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CANSCAIP (Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers) has an annual day-long conference for children’s and YA authors and illustrators to better their craft and connect with others.

This year’s conference will be on Sat, Nov 5th at Victoria College in Toronto.

New this year:

We’ll start the day with a Welcome Address by Governor-General’s Award winner Sarah Ellis.
The twelve workshops will include Master-level sessions—intended for established writers and illustrators—as well as a session for Beginners. All others sessions will be at the Intermediate level.
Workshops will include marketing and business topics, such as online book marketing and how to pitch your work.
Also new, is our Pitch Perfect manuscript/portfolio critiquing sessions. You can get a one-paragraph pitch plus 1000 words critiqued by either editor Gail Winskill or agent Ali McDonald in a ten-minute private session. Or you can get five portfolio pieces critiqued by art director Andrea Casault. Space is limited, and spaces will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.
You can enter a raffle to win a Blue Pencil mentorship for a picture-book manuscript with Frieda Wishinsky.
A buffet lunch of sandwiches and salads will be served to all registrants.

Here’s PYI’s line up of workshops:

Explore the nuts ‘n bolts of publishing for beginners with author Mahtab Narsimhan.
Learn how the graphic novel combines elements of art and prose with graphic novelist Jim Zubkavich.
Make connections through non-fiction writing with Catherine Rondina.
Learn how to craft a picture book with Frieda Wishinsky.
Write hearty historical fiction with author Caroline Pignat.
Discuss the illustrator’s role in character development with illustrator Bill Slavin.
Explore social media to connect with potential readers with author Hélène Boudreau.
Learn how to how to write a compelling middle-grade mystery novel with author/illustrator Kevin Sylvester.
Explore young-adult fantasy writing with bestselling author Kelley Armstrong.
Discover how to make your submission shine with editor Gail Winskill and agent Ali McDonald. In the workshop, they will also provide first-page critiques for anonymous submissions. You can submit your first page, in any genre, to [email protected], if you want a chance to be critiqued during the workshop.
Join established writers for a master-level workshop with Sarah Ellis.
Join established illustrators for a master-level workshop with Ruth Ohi.

The keynote speaker will be the inspirational and creative author/illustrator Loris Lesynski.

Register early to get your first choice in workshops and one of the limited number of Pitch Perfect critiquing sessions.

Need another reason to register early? This year, the first 75 registrants will be automatically entered in a draw to win a Blue Pencil mentorship in any genre with keynote speaker Loris Lesynski.

For more information, go to Packaging Your Imagination 2011 or contact the office at 416-515-1559 or [email protected].

Can’t go to the 37th Annual Summer SCBWI conference this year? Yeah, I can’t either; I just can’t afford the air flight, hotel, etc. Well, we’re in luck, because Alice Pope, editor of the Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market, will be covering the conference on her blog.

The conference is from August 1-4 in Los Angeles, CA. Pope will report on all the sessions she attends, the people she meets, the portfolio event, the parties and schmooze opportunities, and maybe even some things she overhears.

I’m sure there’ll be other people blogging about the conference, too. Know someone who will be? Or you’ve written a blog post yourself? Let me know and I’ll update this post.

Packaging Your Imagination is an annual one-day conference in Toronto for children’s writers, put on by CANSCAIP–the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers. Each year, there are workshops for children’s writers at all stages, as well as for illustrators and performers, conducted by professionals successful in their fields. Attendees can choose three workshops to attend, and everyone can attend the keynote address by award-winning author/illustrator Marie-Louise Gay.

This year there are many great speakers, including Kit Pearson, Julie Lawson, Kathy Stinson, Ted Staunton, and more.

The conference will be held on Saturday, November 1, 2008, and is $135, which includes three sessions, morning coffee, lunch and the keynote address. It usually sells out pretty quickly, so if you want to attend you may want to sign up soon. For more information, see this page on the CANSCAIP website, or download their brochure which is on that page.

Controversial enough to be jailed, bawdy, talented, end endlessly quoted, Mae West is the pop archetype of sexual wantonness and ribald humor. In her book, Mae West: An Icon in Black and White, Jill Watts looks at the ways West borrowed from African-American culture and helps us understand this endlessly complicated woman. In the telling excerpt below we learn about how West’s first Broadway play SEX came to fruition.

One day, Mae West and some friends sat stuck in New York City traffic. In a rush, she ordered her driver to take a shortcut past the waterfront, and as her car rolled past the docks she spied a young woman with a sailor on each arm. West described her as attractive but with “blonde hair, over bleached and all frizzy . . . a lot of make-up on and a tight black satin coat that was all wrinkled and soiled. . . .She had runs in her stockings and she had this little turban on and a big beautiful bird of paradise.” Mae remarked to her companions, “You wonder this dame wouldn’t put half a bird of paradise on her head and the rest of the money into a coat and stockings.” But as her friends speculated that the bird of paradise was probably a seafaring John’s recompense and that this woman of the streets at best made only fifty cents to two dollars a trick, Mae grew enraged. Certainly she was worldly enough to know about prostitution, yet she recalled, “I was really upset about that.” She insisted it disturbed her to witness such exploitation of a woman—and also to realize that a woman could be so ignorant of her potential for exploiting her exploitation. (more…)

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