PAL Panel - How I Got My Agent
Mar 22, 2025
Tempe Library, 3500 S Rural Rd, Tempe, AZ 85282 - Ironwood Meeting Room
PAL Panel - How I Got My Agent
Looking for an agent? Unsure how to get started? What should you do first? What are best practices as you begin/continue your agent search?
Join three talented children's book authors and illustrators as they share their creative journeys. They’ll reveal insider tips and strategies to help you grab the attention of agents and land that elusive book deal. Whether you're an aspiring writer or illustrator, this is your chance to gain valuable insights and boost your publishing career!
Cost, Date, Time, and Venue
Cost:
Member Cost: $15.00
Non-Member Cost: $35.00
Date:
Saturday, March 22, 2025
Time:
1:00 pm to 2:30 pm
Location:
Tempe Public Library - Ironwood Meeting Room
3500 S Rural Rd
Tempe, AZ 85282
Who Are Our Panelists
Karen Chow - MG Author
Karen S. Chow is a Taiwanese-American author, who started writing novels as a college sophomore at Arizona State University, while earning a degree in electrical engineering. Now, she is an engineer by day and middle-grade novelist by night. Her debut middle-grade novel, Miracle, is a heart story that combines her love for music with her experiences witnessing her father passing away from pancreatic cancer. Her next book, about a girl struggling with her parents’ divorce and forced to learn about helicopters, is inspired by her day job and comes out Winter 2026. She serves as the Assistant Regional Advisor for SCBWI AZ. Karen is represented by Andrea Cascardi at Transatlantic Agency.
Kailei Pew - Author
Kailei Pew is the author of The Monster Above the Bed, Kid-ventors, I See Color, and more! Her books have received starred reviews from School Library Journal and Kirkus Book Reviews, and have been named Junior Library Guild Gold Standard. Kailei is represented by Emily Forney at Bookends Literary.
Dawn DeVries Sokol - Author & Illustrator
Always told she would be a writer, Dawn DeVries Sokol earned a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University’s renowned Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. But she yearned to create visually, and soon worked her way from editing newspapers to art directing magazines, such as America West Airlines Magazine—from which a feature she art directed landed in Print Magazine’s 2002 Regional Design Annual. For 10 years, she designed books for U.S. publishers such as Sterling Publishing, Gibbs Smith, North Light, Quarry, and The Countryman Press. Now an author/illustrator of 15 books, she lives and creates in her Tempe, AZ, studio with her dog, Ruthie. Her latest work includes illustration for children’s non-fiction books—A Tour of the Human Body and A Tour of Outer Space by Jennifer Berne for Kane Press. Dawn is represented by Louise Fury of The Fury Agency.
Who Is Our Moderator
Elizabeth Saba
Elizabeth Saba is a writer, freelance editor, and literacy advocate. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona and Stonybrook South Hampton Children’s Literature Fellows Program. Elizabeth teaches book and literature appreciation to elementary school students. She is a member of SCBWI and The Literary Society of the Southwest which awards grants to literacy improvement organizations. When Elizabeth is not writing, she is reading stacks of library books, cooking, hiking, and spending time with family. She resides in Paradise Valley Arizona.
Terms, Conditions, and Refunds
By signing up for this event, the registrant acknowledges that audio taping, videotaping and/or transmitting or aiding in any of the foregoing of any part of the conference (including, but not limited to, presentations, individual sessions and networking events) is prohibited. Additionally, the material in all handouts and presentations is copyrighted and may not be reprinted, blogged, written, orally transmitted, and/or reproduced without written permission of the copyright holder.
Refund Policy:
SCBWI is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. SCBWI Regions are managed by unpaid volunteers. Region funds support programs that benefit SCBWI members.
As part of the event planning process, Regional Advisors must sign contracts with venues, speakers, critiquers, vendors, and others who will be providing services during a regional activity. Registration fees collected for an event must cover the cost of these contracts; therefore, refunds are the exception rather than the rule. In the rare case a refund is granted, it will always be less any credit card processing fees and any other processing expenses.
Requests to refund registration fees for in-person activities will be decided on a case-by-case basis. By registering for an event, you acknowledge that you have read and accept the event’s refund policy.