Online course for adults: Writing Kid Lit, Feb 2 – March 30

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

Writing Kid Lit

Picture Books to Young Adult Novels

Tuesday evenings, 7 – 9 p.m.

February 2 – March 30, 2021

Offered online and accessible from anywhere there's internet 

Also on offer this winter: “Exploring Creative Writing” {see here}, "Writing Personal Stories" {see here}, and "Writing Little Kid Lit" {see here}.

 This course is for adults {or teens} interested in writing picture books, Chapter Books, Middle Grade books, or Young Adult novels. This 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. Her most recent YA novel,  Body Swap, won the 2019 Hamilton Literary Award for fiction and in the spring of 2021 will be released in Korean. 

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. 

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. See the trailer here.

In 2019, Sylvia completed her middle grade series The Great Mistake Mysteries by adding The Diamond Mistake Mystery (see the trailer here). The three earlier books in this series were: The Best Mistake Mystery, The Artsy Mistake Mystery, and The Snake Mystery were recently released in Russia to rave reviews. The Diamond Mistake Mystery is currently up for The Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award, a literary program designed for young readers in Atlantic Canada.

Kira Vermond is an award-winning writer with over 2,000 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 six nonfiction books for young readers:  Trending: How and Why Stuff Gets Popular, which was recently nominated for a Yellow Cedar Award (more here); Why Don’t Cars Run on Apple Juice (more here); Half-Truths and Brazen Lies, (more 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.

Plus, coming in 2021, Why Does My Shadow Follow Me?

Fee: $176.11 plus 13% hst = $199

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

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 o f 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 various courses and workshops here (and scroll down).

See Brian’s complete current schedule here, including online and in-person 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, Kingston, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Southampton, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.