Big Sur Children's Writing Workshop

The 2009 Children's, Middle Grade and YA workshop December 4 - 6, 2009 is now open for registration.

We sold out in 2008 so please make sure you register early!
We also have an 'early bird' special until September 5.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DESCRIPTION

EDITORS

LITERARY AGENTS

AUTHORS

PRICING ALTERNATIVES

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

REGISTRATION FORM

SCHEDULE

THINGS TO BRING

DIRECTIONS/HOW TO GET HERE

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Important Notice for the Big Sur Writing Workshops
for Dec. 2009 and March 2010:

We have moved venue for the workshops.

Many of you probably know that the Big Sur area had the largest of the June wildfires in the state of California in 2008. Our fire lasted a full month, burnt large parts of the Santa Lucia mountains and the Ventana Wilderness. We are very fortunate that the firefighters managed to save the Henry Miller Library, but now the geologists, and others, are warning us that major mudslides are likely to close Highway One during winter storms – even with only moderate rainfall. We have decided that we can't take the risk of being shut out. We have found a new venue:

The site for the Dec. 2009 and March 2010 will be the beautiful Embassy Suites Hotel Seaside/Monterey, overlooking the ocean.

Room set-ups enable us to still provide sharing of rooms, (the suites have one bedroom and a comfortable bed sofa in the main room), all with kitchenettes, sitting area, more light, most with ocean or mountain/lake views, full breakfast and cocktail receptions between 5 and 7 both evenings. The hotel also has an indoor pool/spa, fitness room, bar and restaurant. For those flying in, no car will be needed as the hotel has complimentary van service to Monterey Airport. If Highway One is open, we will still plan a Saturday afternoon break time in Big Sur for those who wish to go. We hope you understand this unusual situation. We can assure you that we will still run the same quality of workshop and we do think you will find the substitute hotel truly lovely, substituting ocean views for the redwoods.

The cost of the workshop remains the same but there will be an approximately 5% increase in price on September 5.

Please e-mail if you have any questions.

Back To Top of Page

Why this workshop?

For the past twelve years, writers have come to Big Sur for an intensive and exhilarating weekend of intimate and constructive small critique groups and panel discussions with industry professionals and much sharing of information. Our workshop is not a conference; it is uniquely designed specifically to help writers polish and fine-tune their manuscripts in progress, or those that are finished but need some help. We combine exceptional faculty, who enjoy aiding writers, with the beauty of the Monterey Peninsula, wonderful meals and a wine reception to provide an ideal retreat for children's book writers.

What makes the Big Sur Children's Writing Workshop unique?

First, the format of the weekend is different from other conferences and workshops. Writers will meet and work with three faculty members throughout the workshop. Ratio of faculty to writers is five to one.

Second, the weekend admits a limited amount of writers--just enough people to share valuable information and not too many so each writer feels special.

Third, the weekend is packed with critique groups, lectures, rewriting time and meals. Writers devote the entire time to focusing only on their writing.

Fourth, the faculty are all children's book professionals, and wonderful people, who know how to target the weak spots and help writers polish their manuscripts.

Our goal at the end of the weekend is to have writers leave knowing exactly what they must do to their works to see them published. Manuscripts must be perfect these days to sell and our mission is to make that happen by recruiting top editors, literary agents and authors to inspire you.

Previous attendees have had enormous success including Jeff Stone's FIVE ANCESTOR SERIES that sold for over half a million dollars to Random House and a two book deal for Cece Meng with Clarion Books. Other successes are Debra Sartell, Christina Meldrum and several others forthcoming.

Some quotes from attendees:

"I learned more in one weekend here than in four years of college."
"This is simply the best writer's workshop in the country."

"I would recommend this to anyone writing a book."

Back To Top of Page
_________________________________________________________

FACULTY:

Back To Top of Page

EDITORS:

Molly O'Neill joined the Bowen Press (Harper Collins) at its inception in 2008 as Assistant Editor, and has since acted as an integral part of every book published by the imprint. She is now with Katherine
Tegen Books, a division of Harper Collins. On a daily basis, Molly's tasks range from working a fascinating variety of books — from literary titles like National Book Award winner Virginia Euwer Wolff's This Full House and The Year The Swallows Came Early, by first-time author Kathryn Fitzmaurice; to commercial successes like the Wicked Lovely Tales by Melissa Marr. A sought-after speaker on the craft of writing at conferences around the country, Molly enjoys the opportunity to travel widely as she seeks fresh new talent and diverse voices.

