Attention New Yorkers: meet Gennady Spirin, illustrator of Clement Clarke Moore’s The Night Before Christmas (Marshall Cavendish, 2006) at Books of Wonder, 18 West 18th Street, on November 2 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at a publication party hosted by the publisher. From Raab Associates: “A classically-trained artist, Spirin graduated from Moscow’s Surikov School of Fine Art and the Stroganov Institute of Art and immigrated to the United States in 1991. Five of his books have been awarded the Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators in New York City, and four have been named to the New York Times’ list of ‘Best Illustrated Books of the Year.’ Well known in Russia, Germany, and England, Spirin has also won several prestigious international awards, including the Golden Apple of the UNESCO Biennial of Illustration Bratislava, the First Prize for Illustration at the Barcelona International Children’s Book Fair, and the Premio Grafico at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.”

Reading the World IX: A Conference Celebrating Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults will be Feb. 24 and 25, 2007 at the USF Presentation Theatre in the School of Education Building, 2350 Turk Street, in San Francisco. Keynote speakers will include: Joseph Bruchac (author interview), Ashley Bryan, Teri Sloat, Yuyi Morales (illustrator interview), Jane Yolen (author interview), Darwin Henderson, and Debra Fraiser. Note: I was a keynoter at Reading the World VI.

Reminder: “Wise Words, Perfect Pictures, and How to Get Them Published,” the second annual fall conference of Southwest Texas SCBWI will be from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 11 at St. Phillips College in San Antonio. Featured speakers include: Newbery honor author Marion Dane Bauer (interview); author Anastasia Suen (interview); author Peggy Caravantes; author Kristi Holl; author-illustrator Janee Trasler; agent Jennifer Jaeger from Andrea Brown Literary Agency; editor Lauren Velevis from HarperCollins; editor Alyssa Eisner Henkin from Simon & Schuster. See also Fingerprints Newsletter & Blog from Southwest Texas SCBWI.