Four full-time students can apply to attend the SCBWI New York or Los Angeles conferences tuition-free. Each winner also receives a year’s free membership, entry into the Juried Portfolio Showcase, a portfolio consultation (LA only), and admission to the Illustration Master Class (LA) or Illustrator Intensive (NY). For more information, visit SCBWI’s Student Illustrator Scholarship (SIS) page.

Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians), Norton Juster (The Phantom Tollbooth), Laurie Halse Anderson (Forge), David Wiesner (Art & Max), illustrator Jerry Pinkney—do I really have to give more reasons to attend the Dallas Museum of Art’s FREE BooksmART Festival? Because if I did, I’ve got more authors, illustrators, and performers to name:

Gene Luen Yang
Cynthia Leitich Smith
Duncan Tonatiuh
Antonio Sacre
Joe McDermott
Jan Bozarth and Faeren
Ann Marie Newman

Don’t miss this exciting children’s literature event!

Saturday, June 11 (11:00AM – 5:00PM)

For more information, please visit the DMA website.

The wedding of the royals won’t be the only highly-anticipated marriage of the decade. Social networking fuels and endorses the courtship of the technology and publishing industries. For those comfortable with the traditional framework, the union of tech and type is an unholy one. Publishing professionals seem to either embrace the opportunities the partnership brings, or they rebuff efforts to alter creative control. Readers either venture into e-books, or they stroke the covers of leather-bound tomes and promise never to betray their hardbacks for digital hussies.  

The rate of downloads from distributors such as Amazon (the company reports it sells more digital than paperback books) demonstrates readers seem to have given their blessing to “something new.” This does not mean they have abandoned all paper books. Some may choose to purchase certain types of books in print rather than digital formats. Board books, picture books, photography works, novelty items, and other books that are heavily illustrated or require special assembly all fit well as print purchases. A reader will buy books in the formats best suited for her tastes the same way a moviegoer decides which movies she’ll watch in the theater now, which films she’ll view online later, and which ones she’ll see buy on DVD.

To be fair, the idea of losing any paper books probably does not sit well with most of the literate community. For so long, bound paper has symbolized “something old:” story. We may worry that by varying the format of books, we will somehow lose stories. The truth is that technology and publishing will create new distribution methods to dispense stories. Paper is only another distribution method as is oral tradition; the gift is story.

Everywhere people are branching out from paper and inventing ways to communicate story. YouTube and indie e-book publishing are just samples of distribution methods. More are on the way. Broadcastr, currently in beta release, allows anyone to upload audio stories about anything and attach them to geographical locations. That means you can visit a new city or your childhood home and listen to fiction stories or nonfiction commentary as you travel. It’s like having a free, experienced tour guide as a companion. Nifty, yes?

Week after week, writer and reader blogs buzz about the merger of tech and type. The magnetism is palatable and enviable. Here’s to the new couple!