Your SCBWI 2026 Virtual Summer Conference "TEAM BLOG" is Jolie Stekly, Justin Campbell, and Jaime Temairik. Check in here and on socials at #scbwiSummer26 for updates, countdowns, and LIVE BLOGGING from the conference!
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| #scbwiNY23 Team Blog, from right to left: Jolie Stekly, Jaime Temairik, Justin Campbell, and Lee Wind (Thanks for the photo, Laurent Linn!) |
Thank you!
On behalf of Jolie Stekly, Jaime Temairik, Justin Campbell, and myself, Lee Wind, thank you for visiting the official SCBWI Conference Blog for this taste of the in-person experience.
If you want to jump on the virtual experience, you can still sign up and learn more here.
- Breathe it in and bring the amazing energy of this weekend to all of your projects
- Remember what you learn and let it empower you
- Everyone needs your stories. Kids all over the world need your stories.
-Keep in touch. People make life-long connections through these conferences. You've found a support system that thrives on your success!
Super thankful to you, the faculty, the staff, and the volunteers!
Thank you for coming and investing in yourself!
#scbwiNY23
Growing up Linda was like the rest of the panel who all also fell in love with books as kids, but as a kid Linda didn't know anyone in the publishing industry or that books could be a career. When she left college she had no idea what she wanted to do but luckily stumbled into adult publishing, and after that it was a 'series of fortunate events.'
Linda loves helping creators get their stories to kids so they, too, can fall in love with books. She also loves the meeting and talking to different people aspect of agenting and being a connector of sorts. "It's so much fun even when it's not."
Three words that describe Linda's taste: entertaining, meaningful, and universal. Resonance with a book/creator is important to all of the agents and Linda adds that if it isn't a hell yes, it's a no. Linda passing on a person's manuscript doesn't mean that person is not publishable or talented, it's all back to the matter of resonance.
Moderated by the amazing Martha Brockenbrough!
Arthur A. Levine is the founder and editor-in-chief of Levine Querido, a small independent company devoted to publishing excellent books by people from communities that have traditionally been under-represented. He identifies as Jewish, Disabled, Queer, a Parent, a Writer, and someone who continues to be amazed by the power of a great read.
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| Arthur A. Levine |
Patricia Ocampo is a senior editor at Kids Can Press. In her almost two decades in publishing, she has worked in editorial, sales, rights, and production. She also worked “the other side of the desk” as a children’s literary agent. Patricia is past president of the Canadian chapter of the International Board on Books for Young People.
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| Patricia Ocampo |
Highlights from the panel's insights and wisdom:
3 words that define Arthur's taste: emotional, riveting, personal
Patricia tells the story of being 18 and watching a stranger give birth. It helped her realize that she didn't want to be an OB-GYN, and also felt amazing - it was "completely personal, intimate moment" that also had universal emotions of wonder and joy... and she feels that way about working in children's publishing!
Advice from Patricia: Don't just consider the size of the advance - also consider earning out, longevity, committment to sales and marketing (and how creative that marketing plan might be.)
Arthur speaks about sales and marketing, and how "Editors usually have very little control of what happens, other than editorially."
What sort of work stands out to them?
Patricia: "something different" - inbox overwhelming, there's so much coming in, with all respect to how hard authors work on their manuscript, it all starts to read the same. Any different approach gets her to pay attention.
Arthur: yes, and... we also mean not different for different's sake. (Don't put it on pink paper.) "To me, something that feels authentic. If you go into a room and everyone's dressed identically, and there's just one person dressed as themselves, you would notice them." And this also applies to illustration - how a lot of the current Disney/Pixar influenced work starts to seem seems similar - and you're looking for things that stand out.
Arthur speaks of the mission of his publishing company, searching for and giving platform for historically underrepresented voices, fighting against the single story.
Patricia discusses that in acquisitions, no matter how good a project is, there's a question - do I want to work on this for five years?
The conversation covers auctions (not a panel favorite), Barnes & Noble's health (with less returns), BookTok, and much more...
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| Moderated by Martha Brockenbrough (standing at left), the panelists are (left to right): Regina Brooks (Agent at Serendipity Literary Agency); Linda Camacho (Agent, Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency); Patricia Ocampo (Senior Editor, Kids Can Press); Kate Egan (Executive Editor, Pixel + Ink Books); and Arthur A. Levine (Founder and Publisher, Levine Querido). |
Sarah Baker welcomes us all and passes the mic to Sarah Diamond, SCBWI Senior Manager of Awards and Publications, who launches right into announcing some of the amazing award winners from the past year, and the scholarship winners for this conference.
Then Sarah Diamond passes the mic to TeMika Grooms, SCBWI manager of Design and Illustration, to announce the 2023 portfolio showcase award winners!
*drumroll provided by you*
The Unagented Honor Award is...
Laura Garvin!
The Unagented Grand Prize Winner is...
