Are You Ready for the BIG FIVE-OH? The SCBWI Summer Conference Celebrates SCBWI's 50th Anniversary! (Registration Opens May 19 at 10am Pacific)

 

July 29-August 2, 2021, Live on Zoom

It's going to be a party, a conference, a connection with community, and so much more! Registration opens TOMORROW May 19, 2021 at 10am Pacific - click here: https://www.scbwi.org/event-summer-conference-2021/

Here's the scoop:

The three main days are July 30, 31 and August 1, with optional events on the day before and the day after, as well as a free bonus peer critique day on August 7. Featuring a super-star faculty of over 50 industry leaders speaking on over 50 topics, the 50th promises to be memorable for all SCBWI members.

We are breaking the mold this year and providing an all-new format. Gone are the hour-long conversations, replaced with over 50 fifteen or thirty-minute keynotes offering concrete and specific advice on all aspects of creating children’s books. Whether you want to learn how to create a graphic novel script or promote your illustrations on social media, how to outline your novel in three easy steps or write a rhyming picture book, there is meaty information for your specific interest. In addition, every session will provide a handout of take-away points and tips, and all sessions will be available to attendees online for a month following the conference. It’s a buffet of fifty plus topics and speakers for you to gorge on, both live and at your leisure.

Each day will also feature a themed mingle so you can get to know some of your fellow attendees. And a series of nightly socials will provide opportunities to connect with like-minded writers and illustrators.

The pre-opening day, July 29, will feature two optional intensives, one called LAUNCHPAD with sessions aimed at new-to-the-field creators who are launching their careers. The second intensive on that day is called PRO DAY, featuring a multitude of practical insider sessions for published authors and illustrators. The final day, August 2, will bring you an intensive for illustrators, which is free to all those who have enrolled in the full conference. Also on that day, we will also have PITCH ROUNDTABLES, where you select an agent or editor and participate in their hour-long pitch session. Each attendee who registers for this day will get seven minutes to pitch their book and get a response from the agent or editor roundtable leader. There is a limit of 900 places in the pitch roundtable day, so if you plan to take advantage of it, please mark the registration date in your calendar and don’t delay signing up.

By the way, the registration date is May 19, opening at 10 a.m. PACIFIC time. (That’s 1 p.m. EASTERN time, and all kinds of other times in other time zones.) Tuition for the main conference is $150. Tuition for the July 29 intensive is $100. (You must pick one and be signed up for the whole conference.). Fee for the Roundtable pitch day is $75. Fee for the portfolio showcase is $75. The Illustrator Intensive is included in your conference registration.

In addition, there is the career-altering Portfolio Showcase with two grand prizes, the opportunity to sell your books in our online conference bookstore, the bonus Peer Critique day (free to all registrants on Saturday, August 7), and a full set of handouts to remind you of all you’ve learned from this once-in-a-lifetime collection of masters in the field.

Over 30 scholarships are available, including many for underrepresented creators.

Here is an alphabetical list of conference speakers, so far:

Kwame Alexander
Elana K. Arnold
Sarah Aronson
Darcie Little Badger
Jessixa Bagley
Claudia Bedrick
Jenny Bent
Sophie Blackall
Valerie Bolling
Alex Borbolla
Regina Brooks
Mahogany Browne
Cozbi A. Cabrera
Kacen Callender
Nancy Carpenter
Nancy Castaldo
Antonio Gonzalez-Cerna
Ruth Chan
Nidhi Chanani
Jenny Choy
Ernesto Cisneros
Lesa Cline-Ransome
Brandy Colbert
Matthew Cordell
Kandace Coston
Mary Claire Cruz
Pat Cummings
Mike Curato
Adriana Dominguez
Elizabeth Dulemba
Kait Feldmann
Feather Flores
Marla Frazee
Saho Fujii
Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Grimes
Shannon Hale
Kirsten Hall
Deborah Halverson
Vashti Harrison
Leah Henderson
Saritza Hernandez
Zara Gonzalez Hoang
Tiffany D. Jackson
Milena Jahier
Allyn Johnston
Cecile Kaiser
Naz Kutub
Tricia Lawrence
Minh Le
Arthur Levine
Tiff Liao
Malinda Lo
Melissa Manlove
Barbara Marcus
Janae Marks
Alice McGinty
Torrey Maldonado
Heather Montgomery
Yuyi Moralesv Erin Murphy
Michelle Nagler
Daniel Nayeri
Debbie Ridpath Ohi
Lin Oliver
Linda Sue Park
Hallie Patterson
Darcy Pattison
Ann Whitford Paul
Erica Perl
Beth Phelan
Tanusri Prasanna
James Ransome
John Rocco
Nadia Salomon
Dan Santat
Tammi Sauer
Gary Schmidt
Heather E. Schwartz
Karol Ruth Silverstein
Ronald L. Smith
Christina Soontornvat
Traci Sorell
Nova Ren Suma
Jennifer Swanson
Shaun Tan
Brent Taylor
Aiden Thomas
Brittany J. Thurman
Jennifer Vassel
Padma Venkatraman
Lisa Yee
Phoebe Yeh
Paula Yoo

We hope you'll join us for this online happening!

Illustrate, Translate, and Write On!
Lee