Writing for Children and for Young Adults, a full-day workshop, Saturday, April 2, in Barrie

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong,
a New York Times No 1 bestselling author
and one of Brian`s students

The Barrie Writers' Club presents...

Writing for Children & for Young Adults ~ the world’s hottest market

With guest speaker Rachel Letofsky, literary agent at the Cooke Agency

Saturday, April 2, 2016

10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Grace United Church, 350 Grove Street East,  Barrie, Ontario (Map here.)

If you want to write the next best-selling children’s books or just want to create stories for your own kids, this workshop is for you. Learn how to write stories kids and young adults will love and find out what you need to know to sell your book.

Special option: You may, but don't have to, bring 3 copies of the opening couple pages (first 500 words) of your children’s book or young adult novel (or 1,000 words if that will get you to the end of your picture book or to the end of your first chapter.) If you’re not currently working on a children’s story, don’t worry, we’ll get you started on the spot!

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada’s most popular blog for writers and is the author of a children’s version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Tribute Publishing Inc). But his proudest boast is that he’s has helped many of his students get published.

Guest speaker Rachel Letofsky is a literary agent with the Cooke Agency. The Cooke Agency represents literary and commercial fiction (including science fiction, fantasy and crime), narrative-driven nonfiction in the areas of popular culture, science, history, natural history, politics, and personal reference, plus middle grad and young adult books.

Rachel Letofsky

The Cooke Agency represents many national and international award-winning authors of quality fiction and nonfiction, including John Irving, Jeff and Ann VanderMeer, Catherine Gildiner, Mary Novik, Nancy Richler, Guy Vanderhaeghe, and Joyce Wayne. The Cooke Agency’s clients are routinely long-listed, short-listed and awarded prizes for the high quality of their work.

Rachel is actively seeking ground-breaking and heart-breaking middle grade and young adult titles in all genres. She is drawn to works with a whimsical nature or a grounded, gritty edge in equal measure, though in either instance, unforgettable characters and original concepts are a must.

She also has a natural soft-spot for exquisite literary fiction. In nonfiction, Rachel is looking for narrative-driven memoirs and anything quirky and life affirming. Rachel is particularly committed to working with previously unpublished authors in a focused, collaborative and hands-on manner.

Rachel's clients include  middle grade authors Nikki Vogel and Deirdre Baker, author of the beloved book, Becca at Sea, published by Groundwood, and the young adult author Janice Lynn Mather, author of Learning to Breathe, which was nominated for the HaperCollins/UBC Best New Fiction Prize. She also represents multiple award-winning poet and novelist Méira Cook – whose new novel Night Watching was published by HarperCollins Canada in 2015; Kim Gaal, a fresh voice in urban fantasy from Australia, and Erin Frances Fisher, whose short story “Girl” won this year’s RBC Bronwen Wallace award and is currently available for free download from iTunes (you should read it!).

Fee: 40.71+ 13% hst = 46 paid in advance by mail or Interac

or 43.36 + 13% hst = 49 if you wait to pay at the door

To reserve a spot now, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Note: Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the box to the right under my bio, and get each post delivered to your Inbox. ~ Brian

See Brian’s full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Barrie, Bracebridge, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.