Lucie Stevens (Left), Vishali Seshadri (top right), Mateja Jager (lower right)
The brilliant SCBWI NSW team have been working hard to create exciting events for 2026 and on February 18, they kicked off with the first: The Art and Heart of Creating Children’s Books, a wonderful event at Chatswood Library.
We heard from three inspirational speakers: Vishali Seshadri editor at Penguin Random House, author Lucie Stevens and illustrator and designer, Mateja Jager, who left us all buzzing with ideas and energy.
Vishali reminded us of the basics when creating a kids book…and what makes a kids’ book engaging. She looked at character, narration, plot and pace as well as touching on knowing your audience and why that is important.
Lucie gave us an enlightening talk about preparing your creative space for successful writing flow. She encouraged each of us to meditate on our perfect creative space and how to prepare ourselves for a day of creativity, protecting that space from distractions and allowing for playfulness and ideas to flourish. We especially loved when she read out her three minute meditation she does before her writing to safeguard her writing space
Mateja wowed us all as she took us through her illustration process of how she created her beautiful picture book, Paper-Flower Girl, written by Magrete Lamond. It was magical to watch her sketches develop and come to life in this gorgeous book.
Huge thank you to Eleni from Chatswood library who liaised with the SCBWI team to make the night such a success. She was so welcoming and wonderful.
We also had the chance to officially welcome Lara Porter to the team. Lara is our new social events coordinator, so as well as professional development sessions, we’ll also have chances to simply catch up and enjoy each other’s company.
And we welcomed Lucie Stevens, who has very kindly taken over the newsletter from Jemima Parker, our impeccably wonderful newsletter creator for the last three years.
SCBWI is entirely made up of volunteers and we are so grateful to all our members who help SCBWI continue to flourish.
All SCBWI Aust East teams have lots in store for 2026, so look out for the newsletter and the events page to know more.
Have a wonderful, playful and creative year from all of us at SCBWI.