Simon Rose's Blog, page 221

The Calgary Children's Book Fair and Conference, November 27, 2010

[image error] The Calgary Children's Book Fair and Conference featuring local children's authors and illustrators in Calgary and the surrounding area, will be held on Saturday November 27, 2010 from 10 am to 4 pm at the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Centre in north west Calgary.



The Calgary Children's Book Fair and Conference represents a fabulous opportunity for children to meet local writers, chat with them about their work and obtain an autographed and personally inscribed copy of a favourite book. All participating authors will also be reading from their own work, followed by a short question and answer period, throughout the day. If you are interested in becoming an exhibitor at this year's event, you may find registration information here.
The Calgary Children's Book Fair and Conference will also feature the very first Children's Fiction Writing Award. Children in two age categories, eight to twelve and twelve to fifteen, will unleash their own incredible imaginations to create a truly unique story, in the genres of science fiction, fantasy or mystery. The winning entries, to be announced at the Book Fair and Conference on November 27, will then be published in an anthology. Learn more about how to register for the Children's Fiction Writing Award here.
This year's conference will feature a number of highly informative presentations by authors, illustrators, publishers and industry professionals throughout the day. Some of the topics to be covered at this year's event will be character development, science fiction and fantasy writing, the art of illustration, marketing and promotion, methods of research, publishing your novel and more. 
The Calgary Children's Book Fair and Conference - Inspiration, imagination and invention, right here in your own backyard.

Tips for Teachers: Author Visits Part Eight - School Tours

[image error] In addition to school visits in their local city or geographic area, authors often travel and usually try to arrange tours of schools in other parts of the country. This can involve a working week in an area, with either full days at five different schools, ten half-day visits or a combination of this. Such tours can be a challenge for an author to organize, considering the bookings themselves and all the arrangements which will vary from school to school, plus travel, accommodation, meals and so on. However, in the best case scenario, one teacher may make all the arrangements for the author, contacting his or her colleagues at other nearby schools, setting up an itinerary, arranging for transportation between venues and even organizing accommodation in someone's home. 


The author's books may have proved very popular in your school, you may have completed novel studies using one or more of their titles or you may simply have loved the author's work and want to make your students more aware of their books. Most authors have websites and blogs these days so are usually relatively easy to contact, but they live in a different part of the country, you will be incurring additional costs on top of the author's fee for a school or library visit. However, although each school will be responsible for covering their own fee, other expenditures can be minimized if the costs of the accommodation and travel, for example, are shared equally between all the schools involved in the tour. It can certainly be a lot of work if you're the one organizing everything in the local area, perhaps on behalf of up to ten schools, but an author tour can be very worthwhile, raising the profile as an author with children and parents. Plus, very often the local media will take an interest and send photographers and reporters to cover one or more of the author's appearance, giving valuable publicity to your school and its programs.

Autographed Books - Ideal for Christmas Gifts - Discounts Always Available

[image error] Ideal for Christmas. In addition to bookstores across Canada and around the world, you can also obtain signed copies of my books directly from me. I am always happy to sign books for my readers and to inscribe a special message. 


Full details of all my novels - The Doomsday Mask, The Heretic's Tomb, The Emerald Curse, The Clone Conspiracy, The Sorcerer's Letterbox and The Alchemist's Portrait - can be found here on my website.

Individual books are just $10 and discounts are available for those purchasing a full set of all six books. Complete the order form at www.simon-rose.com or contact me directly by e mail at sorcerersletterbox@gmail.com.

Interview about the Children's Book Fair and Conference on CKUA Radio

Check out the interview that aired today on Arts Alive on CKUA radio in Calgary about the Children's Book Fair and Conference 

http://www.ckua.com/common/medialib/376/321531.mp3


The Book Fair and Conference takes place this Saturday, November 27, from 10 am to 4 pm at the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Centre in NW Calgary. Visit www.calgarybookfair.com for full details of the exhibitors, conference sessions, author readings and more.

The Origin of Symbols - The Latest Article at Dark Roasted Blend

Check out the latest article at Dark Roasted Blend entitled The Origin of Symbols. We see various symbols and signs every day, and maybe think 'I know what that means, but I wonder where it came from'? This article takes a look at some of mankind's more familiar symbols' origin and meaning, plus some interesting art and photography associated with them.The Origin of Symbols is now published at Dark Roasted Blend, among the finest locations online to find the weird, the wonderful and the fantastic, crammed with great articles, stunning photography, plus fabulous new content which appears daily.

Christmas Parties - Storybook Parties Have the Write Stuff

[image error] For your company's children's Christmas party this year, have kids create a truly unique story, complete with their original illustrations and have it printed in their very own special book. 

Employing inspiration, imagination and invention, children invent a one of a kind action packed story during a fast paced session where laughter is compulsory. Children will also learn about the writing process, where ideas come from and how authors turn them into stories.

