Fall Workshop & Critique 2026
Oct 24, 2026
Millcreek, Utah
You can build your day with what you need most for your writing and illustrating. You can have a day of critiques, a day of workshops, or mix and match them. With an amazing faculty, you’re sure to walk away with a breadth of new knowledge and direction. The workshops will be taught by special guests: executive art director Brian LaRossa, agent Sophie Sheumaker, and editor Mary Colgan and Mark Podesta. In addition to our workshop faculty, Amy Jameson will also be leading the some of First Look Critique Sessions.
First Look Critique Sessions will run like our SCBWI critique groups, but led by a special guest! Learn from your own manuscript/illustrations and from others in your group. It's a great learning experience!
Participants will have the opportunity to send queries to each of our special guests for a specific amount of time after the event!
Located at the Sons of Utah Pioneers building at: 3301 E. Louise Ave, Salt Lake City, UT 84109
SCBWI member pricing: $189 (early bird $179)
Non-member pricing: $209 (early bird $199)
Workshop Descriptions
Writing with Humor
with Sophie Shoemaker, associate agent, BookEnds Literary Agency
Humor: As book bans rise and literacy rates fall, the publishing market for little readers has become harder and harder to break through. But we've gotten some consistent feedback from editors on what they're wanting to see right now. And that's fun! Silly books that have fun with the reader. This workshop will dive into the craft of writing with humor; what a funny book is, what to watch out for, and how to have fun with it all.
Sophie Shoemaker
Sophie Sheumaker is an associate agent at BookEnds Literary Agency. She studied writing, literature, and publishing at Emerson College, graduating in the spring of 2023 and has been building her list of authors and illustrators since 2024. She has an eye out for the quirky, the fun, and the magical, and can always be found browsing the children’s section of the library for new reads.
Sophie Sheumaker's Wishlist
I’m not the best fit for nonfiction projects or anything firmly contemporary. But if it’s silly, fun, whimsical, and has anything from a tiny thread of magic to a full-fledged high fantasy world, I would love to take a look. Funny PBs are my favorite thing, with witty word-play and messages that don’t veer towards being didactic. Big, complicated feelings, messy relationships, female friendship. I’m good for the darker things too—from Halloween spookiness to real horror. PB through YA!
Kid Lit Illustration Best Practices
with Brian LaRossa, Executive Art Director, Scholastic Inc.
Learn kid lit illustration best practices from an executive art director with over two decades of professional experience. You’ll come away with actionable ways to strengthen your website, social media, portfolio, deal, and process. You’ll also learn actionable ways to strengthen your picture book dummies, improving the odds that they’ll be acquired.
Brian
Brian LaRossa is an executive art director on the hardcover picture book team at Scholastic Inc. After hours, he teaches critical writing at The City College of New York and typography at Pratt Institute. His essays have appeared in publications such as Design Observer and AIGA’s Eye on Design. He also volunteers for We Need Diverse Books, manages his own display font foundry—which developed a typeface for Google Fonts—and writes fiction. Brian’s writing is represented by Liz Nealon, founder of Great Dog Literary. His illustration and design work has received awards from the Type Directors Club, the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, PRINT magazine, and his conceptual poetry is included in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art. He lives and works in New York City.
Brian LaRossa's Wishlist
I'm best equipped to offer feeback on finished picture book dummies and illustrator portfolios.
Story Structure for Middle Grade and YA
with Mary Colgan, senior editor, Chronicle Books
A craft-focused workshop about how to structure a middle grade or YA novel by creating a story concept strong enough to drive a novel, developing a main character with believable and layered motivations, determining strong plot points, and avoiding a sluggish middle.
Mary Colgan
Mary Colgan began her career as an editorial intern on Highlights magazine. From there, she segued to book publishing as an editorial assistant at Chronicle Books, followed by a year in New Zealand, where she fell into a job editing leveled readers for McGraw-Hill. Upon returning to the U.S., she worked for Boyds Mills Press, editing middle grade and YA novels and picture books, before returning full circle to Chronicle Books, where she edits the Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site series as well as chapter books and fiction and nonfiction for middle grade readers. She is an avid traveler, horror movie junkie, and reader and writer of dark fiction.
Mary Colgan's Wishlist
Middle grade and YA novels, particularly horror, magical realism, and reality-based stories with speculative elements. Please note that while I am open to critiquing YA, Chronicle Books currently does not publish YA other than graphic novels.
It Was a Dark And Stormy Beginning!
with Mark Podesta, Editor, Holt Books for Young Readers, MCPG
This workshop will be a thoughftul exploration of what it takes to capture readers' attention with the opening of your book. We will analyze the first sentence of a number of titles across age ranges and formats, consider the various approaches authors take both textually and visually to open their stories, and discuss what works and does not work for us. We will also do an exercise (or two, depending on time) that will help you incorporate some of the lessons we learned throughout the class when you sit down to write.
Mark Podesta
Mark Podesta is an Editor at Holt Books for Young Readers, MCPG. He is building a list across formats with a keen interest in graphic novels for all ages; picture books that explore identity, culture, and social-emotional learning; and young adult and middle-grade novels with a literary tone, inventive structure, and/or a singular voice that explore socio-political issues, diverse cultural traditions and storytelling, and queer identity (he also has a soft spot for grounded fantasy). He was raised in New Jersey, but calls Brooklyn home.
Mark Podesta's Wishlist
I am building a list across formats with a keen interest in graphic novels for all ages; picture books with strong classroom application, as well as humorous, character-driven picture books with absurdist humor that make for great read alouds; and young adult and middle-grade novels with singular voices and high concepts that explore identity, culture, and genre (he has a soft spot for grounded fantasy). I love novels like Pet, I’ll Give You the Sun, and Impossible Creatures. He would love a graphic novel with a gay romance, across all genres. He is interested in projects that are both literary and commercial.
Amy Jameson
Amy Jameson began her career at Janklow & Nesbit Associates in New York City, where she launched the writing career of Shannon Hale. In 2004, Amy founded A+B Works with her husband Brandon, providing literary representation, editorial coaching, brand development and design services. Amy represents authors of YA, MG and picture books, including Jessica Day George, Melissa Seron Richardson, Nova McBee, Nichole Van, and Morgan Iverson. She loves audiobooks, musical theatre, hiking in the mountains and deserts of Utah, ice cream, and her three kids.
Refund Policy
If you need to cancel your registration:
By October 1st - 100% refund for registration, less a $25 administration fee.
After October 1st - NO REFUNDS.
Email [email protected] with questions.