http://jameskennedy.com Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:07:16 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en So the 2012 Newberys have been awarded! I'm looking forward to reading Jack Gantos' Dead End in Norvelt and all the Honor books too. Congratulations, all! (UPDATE: You really have to hear Jack Gantos talk on NPR about how he ended up serving 18 months in the federal pen for ... http://jameskennedy.com/2012/01/25/laini-taylor-co-hosts-portland-90-second-newbery-film-festival-with-me-march-3/ Happy new year! As mentioned in my last post, this week I'm squirreled away at my wife's family's cottage in Michigan, feverishly pounding away on an overhaul of my book. It's amazing how productive you can be with a full night's sleep and no babies to tend to! But I ... http://jameskennedy.com/2012/01/09/happy-new-year/ I hope everyone is having a splendid winter wonder-jumble. Heather, Lucy, Ingrid and I just got back from a restful week or so visiting my family in my hometown of Troy, Michigan (a city which Lucy has been strangely obsessed about). Now: back to work! I am radically revising my next ... http://jameskennedy.com/2011/12/29/90-second-newbery-animals-edition/ Check out this charming Order of Odd-Fish Christmas card I received from Emily Bricker, also known as Pirka (here's her DeviantArt profile and Twitter). It's fantastic! I've featured Pirka's marvelous art on the blog a couple times before (here's the first collage I received from her, and here's a horn-o'-plenty of ... http://jameskennedy.com/2011/12/21/merry-christmas-odd-fish-style/ We've seen Shelly Tan's great fan art for The Order of Odd-Fish before (check it out here) and even her fan art for my work-in-progress The Magnificent Moots (she was one of my writing students and I read the first two chapters aloud to the class; you can see her ... http://jameskennedy.com/2011/12/12/shelly-tans-chatterbox-and-the-ned-talks/ CHICAGOANS. Last-minute notice: I've been invited to give a quick 15-minute version of the 90-Second Newbery madness this Wednesday night at The Education Show, "Chicago's premiere edutainment variety show." Special musical guests Casimer + Casimir. At the Pub Theater @ The Fizz, 3220 N Lincoln Ave. $5 admission. Bring some ... http://jameskennedy.com/2011/11/30/gone-fishin-and-a-bridge-to-terabithia/ So we had our 90-Second Newbery Film Festival screenings in New York City (recap here) and Chicago (recap here). But surely, you exclaim, there's no way we could've shown EVERYTHING we wanted to at the festivals. You're right. We couldn't. Because some of the material we received was totally inappropriate ... http://jameskennedy.com/2011/11/27/too-hot-for-the-90-second-newbery/ Good news! We are bringing the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival to Portland, Oregon on March 3, 2012! The screening will be at the Central Library (801 S.W. 10th Ave.) from 3-5 pm. Thanks to the Multnomah County Library System! I'll be bringing the "best of the best" from the screenings we've ... http://jameskennedy.com/2011/11/23/90-second-newbery-portland-screening-march-3-2012/ Check out the Time Out Chicago's write-up of the 90-Second Newbery screening! "A brilliant idea . . . never dull . . . no quaint celebration of kid lit: It was a snotty jab at the whole idea of thinking of kid lit as a cute little innocuous genre, which, ... http://jameskennedy.com/2011/11/19/90-second-newbery-chicago-style-a-recap/ Our 90-Second Newbery Film Festival is screening in Chicago this Wednesday, November 16! It will be at the Harold Washington Library from 6-8 pm. A word to the wise: if you're coming, come early! This is definitely going to fill up, just as it did in New York. Wondering what ... http://jameskennedy.com/2011/11/14/90-second-newbery-chicago-this-wednesday/