SCBWI ACT Professional Development Day – Connect and Grow
Join us for our annual SCBWI ACT Professional Development Day Connect and Grow on Sunday 24 September from 1-5pm in the Ferguson Room at the National Library of Australia.
We’ve organised a one hour ‘Ask Sue’ session with children’s author and industry expert Sue Whiting, a one-hour session with illustration guru Nina Rycroft, a publisher talk from the National Library of Australia Publisher Lauren Smith and 30 minutes with our very own Stephanie Owen Reeder on research. The biographies for our speakers are below. We’ll also have time to celebrate SCBWI ACT book babies!
We have also organised a few illustration portfolio assessments with Nina Rycroft.
Important information regarding illustration submissions:
Submissions should be saved with file title including your name.
Please provide a short bio and approx. 5-10 illustration samples, all saved in one PDF file.
Following your booking you can submit your manuscript to sarahwallacewrites@gmail.com by Friday 15 September 2023.
Book on trybooking - https://www.trybooking.com/CLGCX
The session starts at 1pm. If you’d like to join us for lunch at the NLA Café Bookplate at 12pm please RSVP to scbwiact@gmail.com
Session agenda
1pm Welcome
1.05pm Ask Sue with Sue Whiting
2.05pm Celebrate SCBWI ACT Book Babies
2.15pm Illustration with Nina Rycroft
3.15pm Afternoon tea and book signing
3.45m Publisher insights with Lauren Smith from the NLA
4.20pm Research with Dr Stephanie Owen Reeder
5pm End
Sue Whiting
Sue Whiting is an award-winning children’s and YA author and editor and former teacher, who has worked in publishing for twenty+ years. Sue was senior commissioning editor and publishing manager for Walker Books Australia for many years before leaving in 2016 to concentrate on her writing. Sue has written numerous books for a variety of age groups, from picture books through to YA, including the bestselling Missing, the acclaimed The Book of Chance and a number of CBCA Notable Books. Sue’s latest books are Tilda, a historical novel for readers 10+ and Pearly and Pig and the Lost City of Mu Savan, the second book in her new junior fiction series. As a storyteller and schools’ performer, Sue has informed, inspired and entertained thousands of kids across the country. Sue is passionate about the power of story and is an advocate for reading and writing for pleasure.
Nina Rycroft
Nina Rycroft has been illustrating picture books since being awarded the CBCA (Children’s Book Council of Australia) Notable Book in 2000. Since then, she has illustrated more than a dozen picture books published worldwide. Nina passion extends beyond illustration to education, having taught over 60,000 students through her character design classes and acclaimed 8-week Picture Book Illustration e-Course. As the heart behind the Treehouse Membership, Nina fosters an online community for aspiring illustrators to follow their picture book dreams.
For more about Nina and her books, Nina's Treehouse Membership and her 8-week Picture Book Illustration e-Course and Skillshare classes. Follow Nina on Instagram and Facebook.
Lauren Smith
Lauren Smith is the publisher at the National Library of Australia. Lauren started making books at the age of seven, and except for a brief dalliance in marketing, has been doing so ever since. In her experience at the Library and previously at Australian Geographic, she has focused on publishing meaningful books for children and adults that excite curiosity and wonder in their readers.
Dr Stephanie Owen Reeder
Dr Stephanie Owen Reeder has worked as a teacher, a librarian, an academic, an editor, an author and an illustrator. She has produced over twenty books for children, ranging from nonfiction picture books to her Heritage Heroes series of historical novels. Stephanie has won both the New South Wales Premier’s History Award and the CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Award for information books.