Writing for Children & for Young Adults workshop, Sunday, May 29, in Ottawa

The Masked Truth by Kelley Armstrong,
a New York Times # bestselling author
and one of Brian's students

The Ottawa Independent Writers present ...

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

With guest speaker Alan Cumyn, author of the Owen Skye series for kids and numerous acclaimed novels for adults

Sunday, May 29, 2016

10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Nepean Sportsplex, Hall E, 1701 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa, 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.

Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend by Alan Cumyn
coming March 2016 from Simon & Schuster

Guest speaker Alan Cumyn is the author of twelve wide-ranging and often wildly different literary novels, including the beloved Owen Skye series for kids (The Secret Life of Owen Skye, After Sylvia, and Dear Sylvia) which between them have won or been shortlisted for a dozen national awards. 

His most recent novel for young adults, Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend, will be released in Canada, the United States and Great Britain in March 2016.

His work for adults includes the human rights novels Burridge Unbound and Man of Bone, which both won the Ottawa Book Award and were shortlisted for, respectively, the Giller Prize and the Trillium Award. Since 2008, Alan has taught in the prestigious MFA program in writing for children and young adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, where he is currently faculty chair.

A past chair of The Writers' Union of Canada, he has also been writer-in-the residence at the University of Ottawa, the Vancouver International Writers Festival, and at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon. Alan was born and raised in Ottawa, where he still lives, but he has also lived and worked in China and Indonesia, and spent most of the 1990s writing on human rights issues for the Immigration and Refugee Board. He has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Windsor, where he studied under Alistair MacLeod.

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.