Conference Schedule

Free up your writing from the rules and trends. Learn how to use your life, your interests and loves to create something from your heart.

A chat about how the collaborative process can influence and inspire creativity, and strengthen your work.

The path ahead is like a video game. It's full of quests to complete and bosses to defeat. But often, it's in the side quests full of surprises, some pushing you ahead and some testing your limits, where you learn to navigate through and enjoy the journey!

Mentor texts can play an essential role in helping us go from blank page to submission ready picture book manuscript. During this session we will do a deep dive into how to find and use mentor texts to improve your picture book manuscripts and hone your writing process. Romy will provide a behind the curtains look at how mentor texts were used in the development of her upcoming picture book THE GOODNIGHT SHIFT. We will also share and compare reading resources for staying up-to-date on mentor texts without breaking your book bank.

Do you feel like your character isn’t fully speaking to you? Inhabit your character’s world and emotional reality in this immersive, hands-on workshop where we use Britta’s signature Character Mincer to dive deep into the mindset, psychology, motivations and relationships of your characters.

In this presentation I share how my journey to picture book making influences my art and my writing. I guide participants in exploring how their values and experiences and even their favorite childhood books can inform how and why we tell the stories we tell. I talk about why shining a light on yourself as a creator is a value add to any story you create; and how when I consciously decided to infuse more of myself into my work my career truly began.

This is an overview of children’s content creation from a veteran creator. Expect practical tips and surprising inspiration to help launch your creation journey or supercharge the journey you are already on. My challenges include illness, disability, parenthood, and a full-time job. You may face similar or even more daunting challenges. On top of that, the ever-shifting children's market requires you to rethink your trajectory again and again. Writing for children is a process of invention and reinvention. Let me give you some tools so you can build a roadmap to your success.

When a gymnast mounts the balance beam, they do it quickly and then leap right into their routine. Like a gymnast, picture book authors need to enter and exit a story quickly, with polish and flare. But how? Children’s book author Kris Tarantino will share her experience on creating hooky titles, crafting “grab-the-reader” first lines, and finally sticking the landing. She’ll talk about helpful resources as well as show examples from picture books, including her debut book – Be My ValenSLIME (WaterBrook/Penguin Random House), which received a starred review from School Library Journal and praise from Publishers Weekly.

Even if you don't have a strong funny bone, this presentation can help you learn how to add humor to you writing through exploration of playful puns, ridiculous situations, and other giggle worthy techniques.

Tips, techniques, and inspiration for mixing traditional and digital art from paper cut collage author-illustrator Breanna Carzoo. Breanna will share how she approaches creating book illustrations using traditional and digital art diving into the tips and techniques that she's explored and learned while making her first three picture books. Topics include materials, supplies, digital tools, techniques, challenges, myth busting and more.

A peek into the head of an editor and the things that they deal with on both a day-to-day basis and in terms of each book acquired. We’ll be talking about acquisition through finished book and beyond, and what the role as an editor is during each stage of the process.

Activists, singers, and chefs, oh my! The subjects of picture book biographies are as numerous as the children they inspire. But how can you make sure that a book about an adult figure is not only appealing to children, but also engaging, original, and relevant? Join Arely as we explore award-winning examples and craft elements to consider when introducing your heroes to their youngest and newest fans.

There’s no one right way to plot a novel. In this session, we’ll discuss different strategies for plotting your book.

As with many aspects of life, the events of the past years have affected children’s books and illustration in profound ways, some negative but many quite positive. In this session for illustrators and illustrator/writers, Laurent Linn will discuss the current state of both the craft and business of creating art for children’s literature for all ages and what that may mean for you. Please come prepared with questions.

In this workshop, YA author and presentation skills coach Caroline Leech will guide all you published authors through key strategies so you can keep your readers captivated, even in the intervals between your book publications. From strategic author branding and effective communication to community building and exclusive content creation, this workshop covers all the essential activities for you to ensure a vibrant and enduring connection with your audience, but still leave you time to write the next book. Explore the art of interactive events, gather insights through reader surveys, and discover the power of collaborations. Elevate your authorial journey by mastering the delicate balance of sustaining reader engagement, fostering a lasting relationship that will extend far beyond the pages of your next book, and refining your approach to social media so you can build and maintain a thriving literary community around your work.