Personally inscribed and autographed books are also available for prize draws and all party guests will also have the opportunity to purchase autographed copies of all my titles. 

In addition to large or small company Christmas parties this holiday season, I am available for individual children's birthday parties,  plus many other varieties of seasonal events with larger audiences. I am also happy to customize the event to meet your requirements. For fees and availability for children's parties and company events, please contact me directly at sorcerersletterbox@gmail.com

Tips for Teachers: Author Visits Part Seven - Study Guides and Classroom Resources

Some authors offer study guides for teachers to download from their website or to purchase, for use either before a visit or just as an ongoing teaching resource. These guides often have exercises connected to certain chapters or episodes in the novel, worksheets about specific characters or may describe potential projects related to the subject matter of the author's books. Two of my novels, The Sorcerers' Letterbox and The Heretic's Tomb, are set in the Middle Ages, so teachers can plan projects about medieval life and society, castles, warfare, research the Black Death and other historical events. The plot of The Alchemist's Portrait involves an art gallery in a museum and students can be asked to draw inspiration for some creative writing exercises by examining classic paintings and portraits. Children can create superheroes and comic books using The Emerald Curse as a resource or even invent their own unique board game. I have word search puzzles for children to download at any time, although I also encourage teachers to make use of these before an author visit, to familiarize the children with my work. Teachers can also access The Super Scavenger Search, where the answers to a series of mind boggling questions are hidden in different pages all over my website. Resources like these enable students to learn about the author and thus have lots of great questions on the day of the visit. 

The Calgary Children's Book Fair and Conference, November 27, 2010

[image error] The Calgary Children's Book Fair and Conference featuring local children's authors and illustrators in Calgary and the surrounding area, will be held on Saturday November 27, 2010 from 10 am to 4 pm at the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Centre in north west Calgary.


The Calgary Children's Book Fair and Conference represents a fabulous opportunity for children to meet local writers, chat with them about their work and obtain an autographed and personally inscribed copy of a favourite book. All participating authors will also be reading from their own work, followed by a short question and answer period, throughout the day. If you are interested in becoming an exhibitor at this year's event, you may find registration information here.
The Calgary Children's Book Fair and Conference will also feature the very first Children's Fiction Writing Award. Children in two age categories, eight to twelve and twelve to fifteen, will unleash their own incredible imaginations to create a truly unique story, in the genres of science fiction, fantasy or mystery. The winning entries, to be announced at the Book Fair and Conference on November 27, will then be published in an anthology. Learn more about how to register for the Children's Fiction Writing Award here.
This year's conference will feature a number of highly informative presentations by authors, illustrators, publishers and industry professionals throughout the day. Some of the topics to be covered at this year's event will be character development, science fiction and fantasy writing, the art of illustration, marketing and promotion, methods of research, publishing your novel and more. 
The Calgary Children's Book Fair and Conference - Inspiration, imagination and invention, right here in your own backyard.

Autographed Books - Ideal for Christmas Gifts - Discounts Always Available

[image error] Ideal for Christmas. In addition to bookstores across Canada and around the world, you can also obtain signed copies of my books directly from me. I am always happy to sign books for my readers and to inscribe a special message. 

Full details of all my novels - The Doomsday Mask, The Heretic's Tomb, The Emerald Curse, The Clone Conspiracy, The Sorcerer's Letterbox and The Alchemist's Portrait - can be found here on my website.

Individual books are just $10 and discounts are available for those purchasing a full set of all six books. Complete the order form at www.simon-rose.com or contact me directly by e mail at sorcerersletterbox@gmail.com.

Tips for Teachers: Author Visits Part Six - Author in Residence

Most author visit to schools take place in a single day, but for an Author in Residence program, an author can be at a school for a week or longer. This allows the students to cover certain topics in much more depth than would be possible during a regular author visit. The author can work with the students on a specific project. A week in residence can be designed however you would like, to best meet the needs of the students. You can see what such a week could look like here on my website. However, this is just an example, and I am always happy to discuss a residency with the school to determine how the time there will work best. I offer a variety of presentations and you can see these on my website here. However, certain sessions remain popular, such as those relating to the superhero genre, the subject matter of The Emerald Curse, or the ones about time travel, since three books feature this theme. You can learn about the subject matter of my books here.I also offer a variety of workshops on writing topics such as character development and dialogue, creating stories for younger students in K to 2, and on popular subjects such as the fantasy realm and science fiction, but am very flexible and always happy to discuss matters with the teachers to ensure a good fit with the students. I have also worked on dramatic productions with children, both in schools and at summer camps, plus conduct programs very similar to a residency in my work with home school students. Any author who is advertising their services as an author in residence will similarly have a wealth of material to draw on for workshops designed to take place over the course of a week or longer at your school.