Writing for Children & for Young Adults, with Yasemin Ucar, senior editor, Kids Can Press, Saturday, May 13, in Caledon

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

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

With guest speakers: Yasemin Uçar, senior editor, Kids Can Press, and author Jennifer Mook-Sang

Saturday, May 13, 2017
10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Albion-Bolton Branch, Caledon Public Library, 150 Queen Street South, Bolton, 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 2 or 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 teaches at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Saint John. 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. See reviews of Brian's classes and workshops here.

Guest speaker Yasemin Uçar is a Senior Editor at Kids Can Press. Yasemin has been a children’s book editor for close to twenty years. She worked at Scholastic Canada before moving to London, UK, in 2001, where she worked as a Senior Editor at Piccadilly Press. In 2006, she moved back to Toronto and worked as a freelance editor for a number of years before joining Kids Can Press in 2012.

Yasemin has worked with many popular and award-winning authors and illustrators, including internationally bestselling author Louise Rennison, Ashley Spires, Barbara Coloroso and Caroline Adderson.

Guest speaker Jennifer Mook-Sang grew up on the shores of tropical Guyana and moved to Canada when she was fourteen. She lived an ordinary life in search of treasure until she found the beginnings of a story in one of Brian Henry's classes. That story grew into the humorous middle-grade novel Speechless, published by Scholastic in 2015. 

Speechless was shortlisted for many awards, and recommended by the Ontario Library Association, the Canadian Childrens’ Book Centre, the CBC, and the TD Summer Reading Club.

Her picture book Captain Monty Takes the Plunge will be released in the fall of 2017 by Kids Can Press.

Jennifer enjoys visiting schools and libraries to talk about the three RRRs - Reading, wRiting and procRastination. She loves sunshine and sand and, though quite fond of the letter “R,” her favourite letter has always been “the C.” Jennifer lives in Burlington, Ontario. You can find out more about her at http://jennifermooksang.com/. Speechless is available online here.

Brian Henry

Workshop fee: 43.36 + 13% hst = 49 + $6 for pizza lunch = $55 
paid in advance by mail or in person 

or 46.90 + 13% hst = 53 + $6 for pizza lunch = $59 at the door

To pay in advance, make your cheque out to the Caledon Public Library, and mail it to:

Attention:  Laura Nolloth, Caledon Public Library, Albion Bolton Branch, 150 Queen Street South, Bolton, ON, L7E 1E3

Or you can pay in advance in person at any Caledon Library branch. (Branch locations here.)  

To reserve a spot now, email: programs@caledon.library.on.ca

See Brian’s complete current 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, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.