Please join us for a fun and delicious dinner at the China Club with authors (and fellow scbwi members) Aleesah Darlison www.aleesahdarlison.com and Adrian Tilley www.adrian-tilley.com who are here to participate in the HK International Literary Festival. 



Aleesah is both a picture book and a chapter book author, whilst Adrian is celebrating the launch of his second YA novel at the lit fest.



Please contact Mio Debnam scbwihk@gmail.com to book a place

We've got lots of exciting events coming up in SCBWI HK!



March has traditionally been the best for HK based writers, and this March is no exception. We start off with a bang on the 6th when Holly Thompson, author, creative writing teacher and RA for Tokyo, will join us for a Writers' Day. She'll be giving advice on the thorny problem of how to revise your novel draft, then running a hands-on workshop on writing about inter-cultural situations and characters, surely a great duo of events for English language novel writers living in Asia! (see our calendar entry for more details)



This is followed, on the 15th, with a members-only dinner with the Hong Kong Man Intl Literary Festival guests, picture book author and illustrator Emily Gravett and the King of Horror, Darren Shan!



As if that wasn't enough... some lucky HK based writers (including yours truly) will be flying to Bologna, Italy to fly the flag for Hong Kong at the SCBWI Bologna Symposium and the Book Fair. Good books, great people, lots of inspiration and fun... not to mention lots of delicious food and wine... Are you tempted to join us? If so register now at www.scbwibologna.org - I look forward to seeing you there.



We're hoping to have a dinner talk with local publishers in May (hopefully we'll have recovered from March by then), before our fantastic illustrator day on June 5th with Laurent Linn - Art Director for S&S Books for Young Readers. (see our calendar for more details)



He'll be holding a masterclass for ten lucky illustrators in the morning, before opening up the audience to talk about the role of the Art Director in a publishing company and hold a hands-on workshop to discuss visual storytelling and flow. Everyone is invited to bring a pencil and try a bit of sketching. I must say, I'm tempted, although my characters are never very well proportioned... oh all right, I admit they are stick people - I guess I'll be the one sitting at the back of the room, where no one can look over my shoulder!

SCBWI will be hosting a members only dinner with popular Canadian YA author, Deborah Ellis, on February 3rd.



Deborah, will also meet and talk with students about her life and work - writing inspiring books such as 'Looking for X', 'The Breadwinner' , 'Company of Fools', as well as more recent books such as 'Bifocal' and 'Lunch with Lenin'.



As well as being an award winning writer, Deborah is a philanthropist, donating much of her royalties to causes that help women and children in war torn countries. Her work covers challenging subjects such as war, AIDS and injustice - but are always inspiring and moving. We're looking forward to meeting her!

 Chris Cheng, award winning author* and co-RA of SCBWI Australia (amongst other things), is visiting Hong Kong again this week. He and his lovely wife are here on holiday, but we've been lucky enough to snag him for a members only dinner this coming Friday...



As we are also hosts to Alvina Ling this week - for a series of talks, critiques and two dinners too, it's an exciting week for writers based in Hong Kong!



* Chris, who has won several awards for his books, was also recently named as this year's recipient of the Lady Cutler Award, which is given by the Children's Book Council of Australia (NSW branch). for Distinguished Service to Children's Literature. Well done Chris!

As our diary has become very busy of late, I'm happy to announce that Jan Mann, long time member of SCBWI has offered to help coordinate our events.



We might be a small region, but we've got lots going on, from workshops, to author visits to social events where you can mix with other lovers of literature and share views and news!



If you have any requests or ideas about other events, please contact Jan or myself at '

scbwihk@gmail.com

We are happy to announce that Liz Steinglass will henceforth be the critique coordinator for SCBWI HK.



Our region is proud of having a thriving community of committed critiquers, who meet on a monthly basis, to help each other improve writing craft, and to offer support, camaraderie and constructive suggestions.



We have seen several of the manuscripts we have critiqued over the years go on to be published both locally and overseas, and I for one, am sure we will have many more in the future!

It was unfortunate that our autumn social had to fall on the wettest day in weeks! Luckily, SCBWI HK members are determined people, and despite the torrential rain we had a nice gathering of members, new and old (albeit slightly damp) gather for our social. 



After dinner, librarian and storyteller Janet Mann made us put our thinking caps on with a mini workshop titled 'Unlock the Block' - which forced us to create stories off the cuff... often with hilarious results. Just the right thing to get our creative juices running, after what would have been for most, a relaxing and lazy summer holiday!

On June 18^th, our last monthly critique group meeting before summer break had a special guest – Roseanne Thong – who has been much missed by us since she relocated back to the US. Previous to her move, Roseanne was a regular and much valued member of our critique group, (and of SCBWI HK in general), for her perceptive critiquing and her talent – it was nice to have you back, Roseanne!

Roseanne is the award winning author of eleven picture books – including ‘Red is a Dragon’ (illustrated by Grace Lin), ‘The Wishing Tree’ (illustrated by Connie McLennan, and ‘Wish’ (illustrated by Elisa Kleven). Her latest book, ‘Fly Free’, is due out soon.

On April 22^nd, Barbara McClintock, award winning author and illustrator known for her beautiful, detailed illustrations and books (Dahlia, and the Adele & Simon series, amongst others) joined us to give a talk titled, ‘From Concept to Finished Book’.



Barbara took us on an interesting journey through her creative process all the way to the nitty gritty of contract negotiations. Afterwards, we took Barbara to a members-only dinner - an enjoyable end to the evening.

Several members of SCBWI helped organise, and/or participated in Hong Kong's second annual 'Books to Eat' competition. The aim of the game was to create a piece of entirely edible art, which either resembles or is inspired by a book.



The competition was open to all ages, individuals, groups and corporations - and the standards in wit and confection were high. Next year if possible, I'd love SCBWI HK to submit a group entry, so if you have any culinary skills or clever ideas, please contact me (Mio Debnam) asap!



The best part? All the money raised went to a charity that feeds those too poor to feed themselves, and also, after the judging, the entries (mainly cakes) are cut up and served as a sumptuous high tea... Books and cakes too... what more could one ask for?