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Event Details
May 5, 2020
Online Event

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the current local and national health recommendations, and with the safety of our community our top priority, this year’s Scribbles to Novels will be moving online.
We’ll be celebrating April 23 through May 5, so please stay tuned for lots of great content from celebrity photographer Nigel Barker, model and education advocate Jourdana Phillips, and our featured authors!
Join Jumpstart’s annual celebration of early literacy during a fun, author-filled evening featuring over 400 prominent leaders in business, philanthropy, and education committed to strengthening access to high-quality early education opportunities. The celebratory evening includes a meet-and-greet and book signing with featured authors, a full dinner program, and a live auction. In 2019, Scribbles to Novels—New York raised over $1.3 million to support programming for more than 3,500 children in the local region.
Please contact Jenna Wechsler regarding sponsorships or questions at Jenna.wechsler@jstart.org 212-868-2526 x 615
Nigel Barker, Celebrity Fashion Photographer & Author
Authors Circle
Eva Chen is a first-generation Chinese-American who grew up in New York City. She blames her deviation from pre-med at Johns Hopkins University on a love of fashion and beauty instilled in her by her mother, whose perfect bob and lipstick made a permanent imprint on her impressionable young mind. Previously the editor in chief of Lucky, Eva has also written for ELLE, Vogue, Teen Vogue, Vogue China, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. She is currently the head of fashion partnerships at Instagram, where she is guilty of the occasional duck-face selfie. Eva lives in New York City with her husband and two children. She is the author of Juno Valentine and the Magical Shoes, A Is for Awesome!, Juno Valentine and the Fantastic Fashion Adventure, and the upcoming 3 2 1 Awesome!.
Mary Beth Keane attended Barnard College and the University of Virginia, where she received an MFA. She was awarded a John S. Guggenheim fellowship for fiction writing, and has received citations from the National Book Foundation, PEN America, and the Hemingway Society. She is the author of The Walking People, Fever, and most recently, Ask Again, Yes, which spent eight weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List. To date, translation rights to Ask Again, Yes have sold in eighteen languages, with most translated editions forthcoming in 2020-21. Both Fever and Ask Again, Yes are in development to become limited television series.
Chris Pavone is the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Diversion, The Expats, The Accident, and The Travelers. He is the winner of the Edgar and Anthony awards for best first novel. He was a book editor for nearly two decades and lives in New York City with his family.
James Preller is the author of several acclaimed standalone novels including Blood Mountain, Better Off Undead, The Courage Test, The Fall, Bystander, and Six Innings, as well as the Jigsaw Jones and Scary Tales chapter book series and the upcoming picture book All Welcome Here. He lives in Delmar, New York, with his family.
Amy Richards is a writer, producer and organizer. Most recently Amy produced the Emmy nominated series WOMAN for Viceland and curated a series of talks to accompany Annie Leibovitz’s traveling exhibit WOMEN. Amy is also the president of Soapbox, Inc., the foremost feminist lecture agency, and the affiliated Soapbox Foundation, creators of Feminist Camp. Amy lectures at dozens of venues each year and contributes, though her writings and media appearances, to the current public conversations on feminism.
Mika Song is a children’s author/illustrator who makes stories about sweetly funny outsiders. Fresh into picture books after working in animation for several years, she received the Portfolio Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Since then she’s had the opportunity to illustrate her own books as well as other authors’. A Friend for Henry by Jenn Bailey and illustrated by Song received the Schneider Family Honor from the American Library Association in 2020.
Host Committee
Milena Alberti-Perez
Lorie Almon & Mitch Bompey
Dale V. Atkins & Robert Rosen
Laura & Sharyar Aziz
Cristen & Nigel Barker
April Bedford
Hillary Blumberg
Kaija & Peter Braus
James Cole, Jr.
Thomas Connolly
Laura Dail
Lucy Green & Mark Flannery
Ali and David Kamin
Alice Kim
Allegra Kochman
Kathy & Jay Lathen
Kellie & Jeff Lerner
Michael Levine
Jennifer & Andrew Marrus
Lauren & Michael Marrus
Cynthia Mitchell
Kim Mitchell
Kelsey Nason
Katie & Mark Pinho
Krisztina & Brian Rivel
Deb Shapiro
Megan Sheetz
Loretta & Chris Stadler
Erica Swainson
Anne Turner & Alan Riffkin