SKUNKS!
SNAKES!
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO HUMPTY DUMPTY?
THE GREAT SCHOOL LUNCH REBELLION
YOUR DOG MIGHT BE A WEREWOLF, YOUR TOES COULD ALL EXPLODE.
THE BOOK OF BOYS FOR GIRLS - THE BOOK OF GIRLS FOR BOYS
DON'T FORGET YOUR ETIQUETTE: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO MISBEHAVIOR

CROCS!

A TUGGING STRING (Greenberg's first novel about Dr. Martin Luther King's 1965 Selma-Montgomery Voting Rights March).

Two more of his books will be published soon (OCTOPI! and ENCHANTED LIONS).

His book THE GREAT SCHOOL LUNCH REBELLION is winner of a Children's Choice Award.

Although he has written a novel, David specializes in picture books and sub-specializes in poetry. His books have been translated into French and Korean. He has taught at Portland State University, Lewis & Clark College, and The University of Idaho, among others. He speaks nationally to teachers on writing instruction and visits many schools nationwide to present assemblies and writing workshops.

If you wish to contact him personally, his e-mail address is authilus@teleport.com

You can also get some useful sense of who he is at the Author's and Illustrators Who Visit Schools website.

ERIC A KIMMEL is the author of over sixty books for children. His works include the contemporary classics ANANSI AND THE MOSS-COVERED ROCK and the Caldecott Honor Book HERSHEL AND THE HANUKKAH GOBLINS. The Association of Jewish Libraries awarded him its prestigious Sydney Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award for the body of his work.

Eric's books have won numerous state and children's choice awards. Most recently, THE THREE CABRITOS was selected as December's featured primary book for Read On Wisconsin, a program to promote reading sponsored by Jessica Doyle, Wisconsin's First Lady. THE LADY IN THE BLUE CLOAK received the Naylor Award from the Daughters of the Texas Revolution for its contribution to children's understanding of Texas history. His McCELDERRY BOOK OF GREEK MYTHS, now in its second printing, is to be published in Athens, in Greek. According to the Greek publisher, Eric's retellings make these classic stories exciting and accessible to children, something no contemporary Greek work has succeeded in doing.

It took JILL DEMBOWSKI ten writing workshop courses and four years as an art student to realize that she was a much better editor than she was a writer or a painter. Her Creative Writing and Fine Art degrees from the University of Michigan weren't totally useless though; they prepared her well for a career in children's books, where she's able to work with truly passionate authors and illustrators and remain an integral part of the creative process.

In 2006, she started as an editorial assistant at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, which publishes about 150 titles per year. Her tastes vary widely from picture books with stand-out characters to middle grade adventure novels to young adult literary fiction with dark or historical themes. Working in so many different genres and with both established, best-selling authors and debut authors with fresh perspectives ensures that there's never a dull moment in her work day.

Since joining Little, Brown, she has worked on a broad range of titles—from bestsellers like the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson, Breaking Dawn, the fourth book in Stephenie Meyer's blockbuster Twilight Saga, and Hug Time by Patrick McDonnell…to books with starred reviews such as Incantation by acclaimed author Alice Hoffman, Right Behind You by Gail Giles, and Little Red Riding Hood by five-time Caldecott Honor winner Jerry Pinkney. Some of Jill's recent acquisitions include Tumtum & Nutmeg, a book of classic middle-grade adventure stories featuring two heroic mice, and Rumblewick's Diary, a chapter book series about the world's most unlikely witch and the cat who must keep her in line. She also edits Mary Jane Begin's Willow Buds — a picture book series which imagines the characters from Kenneth Graham's The Wind in the Willows as children — and the laugh-out-loud funny Wiley & Grampa's Creature Features chapter books by Kirk Scroggs.

The picture at right captures Jill crawling toward her first favorite book. Seeing similar looks on kids' faces when they settle down for a new story is what keeps her in this business.

MARGARET J. ANDERSON grew up in Scotland and has a degree in genetics from Edinburgh University. She has written twenty nine books — both fiction and nonfiction. As a young woman, she was interested in writing, but thought she first needed to see far away and exotic places to have something interesting to write about. In her early twenties, she emigrated to Canada, and eventually settled in Oregon. As it turned out, the far away and exotic places she has written about have mostly been the area of Scotland where she grew up. Her recent book (OLLA-PISKA: TALES OF DAVID DOUGLAS), a finalist for the 2007 Oregon Book Award, is about David Douglas, the Scottish naturalist who explored Oregon in the 1820s. It covers both of her favorite places.

