SCBWI-LA Writers and Illustrators Day: The Pen and the Palette
May 31, 2026
3201 Riverside Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90027
SCBWI-LA Writers and Illustrators Day: The Pen and the Palette
Join us for Writers and Illustrators Day as we celebrate the art of storytelling to children through both word and image. We’re offering a day of marvelous industry speakers, networking with friends (old and new), and playful opportunities to build community. We hope you’ll leave inspired and empowered to craft stories that reflect the beauty, complexity, and wonder of childhood.
Where: Friendship Auditorium, 3201 Riverside Drive, Los Angeles (free parking!)
When: Sunday, May 31, 2026 from 9 AM to 3 PM
Cost: $90 Members; $110 Nonmembers
Written Critiques
We are offering paid written critiques for portfolios, picture book dummies, and picture book, middle grade and young adult manuscripts.
First Pages
Want to know how your opening page lands with industry professionals? This is your chance.
Our Speakers
Jamie Weiss Chilton
JAMIE WEISS CHILTON is a Senior Agent at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, where she represents authors and author-illustrators in all categories: board books, picture books, early readers, middle grade, and young adult. Jamie looks for an intense emotional experience, in all categories. She’s seeking manuscripts that stay with her. This could mean the sweet pang of an “I love you” picture book, or the shock of recognition of an honest window to the tween or teen psyche.
Kelsey Horton
KELSEY HORTON is an Executive Editor at Delacorte Press who is avidly looking for novels with high-concept hooks and smart storytelling. Kelsey gravitates towards YA book club fiction including high-concept contemporaries/romances, addictive mysteries/thrillers and commercial series. Kelsey is also the editor of bestselling middle grade authors including Natalie D. Richards, Rebecca Lim, Kereen Getten, Jen Calonita and Lynne Kelly. In middle grade through young adult, she enjoys stories with a gut-wrenching coming-of-age story, cinematic competition, inventive retelling or smart speculative twist that explores timely themes. No matter the genre, she is always on the lookout for a manuscript with a strong voice that hooks you from the beginning with a surprise ending that begs to be talked about.
Kiana (Kiki) Nguyen
KIANA (Kiki) NGUYEN is a literary agent at Donald Maass Literary Agency. Kiki started in publishing in 2015 with an internship with Wunderkind PR, independent book publishing PR company, working on campaigns with authors such as Ernest Cline. There, she discovered a practical industry for her codependent love of fiction. She joined Donald Maass Literary Agency in 2016 as an intern and is now an agent building her own list. Kiki represents young adult and adult fiction across genres, with a particular hunger for horror and genre-thrillers and a focus on queer and BIPOC authors. She has represented New York Times, USA Today, Sunday Times bestsellers, and award winning titles.
Eugene Yelchin
EUGENE YELCHIN is a painter, designer, and a writer and illustrator of books for young readers. His many accolades include a National Jewish Book Award, a Newbery Honor, National Book Award Finalist, a Sydney Taylor Honor Award, Golden and Crystal Kite Awards, and Tomie DePaola Award. His books have been included in the Best Books of the Year lists by the New York Times, People Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and USA Today among others, and have been translated into fourteen languages.