Writing Kid Lit, from Picture Books to YA, weekly course offered Sept 27 – Nov 22, in Burlington

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong,
a New York Times #1 bestselling author
and one of Brian's students

Writing Kid Lit ~ Picture Books to YA

~ New course ~

Tuesday afternoons, 1 – 3 p.m.

Sept 27 – Nov 22 (no class Oct 11).

Appleby United Church, 4407 Spruce Ave, Burlington, Ontario (map here.)

From picture books to young adult novels, this weekly course is accessible for beginners and meaty enough for advanced writers. Through lectures, in-class assignments, homework, and feedback on your writing, we’ll give you ins and outs of writing for younger readers and set you on course toward writing your own books. We’ll have two published authors as guest speakers: Jennifer Mook-Sang and Kira Vermond.

Jennifer reading from Speechless

Jennifer Mook-Sang lives and writes in Burlington. She’s as amazed as anyone to find she’s a published author. Her humorous middle grade novel, Speechless was started in one of Brian Henry’s classes and was released by Scholastic in the fall of 2015. Her first picture book, Captain Monty, will be released by Kids Can Press in September 2017.  

Speechless is already a hit. The CBC named it one of the 75 best books published in 2015 (here) and named Jennifer as an author to watch (here). The Canadian Children's Book Centre's placed Speechless on its Best Books for Kids and Teens list and the Ontario Library Association nominated it for a Silver Birch Award for grades 3-6. Speechless is available online here.

Kira Vermond is an award-winning writer with over 1,500 articles to her name. She has been a frequent contributor to the Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, CBC and Today's Parent.

Kira is the author of four nonfiction books for young readers: Half-Truths and Brazen Lies, (read more about Half-Truths here); Why We Live Where We Live (more here); Growing Up: Inside and Out, (nominated for on Ontario Library Association Forest of Reading Award) and The Secret Life of Money: A Kid's Guide to Cash (which was my son’s and daughter’s favourite book  the year it came out, although my kids are four years apart). 

Kira lives in Guelph, Ontario.

Instructor 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, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Saint John. Brian is the author of a children’s version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Tribute Publishing). But his proudest boast is that he’s has helped many of his students get published. Read reviews of Brian’s courses and workshops here.  

Course fee:  $159.29 plus 13% hst = $180

To reserve your spot, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

To see details of all five weekly classes offered this fall, see here.

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