Join us for a Kid Lit workshop with Orca Books editor Sarah Howden

Writing for Children
     and for Young Adults

With Sarah Howden 
        ~ Editor at Orca Books

Saturday, January 17, 2026
 1:15 – 5:00 p.m.
Online via Zoom and accessible wherever there’s Internet

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.

This is your chance to speak with someone within a publishing company in a small group setting and to pull back the curtain and see how it all works. Be sure to bring your questions – we'll have lots of time for interaction.

Special option: Participants are invited to submit the opening couple pages (first 500 words) of your children’s book or young adult novel (or up to 800 words if that gets you to the end of your picture book or to the end of your first chapter). Email your pages to me prior to our workshop.

Sarah and I will publicly critique about half a dozen submissions so everyone can see what works, what doesn’t, and how to improve your story-telling. Get your pages in early if you want to be part of this. If you’re not currently working on a children’s story, don’t worry, we’ll get you started! ~Brian

Guest speaker Sarah Howden is an editor with Orca Books, an independently owned Canadian children’s book publisher. She started out at HarperCollins Publishers over fifteen years ago, as an editorial assistant, moved on to become the managing editor at Owlkids, then worked as a freelance editor before coming to Orca in 2022.

With over 1,000 titles in print and more than 80 new titles a year, Orca prides itself on publishing Canadian authors (almost exclusively) and bringing them to a wider market.

Sarah’s focus is board books, picture books, early chapter books and middle grade fiction. She especially likes slightly offbeat points of view, humour with heart, and writing that has a strong narrative voice. She’s looking for manuscripts that feel fresh, original, and authentic – and if your work reflects your often-unheard perspective, all the better.

Sarah is also an author of children’s books, including Cone Dog and Cone Cat, The Tunnel (all from OwlKids), and Five-Minute Stories for Fearless Girls (HarperCollins), plus several I Can Read Books (Harper Kids). Her latest picture book The Wise Pickle (Tundra) is due out in June 2026. (For more about The Wise Pickle or to pre-order a copy, see here).

Sarah lives in Toronto with her family and their two goofball cats.

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 and reflections on Brian’s retreats, classes and workshops here.

Fee: $45.13 + 13% hst = $51 paid in advance by mail or Interac

To reserve a spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

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