At the 21st Century CNFC with the other Canadian authors and 1 publisher. We were celebrating our wins-- I guessed the number of Hershey kisses in a jar and they received the highest score on the "How much do you know about England?" quiz. (Yes, very random.) Helaine drew a maple leaf on that red bag. Second row L to R: Nadia L. Hohn, Joan Marie Galat Seated row L to R: Diane Dakers, Helaine Becker, Kelly Spence of Crabtree Books . In March this year, I received an e-mail about a "very interesting" sounding conference-- the 21st Century Children's Non-Fiction Conference (CNFC)-- coming to Bronx, New York in June 2015. Although I was skeptical, I couldn't let go the idea of a conference dedicated to children's non-fiction. In 2012, I had taken a Non-fiction for Children course at George Brown College with author, Catherine Rondina, and in a month or so, my first two books, Music and Media in the non-fiction Sankofa series, will be available. I asked myself, where do I go from here? How do I begin to write, research, and finish my next non-fiction book ideas? What formats should they take? Although I had never heard of this conference nor its organizers and it sounded a little too good to be true with its many, many workshop sessions focusing on aspects of children's non-fiction, and the sponsors (I was not even sure if they were really the sponsors), I was intrigued-- three days spent on the idea of a conference wholly dedicated to non-fiction children's work, an opportunity not found in other children's writers conferences which tend to focus on picture books and novels NOT non-fiction. There was no talk among authors regarding the 21st CNFC, no buzz... and because there was no buzz, I figured, it was in its first year and it probably had some glitches to work out, that is until I asked a few SCBWI Montreal 2015 Conference attendees about it. They directed me to American-born Canadian non-fiction author, Helaine Becker, who I not only found out was attending 21st CNFC, but she told me she highly recommended it, that it was "legit", and the conference was in its 3rd year. I felt that I could trust Helaine's opinion. She has written for many publications and is the author of several books for children including two of her latest works Zoobots: Wild Robots Inspired by Real Animals and Dashing through the Snow: A Canadian Jingle Bells. I figured this woman knows what she's talking about. Helaine assured me that the conference would be an asset for "multi-book non-fiction authors" like herself as well as "two-book non-fiction authors" comme moi. As soon as I got back from Montreal, I looked into registering because 1) I had received positive responses to two non-fiction proposals and 2) I needed inspiration and information to proceed with these non-fiction book ideas. I contacted the CNFC organizers, who quickly responded to me, and I asked to get a proposal critique. I was assigned to a petite, energetic, funny science writer for children named Roxie Munro. At CNFC, Roxie took time and went through my proposals. She gave me some feedback and suggestions about the format as well. Usually after a writing conference, I take a few weeks or months to digest the information and then start making revisions to my writing with these suggestions. She gave me a written summary of her feedback and I also took copious notes.
Making revisions, focused at work with author Roxie Munro.
Open table session with Vicki Cobb. Credit: Publishers Weekly Overall, the 21st Century CNFC conference was a wonderful opportunity to make contacts and network specifically within the children's non-fiction genre, as well as gain insights on new concepts and ideas that are in demand. I displayed my portfolio and took in wonderful workshops each with solid presenters. The workshops and panels that I attended were:
- Welcome & Publisher Panel: New Trends in Publishing
- Writing Nonfiction that Flies Off the Shelves
- Trade Books for Different Age Groups and Markets- Samantha Schutz, Marisa Polansky
- How I Use Social Media Marketing Dixie Laite, Kelly Leonard, Roxie Munro, Amanda Barbara
- Building Your Brand and Letting People Know About It: Tips for World Domination Dixie Laite
- Panel 3: Publishers Panel: Responding to Our Questions What DO You Want to Know ?s & A Few Answers
- Writing and Illustrating for NF Magazines by Linda Rose (by Highlights Magazine)
- Young Adult Non-Fiction- The Trendy New: Niche by Domenica DiPiazza
- Library of Congress Presentation: “Teaching with Primary Sources”— Nancy A. Mazzella, United Federation of Teachers- Teacher Center
All of these workshops took place from the evening of Friday, June 12 to the afternoon of Sunday, June 14, PLUS there was an outdoor reception BBQ buffet, a banquet dinner, a cocktail evening, a cocktail hour, as well as two small Open Table sessions that were focused on more specific topics. The sessions I chose were Finding Your Voice by Vicki Cobb and Andrea Warren in Writing Non-Fiction History for Young Readers: Ten Things I Wish I’d Known from Day One.
Generally, I enjoyed all of my conference workshop sessions and found them very informative although at times, I wished that the clinicians would not only talk to and present on their specific publications but speak in more generalized terms. The presenters were prepared although some of the conference attendees told me that they had disappointing sessions with unprepared presenters. All in all, I got a lot out of 21st CNFC. I loved that the organizers allowed for ample time for intimate conversations and networking, as well I loved that there were a large number of workshops from which to choose. I met several American authors including Susan Reich who gave me some amazing feedback on the first couple pages of my non-fiction book idea. I also connected with publishers of non-fiction magazines and books which I am following up on.
