Writing for Children and for Young Adults, a mini-conference, Saturday, April 21

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

Writing for Children and for Young Adults

  the world’s hottest market

A mini-conference featuring three guest speakers:

  Literary agent Barbara Berson

  Simon & Schuster Children’s Books editor Patricia Ocampo

  and Young Adult author Tanaz Bhathena

Saturday, April 21

10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Waterloo Regional Police Station, Community Room

45 Columbia St E, Waterloo, 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!

Barbara Berson, is a  literary agent with the Helen Heller Agency. Barbara has been an editor for the past 30 years, first in her native New York, then in Toronto, where she was most recently a senior editor with Penguin Canada, one of Canada’s premier general publishers. 

Barbara has worked with both established and emerging authors of literary fiction, nonfiction, and young adult books. Her authors have been the recipients of numerous prizes, including the Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award. For Young Adults, she’s especially looking for fiction that’s dark, funny, energetic, and compelling.

Read more about the Helen Heller Agency here.

Patricia Ocampo joined Simon & Schuster Canada as Managing Editor in 2015. She was also named Children’s Book Editor in 2016. She is a past president of the Canadian division of the International Board on Books for Young People and a former literary agent.

Patricia is currently accepting agented submissions of early readers, middle-grade fiction, young adult fiction, and parenting books.

Tanaz Bhathena was born in Mumbai and raised in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Toronto. Her first YA novel, A Girl Like That is being published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux at the end of February 2018 and her second YA novel, Last Days, First Days, will be coming out with FSG and Penguin Canada in the winter of 2019.

Tanaz is also the winner of the 2009 MARTY for Emerging Literary Arts, a semi-finalist for the 2013 Jeffrey Archer Short Story Challenge and the Readers’ Choice pick for the 2015 U of T Magazine Short Story Contest. Her short stories have appeared in various journals, including Blackbird, Witness and Room Magazine.

Visit her website here.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor, author, 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. 

Read reviews of Brian’s classes and workshops here.

Fee: $49.56 + 13% hst = $56 paid in advance by mail or Interac
or $53.10 + 13% hst = $60 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, St. John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.