Congratulations to Anjali Banerjee, whose novel Imaginary Men (Downtown Press, 2005)(grown-up novel, which I read and found adorable!) has won the 2005 Book of the Year Award (romance) from Thabiz.com, an Urban Entertainment, Celebrity Interview and Pop Culture Website. Anjali also is the author of Maya Running (Wendy Lamb Books, 2005). Contact her for free signed and personalized book plates.

Brain Lint: author Laura Ruby’s blog of late discusses the banning of Carolyn Mackler‘s The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things (Candlewick, 2003) in Baltimore. Laura is the author of Lily’s Ghosts (HarperCollins, 2003)(read related interview).

Funds for Writers edited by C. Hope Clark; emphasis on adult markets but worth checking out.

Highlights from the new HarperCollins summer 2006 catalog include: A Small White Scar by debut author K.A. Nuzum; In the Company of Crazies by Nora Raleigh Baskin; Doppleganger by David Stahler Jr.; Jumping the Scratch by Sarah Weeks; The Return of the Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac; Vampire Kisses 3: Vampireville by Ellen Schreiber. And from Greenwillow: Play, Mozart, Play! by Peter Sis; The Secret of the Rose by Sarah L. Thomson; Store-Bought Baby by Sandra Belton.

In The Artist’s Studio: The Thing Itself by Ann Grifalconi from Children’s Book Council. Highlighting her collage art work for Patrol by Walter Dean Myers (HarperCollins, 2002), which is recommended.

The SCBWI 7th Annual Winter Conference will be Feb. 4-5, 2006 at the Hilton New York. The faculty includes my agent, Ginger Knowlton, vice president, Curtis Brown, Ltd.

Thanks to cynsations LJ syndication reader Lisa Yee for her comment on Elise Broach’s thoughts on controversial books for young readers.

Writing for Children Competition: offered annually to discover developing Canadian writers of unpublished children’s/young adult fiction or nonfiction. Open to Canadian citizens or landed immigrants who have not been published in book format and who do not currently have a contract with a publisher. This contest has a deadline of April 24 and prize of $1,500. See also Children’s Book Publishing in Canada by Bev Cooke from The Purple Crayon.

YA Authors Cafe Chat: join guest host Catherine Atkins and special guest A.M. Jenkins, author of Damage, Out of Order, and the upcoming Beating Heart: A Ghost Story, for a discussion on “Keeping It Real: Creating Real Teens in YA Lit” on Dec. 13. All YA Authors Cafe chats are held at 8:30 p.m. EST, 5:30 Pacific on Tuesday evenings. Go to www.yaauthorscafe.com and click the cafe chatroom icon to enter.