 SMA ANNUAL AWARDS DEADLINE MARCH 1 Deadline for submission of books in the annual SMA literary competition will be March 1, 2001. It's open to any author residing in the 12 Midland states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota or Wisconsin). Books published during 2000 may be entered by the publisher or by the author. There's no entry fee, but a copy of the book must be sent to each of three judges in the appropriate category: adult fiction, adult nonfiction, biography, children's fiction, children's nonfiction or poetry.
Entry forms may be downloaded from the SMA website: www.midlandauthors.com
Names and addresses of the judges will also be posted as soon as the list of judges is complete. DO NOT send books to anyone but the judges. By Richard Frisbie Although the grown-up buyers of children's books take note of changing times, the interests of the children remain much the same from year to year. So said Kathleen Tucker, editor-in-chief of Albert Whitman & Company, publishers of children's books, at the Nov. 14 meeting of the Society in the Cliff Dwellers Club. She joined a panel including Candace Fleming, author, and Eric Rohmann, illustrator, both prize winners in their respective fields.
What interests kids? Adjusting to a new sibling, learning about the world, going to
school,
losing a friend who moves away, coping with the death of the family dog and the other ordinary events of a child's life.
The publishing industry produces about 40,000 new kids' books a year, all competing forreviewers' attention and for shelf space. To get a book published "there has to be a
new spinon the old themes," Tucker said.
Fleming told of writing one book that started out with an idea for a character, a girl who
could do bird calls. As she worked on it, she realized she had to find out exactly what
sounds
birds make. That led to more and more research. In the end, reviewers praised it as an "eco-adventure."
Another Fleming book of 950 words ran to 47 drafts. This impresses kids mightily when she By Richard Frisbie American Pharaoh was a good title for a biography of Richard J. Daley because he was both a powerful autocrat and a builder, said Elizabeth Taylor, co-author of that biography, at the Oct. 10 SMA meeting in the Cliff Dwellers Club. Taylor, now book editor for the Chicago Tribune as well as editor of the Chicago Tribune Magazine, came to Chicago as bureau chief for Time magazine and " found everything ledback to Richard J. Daley."His pyramids included the Sears Tower, the Dan Ryan Expressway, O'Hare International Airport--"the list goes on." Allied with business leaders, he helped bring in new buildings with an infrastructure of parking and new highways. He helped attract the University of Illinois/Chicago to the near South Side, "a great thing." He kept Chicago from declining like Gary or Philadelphia. At the same time, although the Black vote originally elected Daley, the Black population, like the Jews in ancient Egypt, came to regard this modern pharaoh as an oppressor. One example was the history of the Chicago Housing Authority, set up to replace a warren of crumbling tenements mostly housing poor Black families. Elizabeth Wood, the highly respected director, envisioned scattered site low-rise public housing, set amid trees, with easily accessible playgrounds. This vision conflicted with the desire of Chicago politicians to keep Chicago segregated and under the control of the Daley machine. Wood was forced out, and the Black ghetto was replicated in sterile new highrises. Co-author of American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley: His Battle for Chicago and the Nation is Adam Cohen of New York, a senior writer for the Nation section of Time. By Barbara Schaaf In celebrating the dawn of the real millennium, thanks must be given to SMA's energetic, peripatetic and perspicacious membership, without whom this report would be kept to 25 words or much, much less. Millennium Man What better way to start a new millennium than with SMA's man for all millennia, Martin Marty, who recently was feted at the 19th annual Amicus Certus dinner dance sponsored byLutheran Social Services of Illinois. Marty was named as Lutheran Services' "true friend" for his dedication to religious history and for his natural skill in delineating the role of the church in modern media. Marty is serving as interim president of St. Olaf's College while continuing as contributing editor of The Christian Century and editor of Context, and as professor emeritus of the University of Chicago Divinity School. "Surveys show that one-half of American adults volunteer for something," according to Marty. "The biggest unwritten story in American religion is the positive story." Sounds like the subject of another book which would be his 51st. A Bump in the Night Candlewick Press has brought out a new edition of Florence Parry Heide's Some Things Are Scary, illustrated by Jules Feiffer and first published in l969. Publishers Weekly praises the reissue, saying , "With perceptive examples and over-the-top images of physical comedy, Heide and Feiffer acknowledge, and perhaps demystify, some shared fears." Heide's hero survives one anxiety-producing situation after another. For ages five to nine. Another Web to Spin Congratulations to the Chicago Press Veterans Association on adding Ray Hanania to the board and on securing his services as webmaster. SMA is also fortunate to have Hanania serve in both capacities. When Do We Eat? At a Press Vets dinner honoring Bob Wiedrich as Press Veteran of 2000, SMA board member Phyllis Choyke won a $100 gift certificate from Lettuce Entertain You. "Bad Coffee" But Good Work SMA member Reginald Gibbons has joined the board of the Guild Complex as vice president and secretary, which entitles him to attend Sunday morning meetings featuring bad coffee and sweet rolls. The Guild Complex is an independent not-for-profit cultural center and forum for literary cross-cultural expression, discussion and education. He says he doesn't mind the sacrifice. He sees the Guild Complex as "the place where the full range of our American literary culture can be present and active." For the past 16 years, Gibbons has been executive and artistic director at Northwestern's TriQuarterly, as well as teaching creative writing and in the MFA program. He has to his credit one novel, six volumes of poetry, and 20 other books, with Longshot O'Leary the most recent (1999 from Holy Cowl Press). Great Books, Big Deal Bruce Gans continues to attract ink most recently on page one of the Chicago Tribune for his success in proving that students at Chicago City Colleges can learn to love the Great Books. Gans caught flak for not devoting his class time to supposedly more relevant works, instead focusing what he calls "the best that's been thought and said." In November, Gans described his experiences at a national conference sponsored by the Johnson Foundation. Gans's success at Wright College 28 sections of more than 960 students has inspired teachers in other disciplines. And City Colleges President Wayne Watson is urging other campuses to establish similar programs. Dale on Sayers on Holmes Alzina Stone Dale has written the introduction to Sayers on Holmes (Mythopoeic Press), a collection of Dorothy Sayers's essays on the great detective. Included for the first time in print is Sayers's centenary birthday tribute to Holmes, aired on the BBC in l954.
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