Offering a broad artistic, commercial, and social understanding of the picture book format as a medium. THE PICTURE BOOK DEFINED is an objective discussion of the fundamentals of craft, the realities of commerce, and the expression of an ever evolving culture as reflected on the illustrated page. This presentation will be grounded in the speaker’s professional experience and personal observations gathered during three decades as a corporate editor, freelance writer, and current literary agent.

Literary agent Molly O’Neill shares first pages of now-published books two ways: as they were first shared with her then-querying authors/illustrators, and as they were eventually published by her now-clients. (It's like a first pages session, but in reverse!) We’ll talk together about the big and small changes that were made during the publishing process, why they were important, and you'll walk away with new ways of thinking about revision for your books and their beginnings. Molly will be joined by special guest, client, and local Texas author, Lynne Kelly!

This session is intended for illustrators who would like practical tools for making the jump from illustrator to author/illustrator. When I started my picture book journey, I truly doubted I had what it took to write my own books. As I worked on my art, I realized I had stories I wanted to tell. Those stories rarely came to me in words; they came in pictures. Through hard work and productive failure, I was able to improve my writing, and I'm now the author/illustrator on two picture books.

So you've finished your manuscript and now it's time for revision. But where should you begin? Pacing? Prose? World building? There are so many elements to storytelling tahat the task can feel daunting. In this session, we'll break down basic revision into three elements--plot, character development, and pacing-- and learn the questions we can ask ourselves for an effective revision that is more interested in aligning with the purpose of your story than having all the answers,

Do you dream of writing a picture book? Do your picture books seem like short stories? In this intensive, we will delve into into picture book forms, powerful page turns, and basic structure. You learn how to generate viable ideas, add value to your content, and tool language to create lyricism in stories. We will go through a dozen exercises to help you find your voice, your direction, and your best structure to showcase the story you want to share. Finally, in a workshop format, we will generate an idea, thumbnail it and dummy it to practice picture book creation.

Reviewing stories and discovering the tempo to your writing. How do you get the strongest reaction from your reader?

Hiding your characters hands in their pockets? Placing your protagonist’s paws behind “conveniently” drawn plants? No more! This session will step participants through the basics of analyzing and drawing human and animal forms from head to toe… or tail.

Embark on a transformative journey to sustainable growth as an author and/or illustrator with this intensive workshop for published creators, led by Britta Jensen and Caroline Leech, two experienced YA authors who are also much sought-after editors and coaches. Learn how to cultivate your thriving creative practice, navigate career milestones, and prioritize your well-being to achieve sustained success over the next year and beyond. Share their best tips and tricks to make it feel easy to leverage social media, secure media opportunities, and engage with your audience and your community via email and live events. They’ll strategize with you as you create a plan that will work for your unique life, creativity and career.

Besides helping to sell a book, writing a pitch (short synopsis) can be a tool to give a picture book succinct and purposeful focus even at the beginning stages. In this intensive, we’ll be taking a close look at crafting pitches to write stories along with discussing elements that make pitch perfect picture books. We’ll also delve into writing pitches that sell books, a useful skill when it comes to querying, entering social media competitions, writing compelling back cover copy, book marketing, and more.

No matter what stage you are in your writing, learning to self-edit is critical. Whether traditional publishing or self publishing (or both) are in your future, your best chance at success is putting your best foot forward. From the mundane grammatical stuff to the deep analysis of the character's arc, we'll cover it all in this manuscript intensive. Bring whatever you're working on, and be prepared to edit its many different layers.

In this illustrator’s intensive we will explore how to bring even more emotion, narrative, and deep meaning to your art, translating your own lived experiences and memories into visual storytelling that can be universal. Getting away from cliché and so-called trends, we’ll discuss tips and techniques to help make your illustration stand out to agents, art directors, editors, and most importantly, readers. IN ADVANCE: Please send two of your illustrations: one that you consider to be your most successful and one you feel is your weakest. Both should be intended for children’s book illustration (as opposed to a portrait, landscape, etc.)Laurent will show all images in the session and discuss new, helpful ways to think about your art. The images should be either JPEGs or PDFs. Please send images to austin@scbwi.org by 4/15/24 THE DAY OF THE INTENSIVE: Please come to the session ready to sketch with pencils, paper, iPad . . . however you sketch best. (If bringing a digital device, please be sure it is fully charged as power outlets will not be available during the session.)

Whether you are publishing your first book or want to publish your out of print traditionally published backlist, join as we work through the basics of self-publishing picture books & novels.