Friday 8 June 2012

Guest blog: Betty Sargeant, illustrator and author


A big, warm welcome to Betty Sargeant who writes of her recent experience meeting the SCBWI NSW's mob. 

It is one month since I emerged from the cloistered sanctuary of the Varuna Writer’s house and found myself in the bustle of downtown Sydney. 
Betty Sargeant
I had been awarded a Varuna writing and illustration fellowship to further develop my new picture book. I used the time to work obsessively, and I figure that I achieved about six months worth of work within my two week stay.

So, my transition from the lofty, autumnal Blue Mountains back to city life was softened by the lovely SCBWI Sydney chapter. By chance they were meeting on the day I finished at Varuna - I was passing through Sydney on route to my home town of Melbourne. 

The lovely SCBWI members warmly welcomed this southern vagabond and it was great to meet some of the Sydney crew prior to the upcoming conference.

I have been a member of SCBWI for some time, yet this upcoming event will be my first SCBWI conference. I am highly excited about the program of events and look forward to meeting fellow authors and illustrators. 

With a few weeks to go before the conference begins, I was interested to see a recent blog post from Kathy Temean: in the post she provides some handy tips for preparing for SCBWI conferences. 

The post relates to an American event, but I think some of the tips are also relevant to our conference. I have posted the link below for those of you who may be interested. 
    
So I look forward to meeting new people at SCWBI ANZ 2012, and catching up with others whom I know. Only 21 sleeps to go!

About Betty:
Betty is an author-illustrator of picture books. She is currently being funded, by RMIT University Melbourne, to write, illustrate, animate, and produce a digital, interactive picture book. Previous to this, she gained an Honours degree, having trained in creative writing, visual art and children’s literature. 
Betty has two digital picture books published by uTales (New York): Wayne Boris Carlo (2011), this work has recently been translated into Swedish; and RED (2012). She also exhibits her illustration work regularly. She currently has works in the Physiognomies portrait exhibition at the Primo Piano LivinGallery, Italy.
For more information visit www.bettysargeant.com You can also subscribe to her blog or follow her on twitter @BettySargeant.

Here is the Kathy Temean blog link for those interested: