2024 Children's Lit Conference
July 10-14, 2024 (5 days)
Workshops in Writing Picture Books, Middle Grade and YA Fiction
"If you're dreaming of becoming the next J. K. Rowling, we've got the perfect place
for you—the Southampton Children's Literature Conference." – School Library Journal
The Southampton Children's Lit Conference provides a unique forum in which to study and discuss the craft of writing for children.
World-renowned authors, illustrators and editors offer inspiration and guidance through workshops, lectures, group discussions and special presentations on the beautiful campus of Stony Brook Southampton, a stone's throw from the gorgeous beaches and historic villages of the Hamptons.
Writing workshops are the heart and soul of the conference experience, meeting every morning for a total of five 3-hour sessions, from Wednesday-Sunday. Enrollment is limited to 12 students per workshop. Remaining hours are devoted to electives - lectures, readings, and panel discussions featuring faculty members and distinguished visiting authors, editors, publishers, and agents. Participants also enjoy a rich schedule of social gatherings— author receptions, open-mic nights, breakfasts, lunches and dinners “under the tent.” During free time, participants can draw inspiration from the Hamptons’ beaches or explore our charming nearby towns.
Scholarship deadline: March 15
General Deadline April 15.
Writing, Reading & Revising Picture Books with Heidi E. Y. Stemple
Picture books can shed light in the darkness and help chase away fear and loneliness and monsters, real and metaphorical. They can make kids laugh and find meaning in small private spaces. They can open up conversations and minds. They help shape the building blocks for the future. They can introduce new people and concepts and foreign lands and allow kids to see how similar we all are even where there are differences. They sew seeds of empathy and kindness. And, to quote the internet, they are the one thing that can change the trajectory of a child’s intellectual outcome. That is a LOT to ask of 32 pages. In this workshop, we will learn to write and revise effectively to create picture books that will be both marketable and loved by child readers.
Hitting a Vein – Writing raw, quirky, wreckless YA with Libba Bray
A fearless exploration of what it takes to write singular fiction for young adults.
Question assumptions, subvert stereotypes and unlock your innermost secrets in pursuit
of your authentic voice, with the New York Times bestselling author of The Gemma Doyle
trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing); the Michael
L. Printz Award-winning Going Bovine; Beauty Queens, an L.A. Times Book Prize finalist;
and The Diviners series.