Springmingle '08

SPRINGMINGLE '08
16th Annual Spring Conference
"The Inside Story"
February 22-24, 2008
Atlanta, Georgia

FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES

(Click HERE for a Printable version)

Diane Capriola is Co-Owner and Book Buyer of Little Shop of Stories, a specialty children's bookstore on the square in Decatur, Georgia. Since opening in Summer 2005, Little Shop of Stories has received much acclaim from the publishing industry, including a 2006 nomination for the Pannell Award as well as a nomination for Publisher's Weekly Bookstore of the Year. Diane presently sits on the New Voices committee with the Association of Booksellers for Children.

Martha Rago is Associate Creative Director at HarperCollins (NY) in the Children's Books division. Her primary domain is hardcover picture books, but she also works on formats from novels to board books.
The most important thing for any artists showing their work is showing their best technique. "I like to see humor and strong characterizations, whether in human or animal characters. We publish a lot of character driven stories and are always looking for someone who can create a personality that will be universally embraced, and has the potential for a stream of related stories, or has a style that adapts well. Ideally the art fills in where the words leave off, and vice versa, so it's essential for the art to have its own clear voice and to function as a visual narrative. (For example, FANCY NANCY has practically developed into a brand for us on the strength of a spunky individual character, perfectly captured by Robin Preiss Glasser.)"
There is also a need for artists who work in nonfiction, who are adept at research for accurate details and references but do so without coming across as dry and institutional in their style.

Robin Tordini is an associate editor at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers (NY). She works closely with two senior editors on projects ranging from picture books to YA novels and everything in between. If she were forced to name her three favorite books at this very moment, she would have to choose BENNY AND THE BINKY (a picture book), MOKIE AND BIK (a chapter book), and DREAMS FROM MY FATHER (a grown-up book)-but if you were to ask her tomorrow, her answers would probably be different.
She enjoys picture books the most. "I'm generally drawn toward humorous stories, though I'm also interested in picture book biographies, especially about artists. I also have an interest in graphic novels and pretty much anything with illustration potential."
Henry Holt publishes all genres from toddler-YA, both fiction and nonfiction (plus graphic novels).

Jennifer Wingertzahn has worked in the children's divisions of HarperCollins and Random House and is now an editor at Clarion Books, where she publishes picture books, novels, and poetry collections for readers ages 0 to 18.
She especially likes picture books that leave room for the illustrations to tell part of the story, novels that are literary and character-driven, and any books with some kind of humor in them. Her list is mostly made up of fiction, but she also looks for nonfiction that takes a socio-historical approach to a topic and that uses storytelling techniques to engage readers.

Deborah Wiles is an award winning author. Her publications include two picture books, ONE WIDE SKY and FREEDOM SUMMER, and three middle-grade novels: LOVE, RUBY LAVENDER, EACH LITTLE BIRD THAT SINGS (a 2005 National Book Award Finalist), and THE AURORA COUNTY ALL-STARS. Her work has received the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, the PEN/Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Working Writer Fellowship, the E.B. White Read-Aloud Award, and a Golden Kite Honor from SCBWI. She teaches in the MFA in Writing for Children Program at Vermont College and lives in Atlanta.