J. Yang!
Agented Honor Award - The two Honorees are...
Julian Chung!
And
Annie Herzig!
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Agented Grand Prize Winner is...
Druscilla Santiago!
Sarah Diamond, SCBWI's Senior Manager of Awards and Publication, announces these awards from the main stage:
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| The circle of attendees sang Jane Yolen "Happy Birthday" to start off the LGBTQIA2+ and Allies Social (pictured, from left: Jane Yolen, Bruce Coville, and Heidi Stemple) |
With special guests Jane Yolen, Heidi Stemple, Bruce Coville, Arthur A. Levine, and Lawrence Schimel, our discussion shared resources, inspiration, book recommendations, words of advice, and a supportive community.
Resources to explore:
Lambda Literary writers in schools program
Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center summer week program
Queer Kid Lit Creators - if you identify as part of the LGBTQIA2+ community, and you illustrate, translate, and/or write children's books you're welcome to join -- just email leewind (at) roadrunner (dot) com
Inspiration:
Make sure your publisher submits your book for the big awards (and not just the Queer-focused awards.) There's a lot more success for stories where Queerness is part of the story winning multiple awards. Like Sacha Lamb winning the 2023 Michael L. Printz Honor Award, the Stonewall Book Award, and the Sydney Taylor Medal for When the Angels Left the Old Country, which the publisher (Levine Querido) describes as "queer immigrant fairytale."
Let's support each other -- and not just when Queer books get challenged or banned -- when our books get released.
Think of your story going out there to someone who wants to read it. Someone who needs it.
It was a warm and safe space -- thanks to all who attended!
Allyn Johnston is VP and publisher of Beach Lane Books, a San Diego-based children’s book imprint that she founded on April Fool’s Day, 2008. Among the authors and illustrators with whom she works are Marla Frazee, Lauren Stringer, Cynthia Rylant, Arthur Howard, Mark Teague, Mem Fox, Linda Davick, Jeanette Winter, Jonah Winter, Jan Thomas, Mary Lyn Ray, Amy Schwartz, Aura Lewis, Katie Mazeika, K. L. Going, and Debra Frasier.
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| Allyn Johnston reads and analyses one of many picture books during this Creative Lab |
At the start of three breakout sessions on the "Miracle of the Picture Book," Allyn shares that she's looking for "imaginative brilliance" -- a manuscript that "delivers an emotional impact," an emotional experience that effects the reader and the child/children the book is being read to.
Allyn encourages us to consider that "it's not just a book, it's a performance for the reader" and that when picture books are done right, it's "Holy work at its best."
Among many shared examples, Allyn reads School's First Day of School by Adam Rex, illustrated by Christian Robinson, aloud to us, then considers what makes it work: How it's funny, emotional, a completely fresh take on the concept, with dialog that advances the story and deepens the emotion. And a good refrain.
When writing a manuscript, Allyn offers the advice that you're "writing a script for a piece of theater on the stage of a picture book."
And then we get hands-on! To make the point that a picture book manuscript is not just a block of text, Allyn prepared a block of text for us to cut up and place into a book dummy. (We take eight blank 8.5"x11" pages, folded hamburger style to make a 32 page dummy).
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| The room at work! |
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| Close up exercise work - printed out manuscript as block of text, scissors, and tape/glue |
The text we do the exercise with is from Scarecrow, by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Lauren Stringer.
After we've made our own choices, we get to compare the choices Lauren made for page breaks in illustrating the text by Cynthia.
Maybe the most valuable aspect of this 7.5 hour workshop is Allyn's live reading of first pages submitted by attendees, with her live commentary on what grabs her and what doesn't -- and why.
There's lots more example books, Q&A, and advice... an amazing Creative Lab!
Translation is an art, and the artists who work on children's literature are a vital part of our international SCBWI community! (The world is much more diverse than just folks who speak English...)
The Spanish Language/Translators Social on Saturday at lunch was an intimate conversation, with connections international and multi-lingual!
Some of the handouts included:
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for copies of the handouts or for any SCBWI translation questions, email tc@scbwi.org
for resources in español, email Malena Fuentes, slc@scbwi.org
She started off the graphic novel creative lab with Writing with Pictures: Applying Art to Narrative, a deep dive into the fundamentals of visual storytelling in comics. Jen shared how she uses her layouts, pacing, and panel composition to convey emotion, manipulate timing, and enhance the narrative. Jen doesn't consider herself an illustrator first. She really only illustrates for her stories, so she thinks of herself as a writer who does drawings to support her words.
Jen believes being a seasoned illustrator is not what makes for a great comic, it’s more important what you have to say. The combination of a personal style and voice is what makes it unique to that person.
Jen wants people to not feel intimidated to consider exploring, comics are a medium available to however you want to express yourself.
