I’ve just returned from the SCBWI Canada East conference in Montreal. I had a fantastic time! It was great to meet some new people, and reconnect with friends. A huge thank you to Peggy Collins, Alma Fullerton, Lizann Flatt and Rachel Eugster for all of the hard work organizing such a great event.
The weekend started on the Friday at a Babar-En-Ville, a children’s bookstore in Montreal. There we had a chance to listen to some great reading from authors of children’s and YA books.
Debbie Ohi opened the Saturday with a wonderful, humorous, and inspiring talk. It was great hearing Debbie talk about her struggles and experiences. I think everyone in the room came away feeling very energized.
This was my third time attending an SCBWI conference and I have to say that this was was my favorite so far. The smaller size of this conference makes it intimate enough that you can talk with almost everyone, and have a chance to interact with the industry professionals in a smaller and more casual setting. There was a great group of talented illustrators in attendance, and we had some great critique workshops and discussions with Laurent Linn (Simon & Schuster) and David Diaz, illustrator and Caldecott Medalist.
Debbie also won one of my prints in the silent auction! WooHoo!
The illustrators went on a really fun sketch crawl on Sunday. It was a great opportunity to chat and do some sketching.
It was a great weekend of learning, inspiration, catching up with friends and meeting new people. Overall – a very fun and energizing weekend!
If you want to see more photos – Debbie Ohi has a great set of photos from the conference on her Flickr page.
Debbie also has a really nice in depth summary of the weekend (with tons of great photos) on her website in 3 parts. Part 1 is here
Great conference report, Chris. And so great to meet you! Love your art. 🙂
Great write up, Chris! Thanks for sharing your impressions.