Anica Rissi is a Senior Editor at Simon Pulse, a division of Simon and Schuster. She specializes in developing, editing, and acquiring fiction and nonfiction books for teens. Anica especially loves discovering and building new talent and new voices. She is interested in commercial, high-concept, and literary projects; quirky humor; smart writing; compelling storytelling; and characters that she can't get out of her head. She is a Yale graduate and previously worked at Scholastic Books.

Abigail Samoun is a project editor with Tricycle Press, the children's book imprint of Ten Speed Press, in Berkeley, California, where she has worked since 2000. She has edited board books, picture books, middle-grade fiction, and early young-adult novels. These include the 2003 SCBWI Golden Kite winner for best picture book text, George Hogglesberry: Grade School Alien by Sarah Wilson, illustrated by Chad Cameron; and the 2004 New York Public Library Ezra Jack Keats award-winner, Yesterday I Had the Blues by Jeron Frame, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. Abigail edited the middle grade series Edgar & Ellen, which has sold over 200,000 copies worldwide, been translated into eight languages, and launched a cartoon series on Nickelodeon. Before entering the wild world of children’s publishing, Abigail received an MA in French Studies and Journalism from New York University and worked jobs as far a field as a lingerie salesperson, a wrapper (as in gifts, not hip-hop), and an intern at the Bronx Zoo. None of these jobs was nearly as exciting as editing children's books.

Summer Laurie, formerly editor for Tricycle Books, a division of Ten Speed Press. Worked at the children’s division of Chronicle Books in both the marketing and editorial departments. In 2000 she joined Tricycle Press , the children’s imprint of Ten Speed Press in Berkeley, California where she worked on picture books, board books, and fiction and nonfiction for young people up to age twelve. She is now a freelance editor.

Back To Top of Page

LITERARY AGENTS:

Andrea Brown: President of Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Inc. since 1981, author of Writers' and Artists' Hideouts: Great Getaways for Seducing the Muse, published numerous articles for Writer’s Digest and other publications. She is the executive director of the Big Sur Writing Workshops.

Laura Rennert is a Senior Agent with Andrea Brown Literary Agency. She's been with the agency for ten years, and specializes in all categories of children's books, from picture books to young adult. Some of her noteworthy deals include deals for over half a million dollars to both Random House and Simon & Schuster; six-figure YA deals to Razorbill/Penguin, Knopf, Feiwel & Friends, Margaret McElderry/S&S, Scholastic, and Harper; and a film deal to Nickelodeon/Paramount. Laura is the author of a picture book, Buying, Training and Caring for Your Dinosaur (Fall 2009, Knopf) and of two highly illustrated books for young readers, Emma, The Extraordinary Princess, forthcoming with Dutton. She has a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Virginia and has nine years of experience teaching as a faculty member in the English Departments of the University of Virginia, Osaka University of Foreign Studies, and Santa Clara University.

Jennifer Rofe (Jaeger), Associate agent Andrea Brown. A graduate of UC Davis with a degree in English and Social and Ethnic Relations, Jennifer also attended Dominican University for Education and taught middle school. Jen is interested in all areas of children’s books and especially looks for writers with a quirky sensibility, sense of humor, rebellious characters and a unique storytelling voice.

Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary Agency, is looking for YA and middle grade realistic fiction, science fiction, mystery, adventure and humor. She adores simplicity, but she is not interested in the conventional, predictable, mechanical, gimmicky or ordinary. She seeks books that have not only voice, but blood, temperature and a pulse--they can be messy and idiosyncratic, but never weak. If you need to be reassured that your writing is vital, you are probably not an author to interest her.

Jamie Weiss Chilton, associate with Andrea Brown Literary Agency, represents children's books exclusively: teen novels, middle grade fiction, chapter books, picture books, and narrative nonfiction. Her specific interests include literary fiction with intense emotional content (character-driven, not issue-driven plots); smart thrillers and mysteries; science fiction; surreal stories and magical realism; sweet, funny, quirky chapter books and picture books.

Caryn Wiseman is an agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, she handles young adult and middle grade fiction and nonfiction, chapter books, and picture books. Recent deals include young adult fiction for Simon & Schuster; a middle grade/young adult three-book series to Parachute Publishing for sale to Penguin; picture books to Holiday House, Clarion and HarperCollins; and nonfiction to Charlesbridge and Houghton Mifflin.

