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Photo: Steve Leimberg Photo/UnSeenImages
The Amelia Island Book Festival
After getting our feet wet at the Pulpwood Queens Girlfriend Weekend, Dad and I met again on Amelia Island for A Night With Poppy. Here we are sitting on white winged back chairs at the Baptist Church signing books after our talk. Dickie Anderson, the festival Director asked us to discuss how we perceive the other's creativity. I've often thought that Dad is as good a public speaker as he is a writer. He has been doing it for so long, he does not need to prepare. So, I wasn't surprised when he looked at me that afternoon and said, "Are we doing something tonight Woo?". And there we were hours later in front of a crowd of 200 + people who had bought tickets to hear us speak. This was my first experience as the official entertainment for the evening. I was a bit nervous, but Dad broke the ice when he brought out the Poppy doll to great laughter.
In addition to A Night with Poppy, I visited the Amelia Island Montessori School. I discovered, much to my surprise and satisfaction that all of the kids there had experience with sewing. I was also very pleased to see the boys enjoying Poppy's Pants as much as the girls. Later, I was on a panel with two impressive children's book authors, Marianne Berkes and Jane Wood. What a great day it was.
The Pulpwood Queen Shares pOppy's Pants
Kathy L. Patrick, founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club, Author, beauty salon/bookstore owner and proud owner of Poppy and Penelope dolls recently read pOppy's Pants at Cypress Assisted Living in her her home town, Jefferson, TX. In addition to pOppy's Pants, she read from South of Broad, and her own book,The Pulpwood Queen's Tiara Wearing, BookSharing Guide to Life. Click here to see what she had to say about her visit.
Amelia Island Book Festival - February 12th-13th
The Amelia Island book festival is coming soon, and I will be there to participate in several events. See the list below:
Friday February 12th:
9:00-11:30 Visit to the Amelia Island Montessori School
2:15-3:00 The ABC's of Writing and Publishing for Children and Young Adults, A panel discussion with three other children's book authors.
Saturday February 13th:
3:00 Booksigning in the courtyard with my friend Janis Owens and stepmom, Cassandra King
7:00 p.m. A Night With Poppy- at the Old First Baptist Church
I will be with my dad who is the inspiration for pOppy of pOppy's Pants, and the larger than life author of many novels, my favorite being The Great Santini.
Le Bonheur Children's Hospital
I just returned from Memphis, TN where a very rare ice storm foiled several of my planned events. My grandmother braved the weather and drove one and a half hours to my booksigning at Davis-Kidd Booksellers on Thursday, the 28th. On the 29th, in the thick of the storm, I was honored to be invited by Le Bonheur Children's Hospital to do a writing and drawing workshop. With a large cast of woOberry dolls in tow, the kids, and some parents picked out dolls they identified with, played with them and wrote memory poems. The dolls were later photographed. I will incorporate their writing and drawings in the final images to be installed on the hospital walls.
A Television Appearance
If you were in the Memphis area on the morning of January 30th, you might have seen me on on Live @ 9 on Channel 3. The two very gracious hosts, Marybeth and Alex gave me an opportunity to tell the woOberry doll story with the Poppy doll and an original Mama doll as audio visual aids. This was while the city was becoming covered in ice. I met a lot of great people in Memphis and had a wonderful time even while most of the city was vacant and the trees bent over from the weight of ice.
Read about the visit on Le Bonheur's Child Life Services blog .
Here we come Memphis!
We have a big week ahead. I am packing up for a trip to Memphis, TN and we'll be so busy, there won't be time to visit Sun Records, where you can hear Elvis and Johnny Cash's first recordings or the Peabody Hotel where live ducks grace the lobby fountain. Instead, I will bring a suitcase full of woOberry dolls to Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. The dolls will serve as inspiration for stories as I run a workshop and all around play time with a group of kids at the hospital. After the workshop, photographer Michelle East, who has generously donated her time and studio will photograph the dolls using the stories the children write as inspiration. After the photographs are printed, they will adorn the halls of Le Bonheur.
And That's not all! Those in the Memphis Area can come to an informal discussion and book signing at Davis-Kidd Booksellers on January 28th from 6:00-7:00p.m.
I will also give a lecture at the Memphis Botanic Garden about my work with an emphasis on how I made Poppy's Pants on Friday, January 29th at 7:00 p.m.
Finally, on Saturday the 30th from 10:00-12:00 in the morning I will run a bookmaking workshop that will include writing and illustrating for children ages 6-12 at the Memphis Botanic Garden. Davis-Kidd Booksellers will have Poppy's Pants available for sale at all of the events and will donate a portion of the sales to Le Bonheur Children's Hospital.
Hello, Arkansas!
If you live near Blytheville, come to story hour and hear me read Poppy's Pants from 3:30-4:30 on Saturday January 30 at That Bookstore in Blytheville
Hurray for the Pulpwood Queens!
It's hard to describe the annual Pulpwood Queens Girlfriend Weekend in the historic western town of Jefferson, TX. There are many chances to play dress up including a Barbie Birthday Party and the annual Hair Ball, whose theme this year was the Wizard of OZ. There are many Authors, who come to sit on panels and discuss their books with Kathy Patrick, Author of The Pulpwood Queen's Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life and Robert Leleux, Author of Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy. The best part of Girlfriend Weekend is that it is a gathering of people (mostly women) who absolutely love books. It's nice to be in such company when you are an author.
I was honored to bring my Dad, Pat Conroy with me. He is the inspiration for Poppy and was nice enough to wear his khaki pants. We had great fun as a Father/Daughter panel and signed Poppy's Pants together. Dad even doodled his own version of the pants next to his signature. It didn't take long to sell out of copies.
