New York librarian Betsy Bird, the creator of the fabulous children’s literature blog A Fuse #8 Production, snagged the back room at Bar 9 in Hell’s Kitchen Friday night so the writers and artists at the annual Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators winter conference would be able to hang out together after the day’s events, and it didn’t take too long for the space to fill (top row), or for me to meet up with Rose Kent, the author who first introduced me to the children’s literature group blog Class of 2K7, who introduced me to various members of the collective. Among the other attendees were several members of NYC-based writer’s group The Longstockings, including (bottom, from left) Lisa Graff, Daphne Grab, Siobhan Vivian, Jenny Han, and Caroline Hickey. Graff was in especially celebratory spirits, as she was gearing up for an online publicity tour for her children’s novel, The Thing About Georgie, which begins this morning.