In Brief: February 16

Author/illustrator Todd Parr was among the honorees at the Family Equality Council’s Los Angeles Awards Dinner, held at the Globe Theatre on February 11. Parr was recognized for his work “creat[ing] and shar[ing] art that inspires children to be kind, to celebrate differences, and to believe in themselves and others.” He received the award from actor Eric Stonestreet of Modern Family. The Family Equality Council supports and represents LGBT parents across the U.S. Photo: Noel Vasquez/Getty Images North America.

On February 3, Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa received a copy of the new, updated edition of William Katz’s Black Indians (Atheneum, Jan.), an account of the descendants of African-Americans and Native Americans, first published in 1986. Phil “Pompey” Fixico, a descendant of the Seminole Negro Indian Scouts, presented the mayor with the book along with a group of veteran Buffalo Soldiers. Seen here, l. to r.: Fixico, Trooper James Cooper, Villaraigosa, Trooper Lennister Williams, and Major Andrew Aaron. Photo: Foxx Media.

Last Thursday, the Children’s Book Council’s Early Career Committee held a Speed Dating Networking event at the appropriately named Dorian Gray bar in New York City. More than 30 children’s publishing professionals in their first five years in the industry came out to exchange conversation and business cards (in two-minute intervals) and get to know staffers at other publishing houses. Publishing-centric conversation starters included “Where do you see picture books heading in the next five years?” and “Professional envy: what book/campaign do you wish you had worked on?”

Author Robin Mellom celebrated the release of her debut novel, Ditched: A Love Story (Disney-Hyperion, Jan.), with a recent event at Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood, Calif. Mellom shared some of her own teenage misadventures, some of which provided fodder for the novel, about a high school senior whose best friend surprises her by asking her to prom—and then standing her up. Mellom has six books under contract with Disney; her first middle-grade novel, The Classroom: The Epic Documentary of a Not-Yet-Epic Kid, pubs in June.