Pictured at left is Kathy L. Patrick, founder of the Pulpwood Queens with me. Kathy is dressed as the Tippy Hedren Barbie, hence the birds. I was going for Little Barbie on the Prairie.
In addition to the events of Girlfriend Weekend, I visited Jefferson Elementary School, where I spoke to 320+ students and faculty. We had a wonderful time. Several students gave me drawings afterwards, which you can take a look at by clicking the drawing below.
A big thank you to the Pulpwood Queens Book Club which happens to be the ;argest book club in the country. When it came time to vote on which children's book was the best from 2009, they chose Poppy's Pants! I already had plans to attend their annual Girlfriend Weekend celebration this January, now I will have a bigger smile on my face.
I will be in Memphis, TN at the end of January to help raise money for Le Bonheur Children's hospital and the Memphis Botanic Garden. Click on the events link above for more information.
Here we come Atlanta!
Poppy, Penelope and even angry Penelope (it's always good to have a devil's advocate around) recently went to Georgia to do some visiting. They saw family and visited students at The Paideia School in Atlanta and Boston Elementary School in Woodstock. Then they went to the Mercer University Author's Luncheon and visited two bookstores to read Poppy's Pants, FoxTale's Book Shoppe and The Little Shop of Stories. All that socializing made angry Penelope happy.
The Miami Book Fair!
I Read Poppy's Pants at the Miami Book Fair to a great group of kids. They had a lot of good questions, and wondered why I brought pOppy and pEnelope and not mAma. I'm glad they appreciate mAmas.
The next event will be a reading at The Little Treehouse in Philadelphia, PA and then on to Georgia. Click on the events link above for more information.
COME TO THE MIAMI BOOK FAIR!
If you will be in the Miami, FL area in mid-November, come to the MIAMI INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR and see Melissa present her book, Poppy's Pants on November 14th & 15th. You will find her at the CHILDREN'S ALLEY STAGE both days at 3:45 p.m.
THE MERCER UNIVERSITY AUTHORS LUNCHEON
Melissa will be part of an impressive group of Authors at the 20th Annual Mercer University Authors Luncheon to benefit the Mercer University Press on December 12th. Click here for more information
COME TO FOXTALE BOOK SHOPPE!
Foxtale Book Shoppe in Woodstock, GA will host a Christmas reception featuring Melissa who will read from Poppy's Pants. Come at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 12th. Click here for more information.
Congratulations to Suzanne & Will! This lovely Irish couple recently tied the knot in London.
We are taking orders for pEnelope,the star of pOppy's pants. To order, click on the link below. We will only make a limited number of dolls. The first ones will be ready to be shipped in mid-November.
If you are in the Philadelphia area, come pick out a woOberry doll for your collection at the Highlands Craft Show to be held on October 17th at the Highlands Mansion. There will be a Preview Party on Friday, October 16th.
The address is: 7001 Sheaff Lane
Fort Washington, PA 19034 (215-641-2687)
9/24/09 - Sally Lodge wrote a very nice article about Poppy's Pants for Children's Bookshelf at Publisher's Weekly. Click here to read.
Melissa presented Poppy's Pants at the Decatur Book Festival over Labor Day Weekend at the Little Shop of Stories tent. This picture was taken by the Pulpwood Queen of East Texas, Kathy Louise Patrick.
Introducing, pOppy's Pants to be released in September. Thank you Blue Apple Books!
pOppy's Pants features pOppy, who always wears khaki pants and enjoys a glass of tomato clam juice while he writes. His granddaughter, pEnelope enjoys a challenge, but he gives her a big one when he asks her to sew the hole up in one of his pairs of khaki pants.
To pre-order your copy through Chronicle Books click on the cover at left.
Upcoming Events:
Melissa will be signing advance copies of pOppy's pants at the Book Expo of America at Jacob Javits Center in New York City.
Here's the details:
May 30th 4:00-4:30 p.m. at the Chronicle Books Booth #2641 Come get a poster!
May 31st 11:30-12:00 in the BEA Autographing Area at table 13.
It's official, woOberry is innovative and good design too. Thank you to publisher Gestalten Verlag in Berlin for including us in their book, Play All Day , a source book of inspiring design for kids. Play All Day is currently available in continental Europe and will be released in the U.S., Asia and the U.K. by the end of April. Click on the book to learn more.
Say Happy Birthday to prolific monster drawer, Torin. This latest custom woOberry is inspired by his drawing, "Multiple Monsters" pictured below.
Congratulations eLLen & mAhmood! Our latest custom dolls were made specially for the bride and groom.
The woOberry Interview! woOberry founder, Melissa Conroy was recently interviewed by Author Lori Tharps for her excellent blog, My American Melting Pot. The interview was posted on Friday, September 26th. Here is the link: http://www.myamericanmeltingpot.blogspot.com/
Meet Lila. She is our latest custom doll who likes to wear fancy bows in her hair. She was made for her Great-Grandmother's 90th birthday. 9/16/08
Lately, if you google woOberry you might be surprised by the number of pages that show up. I know we have. It started back in the spring when Babble Magazine's blog "Droolicious" featured woOberry. Since then we have been featured on blogs as far away as Hungary, Spain and Japan. I wish the Google translations made sense. If someone out there speaks Spanish, Hungarian or Japanese, we'd love to know what is being said about woOberry. Some of the Spanish blogs include bebesymas.com and compradiccion.com. Back in the U.S. we've been featured on coolmompicks.com and babygadget.net as well as being listed in Toy Directory Monthly's June edition. 9/12/08
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woOberry is a registered trademark of Melissa Conroy