The KSMO SCBWI Writer Mentorship focus for 2024 is Middle Grade with author and local Kansas/Missouri SCBWI PAL member Lisa Harkrader!
Who is eligible?
Applications open August 1-September 1, 2023 to any current KSMO SCBWI premium member not published or under contract in MG and who have not won a previous KSMO SCBWI mentorship.
What do you win?
The winner will work with the mentor during the calendar year of 2024 on the manuscript submitted for this program. Following the initial reading, the mentor and mentee will "meet" via phone, ZOOM, and/or email (up to 3 times {at the mentor’s discretion} before the year is over) to discuss questions and revisions.
About the Mentor: Lisa Harkrader
When Lisa Harkrader was in the third grade, she wanted to be a writer and an artist. She also wanted to be a spy, a psychiatrist, and second baseman for the Royals.
Those last three haven’t happened, but she is a writer and illustrator who has published more than 40 books for children, including Airball: My Life in Briefs, winner of the William Allen White Award. Her novels have been named to state award lists across the country as well as the New York Public Library Best Books for the Teen Age and Bank Street College Best Books of the Year. Her most recent books—Crumbled!, Croaked!, and Clocked!—are fairy tale mysteries starring Nobbin Swill, a dung farmer’s son who becomes Prince Charming’s assistant in his detective adventures.
Lisa is a four-time Kansas Notable Books winner. She lives in Tonganoxie, Kansas. And she still wants to be a spy.
Winner to be announced in October 2023!
Cost: Free to SCBWI KSMO members
Applications Open: August 1, 2023
Deadline: September 1, 2023
How to Apply:
Please submit the following to ksmosubmissions@gmail.com with two Word attachments: one is a full middle grade manuscript, double-spaced with 12 point font, and one is your cover letter. (Include things like how long you have been writing, what types of manuscripts you’ve written, why you’d like to work with Lisa. Think of it as a query letter to Lisa.)
Please read and follow these guidelines fully in order for your manuscript to receive full consideration:
1. Do not place your name on either the cover letter or manuscript because the mentor will see both. Instead, choose a nonsense word or phrase, and replace your name with that word on both the cover letter and the manuscript.
2. Save your documents with that same nonsense word. For example: Lollyland letter. Lollyland manuscript.
3. Attach both the cover letter and the manuscript to an email. These attachments must be Word documents.
4. In the body of the email only, reveal both your name and your nonsense word or phrase. Anyone who puts her real or pen name anywhere in the attached application materials will be disqualified.