Join published children’s writers Wendi Silvano, Jeri Baird and Rebecca Carpenter for a presentation on writing for young readers, which differs from writing for adults. Discover what categories and genres it includes, how to get started, how to keep going, and learn what resources are available to those interested in writing for the younger crowd. We will cover everything from novelty books, easy readers, picture books, chapter books, and middle grade and Young Adult novels.

Wendi Silvano has been writing for children for 22 years. She is the award-winning author of Turkey Trouble and 7 other picture books, more than a dozen early readers, some novelty books, numerous magazine stories and a variety of educational projects. She is a former teacher and the mother of five. She is also the Western Slope Local Area Coordinator for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Visit her online at www.wendisilvano.com

Jeri Baird’s first young adult novel, Tokens and Omens, was released in July 2016, with a sequel due out next summer. Before becoming a middle grade and YA author, she worked as a handmade paper artist, an entrepreneurship teacher for at-risk high school students, a reflexologist, a rock painter, and a zombie (in a film, not a real one). She currently lives in Montrose, Colorado, with her husband and one cat. Visit her online at www.JeriBaird.blogspot.com.

Rebecca Carpenter is a native of Western Colorado. She owns and directs a large childcare center where she shares her love for books. She also works part time as a freelance copy editor and interns as an assistant to the editor for a small press. She self-published a memoir about her teen pregnancy in 2012, and her science-fiction young adult novel, Butterfly Bones, was just released by Lakewater Press, with the second book in the series scheduled for release next year.