GROUP A (9:15-10:30)
A Sense of Place — Brian Doyle
Home is where your heart lies, a place of memories, a place of current observations, and each lead to uniqueness in your writing. Brian Doyle, the master of developing a ‘sense of place’ in his novels gives his insights into creating that confidence needed to set your story in the hometown you know.
Sharing Your Heart in a Poem — Ted Scheu
In this poetry writing workshop, Ted will share poetry thoughts, a few tips on teaching it with kids, and, after modeling a poem form with you, will give you time to write a poem of your own. Revision tips will be followed by voluntary sharing. After questions, each participant gets her/his Poetic License. Fun is guaranteed.
Picture Books, A Personal Perspective — Roslyn Schwartz
The author-illustrator will talk about some of the constraints and advantages she has experienced writing and illustrating for the very young, using examples from “the Mole Sisters” series and “the Vole Brothers” comic strip.
Writing with Pictures: A Presentation on Comics — Willow Dawson
In this presentation on the basics of comics and sequential art, the author-illustrator will explore with her audience the unique relationship between words and pictures inherent to this very special storytelling medium. Drawing on her own experiences working in comics and those of her contemporaries, she will set this discussion within the larger framework of the comics industry to include information on the different comics publishers and their expectations in terms of process.
PLENARY SESSION (11:00-12:15)
Everything You Wanted to Know About Kid & YA Lit But Were Too Afraid to Ask
Authors Brian Doyle and Marsha Skrypuch, editor Peter Carver, and illustrator Yayo (Diego Herrera) will tackle your questions about the world of creating books for kids and teens. Please submit two questions written on the back of your registration form. Panelists will answer the most-commonly-asked questions during the presentation. Author Monique Polak will moderate this discussion which is guaranteed to inform and enlighten.
GROUP B (1:45-3:00)
What Does the Editor Want? — Peter Carver
What does the editor want? Is he a crabby and cynical brute, or your best buddy? What secrets about the publishing process should you know if you’re going to get published? Listen to someone who’s been an editor since the dawn of time — or at least the past 35 years.
Your Self-Promotion Toolkit — Jill Murray and Melissa Montovani
ARCs and portfolios and bookmarks, oh my! What tools should be in your promo kit, and how do you get the best value out of the options available? Book blogger Melissa Montovani and author Jill Murray join forces and compare case studies to help you find the right mix for getting your message out, across traditional and online media, at any stage of your career.
From Dip Pens to DPI… — Leanne Franson
Book publishing has changed in leaps and bounds since children’s illustrator Leanne Franson began freelancing in 1991. Join her in discussing the changes in both the industry and the freelancer’s craft as we emerge from a traditional world into a digital future.
Writing for Magazines: Getting Started – Anne Renaud
Anne Renaud credits children’s magazines for helping her hone her writing skills and, more importantly, for keeping her from giving up on her dream of becoming a children’s writer. More than 100 of Anne’s non-fiction articles, poems, craft projects and fiction stories have been published in children’s magazines, including Spider, Cricket, Highlights, YESMag, Faces, and KNOW. In this session, Anne shares her tips with writers on how they can break into this market, and have their work published in magazines.
GROUP C (3:15-4:30)
The Historical Novelist as Detective – Marsha Skrypuch
Do you want to write a MG or YA historical about a topic that isn’t in the history books? Using examples from her own writing, Marsha demonstrates how to uncover bits of ethnic history and how to write about it in a way that will captivate a wide audience.
A World Full of Color: Writing and Illustrating the Richness and Reality of Children’s Lives – Elizabeth Bluemle
The United States and Canada are wonderfully diverse and becoming more so. We all want to support multicultural books, but how do we get past fears of misrepresentation or unconscious color barriers in our work, especially if we are white? Is it our responsibility to include characters of color in our books, and if so, how do we do it? Add your voice to this discussion and leave with helpful resources.
Storytelling With Puppets – Sheila Pinsky
Sheila Pinsky will inspire your creativity as she tells stories using entertaining handcrafted puppets/props of recycled materials, demonsrating various voices/personalities guaranteed to capture the imagination, encourage concentration, and enhance the love of literacy. Participants will use puppets to participate in interactive stories as well as receive a free puppet and art idea booklet.
Humorous and Poetic Illustrations in Children’s Books with Yayo (Diego Herrera)
In author-illustrator Yayo’s world, visual poetry, humor, imagination, creativity and childhood converge to create stories and images. The artist will explain why he chooses his particular approach and show examples from preliminary sketches and research to final artwork and published books.