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SCBWI Canada East — Events

What's Going on in Eastern Canada?

Traditionally, our chapter has enjoyed an annual spring conference and a fall retreat, in addition to other workshops and activities throughout the year.

Keep your eye on this space for details of upcoming events.

Highlights of Past Events in Eastern Canada


Mark McVeigh & Edward Necarsulmer IV

“Agents' Day 2009”

September 26, 2009

Canada East held an Agents' Day on September 26, 2009 in Ottawa, Ontario, at Library and Archives Canada (otherwise known as the National Library). Members gathered to hear agents Mark McVeigh of the McVeigh Agency and Edward Necarsulmer IV of McIntosh & Otis.

The day began with each agent giving a talk to highlight what agents do. Mark McVeigh told audience the elements of an effective query letter, and advised us all to maintain or establish an online presence, through such means as a blog, Facebook, or Twitter. Edward Necarsulmer told us what questions we should ask of a prospective agent and described how he likes to work with his clients. Then the separate Q&A session put both agents on stage at once, which allowed us to see differences in approach based on personal preference, as well as those that stem from operating within a small agency versus a large agency. Contracts, rights, and points of protocal when contacting agents were among the topics discussed.
Once again, the booksale was generously sponsored by Collected Works (www.collected-works.com) of Ottawa. It featured members’ book as well as books by authors and illustrators who are represented by our agent speakers.

After lunch, both agents participated in a “first look” panel. While the agents followed along silently, Rachel Eugster read aloud to the audience selected manuscript first pages or query letters submitted by attendees. The agents then made comments based on their initial impressions of the pieces. An session geared to illustrators followed, during which the agents looked through and provided feedback on illustrators’ portfolios. During this time, the writers got an overview of the member features of the Canada East chapter website, and of both new and upcoming features of the International SCBWI website, after which they heard from member Stephanie Rainey about voice software that could help writers write more efficiently

To finish the day, both agents held one-on-one teaching sessions. Thanks are due to both agents for being so generous with their time and expertise. Congratulations to door prize winners Adrian Croft, Ishta Mercurio Wentworth, and Sue Todd.

A big thank you to all the volunteers for helping to pull off this event: Alma Fullerton, Christine Tripp, , Rachel Eugster, Stephanie Rainey, Connie Topper, Peggy Collins, and Deborah Jackson.

 


Kathy Lowinger, Karen Li and Lisa Graff

“Spring Thing 2009”

April 24-26, 2009

Canada East held its annual Spring Thing from April 24 to 26, 2009 in Barrie, Ontario, at the Kempenfelt Conference Centre. Members gathered to Lisa Graff, Associate Editor, Farrar Straus & Giroux, Kathy Lowinger, Publisher, Tundra Books,
Karen Li, Editor, Kids Can Press.

Once again, the conference featured the ever popular "First Pages/Promo Pieces" session where panel members Kathy Lowinger, Karen Li and Lisa Graff gave their first impressions of the first pages of manuscripts and illustrators' promotional postcards.

Kathy Lowinger kept her audience's attention with her morning and afternoon sessions. In the morning she addressed common problems she sees in texts submitted to her with practical advice on how to deal with them in her "My Five Most Common Mistakes in Writing for Children" workshop.

In the afternoon, her workshop "Writing Picture Books" made it clear that picture books are not illustrated short stories. The workshop addressed issues of structure, pacing, and style.

 

What is a graphic novel? Do you have to be an illustrator to write one? How should you submit one? Karen Li gave an insider's view about the genre that's growing in popularity.

As any writer worth her salt knows, finishing a first draft does not mean finishing a novel. Lisa Graff's workshop on Novel Revision looked at tips and tricks for figuring out what’s working and what’s not using examples from her own works and others.

Her Humor in Children’s Books workshop tried to explain to those of us that are funny (and those of us that are not) how do you transfer your humor to the pages of a children’s book. We had a close-up look at examples—from picture books to YA.

 

Highlights of Past Events in Eastern Canada

 


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