Monday, March 29, 2010

Teaching at the Loft


On Saturday, April 10, I will be teaching my first class for the Loft Literary Center at Open Book in downtown Minneapolis. I'm really looking forward to it. It's a one-day workshop called The Nuts and Bolts of Writing for Children. The class is geared for beginning children's writers and anyone interested in learning about writing for children.

This workshop is not a craft class. In other words, we will not be discussing plot, setting and characters. We will be discussing basically everything else. We will tackle the big, important questions (and the little ones too) about the business of writing for kids. This will include everything from the different categories of children's books to finding a publisher to writing a cover letter.

If you, or anyone you know, might be interested in learning more about the nuts and bolts of writing for children, there's still time to sign up.

You can call the Loft at 612-379-8999 or register online.

Here is a link to the class description: http://www.loft.org/classes/adult-classes/childrens-and-young-adult-literature page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypageLoft.tpl&product_id=57&category_id=10

The workshop should be a lot of fun. And I'll have some cool giveaways!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Spotlight on Books



This coming April, I will be a featured author at the 22nd Annual Spotlight on Books conference. This conference is for anyone interested in Youth Literature. It's being held April 23 and 24, 2010 at Ruttger's Sugar Lake Lodge Resort near Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

Not only will the setting be beautiful, but the presenters will be very interesting. The Friday afternoon workshop focuses on challenges that today's librarians face. Saturday is Author Day with three featured Children's Authors:
• Ben Mikaelsen, GHOST OF SPIRIT BEAR
• Henry Cole, A NEST FOR CELESTE
• Dara Dokas, MURIEL'S RED SWEATER

• plus, a round table with Regional Authors.

If you are interested in finding out more about the conference, go to http://nlln.org/spotlight.html OR call 1-800-450-1032.

It would be fun to see you there!

To learn more about Henry Cole's new book, A NEST FOR CELESTE, visit my Bookshop Gal Blog at: http://bookshopgal.blogspot.com/.