Events 2021
February 21, 2021
Portland Writers’s Mill , a program of the Cedar Mill Library
Portland Writer’s Mill meetings are on the third Sunday of every month and were held at the Cedar Mill Library but are now scheduled on Zoom. Stay tuned for meeting time and updates on access. This talk is for writers who may have an interest in bilingual book development, publishing a children’s book during a pandemic, and book promotion and community engagement during COVID-19 quarantine.
Purchase The Kite That Touched The Sky at Portland Chinatown Museum Holiday Bazaar opening soon through Chinese New Year 2021.
February 6, 2021
Northwest China Council Chinese New Year 2021 Celebration online and Door Prize Drawing for our book! See https://nwchina.org/
Events 2020
November 2020
China Chat, a program of the Northwest China Council
Author’s journey talk by Jim Mockford that begins with an unusual family connection to China from over a century in the past and six generations to the present (including grandchildren born 2017 to 2020) and how his adventures in China led to writing the book, “The Kite That Touched the Sky.”
Posted on Northwest China Council Youtube Channel following program on November 19, 2020. 7-8 pm Link to Zoom meeting
October 2019
Portland Has Talent Community Zine, a program of the Independent Publishing Resource Center and Portland Sunday Parkways, presented by Kaiser Permanente, October 2020.
“Go Fly a Zine” kite template and zine by Jim Mockford was included in Portland Has Talent Community Zine a program of the Independent Publishing Resource Center and Portland Sunday Parkways presented by Kaiser Permanente. In September 2020 local Portland artists Marissa Perez, Sarah Mirk and Geeta Lewis hosted workshops to inspire community creativity at home and published the submissions of 16 members of the community in Portland Has Talent. See the story of Jim’s “Go Fly a Kite” zine that becomes a kite at https://kumquatkids.com/projects for free downloadable coloring sheets and soon to be posted kite template and instructions.
Words & Pictures Festival 2020, 4th annual festival of local authors and illustrators, at Vancouver Regional Library 10/10/2020
Storytime event includes author’s book reading of “The Kite That Touched the Sky” and discussion from 1:30 pm Saturday October 10 at the Words & Pictures Festival sponsored by the Fort Vancouver Regional Library, Vancouver, WA. Visit website to register at http://www.fvrl.org/words-pictures
WAFLT FALL 2020 Virtual Conference “Apart But Together” (Washington Association of Foreign Language Teachers) Saturday 10/10/2020 Morning Session
See https://www.waflt.net/conferences for conference schedule and the prerecorded video was posted on Youtube at the link below.
Fall 2020 “Book Unmaskings”
Where will friends of Ramona Quimby find a new book in Portland?
And where would friends of Ramona read a new book in Portland? https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/beverly_cleary_sculpture_garden/
Where is a good place to take your dog and a book for a walk? https://multcolib.org/sites/default/files/Cleary%20Map_2016.pdf
Book Sightings at Online Local Bookstores!
Starting in September and throughout the fall when we have a “book sighting” at a local independent bookstore we hope to receive a”Book Unmasking” photo that lets us know when the book was purchased at that store and we will post a photo as a way to celebrate in lieu of an in-person author or illustrator appearance. We hope to schedule the traditional in person book talk or signing party in the future but we plan to promote our local independent bookstores as soon as they have our book available on their online shopping site and celebrate when they make a sale at their store.
Due to Covid-19 issues shipping times from our distributor Ingram/Spark are taking a little longer for the book to arrive at independent bookstores. We want to thank customers for placing orders on the online local bookstore shopping sites and because it is a little difficult to do book promotions in person this year we want to have some fun online. So stay tuned for our “Book Unmaskings” virtual event at a bookstore in your area. Maybe you will recognize your favorite bookstore in our posts?
Grown-up Books??? Wearing a mask to shop
Check with the bookstore about their hours of operation and rules for in-store browsing, window shopping, and no contact pickup which vary depending on location. Visit their website or social media sites to find out how to place an order and attend any virtual events they may offer.
For bookstore owners who visit our page we hope you will send us a photo of our book at your store that we can post here or on social media sites that may show the before = cover masked and after “book unmasked” with customer at storefront or sign that promotes your store. We will periodically post photos as the ‘book unmasking” continues this fall.
Our friends have been buying books in Portland and letting us know when they pick them up or have the bookstore ship them to their home.
We are also starting to get news from people in other states who have found a local bookstore in their community and successfully purchased our book thanks to the Indie book team in their town. More stories to tell soon!
