2017 Scribbles to Novels – New York City

UPDATE: To see highlights and photos from this year’s event, click here.

Join Jumpstart on Wednesday, April 19th, at our Scribbles to Novels gala as we celebrate the power of the written word and shine a spotlight on the importance of early literacy development in children. The 2017 event will be held at Capitale, the original Bowery Savings Bank, which features tall columns, a coved ceiling, and an art glass skylight. The celebratory evening will include an Authors Circle where attendees can chat with well-known authors and receive signed books, a full dinner program, and a live auction. In New York City last year, over 400 advocates showed their support for Jumpstart, raising over $1.1 million for regional programs. More information on sponsorships here.

CHARLES BOCK is the author of the novel Beautiful Children, which was a New York Times bestseller and notable book of the year, and won the Sue Kaufmann Prize for best first novel from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is also the author of the bestselling Alice & Oliver. His fiction and non-fiction has appeared in Harper’s, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Slate, as well as in numerous anthologies. His lives with his wife, Leslie Jamison and his daughter in New York City.

DAVID CARNOY is an executive editor at CNET and is interviewed regularly as a tech expert on radio and television. He has appeared on CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, The Huffington Post, and other media outlets. He received his MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. He is the author of the acclaimed thrillers Knife Music, The Big Exit, and Lucidity all available from The Overlook Press. His novels have been translated into Russian, Turkish, and French. He lives in New York City with his wife and children.

Visit his website here.

ADELE GRIFFIN is the author of a number of acclaimed series books for young readers, including the Witch Twins, Vampire Island, and most recently The Oodlethunks: Oona Finds an Egg and Steg-O-Normous. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family and their small dog, Edith.

Visit her website here or follow her at @adelegriffin

LAURIE JORDAN is a social worker turned yoga instructor and children’s book author. While Laurie enjoys working with folks of all ages, she has a soft spot for kids, knowing that good habits start young. After teaching yoga to thousands of kids and training hundreds of instructors in the specialty of kids’ yoga, Laurie decided to write Yawning Yoga to help families conquer bedtime jitters and soothe the restless child. She currently teaches yoga throughout New York and Connecticut.

JARRETT J. KROSOCZKA is a NY Times bestselling and Children’s Choice Book Award-winning author, who has been passionate about storytelling through words and pictures since he was a kid. With more than twenty-five books to his name, his works include several picture books, The Lunch Lady graphic novels and Platypus Police Squad middle-grade novel series. Jarrett has given two TED Talks, both of which have been curated to the main page of TED.com and have collectively accrued nearly two million views online. He is also the host of The Book Report with JJK on SiriusXM’s Kids Place Live, a weekly segment celebrating books, authors, and reading. His work has been featured in The Boston Globe and on NPR’s All Things Considered, and his books have been recommended by national publications such as Newsweek, The New York Times, and USA Today. His Punk Farm picture book and Lunch Lady series are both currently in development as feature films. Jarrett lives in Western Massachusetts with his wife and three children, and their two dogs.

ANNABEL MONAGHAN is the author of Does This Volvo Make My Butt Look Big?, her debut book for adults. This collection of humorous essays for moms is based on her column that appears in TheWeek.com, The Huffington Post and The Rye Record. She is the author of two novels for young adults, A Girl Named Digit and Double Digit (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2010 and 2012), and she is the co-author of Click! The Girls Guide to Knowing What You Want and Making it Happen (Simon and Schuster 2007). Annabel has a BA in English from Duke University and an MBA from The University of Pennsylvania. She teaches novel writing at The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in Rye, New York with her husband and three sons.

ALYSON RICHMAN is the author of The Velvet Hours and #1 international bestselling author of The Garden of Letters, The Lost Wife, The Last Van Gogh, The Rhythm of Memory, and The Mask Carver’s Son. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and a former Thomas J. Watson fellow. Her novels have been published in twenty languages and “The Lost Wife” is currently in development to be a major motion picture. She lives on Long Island, New York, with her husband and two children. Visit her online, on Facebook and follow her at @AlysonRichman

Photo credit: Kaija Berzins Braus

SUSAN RIEGER is the author of the 2014 novel The Divorce Papers. In her follow-up novel The Heirs (Crown: May 23, 2017), Rieger wrestles with the nature of inheritance and legacy as it affects an unforgettable Manhattan family. Rieger is a graduate of Columbia Law School and has worked as a residential college dean at Yale and as associate provost at Columbia. She lives in New York City with her husband, the writer David Denby.

YOOJIN GRACE WUERTZ was born in Seoul, South Korea, and immigrated to the United States at age six. As she puts it, Grace grew up “not in America, but Korean-America.” She was inspired to write Everything Belongs to Us after hearing stories about her father’s time at Seoul National University, the school depicted in the novel. Many people don’t know how repressive South Korean society was in the 1970’s – in her father’s day, the campus was often closed due to widespread student protests and unrest. Writing the novel gave the author a new framework for understanding her parents’ generation, as well as Grace’s own immigration story. Her novel will appeal to fans of authors like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Anthony Marra: readers eager to discover the world beyond their borders. Grace holds a BA in English from Yale University and an MFA in fiction from New York University. She now lives in northern New Jersey with her husband and son.

Photo credit: Nina Subin

Live Auctioneer | Nigel Barker

NIGEL BARKER is an internationally renowned photographer and is highly regarded for his 17 seasons as photographer and judge on the hit TV show, America’s Next Top Model. Barker is now the host of SiriusXM’s Gentlemen’s Code, which airs live every Tuesday at 1pm ET on Radio Andy Channel 102. Most recently, Barker was awarded the “Film Heals” Award for Humanitarianism at the 6th Annual Manhattan Film Festival for Dreams Are Not Forgotten. Using the power of photography and motion pictures he has been able to spread his humanitarian messages to vast audiences. Barker is currently a board member for The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation, The Edeyo Foundation, and sits on The Digital Advisory Committee for the USO. Drawing upon his 20+ years of experience, Barker has authored The Beauty Equation and New York Times Bestseller, Models of Influence. Nigel currently lives in New York City with his wife, Cristen, and their children Jack and Jasmine.
Read full bio here.

Special Guest | Padma Lakshmi

PADMA LAKSHMI NY Times bestselling author and Host and Executive Producer of Top Chef will be joining us for the evening as a special guest!

Photo credit: Inez and Vinoodh