But they DO require an intensive amount of drawing, at minimum you’ll have done at least a hundred pages of drawing, if not more typically 200 pages! So by the time you’re done, you’ve basically Malcolm Gladwelled yourself into being a legit graphic novelist. Jen learned many things from her first forays into long-form comics, knowledge that continues to inform how she works even today.
Lessons on layouts, pacing, and panel composition are illustrated with examples from a variety of comic works, including Jen’s own books, as well as inspiration from film/tv and photography
Participants in the lab then did some simple drawing exercises to explore our voices and approach with the techniques learned during the lab.
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| Brizida Magro |
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| Martin Saavedra |
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| Anden Wilder |
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| Abigail Rajunov |
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| Andrew Lozano |
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| Kelly Anne Dalton |
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| Yuki Murayama |
It's our first time back since 2020. Last minute cups are being filled with coffee, and everyone is flooding the ballroom to hear SCBWI's Executive Director Sarah Baker welcome the 2023 attendees.
A huge thank you to Kim Turrisi, the SCBWI Conference Coordinator, for her hard work to bring us all together, as well as the rest of the SCBWI staff.
Last night the portfolio show was held, and the who's who of the industry came to view. Not only that, but they were delighted by what they saw. So much talent on display!
It's been three years since the last in-person conference. Sarah hopes we'll be fully immersed in books and our book lives together in person. That we'll celebrate and encourage each other all weekend, and as we move forward creating books for young people.
Over 200 hundred people are here for the first time! Folks are here from all over the country and the world. There are writers, illustrators, and translators that are both published and pre-published.
And here we go, as Sarah introduces long-time SCBWI member MARLA FRAZEE!
Conference Attendees getting their caffeine buzz...
as the buzz begins!
We start soon...
here's to a fantastic conference ahead!
What a wild couple of years it's been, SCBWI-ers! A huge round of applause for the incredible virtual events that have been held by regional and HQ SCBWI these last few years.
While I'm so thankful we are starting to have opportunities to see our great community in person again at both local and international events, I'm equally as impressed that SCBWI is continuing to offer a virtual version of the 2023 Winter NY Conference for those of us with health, budget, time, location, and/or witness protection program anonymity constraints.
Check out Lee Wind's post for how the two opportunities overlap and differ. There's still time to register for either, click here for in-person or virtual!
If this is your first time at a conference, or if like me you've forgotten how to have conversations with your in-person face, check out Jolie Stekly's post for first-time attendees.
Please also welcome Justin Campbell to Team Blog! And check out his great post on the wonderful, community building socials that in-person conferences like #scbwiNY23 provide.
A new Winter Conference element I think registered, published attendees should be really excited about: The Piranha Pit! Like Shark Tank but for book marketing plan moolah!
But you've go to get your hustles on! Deadline to apply is 5pm PST today, Today, TODAY! (The bulk of the work will happen at the conference if you are chosen, so you can do eet!). Here are the details:
Good luck to everyone who enters! Just attending the pit session will provide all sorts of marketing ideas even if you don't win the cash prize, so be sure it's on your itinerary if you're interested in learning more about promoting your books.
And as a reminder, if you aren't able to attend, please join us HERE on the blog. We’ll be sharing posts and summaries of as many of the #scbwiNY23 conference events as we can.
I'm so excited to be back in NYC--back to in-person conferencing with SCBWI!
I love the structure of this year’s winter conference, and I think it’s really nice for those attending for the first time. Rather than floating from session to session, in what can feel like a sea of strangers, taking a deep dive with the same group of people through three sessions will make creating new connections easier.
That said…
Let’s be honest…not even that is easy. I realize that for many of us that requires a whole lot of getting out of one's comfort zone. But you can do it, especially if you know you’re not alone in feeling that way. I promise, you’re not.
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| That's a room FILLED with first-time attendees! |
It's a new year, and the in-person SCBWI Winter Conference is back, February 10-12, 2023!
There's a brand-new format, with really in-depth craft workshops for authors and illustrators (7.5 hours over two days!) so check out all twelve "Creative Lab" options here.
And of course there are inspiring keynotes (Marla Frazee, Caldecott Honor winning author/illustrator and Aisha Saeed, New York Times bestselling author), an agent, editor, and art director panel (with Regina Brooks, Founder and President, Serendipity Literary Agency; Linda Camacho, Agent, Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency; Kate Egan, Executive Editor, Pixel + Ink Books; Arthur A. Levine, Founder and Publisher, Levine Querido, and Patricia Ocampo, Senior Editor, Kids Can Press.)
There's a live marketing plan pitch-off, socials, portfolio showcase, and much more!
We hope you'll join us in-person! Get all the details and register here.
There's also a one-day virtual online version of the conference on February 25, 2023, if traveling to New York isn't something you can do.
Check out all the virtual conference offers, along with the Golden Kite Awards presentation here.
Get inspired, improve your skills, lean into the opportunities, and be with your community.
Stay safe,
Lee
