The Exquisite Corpse Adventure: 2009 National Book Festival

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TITLE: "The Exquisite Corpse" Presentation: 2009 National Book Festival

SPEAKER: Kate DiCamillo, Nikki Grimes, Shannon Hale, Steven Kellogg, Megan McDonald, John Scieszka
EVENT DATE: 09/26/2009
RUNNING TIME: 52 minutes

DESCRIPTION:

Authors of this story talk about their own books as well as writing "The Exquisite Corpse."

Speaker Biography: Kate DiCamillo lived in the South for much of her childhood and received her bachelor's degree from the University of Florida in Gainesville. Her debut children's book, "Because of Winn Dixie" (2000), was a Newbery Honor Book and her second book, "The Tiger Rising" (2001), was a National Book Award finalist. DiCamillo's "The Tale of Despereaux" (Candlewick, 2003), is the winner of the 2004 Newbery Award. Her newest book is "The Magician's Elephant." DiCamillo lives in Minneapolis.

Speaker Biography: New York Times best-selling author Nikki Grimes is the recipient of the 2006 National Council of Teachers of English Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Her distinguished works include the American Library Association Notable Book "What Is Goodbye?" and the novels "Jazmin's Notebook," "Dark Sons" and "The Road to Paris," which is a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book. Grimes is also the creator of the popular "Meet Danitra Brown." Her recent books are "Rich: A Dyamonde Daniel Book," "Voices of Christmas" and "Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel," all published in 2009. She lives in California.

Speaker Biography: New York Times best-selling author Shannon Hale started writing books at age 10 and never stopped, eventually earning an MFA in creative writing. After 19 years of writing and dozens of rejections, she published "The Goose Girl" (2003), the first book in her award-winning series, followed by "Enna Burning" (2004) and "River Secrets" (2006). She also has two standalone books for young readers: "Book of a Thousand Days" (2007), a CYBILS award winner, and "Princess Academy" (2005), a Newbery Honor Book. With "Austenland" (2007)and "The Actor and the Housewife" (2009)she crossed over into books for adults. Her other 2009 book is "Forest Born," for young adults. Hale lives in Utah.

Speaker Biography: Steven Kellogg has loved picture books ever since he was a child; the illustrations of Beatrix Potter and N.C. Wyeth were his early favorites. He grew up in Connecticut, drawing constantly and telling stories to his younger sisters. He has written or illustrated, or both, nearly 90 books for children and young people. The most recent book he has illustrated is "The Pied Piper's Magic" (2009).

Speaker Biography: Megan McDonald is the author of the critically acclaimed Judy Moody series that has won numerous awards, including Publishers Weekly's Best Book of the Year and the International Reading Association Children's Choice Award. Pretending to be a pencil sharpener was her first experience as a writer, and she wrote the story for her school newspaper when she was 10. Her newest books are "The Rule of Three" (2009), which is a Sisters Club story about the Acton family's three sisters, and "Judy Moody & Stink: The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt." McDonald lives in California.

Speaker Biography: Jon Scieszka is the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature , a program sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and the Children's Book Council. He is the author of some of the best known and funniest books written for children, including "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs," the "Time Warp Trio" chapter book series, the Caldecott Honor Book "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Fairy Tales" and the "Trucktown" series. Among several books that Scieszka will soon publish is "Robot Zot!" (2009), illustrated by David Shannon. Scieszka is the founder of Guys Read, a nonprofit literacy organization. He lives in New York.

SERIES: National Book Festival 2009