Margaret's first two books were EXPLORING THE INSECT WORLD and EXPLORING CITY TREES followed by ten fiction books published by Knopf, which include SEARCHING FOR SHONA, IN THE KEEP OF TIME, and THE DRUID'S GIFT. Then she turned back to nonfiction, writing several books for Enslow, including biographies for their Great Minds of Science series (Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Carl Linnaeus, and Aristotle.) She has also written two books for Oxford University Press — CHACO CANYON, and ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA. These books were written in collaboration with archaeologists who had worked on the sites. CHILDREN OF SUMMER: HENRI FABRE'S INSECTS (Farrar Straus and Giroux) is a crossover between fiction and nonfiction. It has been translated into French, Korean, and Japanese.

Margaret has found writing Nature Activity Books for Dog-Eared Publications both exciting and challenging. She is also a regular contributor to ASK magazine.

Margaret conducts nonfiction writing workshops in the schools using live insects in the classroom. The children get to meet hissing cockroaches, walking sticks, and caddisflies and other pond critters close-up to get them excited about writing. The results are often remarkable. A few years ago, she was invited to give a paper on using live insects as a tool in teaching creative writing at both the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America and at the national meeting in Salt Lake City. She doesn't plan on bringing hissing cockroaches to Oceanside.

TOM BIRDSEYE grew up in North Carolina and Kentucky, an ardent fan of anything that smacked of sports, crawdads, mud balls, forts built in the woods, secret codes, bicycles without fenders, butter pecan ice cream, and snow. He was, however, decidedly uninterested in writing 3 or any academic aspect of school, for that matter - never imagining that at the age of thirty-five he would become a published author. And yet after two unrelated college degrees, a year living in Japan, and ten years of teaching experience, that is what happened. Life, it seems, is full of who'd-a-thought-its.

Now, with 20+ years of writing under his belt, Tom lives in Corvallis, Oregon, with his wife, Debbie. Their two daughters, Kelsey and Amy, are both off to college. When not writing or in classrooms talking with children and teachers about the writing process, Tom enjoys skiing, rock and mountain climbing, ski mountaineering, backpacking, mountain biking, kayaking, running, playing the string bass, and reading.

Even after 18 books published and many awards won, at times it still amazes Tom that writing is his profession. It was such a difficult process for him when he was a kid; he can really identify with the reluctant writer in school today. Everything seemed to get in the way of his completing stories: from being left-handed, to his poor spelling skills, from punctuation woes, to especially a lack of ideas. Fortunately, the right people came along at the right time and helped him see past the hurdles, emphasizing instead the joy of the work and the satisfaction to be had in trying to uncover the important truths that can come out of fiction. Now he carries a small notebook at all times and is always on the lookout for material he can use in a story: ordinary people that would make good characters, the funny, telling, or poignant glimpses of life that are triggered by what he sees and hears, and the wonderfully wise things people will say at the most unexpected times.

True, he still labors through his stories, wrestling with the spelling beast and the punctuation monster, writing and rewriting, then rewriting some more, until he gleans his best. But the process has become one of pleasure instead of pain. He loves doing it, and loves sharing his writing process with others. The boy who couldn't imagine himself a writer, now can't imagine himself anything else.

Tom's books include...

Novels:

I'M GOING TO BE FAMOUS
TUCKER
JUST CALL ME STUPID
TARANTULA SHOES
THE EYE OF THE STONE
ATTACK OF THE MUTANT UNDERWEAR
A TOUGH NUT TO CRACK

Picture Books:

AIRMAIL TO THE MOON
WAITING FOR BABY
A SONG OF STARS
A REGULAR FLOOD OF MISHAP
SOAP! SOAP! DON'T FORGET THE SOAP!
SHE'LL BE COMING ROUND THE MOUNTAIN
LOOK OUT JACK! THE GIANT IS BACK!
OH YEAH!

Non fiction:

A KIDS GUIDE TO BUILDING FORTS
WHAT I BELIEVE: KIDS TALK ABOUT FAITH
UNDER OUR SKIN: KIDS TALK ABOUT RACE

Tom's website: www.tombirdseye.com

MOLLY O'NEILL grew up in Houston, Texas, but ran far away from home for college because she wanted to see snow! Four years at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, provided her with ample cold-weather experience, and her dual degree in Writing-Intensive English and Elementary Education set her on the path toward Children's Publishing. She interned at Cricket Books in Chicago, Lerner Publishing in Minneapolis, and after two years of (unrelated) full-time post-graduate volunteer work, she moved to New York City to formally begin her career in children's books.

