Sunday afternoons: Writing Kid Lit course, April 2 – May 28 ~Online

Writing Kid Lit

Picture Books to Young Adult Novels

Online: Sunday afternoons, 1 – 3 p.m.
April 2 – May 28, 2023, {0r to June 4 if it fills up; n0 class May 14)
Offered online and accessible from anywhere there's internet 

Also offered this spring: “Welcome to Creative Writing” “Writing Personal Stories,”  “Intensive Creative Writing,” and “Extreme Creative Writing.” See here {and scroll down}. 

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.

Guest speaker Lana Button has ten published picture books, with Kids Can Press, Owlkids, Tundra, and Pajama Press, including her latest, Percy’s Perfect Friend, (Pajama Press – see here) Tayra’s NOT Talking (Kids Can Press – see here), The Cow Said Boo (Pajama Press – see here), and Tough Like Mum (Tundra / Penguin Random House – see here). She has a board book coming in September 2023 called Stay, My Baby (Orca).Lana also has picture books coming with Scholastic, with Nimbus, and with Tundra in 2024.

Lana’s picture book Tough Like Mum was recently awarded the Crystal Kite Award. Her picture books have been shortlisted for awards including The Blue Spruce, The Shining Willow, the Jean Throop IODE Award and the Rainforest of Reading, and have been recognized as Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Best Bets and the IBBY Outstanding Book for Young Children.

Find out more about Lana and her books at www.lanabutton.com and connect with her on social media on Twitter @LanaButton and Instagram lanabutton.

Guest speaker 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 seven nonfiction books for young readers:  Trending: How and Why Stuff Gets Popular, which won the Yellow Cedar Award (more here); Why Does  My Shadow Follow Me? (see here) and 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 an 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.

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, taught creative writing at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan 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 various courses and workshops here (and scroll down).

Fee: $193.81 plus 13% hst = $219

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

See all of Brian’s upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and weekend retreats here.