The fact that CNFC was held at Manhattan College in Riverdale (the Bronx) this year was an added bonus. (I have a lot of relatives in the Bronx where there is a large Jamaican immigrant community.) But the conference schedule was so "ram-jam" packed that I didn't get much time to do as much visiting as I would have liked. (Oh well, I have an excuse to book another trip to NYC.) I also appreciated that the organizers chose to bring a national writers event to the Bronx, because like my home communities of Rexdale and Jane-and-Finch, often gets a nationally bad reputation as if all there is guns, drugs, poverty, and crime. It is wonderful to know that children's book authors can be creatively inspired to write, illustrate and discuss books in this borough and not necessarily always in Manhattan (or downtown Toronto). Sure it was a little more of a trek to get out to the Bronx, but the Manhattan College campus is gorgeous and the staff very welcoming. I hope in future years, the CNFC attendees will become more diverse. Perhaps more outreach to the broader community, the Bronx, and writers and illustrators of colour would help. I gladly met two African-American writers Ayanna Murray and Ray Anthony Shepard who are each have worked on exciting and necessary historical non-fiction. Also, it seemed in my workshops that there is a demand for more diverse non-fiction stories for which I can largely thank the We Need Diverse Books people. On a completely different note, the vegetarian food was awesome except for the banquet evening. (Plain rice, no gravy, no sauce, dessert, and green beans? What were they thinking?)
You can read all about the conference in this Publishers Weekly article where you will also find photos of yours truly. I look forward to reviewing my notes and delving into my non-fiction writing.
- Welcome & Publisher Panel: New Trends in Publishing
- Writing Nonfiction that Flies Off the Shelves
- Trade Books for Different Age Groups and Markets- Samantha Schutz, Marisa Polansky
- How I Use Social Media Marketing Dixie Laite, Kelly Leonard, Roxie Munro, Amanda Barbara
- Building Your Brand and Letting People Know About It: Tips for World Domination Dixie Laite
- Panel 3: Publishers Panel: Responding to Our Questions What DO You Want to Know ?s & A Few Answers
- Writing and Illustrating for NF Magazines by Linda Rose (by Highlights Magazine)
- Young Adult Non-Fiction- The Trendy New: Niche by Domenica DiPiazza
- Library of Congress Presentation: “Teaching with Primary Sources”— Nancy A. Mazzella, United Federation of Teachers- Teacher Center
All of these workshops took place from the evening of Friday, June 12 to the afternoon of Sunday, June 14, PLUS there was an outdoor reception BBQ buffet, a banquet dinner, a cocktail evening, a cocktail hour, as well as two small Open Table sessions that were focused on more specific topics. The sessions I chose were Finding Your Voice by Vicki Cobb and Andrea Warren in Writing Non-Fiction History for Young Readers: Ten Things I Wish I’d Known from Day One.
Generally, I enjoyed all of my conference workshop sessions and found them very informative although at times, I wished that the clinicians would not only talk to and present on their specific publications but speak in more generalized terms. The presenters were prepared although some of the conference attendees told me that they had disappointing sessions with unprepared presenters. All in all, I got a lot out of 21st CNFC. I loved that the organizers allowed for ample time for intimate conversations and networking, as well I loved that there were a large number of workshops from which to choose. I met several American authors including Susan Reich who gave me some amazing feedback on the first couple pages of my non-fiction book idea. I also connected with publishers of non-fiction magazines and books which I am following up on.
The fact that CNFC was held at Manhattan College in Riverdale (the Bronx) this year was an added bonus. (I have a lot of relatives in the Bronx where there is a large Jamaican immigrant community.) But the conference schedule was so "ram-jam" packed that I didn't get much time to do as much visiting as I would have liked. (Oh well, I have an excuse to book another trip to NYC.) I also appreciated that the organizers chose to bring a national writers event to the Bronx, because like my home communities of Rexdale and Jane-and-Finch, often gets a nationally bad reputation as if all there is guns, drugs, poverty, and crime. It is wonderful to know that children's book authors can be creatively inspired to write, illustrate and discuss books in this borough and not necessarily always in Manhattan (or downtown Toronto). Sure it was a little more of a trek to get out to the Bronx, but the Manhattan College campus is gorgeous and the staff very welcoming. I hope in future years, the CNFC attendees will become more diverse. Perhaps more outreach to the broader community, the Bronx, and writers and illustrators of colour would help. I gladly met two African-American writers Ayanna Murray and Ray Anthony Shepard who are each have worked on exciting and necessary historical non-fiction. Also, it seemed in my workshops that there is a demand for more diverse non-fiction stories for which I can largely thank the We Need Diverse Books people. On a completely different note, the vegetarian food was awesome except for the banquet evening. (Plain rice, no gravy, no sauce, dessert, and green beans? What were they thinking?)
You can read all about the conference in this Publishers Weekly article where you will also find photos of yours truly. I look forward to reviewing my notes and delving into my non-fiction writing.
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