Writing Kid Lit, Picture Books to Young Adult, Thursday evenings, Jan 24 – March 28, in Oakville

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

The Oakville Public Library presents…

Writing Kid Lit

~ Picture Books to Young Adult

Thursday evenings, 6:30 – 8:30

January 24 – March 28 (No class March 14)

Oakville Central Library, Auditorium, 120 Navy Street, Oakville, Ontario (Map here)

See details of all five courses offered this winter, Introductory to Intensive, 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 children’s authors as guest speakers: 

Sylvia McNicoll is the author of over thirty books, many of which have garnered awards and Her YA novel, Crush.candy.corpse was shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis YA Crime Novel of the Year Award, the Red Maple Award, the Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award, and the Snow Willow Award, as well as being selected as one of the Ontario Library Association's Best Bets and Resource Links' Year's Best for 2012. 

Most acclaimed, though, are her three middle grade books about fostering guide dogs  Bringing Up Beauty, Beauty Returns, and A Different Kind of Beauty which won and were nominated for many children’s choice awards. Her 2015 YA novel Best Friends Through Eternity tells the story of an adopted Chinese teen for whom an ill-fated shortcut along a rail track leads to the discovery of some uncomfortable truths. 

In 2017, Sylvia launched her new middle grade series The Great Mistake Mysteries beginning with The Best Mistake Mystery in January and The Artsy Mistake Mystery in September and finishing with The Snake Mystery in January 2018.

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 a review of Brian's Writing Kid Lit course here. Read more reviews of Brian's weekly classes, Saturday workshops, and weekend retreats here (and scroll down).

Course fee:  $176.11 plus 13% hst = $199

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

See Brian’s complete current schedule here,  including Saturday writing workshops,weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Hamilton, Jackson’s Point, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, New Tecumseth, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.