Pennsylvania: East Regional events
Serious about improving your craft? SCBWI's regional events provide opportunities for professional growth and help you connect with a supportive, creative community.
Pocono & The Three Bears 2026: In Search of Just Right
Apr 24, 2026 - Apr 26, 2026
33 event
Available seats 24
Boyds Mills (formerly The Highlights Foundation) Retreat Center
Take a walk with Goldilocks as we stumble through the woods and into The Barn at Boyds Mills (formerly the Highlights Foundation). Find just the right chair for working on craft. Enjoy just the right food for networking with fellow creators. And stay in just the right cabin for a creative retreat to remember. Whether you're just getting started or you're Published and Listed (PAL), gain valuable tools for the journey ahead and perspective on finding the path that's just right for you.
Eastern PA Two-Step Critique for Author-Illustrators with literary agent Kait Feldmann
May 07, 2026 - Sep 15, 2026
1 event
Online event
Available seats 0
Calling all Picture Book Author-Illustrators: Ever wish you could have the same publishing professional look at your dummy a second time? After you made their suggested revisions? Well now you can! Two-Step Critique participants will meet with literary agent Kait Feldmann to discuss their picture book dummy (illustrations and completed manuscript) once in May, then have about 3 months to revise and resubmit for a second round of feedback in September.
Eastern PA Webinar: Mastering the Dual Role of Being an Author-Illustrator
May 21, 2026
1 event
Online event
Unlimited seats
Webinar description: Being both an author and an illustrator places you in a specific creative position—one where story and art can be developed side by side, in conversation with each other. That combination comes with real opportunities, but also real decisions about where to focus, what to show, and how to shape your work for the market. In this webinar, we’ll explore how to use your dual role intentionally when building dummies, developing portfolio pieces, and presenting your work to agents and editors. We’ll look at how writing and illustration can support one another without competing, and how to make choices that serve the project rather than trying to do everything at once. This session is about understanding how to work from the position you’re in as an author-illustrator—using both skills together to strengthen your storytelling, elevate your materials, and put forward work that feels cohesive, confident, and true to you. A limited number of PB & CB CRITIQUES available at an additional cost.
Eastern PA Webinar: Drawn to Story—Crafting Characters and Cracking Smiles with Larissa Brown
Aug 22, 2026
1 event
Online event
Unlimited seats
Webinar Description: ILLUSTRATOR DAY—LIVE! IN LANCASTER 2026 PARTICIPANTS ARE AUTOMATICALLY REGISTERED FOR THIS EVENT!! Larissa guides participants through the art of using humor as a storytelling superpower in picture book illustration. From cracking character expressions to crafting the perfect visual and text contradictions, you'll learn how strong story moments become comedic gold. A limited number of PORTFOLIO, PB DUMMY, GN ART, CB ART, or BOOK COVERS ART CRITIQUES available at an additional cost.
Eastern PA Webinar: Beyond the Surface—Crafting Authentic Invisible Representation in Children’s Books with literary agent Eva Scalzo
Aug 27, 2026
1 event
Online event
Unlimited seats
Invisible identities shape the lives of countless young readers, yet they often go unrecognized or are portrayed inaccurately in children’s literature. This workshop explores how to authentically represent experiences that aren’t immediately visible—such as bilingualism, chronic conditions like diabetes or epilepsy, and neurological or psychological differences including dyslexia, ADHD, or depression. We’ll discuss how to avoid stereotypes, build fully realized characters, and integrate these identities naturally into story. A limited number of MG, YA, & NIV CRITIQUES available at an additional cost.
Eastern PA Webinar: Embodied Point-of-View—Capturing your Main Character’s Perspective in Narration with Lisa Gouldy
Sep 03, 2026
1 event
Online event
Unlimited seats
Webinar Description: MG & YA DAY—LIVE! IN LANCASTER 2026 PARTICIPANTS ARE AUTOMATICALLY REGISTERED FOR THIS EVENT!! A picture may be worth a thousand words, but an author’s pen can capture something beyond the view of any camera lens: the experience of a moment from inside the body and mind of the person experiencing it. This webinar will explore the critical concepts of point of view and narrative voice, then dive deep into strategies for channeling your main character’s unique, embodied perspective. We’ll examine how to use first person and third-person intimate POVs to bring your character’s story to life in setting, action, and interiority, drawing examples from picture book, middle grade, and young adult mentor texts. You’ll come away from this workshop with concrete tools to help you render your main character’s perspective on the page and transport your readers far past the superficial, deep into your story’s heart. A limited number of PB (manuscript or dummy), MG, YA, & NIV CRITIQUES available at an additional cost.
Illustrator Day AND MG & YA Day—LIVE! in Lancaster 2026
Sep 19, 2026
2 event
Available seats 80
Lancaster Public Library: Lancaster City Branch
Join us live in Lancaster for a full day of learning for illustrators and children's novelists! This in-person event will feature a track for illustrators and a track for MG & YA writers and translators with presentations and critique opportunities from industry professionals.