Caldecott Medal Winner Ed Young, New York Times best-selling author Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and award-winning authors Tor Seidler and Margaret McMullan will headline the Southampton Children’s Literature Conference from July 28 to Aug. 1.
Part of the internationally renowned Southampton Writers Conference, sponsored by Stony Brook, Southampton’s acclaimed MFA in Writing and Literature Program, the Children’s Literature Conference offers a unique forum for established and emerging writers, artists, and lovers of children’s literature to study and discuss the craft of writing for young readers.
The Southampton Writers Conference, which Tom Wolfe has called “the best conference in the Country,” is known for its prestigious faculty and for attracting participants from around the world.
The Children’s Literature Conference is “rapidly becoming one of the best places in the country to learn about writing for young people,” according to Conference Director Emma Walton Hamilton, who is also Executive Director of the MFA Program’s Young American Writers Project (YAWP) and Editorial Director for The Julie Andrews Collection publishing program.
Attendees are guided through workshops, lectures, and group discussions by world-renowned authors, illustrators and editors, while enjoying the summer resort of the Hamptons on the East End of Long Island. Workshops for the 2010 Children’s Literature Conference include:
· Caldecott Medal-winning author/illustrator Ed Young – “Words and Images in Storytelling”
· Award-winning author Tor Seidler – “All in the Telling: Writing Middle Grade Chapter Books”
· Young Adult novelist Margaret McMullan – “Write Now! A Crash Course in Writing for YA”
· Editor/author Cindy Kane, “Jump Start Your Story – Writing for Ages 5 through Young Adult”
· Best-selling author/editor Emma Walton Hamilton – “Just Write for Kids: The Art and Craft of Writing Picture Books”
Guest presenters Arlene Alda and Lisa DeSimini, and Jim and Kate McMullan, will explore the author/illustrator collaborative process. Amy Krouse Rosenthal will discuss her work and screen one of her short films. Novelist/librarian Catherine Creedon will head an elective on research for writers, and Whiting Award-winning poet Julie Sheehan, will offer “Meter Making” for those who write in verse.
Emma Walton Hamilton, who also works as a freelance children’s book editor and offers online courses in writing for children (www.justwriteforkids.com), will lead an elective on marketing in the digital age. Hamilton has co-authored twenty children’s books with her mother, Julie Andrews, five of which have been on the New York Times best-seller list, including the recent anthology, Julie Andrews’ Collection Of Poems, Songs, And Lullabies. Her book, Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment, premiered as a #1 best-seller on Amazon.com in the literacy category.
The application deadline for the 2010 Children’s Literature Conference is May 15. Information is available at http://www.stonybrook.edu/writers/children.