40 | The Writer • January 2020
CONFERENCE INSIDER
BY MELISSA HART
Y
ears ago, author Jeff Stone
attended the Big Sur Chil-
dren’s Writing Workshop
with the beginning of what
would become his The Five Ancestors
series for middle-school readers. At
the workshop, he met literary agent
Laura Rennert as well as an editor at
Random House.
Then, he landed a six-figure book
deal.
“He’s our biggest success story,” says
Andrea Brown, executive director of the
workshop and president of the Andrea
Brown Literary Agency. “But we have an
enormous number of success stories.”
Participants are asked to bring pol-
ished drafts of their manuscripts to the
three-day event, which is geared
toward intermediate – rather than
beginning – children’s writers. Those
interested in attending are asked to
email three sample pages of their work
for faculty review before registering.
The workshop, which takes place
once a year in both Cape Cod and
Northern California, caps at 100 par-
ticipants who spend a long weekend
in groups of no more than five writers
at a time, guided in critique and revi-
sion by a professional author, agent,
or editor. “There’s a warm, congenial
feeling all weekend because a lot of
the same writers and faculty attend
each year,” Brown says. “We’ve created
a writing community.”
What you’ll learn
In between critique group sessions,
Big Sur Children’s Writing
Wor k s h o p
Need a boot camp for kidlit authors? Look no further than this
bicoastal conference.Workshop participants pose in front of The Eight Cousins Bookshop in Falmouth, Mass. at a cocktail
party event at the Cape Cod location of the Big Sur Writer’s Workshop.participants listen to panels made up
of literary agents and – separately –
editors, who offer insights into writing,
publishing, and marketing children’s
literature. “Editors talk about whatthey’re looking for and how acquisi-
tions work at their house,” Brown
explains. “One of our regular faculty,
Eric J. Adams, does a wonderful work-
shop on structure, and sometimes we BrandiHand