Spring Retreat

Mar 14, 2024 - Mar 17, 2024

Bear Lake, UT

Welcome to our first annual Spring Retreat, March 14-17, 2024 in Bear Lake, Utah

Registration opens January 15th

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Welcome to our Annual SCBWI Utah South Idaho Spring Retreat in Bear Lake! This year, we'll have TWO editors and ONE literary agent in residence as our special guests.

For four days and three nights, you'll get to rub shoulders with three children’s publishing professionals, enjoy a one-on-one consultation with the editor or agent of your choice (based on availability), gain invaluable insights from our special guests' group presentations, join in optional peer critique sessions, mingle with fellow writers and illustrators, and take advantage of solo writing/illustrating time. All meals and snacks are included in your registration fee!

You'll love this luxurious 10,000 square foot property, which boasts 13 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, 7 water heaters, two living rooms, a home theater room, a game room (pool table, Foosball, air hockey, xbox), an arcade room, a card playing room, plenty of nooks and crannies where you can hide away with a book or your laptop, and a children's indoor playroom where you can set your inner child free. Bonus: the property is conveniently located right on the famous Bear Lake Scenic Bike Trail.

Retreat options:

SCBWI Member Pricing:

Non-lodging option: $295 (After Feb. 5th: $395)
Twin Bunk Bed in a Shared Room with a Shared Bathroom: $395 (After Feb. 5th: $495)
Full Size Bottom Bunk in a Shared Room with a Shared Bathroom: $420 (After Feb. 5th $520)
Queen Bunk Bed in a Shared Room with a Shared Bathroom: $445 (After Feb 5th $545)
King or Queen Bed in a Multi-Bed Room with a Shared Bathroom: $595 (After Feb. 5th: $695)
Queen in Private Room with a Shared Bathroom: $595 (After Feb. 5th $695)
King or Queen Bed in Private Room with a Private Bathroom: $795 (After Feb. 5th: $895)

Nonmember Pricing:

Non-lodging option: $395 (After Feb. 5th: $495)
Twin Bunk Bed in a Shared Room with a Shared Bathroom: $495 (After Feb. 5th $595)
Full Size Bottom Bunk in a Shared Room with a Shared Bathroom: $520 (After Feb. 5th $620)
Queen Bunk Bed in a Shared Room with a Shared Bathroom: $545 (After Feb 5th $645)
King or Queen Bed in a Multi-Bed Room with a Shared Bathroom: $695* (After Feb. 5th: $795)
Queen in Private Room with a Shared Bathroom: $695 (After Feb. 5th $795)
King or Queen Bed in Private Room with a Private Bathroom: $895* (After Feb. 5th: $995)

NOTE: Shared rooms may be mixed gender (hostel-style). We will try to accommodate requests for same-gender rooms if possible. Please reach out to Tracy Daley at utahsouthidaho-ra2@scbwi.org with questions.

Your registration includes:

Accommodations
All meals
Snacks throughout the weekend
Verbal critique with one of our amazing special guests
Presentations from each of our special guests
Optional critique groups with other attendees
Solo writing time

See the tentative schedule here!

See the house here!

NOTE about bathrooms: Because this property primarily consists of suites, most of the bathrooms are attached to the bedrooms. And in order to offer the widest range of pricing options possible—plus SCBWI's requirement that all paid faculty are provided with private bathrooms—this means that everyone who registers for one of our most affordable options (in a multi-bed room) will need to coordinate shower time with up to 8 people per bathroom. Make sure to pack your toiletries in a separate case that's easy to carry in and out of the bathroom.

Get to Know our Special Guests

Jessica Anderson, Editor

As an editor at Christy Ottaviano Books, I primarily contribute to the older end of our publishing program, with a focus on middle grade and young adult fiction and innovative nonfiction, both narrative and survey in approach, as well as to develop select author-illustrated graphic novels. Originally from Montreal, Canada, and a native French speaker I am especially drawn to intersections of language, culture, and storytelling genres across all categories of books for young readers and teens. Prior to joining LBYR in December 2020, I worked up the editorial ladder at Macmillan Children’s Group under Christy Ottaviano Books. The books I’ve edited include the Orbis Pictus Honoree Indigenous Ingenuity by Deidre Havrelock and Edward Kay; the Morris Award Finalist Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown; the Target Teen Book Club Pick The Chosen One by Echo Brown; Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles by Michelle Meadows, illustrated by Ebony Glenn; The Night Before Eid: A Muslim Family Story by Aya Khalil, illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh; Dead End Girls by Wendy Heard, and J.R. Silver Writes Her World by Melissa Dassori, among others.

Jonah Heller, Editor

Jonah Heller is an editor at Peachtree Publishing Company Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia. He acquires fiction across picture books, middle grade, and young adult. Learn more about his acquisition history at: www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/jrheller87.

Deidra Purvis, Editor

Deidra Purvis is the acquisitions editor for Free Spirit Publishing, the leading publisher of books to support young people’s social-emotional learning and well-being. She’s looking for new board books, picture books, and nonfiction books for kids and teens. Before joining Free Spirit Publishing, Deidra gained market insight as a children’s book list curator and bookseller. Deidra holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University.