Author Mitali Perkins was born in Kalkata, India. When she was young her family moved often, living in India, Ghana, Cameroon, England, New York, and Mexico before finally settling down in California. Mitali studied at Stanford University and U.C. Berkley. She writes fiction for young adults, including Monsoon Summer (Random House, 2004), The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen (Little Brown, 2005), Secret Keeper (Random House, 2009), and her new award-winning book, Bamboo People (Charlesbridge, 2010; Junior Library Guild Selection, Nominated for ALA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults, a Book Page Top Ten Book of 2010). Her website www.mitaliperkins.com has a wealth of information and provides links of interest to both educator and student. In each of the seven team workshops: Mitali will work with each student in their teams, discussing writing skills, strategies, improvements, and work practices. Writing well about place intensifies plot and brings characters to life. In these workshops, students consider how good writing engages all five senses, underlines a literary theme, and takes readers on journeys to other places. A directed exercise allows participants to apply and demonstrate what they’ve gained from a workshop. Team A workshop is 10:45 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.