New Children’s Writing Course from Midwest Writing Center
Who: Stephanie Guerra and Midwest Writing Center
What: Writing Picture Books: Craft and Composition
When: May 2 and 9 from 12pm – 2pm
Where: Butterworth Center, 1105 8th St, Moline
Cost: $20 for MWC members / $30 for non-members, with scholarships available
Capacity: 10 participants
The Midwest Writing Center is hosting a writing class picture books, led by author Stephanie Guerra. This workshop will support the creation of books for young readers and help writers to better understand how picture books work.
This two-session workshop will focus on the craft of writing picture books. Through instruction, demonstration, reading analysis, group discussion, and generative writing, participants will work through how illustrations and text interact to tell stories, how a picture book author and illustrator relationship works, and create their own texts.
This workshop also includes manuscript review and discussion with instructor and children’s author Stephanie Guerra. Participants should send their picture book manuscript in advance in order to receive prepared feedback.
Cost of the workshop is $20 for MWC members, $30 for non-members. Thanks to a grant from Quad City Arts, we have full scholarships available for BIPOC writers, students, veterans, and those with financial need; please download an application here of contact MWC. Registration is available via the MWC website or by calling the MWC office at 309-732-7330.
Stephanie Guerra is an author for children and teens. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Notre Dame and has been teaching college courses on children’s literature and young adult fiction since 2006. Her young adult novel, Torn, received a starred audiobook review from School Library Journal. Kirkus called her “a strong new voice” and Booklist praised her “complex characters.” Stephanie’s first middle-grade novel, Billy the Kid Is Not Crazy, was noted by Kirkus for its “energy, wit and sensitivity” and “strong characterizations.” She is also the author of the Zach and Lucy series for early readers, co-written with Jennifer Bradbury. Zach and Lucy and the Museum of Natural Wonders was a finalist for the 2017 Washington State Book Award in the Books for Young Readers category. Stephanie is currently working on a picture book series set in Davenport.
This workshop is supported by the Illinois Arts Council and Quad City Arts, through the Arts Dollars re-granting program, supported by The Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency, The Hubbell-Waterman Foundation, and the Quad Cities Community Foundation – Isabel Bloom Art Education Endowment.
