Picture Book Summit | 2019

Some stories make us crack up, and others make us kvell. But what makes a five-year-old and a fifty five-year-old laugh or feel deeply, may not be as different as you think. Join award-winning author and television writer Samantha Berger for a lesson in LOLs and Awwwws, and how to keep your readers emotionally engaged, no matter what their age.

How do you tell a story about a specific cultural paradigm and make it universally accessible? Whether you’re writing about a particular custom, tradition, place, food, or experience, learn to translate your unique viewpoint into one that resonates for all readers.

The art of the picture book is a wonderfully unique pairing of text and image to communicate story. Join Caldecott Medalist, Matthew Cordell, for an in-depth look at how he creates a balance of words and pictures in his work collaborating with other authors as well as his own picture books—both traditional and wordless.

Nonfiction picture books are one of the fastest-growing segments of the market today, but how do you make them accessible and fun, even for the youngest of audiences. Ruth Spiro (Pioneering Author of the Baby Loves...Science Series) will discuss how to distill complex topics into fun, engaging, and inspiring texts.

So you’ve written your “#@&!*% first draft” – now what? Before you start polishing your words, you need to make sure your book is built on a solid foundation. Laura Backes and Emma Walton Hamilton take you through the first steps and basic strategies of structural revision for both fiction and narrative non-fiction to move your picture book manuscript to the next level.

You’ve got an agent! Now what? Most writers are surprised to find that there’s a lot more work to do between author and agent before landing a publishing contract, as well as after a book is published. Jennie Dunham of Dunham Literary, Inc. takes you behind the scenes of a literary agency to reveal insights into the partnership between agent and author, and by extension, agent and editor, and author and marketplace.

The first page of your manuscript needs to hook the reader, introduce your main character, identify the story problem, and establish the voice of your text. Join Yolanda Scott (Charlesbridge Editorial Director) and Sylvie Frank (Senior Editor at Paula Wiseman Books) in this pre-recorded panel as they critique picture book first pages, revealing what keeps an editor reading or prompts them to reject a manuscript.

In this pre-recorded panel, Natalie Lakosil, Regina Brooks, and Alyssa Eisner Henkin discuss what drives them to accept or reject a manuscript and take on management of a writer’s career. You'll learn how polished your manuscript needs to be before a prospective agent sees it, what to expect from agents during the submissions process and what's hot and what’s not in today's market.