The New York Library Association had it’s annual conference and trade show in Syracuse, NY Nov. 7th and 8th, 2024. SCBWI Eastern NY was there promoting our authors and our READ LOCAL program.

Thank you to the authors and illustrators who manned our booth!

Our Falling Leaves Masterclass Retreat is a car ride or train ride away in the Adirondack Mountains. And along with a lake and a forest full of trees, we have a limit of 35 attendees with four editors and one agent as faculty.

The weekend includes a one-on-one critique with one faculty member, masterclass-level workshops, peer critiques, free time for kicking back in an Adirondack chair with a warm drink, taking a lakeside hike, or reading by the fireplace in the lodge. It has been over 15 years since our first Eastern NY SCBWI Falling Leaves master class retreat and we're still going strong!

Class description: Nonfiction picture books are often an easier sell. There are so many potential markets, and facts are less subjective than fiction. But Emotional Nonfiction takes nonfiction to a whole new level, playing with format and weaving the strategies of fiction into facts to help young readers fall in love with our world. If you can make someone care, they will follow you anywhere.

SCBWI Eastern NY Member Spotlight on Children’s Author, Lesa Cline-Ransome.

SCBWI Eastern NY Member Spotlight on writer and illustrator, John Ebbert.

Get to know Sarah Luann Perkins, SCBWI Eastern NY Illustration Coordinator, what inspires her writing and illustrations, and what she loves to draw!

This is Part 2 in the Aspiring Writer Series.

Q: “Is there anything you offer for aspiring writers that don’t know where to begin? It’s always been a dream of mine to write a children’s book. I have sat down to start writing and I feel like I don’t know what I am doing. I’d be grateful for any help.”

A: Getting started is so overwhelming! But here’s the best place to start.

Get to know Kimberly Sabatini, Co-ARA of SCBWI Eastern NY, as she gives writing advice and describes her fabulous Middle Grade works-in-progress!

Interview with Co-ARA volunteer, Kyra Johnston.

If you are an illustrator and you are wondering how you gain attention for your work, look no further! SCBWI offers illustrators many ways to gain the attention of art directors, editors, and agents and join a community of other kidlit illustrators and find some illo-buddies online.

Here are just a few!

How to use interview techniques to improve your character development and creative writing skills.

(Photo Credit: Susan Weber from UnSplash)

Learn how publisher and author Janine De Tillio Cammarata uses journal techniques to help her get to know her characters.

Author/Illustrator, Sarah Perkins (our very own Illustrator Coordinator) has published her first picture book!

Sarah will share her art and her reflections on the publishing process. She is going to walk us through the journey from the spark of the idea to holding her published book in her hand–finding an agent, submitting her story, working with an editor and art director, revisions, revisions, and more revisions!

Good Publishing News! Eastern NY SCBWI member, author Diana Murray sold her picture book Firehouse Rainbow to Golden Books!

Eastern Up! writer and illustrator, Amy Guglielmo is the creative director for the revived Reading Rainbow!

Nonfiction Is Cool, and Our Kids Know It

Eastern Up! writer, Amanda Baker writes about the changes in kidlit nonfiction in Scientific America and it was featured in Publisher’s Weekly! Read the article here.

Publishing deals, awards, book cover reveals—all the good publishing news from SCBWI Eastern NY!