Kelly Sonnack comes to the Andrea Brown Literary Agency after nearly three years with the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency where she agented children's and adult work. Prior to that, Kelly worked for the publishing giant Reed Elsevier, where she served as an Acquisitions Editor under the Academic Press imprint. As an agent, Kelly specializes in all types of children's literature (picture books, middle grade, young adult, and graphic novels). In picture books and middle grade fiction, Kelly looks for a good sense of humor, stories that stretch a young reader's imagination, and an authentic voice. In young adult, she appreciates literary voices and character-driven stories with heart. In non-fiction for children, she enjoys projects that inspire and stimulate the minds of our younger generations.

Back To Top of Page

AUTHORS:

Elissa Haden Guest's 10-book Iris and Walter early reader series has won numerous honors including, An ALA Notable Children’s Book, A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and a Pen Center USA West Literary Award. Her writing includes picture books, YA fiction and non-fiction. She’s teaches creative writing workshops to children and adults. A native New Yorker Guest lives with her family San Francisco. Her website here.

Eric Elfman is the award-winning author of 10 books for children and young adults, including Almanac of Alien Encounters (Random House, 2001) and Almanac of the Gross, Disgusting, and Totally Repulsive (Random House, 1994), which was named an ALA Recommended Book for Reluctant Readers. He has also written three X-Files novels (HarperCollins) and two books of scary short stories (Lowell House).Several of his books have been optioned by Hollywood studios for TV and feature film development. He is currently working on a YA novel for Dutton, as well as movie projects for Dreamworks, Sony and Fox Animation. His website here.

Lynn E. Hazen writes stories filled with humor, heart and hope. Her middle grade novel, Mermaid Mary Margaret (Bloomsbury 2004) was hailed" a winner" by Kirkus Reviews. She's written a picture book, Buzz Bumble to the Rescue (Bloomsbury 2005); chapter books, Cinder Rabbit & The Amazing Trail of Seymour Snail (Henry Holt 2008 & 2009); and a young adult novel, Shifty (Tricycle Press 2008). Lynn has an M.A. in Education and an M.F.A. in Writing For Children and Young Adults.
www.LynnHazen.com, www.ShiftyTheBook.com, Lynn's Blog: www.LynnHazenImaginaryBlog.blogspot.com

Brad Herzog lives in Pacific Grove, California with his wife and two sons, Luke and Jesse. He’s a dedicated father as well as a compassionate writer. Whether it’s sports articles, children’s books or a travel memoir about small town America, his prose is clean, balanced and a joy to read. His publisher for States of Mind was impressed enough with this book to send it in for consideration for a Pulitzer Prize (although he plays this down on his website). It didn’t win, unfortunately. But it did win an IPPY award (one of the ten outstanding books of the year as chosen by Independent Publisher magazine). He’s also won the Cornell University Media Award, the Best of Gannett Award, and several others. His articles have appeared in such prestigious magazines as Cornell, Sports Illustrated, Attaché, Sky, Via, Navigator, and Writer’s Digest.

Ellen Hopkins, Publisher, Juniper Creek Publishing, Inc. and Three Leaping Frogs, Northern Nevada’s Fun Newspaper for Kids; freelance writer (regular contributor, Reno Gazette Journal); author; scriptwriter; Nevada Artist in Residence (literature); Tumblewords artist. Ellen is the author of two novels and twenty nonfiction titles and has published over 450 articles on subjects ranging from aviation to child abuse to winegrowing. Publications include Reno Magazine, Tahoe Quarterly, Sierra Heritage, Nevada Magazine, Carson Magazine, Nevada Living, Ski Tahoe and Newsweek. She writes video production scripts for CAV Media, teaches through the Nevada Artist in Residence and Tumblewords programs and is a regular speaker at schools and writing conferences. Her website here.

Nancy Lamb, is the author of over forty books for children and adults, including The World’s Greatest Toe Show, The Vampires Went Thataway!, Vampires and Other Creatures of the Night, and One April Morning. She also wrote the book that serves as the basis for the Fundamentals of Writing for Children Workshop, The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children. Ms Lamb is also the author of the forthcoming (Nov. 15, 2008) book, The Art and Craft of Storytelling: A Comprehensive Guide to Classic Writing Techniques. She can be reached at her Web site.

