WHAT’S A BALKIN AND WHO ARE THE BUDDIES?
I’m the Balkin. Well, I’m one of them. I’m one of the Catherine Balkins. My mother was another one, but then a Catherine Balkin in Australia found me on Facebook. We have no idea if we are related but we hope so, since we felt like sisters when we met during a trip she and her husband made to New York City.
I’m from Buffalo, New York originally, although I lived in New York about 15 years longer than I lived in my hometown. Still, that’s where my roots are and where my childhood memories live, even though most of the rest of my family have left it for warmer climes. Now I myself live in a warmer climate -- Tampa, Florida, where the Balkin Buddies office is a bit bigger.
Once upon a time, I worked in advertising, then in publishing, at which time I went back to school and got my degree from The New School for Social Research. The publishing house I worked in the longest was HarperCollins, where I spent nearly 15 years working with the legendary Bill Morris until he died in 2003. I used to set up author appearances in schools, libraries and at conferences, and handled all marketing activities and events related to HarperCollins' participation in library and educational conferences. If you've ever been to an ALA, IRA, NCTE, ALAN, or TLA, you've probably met me. While at HarperCollins, I also created the first publisher's electronic listserv dedicated to serving teachers and librarians, providing information on awards, authors and illustrators, and this blog is something of an extension of that -- except that now it features authors and artists on the Balkin Buddies list.
Soon after Bill’s death, I started my own author appearance business and thus, Balkin Buddies was born. So I’m still arranging author appearances in schools, libraries and at conferences, and I also do a bit of consulting for various publishers from time to time and a bit of freelance work every now and then. But mainly I work directly with authors and artists, and they, of course, are the buddies. Some of them are old friends, some of them are new. All of them are wonderful, creative, fun, unique, and great with kids.
With the economic downturn, many Balkin Buddies authors and artists have also begun doing online chats via Skype or iChat. One university professor in Florida used Adobe Connect to have her distance learning students in Seattle chat with an author in Tennessee. Online chats are a good deal cheaper than onsite visits. The honorariums are much lower because there’s less preparation time for the author or artist, and there are no expenses like hotel bills, airfare, train fare, or even gas mileage for the hosting organization. You can find more information about this on the online chat page at Balkin Buddies, where you’ll also be directed to other pages with even more details. However, if you prefer, you can just phone or email me and I’ll be happy to talk to you directly.
As things develop at Balkin Buddies, I’ll be adding more information to the “About Balkin Buddies” page, but in the meantime, here are some links and photos that might be of interest:
Conferences I am speaking or have spoken at
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| Me and my husband Charlie |
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| Our parrots, Meow and Woof |
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| Bill Morris |
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| David Zindel & Rachel Style |
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| Another Catherine Balkin -- and we're not even related |
Other Relevant Stuff about Balkin Buddies
Woof “Skyping” with an author
