Children's Writers of the Hudson Valley Conference - June 8, 2013

Today, we have Karen Orloff, children's picture book author as our guest and she is here to tell us of a new conference opportunity.

1. Could you tell us a little bit about your organization? 

Children's Writers of the Hudson Valley (CWHV) is a brand-new organization started by six children's writers who have ten years of conference planning between them: myself, Val Marchini, Tracy Marchini, Karen Shan, Della Ross Ferreri and Catherine Ciocchi in order to help local writers get the tools they need to publish their work. We are dedicated to the development, education, and professionalism of children's book writers.

2.  Who can attend this conference? 

Anyone who writes for children, whether they are published or unpublished, is welcome to attend!

3.  Where is going to be held? 

This year's conference will be held at the Hampton Inn, on Route 9 (South Road) in Poughkeepsie, on Saturday, June 8th from 8:30 a.m. - 4:15 p.m.

4. What makes it different form other writer's conferences? 

We believe this conference differs from some of the others because it will truly be a "hands-on" event, where writers will come with their notebooks and pens, ready to work. 

Two publishing professionals, Sterling editor Brett Duquette, and Curtis Brown agent Sarah LaPolla, will each be giving essentially a four-hour workshop (two, 2- hour sessions, broken up by lunch) where they will lead participants in
writing exercises on a variety of subjects, such as character development, dialogue, etc.  Brett will be offering a workshop on picture book writing; Sarah will be doing a novel writing session. Participants will choose one of these and will stay with that group during the course of the day.


Additionally, Tracy Marchini, former agent's assistant for Curtis Brown, will be giving an hour-long query letter writing workshop, which everyone will participate in.

5. What is the day's schedule? 

The conference begins at 8:45. From 9 -11 a.m., we will break up into the picture book and novel writing groups.

Lunch will be offered from 11 - 12. 

From 12 - 12:30, the agent and editor will hold an informal Q&A session to discuss their submission policies
and types of work they are acquiring, among other things.

 From 12:45 - 2:45, the picture book and novels workshops continue

3:00 - 4:00 will be the query letter writing session 

and from 4:00 - 4:15, there will be door prizes.

 6.Anything else we should know? 

Cost of this conference is $90, which includes lunch.  Off-site written critiques will be available by Tracy Marchini for an additional $25. 

Space is limited but there are still spots open.  For more information and to print out a registration form, go to http://cwhv.blogspot.com.  

Or email me (Karen Orloff) at: orloff@bestweb.net.

We are looking forward to a wonderful, exciting and educational event!