Instructors

Donna L. Bergman

Bergman is the author of three children's books, as well as articles, short stories, and poetry for both children and adults. Her books of fiction are City Fox (Atheneum) and Timmy Green's Blue Lake (Tambourine/William Morrow). Kids Go! Seattle (John Muir Publications), her third book, is nonfiction. Bergman has received several awards, including a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Magazine Honor Award for Nonfiction and a Pacific Northwest Writers Association First Place Award for a children's picture book. A past vice president of PNWA and for seven years the Washington State Regional Advisor for SCBWI, Bergman is frequently invited to visit schools, libraries, and writers conferences to talk about children's literature and teach creative writing.

Brenda Z. Guiberson

Guiberson is an award-winning author and illustrator with more than 20 books of fiction and nonfiction for children. Her picture books such as Cactus Hotel, Spoonbill Swamp, Into the Sea, The Emperor Lays an Egg and Ice Bears have won numerous literary and scientific awards. Illustrated books include Mud City: A Flamingo Story, and several chapter books including Mummy Mysteries, an ALA Kid's Pick. Her novel, Turtle People, and her latest picture book, Life in the Boreal Forest, were Junior Library Guild selections. Upcoming books for spring 2010 include Moon Bear, Earth: Feeling the Heat and Disasters: Natural and Man-Made Catastrophes Through the Centuries .

Nina Hess

Hess is a senior editor at Wizards of the Coast, where she helped to launch Mirrorstone, a children's book imprint of fantasy fiction. Before joining Wizards, Nina worked on children's books at McGraw-Hill and Harcourt Children's Books. She is a Writing for Children Certificate Program graduate and the author of Whose Feet? and the New York Times best-selling A Practical Guide to Monsters.

Guest Speakers

Autumn

Vijaya Khisty Bodach

Bodach is a scientist-turned-children’s author. She has published over fifty articles, stories and poems in Highlights for Children, Ladybug, Odyssey and many other children’s magazines. She has also written over thirty science books for young readers. Her latest book published by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, How Do Toys Work?, engages middle-school children in physics in the best possible way—by playing. Vijaya’s series of books on Plant Parts and Graphing, both published by Capstone Press, have been praised by School Library Journal. She has also written numerous titles such as Simple Machines, Larger Than Life, Movement, for Perfection Learning. Vijaya also teaches the basic course at the Institute of Children’s Literature.

Visit her website at vijayabodach.com.

Nina Hess

View her instructor biography above.

Laura McGee Kvasnosky

An author and illustrator, Kvasnosky has published fourteen books for young readers, including Really Truly Bingo, the adventures of an imaginative little girl and her talking dog. Laura is also the author-illustrator of a popular series of books about two young fox sisters, Zelda and Ivy. Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways was honored with the American Library Association's Theodor Seuss Geisel Beginning Reader Award in 2007, and Zelda and Ivy Keeping Secrets is on its way in 2009.

Visit her website at www.LMKBooks.com.

George Shannon

Shannon is the author of 38 books, including 27 picture books. His picture books range from concept books to poetry to original stories. He has also published books and essays on various aspects of children's literature. He is a frequent speaker at schools and conferences, both nationally and internationally.

Visit his website at www.georgeshannon.org.

Winter

Bonny Becker

Becker is the author of twelve books for children and young adults, most recently A Visitor for Bear and Holbrook: A Lizard's Tale. A Visitor for Bear was a New York Times Best Seller, a selection for Oprah's Children's Book Club, the recipient of the 2009 E. B. White Read Aloud Award for Picture Books, and Amazon's 2008 Picture Book of the Year. Two new books, The Magical Mrs. Plum and A Birthday for Bear, are scheduled for publication in 2009.

Robin Cruise

Cruise is the author of several award-winning picture books, including Only You and Little Mamá Forgets, as well as two acclaimed middle-grade novels. Her most recent picture book, Bartleby Speaks!, will be published in fall 2009 by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. Robin has published widely in various print media, from children's textbooks to national consumer magazines. She was an assistant editor and reporter at the Rocky Mountain News for almost a decade, and she was affiliated with Harcourt Children's Books for 15 years, most recently as deputy publisher/executive managing editor. Robin is currently the publisher for children's books at Bellevue-based book packager becker&mayer!

Brenda Guiberson

Visit her website at www.brendazguiberson.com (and view her instructor biography above).

Carol Losi

Losi is the author of three books for children including Salt and Pepper at the Pike Place Market. Her first book, The 512 Ants on Sullivan Street, a picture book written in verse, was published by Scholastic. She has written many poems for children that have been published in various anthologies and Cricket Magazine. When not writing poetry, Carol spends her time driving her kids to ballet lessons in Bellevue, Washington.

Spring

Kirby Larson

Larson went from history-phobe to history fanatic thanks to hearing a snippet of a story about her great-grandmother homesteading in eastern Montana. That bit of family lore inspired her to write Hattie Big Sky, a young adult historical novel, which is a 2007 Newbery Honor Award and Montana Book Award winner, and has garnered over a dozen state reading/Children's Choice award nominations. In 2006, she began collaborating with her dear friend, Mary Nethery, a partnership that has so far produced two non-fiction picture books. The first, Two Bobbies: A True Tale of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship and Survival, illustrated by Jean Cassels, won the 2008 ASPCA Henry Bergh Award, 2009 SIBA Award, and has been nominated for six state reading/Children's Choice awards. Their second joint project, Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine and a Miracle, will be released in October 2009. Kirby is now in the process of drinking lots of coffee in order to finish not one but two more historical novels, long-past-due to her editors.

David Patneaude

Patneaude finally heeded the advice, "It's never too late to have a happy childhood," and began writing seriously (more or less) in the 1980s. His first novel, Someone was Watching (1993), was named to eight state master reading lists (winning awards in South Dakota and Utah), published in several languages, recorded as an audio book, and produced as a movie. Eight more books followed, most recently A Piece of the Sky(2007). Patneaude's books have been placed on young readers' lists in more than thirty states and honored by organizations including the New York Public Library and the Society of School Librarians International. He has taught writing at conferences, colleges, and the Institute of Children's Literature.

Suzanne Williams

Williams is the award-winning author of 27 books for children, including the picture books Library Lil, My Dog Never Says Please, and Ten Naughty Little Monkeys, and several fiction middle grade series including Princess Power and Fairy Blossoms (both with HarperCollins). Her fifth middle grade series, Goddess Girls, written with co-author Joan Holub, debuts in Spring 2010 with Simon & Schuster. Suzanne loves sharing her passion for reading and writing and has been a frequent visitor at schools around the country. Before becoming a full-time writer she worked for over twenty years as an elementary school librarian. You can visit her at her website: www.suzanne-williams.com.

Instructors and guest speakers are subject to change.