An esteemed faculty of more than fifty authors, illustrators, editors, agents, and publishers will be assembled for the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators‘ milestone 35th Annual Summer Conference on Writing and Illustrating for Children from Aug. 4 to 7 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
The 35th Annual Summer Conference features 77 workshops, 15 keynote speeches, and panels, covering subjects from plotting to picture books, formats to contracts, illustration to agenting, current market trends to trends of the future. A partial listing of conference speakers includes: Mo Willems (two-time Caldecott Honor recipient and New York Times bestselling author and illustrator); Caroline B. Cooney (bestselling author of novels and series); Jacqueline Woodson (Coretta Scott King Award winning author and National Book Award finalist); Paul Fleischman (winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, Newberry Honor recipient and National Book Award Finalist); Nina Laden (award-winning and bestselling author and illustrator); Elise Primavera (bestselling author and illustrator of Auntie Claus), Beverly Horowitz (President and Publisher of Bantam Delacorte Dell Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books), Wendelin Van Draanen (award-winning author of the Sammy Keyes and Shredderman series and more), Nancy Siscoe (Associate Publishing Director & Executive Editor, Knopf and Crown Books for Young Readers), Jarrett Krosoczka (acclaimed picture book author and illustrator), Jodi Reamer (Literary Agent, Writers House LLC), Elizabeth Parisi (Art Director, Scholastic, Inc.), and Louise May (Editor-in-Chief, Lee & Low Books). For a complete listing of speakers and workshops, please visit the SCBWI website.
The Golden Kite Award Luncheon on Sunday, August 6th will honor the winners of the 2005 Golden Kite Awards for Fiction, Nonfiction, Picture Book Text, and Picture Book Illustration: Mary E. Pearson (A Room on Lorelei Street)(author interview); Russell Freedman (Children of the Great Depression); Pat Mora (Doña Flor); Melissa Sweet (Baby Bear’s Chairs). In addition, David LaRochelle will receive the Sid Fleischman Humor Award for his novel Absolutely, Positively Not. Learn more about SCBWI awards.
The SCBWI, founded in 1971 by Lin Oliver and Stephen Mooser, is designed for both professional and aspiring children’s writers and illustrators. There are more than 20,000 members worldwide, making it the largest writers’ organization in the world. In addition to its annual summer conference, the SCBWI conducts an annual winter conference in New York City, and numerous regional conferences throughout the country; publishes a bi-monthly newsletter; awards grants for works-in-progress, among others; publishes many booklets on the art and business of writing and selling.