Join us for a Kid Lit workshop with Patrica Ocampo, Senior Editor at Scholastic

Writing for Children & for Young Adults

~ with Patricia Ocampo, Senior Editor at                  Scholastic Books

Sunday, August 23, 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.

Patricia 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. And, yes, if you want to submit to Scholastic, Patricia will be accepting queries from everyone who attends the workshop! ~Brian

Guest speaker Patricia Ocampo is a Senior Editor at Scholastic Canada. Scholastic Canada’s priority is publishing “kid picks” – books that children would spend their own money to read. Stories featuring Canadian culture, settings, and history are also a priority.

Patricia acquires fiction for babies, children, and tweens. She has a particular interest in laugh-out-loud stories – she’s forever looking for the Canadian Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging. Her favourite recent books that she developed are Way Off Track by Carl Brundtland (illustrated by Claudia Dàvila), Worm on the Job by Maureen Fergus (illustrated by Paul George Hammond), and Cat Shapes by Aidan Cassie.

Patricia has worked at Kids Can Press, Simon and Schuster, Annick Press, and HarperCollins. She was also a literary agent at Transatlantic Agency. Patricia served five years on the International Board on Books for Young People, including two years as president of the Canadian chapter. She teaches a course on editing books for children at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Chang School of Continuing Education.

Workshop leader 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 called Toronto Metropolitan University). 

Brian’s led writing workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Saskatoon to Toronto to Charlottetown, 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 has helped many of his students get their first book published and launch their careers as authors.  

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

Fee: $46.90 + 13% hst = $53 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.