On a cold and wet Melbourne day, SCBWI Vic held a warm and energised gathering at Library at the Dock. Our RA, Caz Goodwin welcomed everybody and we began our afternoon with the popular Show and Tell Segment. What a wonderful bunch of creatives!
Our first member speaker was Heidi McKinnon, an author / illustrator who lives in sunny Melbourne. Heidi is passionate about making fun and engaging books that kids want to read again and again. Heidi talked about her journey to making books, forming ideas and wrangling the dreaded 'imposter syndrome'. In her early life Heidi loved to draw and read and was inspired by the Muppets. She studied graphic design at RMIT and when she became a mum, she discovered the magic of picture books and became an illustrator. Heidi showed us which brushes she prefers on Procreate.
She took us through her creative process from first ideas to storyboards and included a slide showing one of her childhood drawings and how it has progressed, and retained similarities. It was fantastic to see how Heidi creates her characters and stories filled with humour and energy.
Our next member speaker was Jess Racklyeft, an illustrator and author who has created over 30 picture books over the past decade. Her picture book Iceberg, written by Claire Saxby, won the CBCA Picture Book of the Year award in 2022. She travelled to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in 2011 when she worked in publishing sales, and returned this year having won the SCBWI Scholarship to attend. ‘Bologna’ is the leading professional fair for children’s books in the world, where professionals involved in creating and publishing children’s books gather to buy and sell rights, and it includes the world-famous Illustrators Exhibition. Jess talked about her experiences, and lessons learned from her time at Bologna.
Jess also talked about ways to prepare a budget when considering going to a conference like Bologna and her application process. She also shared with us preparation tips for travelling and how to make the most of your time at Bologna. Using slides and short videos, it was terrific to get a glimpse of this world famous conference.
We then stopped for a social networking afternoon tea.
Our guest speaker was Angela Crocombe. Angela has a Graduate Diploma in Publishing and Editing, as well as completing the RMIT course in Professional Writing. She has worked at Readings bookshops in Melbourne since 2011 and was the founding manager of Readings Kids in Carlton from October 2016 to September 2021. She is a long-term book industry professional who has worked as a sales representative, publicist and in foreign rights at a number of Australian publishing companies, including Penguin and Black Inc. Angela is also the author of two non-fiction books on sustainable living and thirteen educational books for primary school students. Her books Climate Change and Water Supply were shortlisted for The Wilderness Society’s Environmental Awards for Children’s Literature in 2009. She is passionate about inspiring children to develop a love of reading.
Angela spoke about her varied career in the children’s book industry, her role as a book-buyer and provided tips for making the most of your relationship with booksellers.
Angela said that Sales Representatives perform a vital role when it comes to book recommendations and gave advice on what creators can do to help sales. Angela’s talk was so interesting and informative. It was great to gain an understanding of how books find their way onto shelves.
The last part of the afternoon was two lucky door prizes. Michelle Write took home a copy of Heidi’s ‘Floof’ picture book and Jo Dabrowski took home a copy of Jess’s ‘Big Cat’. Congratulations!
Huge thanks to Caz Goodwin who is the mastermind behind each of our events, the committee, our wonderful speakers and to everyone who joined us.