Molly's first three and a half years in the industry were spent in the Marketing/Publicity Department at Clarion Books, where she worked with on a daily basis with luminaries such as David Wiesner, Katherine Paterson, Linda Sue Park, Russell Freedman, and Gary Schmidt. Although she enjoyed the experiences of a small, boutique-style imprint, Molly was eager for a taste of “Big House” experience, so when the opportunity arose, she joined HarperCollins Children's Books as School & Library Marketing Associate. After a year and a half in that role, Molly shifted into an editorial role, also at HarperCollins, thus achieving her long-time goal of moving into the editorial side of the industry. She joined the Bowen Press at its inception in 2008 as Assistant Editor, and has since acted as an integral part of every book published by the imprint.

On a daily basis, Molly's tasks range from working a fascinating variety of books — from literary titles like National Book Award winner Virginia Euwer Wolff's This Full House and The Year the Swallows Came Early, by first-time author Kathryn Fitzmaurice; to commercial successes like the Wicked Lovely tales by Melissa Marr, and the forthcoming novel debut of global fashion icon Emily the Strange; to bold, groundbreaking graphic projects like Greg Foley's Willoughby and the Lion, Chris Riddell's Ottoline Goes to School, and first-time author C.M. Butzer's Gettysburg: The Graphic Novel. A sought-after speaker on the craft of writing at conferences around the country, Molly enjoys the opportunity to travel widely as she seeks fresh new talent and diverse voices to add to the Bowen Press list.

	Photo by Bruce Beaton

At eighteen, PAMELA SMITH HILL sold a story to her hometown newspaper and has been writing professionally ever since — first as a staff writer on an old-fashioned Society page and later as a magazine freelancer, advertising copywriter, and publicist. She's written about everything from weddings, Girl Scout jamborees, and old ladies who carved statues out of gourds to Mount Rushmore, Water Piks, and basketball shoes. Pamela left the corporate world behind in the 1990s to teach and write for young adults. She's published three young adult novels, and has taught writing classes at the University of Colorado, Colorado State University, the University of Portland, and Portland State University. She directed the Professional and Creative Writing Programs at Washington State University Vancouver for ten years. In 2007, Pamela began writing full time and published her first book for adult readers, a biography of children's book author, Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her books have been honored with an Oregon Book Award; a Willa Award from Women Writing the West; an Indie Excellence Award; and as a Mark Twain Award finalist; as a Golden Spur finalist from the Western Writers of America; as a Shaara Award finalist for Best Civil War Fiction; and as a Junior Library Guild selection. Her books have also been named to several lists including VOYA's Best Sci Fi, Fantasy, and Horror; Banks Street College's Best Children's Books of the Year; and the New York Public Library's books for the Teen Age List. As a corporate copywriter, Pamela also won a Heartland Regional Emmy Award. Her books include Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer's Life; The Last Grail Keeper; A Voice From the Border; and Ghost Horses. Her short story, "Where The Lilacs Grow," appears in On Her Way: Stories and Poems About Growing Up Girl. Her Web site is www.pamelasmithhill.com; you can reach her directly at pamela.hill@q.com.

SUSAN COHEN has spent her entire 28 year career at Writers House. Most of her clients write and/or illustrate children's books, everything from nonfiction and picture books up through YA novels.

One of her clients, Susan Patron, won the Newbery Medal for THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY. Another, Laban Carrick Hill, was nominated for a National Book Award. Jennifer Armstrong, Tony Johnston and Page McBrier have been on the New York Times bestseller list. Several picture book authors have successfully written novels, including OCCBWW'S own David Greenberg, whose autobiographical novel is called A TUGGING STRING. One is a novelist turned picture book author: Roni Schotter. Other novelists include Susan Beth Pfeffer, Richard Jennings, Beatrice Gormley and Sharelle Moranville. A much-acclaimed author of non-fiction is Kathleen Krull. Veteran author/illustrators include Michael McCurdy, Jeanette Winter and Debbie Tilley. A newer one is Deb Lucke. Susan sells books both to and by Arthur Levine, and represents Alan Arkin (when he's not being a movie star) as well as more unsung clients.

Susan also sells a smaller number of adult books: mostly practical nonfiction. And she's placed some commercial women's fiction: one a just-completed trilogy and one a classy trade paperback fiction debut.

She has a B.A. in art history from Princeton and lives in New Jersey with her husband (a some-time writer) and 13 year old son.

Instructor Panel Discussion 2006