Fall Workshop & Critique
Oct 19, 2024
Join us for a day of learning and opportunity! Sign up for one of our morning workshops taught by four special guests: art director, agent Jennifer Mattson, and editors Karen Boss and Melissa Manlike. In the afternoon, you’ll join a 1 1/2-hour peer critique session facilitated by a published children’s author or illustrator of your choice and a 1 1/2-hour First Look critique by one of our Special Guests. Every attendee will get their first pages looked at by a special guest! Located in Millcreek, Utah.
Workshop Descriptions
Select one of the four workshop options below when you register. You'll spend the first 3 hours of the day in this workshop.
Four Keys to Fantastic Picture Books with Karen Boss, Senior Editor at Charlesbridge
In this three-hour workshop, we'll look at four picture-book topics: beginnings/ endings (first/last lines, hooks, the “right” beginning/ending, satisfaction), pacing (story arc, mapping), plot (homing in, cutting, focus), and character (protagonists, connections). This is a deeper look at crafting a stronger story.
Karen Boss
Karen Boss is a senior editor at Charlesbridge where she works on fiction and nonfiction picture books and middle-grade and YA novels. She holds a MA in Children's Literature from Simmons College. Karen often teaches workshops on craft and provides critiques through many platforms. She published Traci Sorell's award-winning debut book, We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, as well as four other of her books, and has worked with authors such as Jane Yolen, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Tami Charles, and Wendell Minor. Editorial Interests: My list is varied and diverse and includes fiction and nonfiction picture books, fiction and nonfiction middle-grade, and YA fiction. I look for new voices, particularly those who are usually underrepresented or left out. I love unique story structure, strong characters, and intriguing topics. My favorite part of being an editor is the collaboration with creators—working together to figure out how to make a book the best it can be.
The Heart of the Story with Melissa Manlove, Executive Editor at Sourcebooks
Bring your WIPs for this exploration of what gives a story the power to catch the eyes and hearts of readers, from agents to editors to (most importantly) children themselves. In this 3-hour workshop we'll explore our own powerful relationships with story and with childhood, and then we'll turn to our writing to explore how we inspire those powerful experiences in the books that we create.
Melissa Manlove
Melissa Manlove is an Executive Editor at Sourcebooks. She has been an editor for 20 years. Her acquisitions encompass picture books, chapter books, nonfiction, graphic novels, and novels in verse. When acquiring, she looks for fresh takes on familiar topics as well as the new and unusual. An effective approach and strong, graceful writing are important to her. She has 22 years of children’s bookselling experience. Editorial Interest: My list is varied and diverse and includes fiction and nonfiction picture books, fiction and nonfiction middle-grade, and YA fiction. I look for new voices, particularly those who are usually underrepresented or left out. I love unique story structure, strong characters, and intriguing topics. My favorite part of being an editor is the collaboration with creators—working together to figure out how to make a book the best it can be.
Recess for Writers: Fun Practices for Happy, Healthy Manuscripts with Jennifer Mattson, Agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency
Recent science tells us that play is essential to long-term happiness and health. We'll investigate some playful writing exercises to help tap into the joy of creation and find playful approaches that will resonate with children (the play experts!) and will help you discover tools that can keep your craft lively, healthy, and happy, no matter the age group it targets. (This workshop will be geared toward picture book writers, but the exercises can be adapted for any audience and can be a good refresh button for anyone.)
Jennifer Mattson
Jennifer Mattson’s career in children’s publishing began immediately out of college—including time as an editor and reviewer—but her agent's hat is the one she has worn the longest (15+ years). She represents all audiences and genres, but focuses most on picture books through middle grade, and looks for authors or author-illustrators who bring professionalism, an open mind, and a fresh point of view to their work. Jennifer's clients include Eric Rosswood, coauthor of STRONG, which won ALA's Stonewall Honor in 2023; Linda Ashman (titles include RAIN!, FIRE CHIEF FRAN, and A COZY GOOD NIGHT); Kim Norman (titles include PUDDLE PUG and TEN ON THE SLED); and Kate Hannigan (titles include THE DETECTIVE'S ASSISTANT and the League of Secret Heroes series). Editorial Interests: Though she’s open to impeccably researched nonfiction projects. Jennifer is currently looking mostly for fiction, and she has soft spots for mindbending speculative, unreliable narrators, playful structures, and gripping survival stories of all kinds. And she will always consider an author or author-illustrator who can consistently craft gorgeous, funny, and/or never-seen-before kinds of picture books!