Garden Box Breakout Sessions

Welcome to the Garden Box, a cozy plot where support, resources, and friendships help every member flourish. It’s a space where we nurture growth, tend connections, and share the tools you need to thrive in your creative soil.

Our Garden Box Breakout Sessions are bursting with inspiration, featuring presentations from Illinois Published and Listed (PAL) members–our very own master gardeners! We are busy digging up this season's themes and PAL members, but you'll get to attend two Garden Box Breakout Sessions live, and have the recordings of all four for up to 30 days after the event!

Sessions take place on October 4th, 2026, at 1:00 PM, 2:00 PM and 3:10 PM CDT.

1:00 PM Garden Box Sessions:

🌻You're the Boss of You with Sara Shacter

Publishing is rough. Writers and illustrators vastly outnumber agents. The decision process at any given house is often mysterious. And slush piles feel impenetrable. But if you can push through this cloud of doom, you’ll find a golden truth on the other side: you have more agency than you think. In this session, explore paths you may not have considered and leave with concrete ideas for pushing your goals toward the light.

🌻Cross Pollination: Words + Pictures, Pictures + Words with Darcy Zoells

An exploration and discussion of this most basic relationship of illustrated manuscripts. Using examples, this workshop hopes to stimulate a discussion of the process. If you are an author-illustrator, which comes first, words or pictures? How does the process differ from working with someone else's manuscript? If you are an author, do you make room for the illustrator? Do you think about pacing and page turns? How might you illustrate your words, if possible?

2:00 PM Garden Box Sessions:

🌻Crop Rotation with Anitra Rowe Schulte

Planting the same things in the same places, year over year, can deplete the soil of your kidlit garden. This session will share how exciting and enriching it can be to diversify your plantings, by exploring and experimenting in other genres. From prepping the soil and making space, to learning all about your new plants and what they need to thrive, Crop Rotation provides a path for producing a varied harvest that complements your go-to produce.

🌻In Any Landscape with Jerdine Nolen

In any landscape, regardless of the breathtaking vistas, challenging terrain, whether broken concrete amidst broken glass, there’s a magic garden waiting on the land you stand upon that can only be discovered and nurtured by you. Through challenging weather, changing seasons, embrace the heart within your truth and be the mirror that reflects the sun and the moon. In this breakout, participants will leave inspired to dig deeper into their creative practice, nurture their own voice, and discover what will flourish where they are.

3:10 PM Garden Box Sessions:

🌻More than a Love Story with Ronni Davis

Let’s explore how romance in YA can play a narrative role within larger themes of a story, such as identity, friendships, and family.

🌻Everything Everywhere All at Once with DJ Corchin

There’s so many rules until there aren’t. Everyone’s an expert. So much work. So many hats to wear. Tons of work. Where’s the money? OMG WORK! Publishing isn’t linear. It’s all connected and constantly moving. Self-publishing, Hybrid, Traditional. It’s like a squirrel on Espresso. Join award-winning children’s traditionally and self-published author DJ Corchin talking about the chaos, how to see the Matrix for what it is, and moving back and forth within the publishing multiverse in an effective AND FUN way. Mistakes were made. Books were published. Let’s go!

Attendees select one session during each block to attend on Zoom, and they will receive all recordings to watch for 30 days after the event.

Garden Box Breakout Session Faculty

DJ Corchin

DJ Corchin (he/him) writes and draws books. Fun books. Thought-provoking books. Books that make you laugh, wonder, and occasionally question whether you should adopt a pet unicorn. (Spoiler: You shouldn’t.) A former featured performer in the Tony and Emmy award-winning Broadway show, BLAST!, he’s appeared on NBC, ABC, CBS, and WGN television shows across the U.S. One of his I Feel... books was featured in the movie A Man Called Otto and holds the title of being the only book ever snuggled by Oscar winning actor, Tom Hanks. Celebrated by educators, early childhood professionals, therapists, and more, his works like A Thousand No’s, Do You Speak Fish?, If You Find a Unicorn It’s Not Yours to Keep, and The I Feel… Children’s Series help navigate the complex and wonderful world of emotions, communication, and working together.

Ronni Davis

Ronni Davis lives in Chicago with her son Aidan. By day she copy edits everything from TV commercials to billboards, and by night she writes contemporary teen love stories. She has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University. Her debut novel, WHEN THE STARS LEAD TO YOU and her second novel, THIS NIGHT IS OURS, are out now from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Jerdine Nolen

Jerdine Nolen is the beloved author of many award-winning books, including Big Jabe; Thunder Rose, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book; and Hewitt Anderson’s Great Big Life, a Bank Street Best Book of the Year; all illustrated by Kadir Nelson. She is also the author of Eliza’s Freedom Road, which was an ALA/YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults nominee; Raising Dragons, which received the Christopher Award; and Harvey Potter’s Balloon Farm, which won the Kentucky Bluegrass Award. Her other books include Plantzilla, which was a Book Sense 76 Selection, and Irene’s Wish which Kirkus called “delightful and memorable in a starred review. Her recent novel, Calico Girl, also a Kirkus starred review. Freedom Bird: A Tale of Hope and Courage, also a Kirkus starred review and A Parents’ Choice Silver Award Recipient. Her most recent title is Hope's Path to Glory: The Story of a Family's Journey on the Overland Trail.

Anitra Rowe Schulte

Anitra Rowe Schulte writes stories that explore big emotions and universal experiences that connect people to each other. She is the author of picture books "Dancing with Daddy," illustrated by Ziyue Chen, and "Willow and Bunny," illustrated by Caldecott honor artist Christopher Denise. Her chapter book series "Starlin," illustrated by Katie Crumpton, releases in Fall 2026. Anitra's picture books have been honored with Christopher Awards, a starred review, a Dolly Gray Award, and a Crystal Kite Award, and recognized as Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year. Anitra teams with the Chicago nonprofit Leading with Literacy to coordinate an annual holiday initiative that delivers new books to children. She lives west of Chicago with her husband, three daughters, and fluffy cat, Pancake. She is represented by Stephanie Hansen of Metamorphosis Literary Agency. Learn more about Anitra at www.anitraroweschulte.com.

Sara Shacter

Sara’s debut middle grade novel, Georgia Watson and the 99 Percent Campaign, is everything Sara loves—a heartfelt friendship tale, a scientific exploration, and a call for compassion. Sara also writes picture books, as well as magazine articles and educational nonfiction for kids. A former classroom teacher, she currently tutors kindergarteners through high schoolers. Sara is a passionate volunteer and works to turn the tide on climate change and political polarization. Visit her at www.sarafshacter.com.

Darcy Zoells

Darcy Day Zoells is the author-illustrator of the award-winning picture books SMITHY AND ME (Clavis, 2025) and THE NEW BICYCLE (Clavis, 2023). Darcy studied Art History and Studio Art at Northwestern University. She ran a visual literacy program at the elementary school level for ten years and loves to engage with children about books and art and what they see. Her artwork has won numerous awards and been exhibited at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. To see more of her work go to her website darcydayzoells.com or to Instagram @darcydayzoells