Susan Hart Lindquist is the author of three middle grade novels (Summer Soldiers, Delacorte, 1999; Wander, Delacorte, 1998; and Walking the Rim, Boyds Mills Press, 1992), and has also been fortunate enough to have had poetry published in anthologies compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins. She doesn’t believe in luck. Instead, she attributes her success in children’s publishing to patience, perseverance, practice, and SCBWI. She’s been a member since 1987. When new authors and illustrators ask for advice, she says, “Join SCBWI. Go to conferences. Mingle. Listen. Learn. And, when encountering your Regional Advisor, stick out your hand, say hello, and then volunteer!”

Neal Shusterman, award-winning author who began his professional writing career shortly after graduation from college, when his humor column was picked up by Syndicated Writer's Group; a national feature syndicate, making Neal, at 22, the youngest syndicated columnist in the nation. As a full-time writer, he claims to be his own hardest taskmaster, always at work creating new stories to tell. His books have received many awards from the International Reading Association, and the American Library Association, as well as garnering a myriad of state and local awards across the country. Currently Neal is adapting his newest novel Downsiders as a TV movie for The Disney Channel. His website here.

Other faculty may be added accordingly to keep small ratio of writers to faculty.

Back To Top of Page

_______________________________________________________

PRICING :

• The entire weekend package is $ 720.00. This includes a shared room at the Big Sur Lodge, all meals (incl. Tax and grats), the entire workshop, and reception Friday evening.

• 'Shared' means that you will be with one other writer in one unit. You will have separate bedrooms and share the bath. Rooms are large and comfortable. Unless you have a special reason to be private we sugget this as your best alternative. There is an additional $150.00 cost for the weekend should you need a private room..

• For a guest not participating in the workshop, but sharing a room including all meals and the reception, the cost is $ 390.00

• For locals, not needing a room at the Big Sur Lodge, but attending the workshop including all meals and the reception, the price is $ 600.00.

• If you like to stay extra nights you need to make reservations directly with the hotel’s 'in house reservations department' in order to receive the extended discount.
In house reservations: 831-393-1115. Open Monday – Thursday 7AM – 4PM Pacific Time.

• Previous participants receive a 5 % discount.

• Cancellation policy: 75% REFUND IF CANCELLED THREE WEEKS PRIOR TO STARTING DATE.
AFTER THAT NO REFUND.

Back To Top of Page
_______________________________________________________

• SUBMISSION and REGISTRATION GUIDELINES:

To register and submit your manuscript please follow the instructions below.

1. Download our registration form PDF or RTF - fill it in and send payment to:
"Children's Writing Workshop" Henry Miller Library, Highway One, Big Sur, CA 93920
Your manuscript submission will not be considered until payment has been received. You will receive immediate confirmation of registration upon receipt of payment.

2. Submit the first two chapters of your book or the first 10 pages. If picture book please submit entire book. That means you should limit your submission to ten pages. You also have the option to submit other selection(s) from your mss., including a short synopsis, but not to exceed 10 pages. (Font 12, double spaced, plain white paper). Submission via e-mail using PDF is acceptable. Please e-mail: writing@henrymiller.org

3. Send submissions for evaluation as soon as possible to:
Andrea Brown, 1076 Eagle Drive, Salinas, Ca 93905.
IMPORTANT: Mark envelope: “Big Sur Submission.”

Deadline for submission is postmark November 5, 2008.

Note: Works may not be accepted if the content falls outside the faculty area of expertise, or if the director feels the work and writer would not benefit from attending the workshop. You will be notified as soon as possible, with a full refund of registration fee, should your work not be approved. Notification of acceptance or non-acceptance is via email. The submitted material will be used by faculty for individual meetings during conference and will not be returned nor should it be counted as one of the copies you should bring to workshop.

Register early. We sell out and keep the workshop small for personal attention.

Bring 5 copies of what you plan to work on at workshop. There may be time to work on more than one project so feel free to bring a second manuscript. (you can also bring a whole manuscript with two or three areas to work on, not forgetting to bring five copies of that extra work as well).

If you have any questions please e-mail us.

We will also e-mail the registration form to you if you like.

Back To Top of Page

_______________________________________________________

• THINGS TO BRING:
Plan to write. Bring pads, laptops (printers are available). Comfortable clothes and shoes!

_______________________________________________________

• SCHEDULE: TBA (We will start around 2 PM on Friday and end around Noon on Sunday).

__________________________________________________

HOW TO GET TO THE EMBASSY SUITES
Click here.

Closest airport is Monterey Airport

Other airport that are within 2 1/2 hours driving time are San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco airports.

We will send out e-mail to all participants to facilitate carpooling/car rental sharing as we get closer to the start date. In the past many have taken advantage of this.

Back To Top of Page