Children's book event to feature local authors

Advertiser Staff

The Hawai'i chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators has invited three Hawai'i authors to speak at its fall conference.

The daylong conference, set for Sept. 22 at the Pacific Beach Hotel, will be from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and will feature:

• Martha Alexander, author and/or illustrator of more than 60 books for children, including the internationally published "Blackboard Bear" series.

• Lisa Matsumoto, the Cades Award-winning Hawai'i author of "Wailana The Waterbug," "How The B-52 Cockroach Learned To Fly" and other children's books and plays.

• James Rumford, the nationally published author-illustrator from Manoa whose "Island-Below-the-Star," selected by the New York Times book critic in 1998, is among the top 10 picture books of that year. More recent is his book, "Seeker of Knowledge," a children's book about Jean-Francois Champollion, the French boy who vowed in 1802 to be the first to decipher Egypt's mysterious hieroglyphs.

• Michele Coppola, editor at Clarion Books (a Houghton Mifflin imprint).

The conference fee, which includes lunch, is $75 ($65 for members) for people registered before Sept. 8. A $10 fee for late registration will be charged. Vegetarian meals are available on advance request. Register: SCBWI-Hawaii, 4224 Waialae Ave., No. 493, Honolulu, HI 96816, call 554-4744 or email zimmermaw001@hawaii.rr.com