these things, this week

Thanks to the 2015 Beltran Family Teaching Award for Innovative Teaching & Mentoring at the Kelly Writers House (University of Pennsylvania), I'll be given an opportunity to create an event for faculty and students in the 2015/2016 academic year. I'm so grateful to my university, the KWH, and my dear students, who nominated me for the award.

Whatever Doesn't Kill You, the Shebooks anthology featuring Nest. Flight. Sky. along with five additional pieces by exquisite writers (and edited by Laura Fraser), won a Silver IPPY Award. We're so happy for Laura, especially, who has put so much of her soul into Shebooks.

The 2015 Annual Convention of the National Council of Teachers of English accepted a proposal on teaching creativity and responsibility through the arts that will bring together the amazing illustrator Melissa Sweet, two fantastic teachers (Glenda Cowen-Funk and Paul Hankins), and me. I can't wait for this. And: it will be my first time ever to Minneapolis.

I found One Thing Stolen in bookstores, when I wasn't even looking for it. Huge thanks to Forever Young Adult, for this generous review of the book.

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Meet me in Boston, at NCTE/ALAN

I am blessed that Tamra Tuller and Chronicle Books have generously invited me to NCTE/ALAN this year on behalf of GOING OVER. This is a team that believes in me and in this book, and for their brand of fervent faith I will always be grateful.

I'll be in Boston from November 22 (Friday evening) through Tuesday, November 25, and my schedule is here. I hope we find each other.

Saturday, November 23
11:30-12:30
NCTE Conference/GOING OVER Signing/Chronicle Books/Booth #1007

Saturday, November 23
1:00-2:00 PM
NCTE Conference/HANDLING THE TRUTH Signing/Penguin/Booth #933

Sunday, November 24
9:00-10:00
NCTE Conference/GOING OVER Signing/Anderson's Bookstore/Booth #1631

Sunday, November 24
5:00-7:00 PM
ALAN Reception

Tuesday, November 25
2:10-2:50 PM
ALAN Conference
Celebrating International Voices ALAN Panel:
Tara Sullivan, Sharon McKay, Eliot Schrefer, Ann Burg, Beth Kephart
Moderated by Karin Perry, ALAN Membership Secretary

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A YA Special Collection, second, perhaps, to none

Not long ago, I received a request from Joan Kaywell, who (in addition to being a professor of English Education at the University of South Florida, an award-winning author, the ALAN Membership Secretary, and the 2010-11 Senior Executive Director of FCTE) founded the Ted Hipple Special Collection of Autographed Young Adult Literature, a collection of what is now nearly 2,000 YA autographed books housed at Joan's university.  " Ideally," Joan wrote, "we’re collecting the manuscript, the ARC, the first edition, and subsequent paperbacks—ALL AUTOGRAPHED—of each author’s works so interested individuals can see the life of a book."  
 
The special collection, says Joan, was officially dedicated on May 23, 2007, and honors a man who was the founding member of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN), an organization that is now the largest assembly affiliated with the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) with both a national and international reputation. I, in turn, am honored to now have some of my books (both in galley form and in published form) winging their way to the collection. 

I urge you to find out more about Ted Hipple, Joan Kaywell, and this remarkable collection—which includes handwritten manuscripts, galley mark ups, and rare first printings—by visiting this web site. 

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