Report by Elaine Ridge, Co-RA of SCBWI SA, on the Retreat

Go to www.scbwi.za.org/ regularly to see when our next event is.


The Retreat (5-9 May) at Goudini Spa began gently with time to settle in during the day and an excellent, mellowing dinner in the evening. In the opening speech, Elaine Ridge highlighted some of the contributions that South African writers and illustrators could make, stressing the importance of imaginative and inclusive writing. The next four days were a good mix of sparkling and informative presenters, practical workshops, the chance for all participants to get candid and constructive feedback from international and local experts, and to brush up or learn new writing, illustration or editing skills from an array of local experts (Robin Malan, Mariana Brandt, Marjorie van Heerden, Joan Rankin, Janie Oosthuizen-Taylor, LeAnn Hardy). There was also the opportunity to dig beneath the surface of the publishing world during panel discussions which sometimes became quite heated. Participants also had the chance to reflect on how to improve their time management and how to identify their own particular niche. As if that were not enough, there was time to network in the most pleasant of surroundings with Jacuzzis, hot spring swimming pools and even facials on offer. Those who were more energetic were able to take invigorating walks or even go horse riding on a nearby farm. The day’s events ended off with ‘a midnight snack” and stories told by a consummate story teller, Sindiwe Magona.

The international guests all gave excellent presentations. Suzanne Koppe, a German literary agent’s talk was entitled “From story board to published book. Although few South African authors and illustrators have agents (exceptions are Niki and Jude Daly), she gave us all an informative and entertaining account of how a well-chosen agent can help an author and some hard facts on how to become street-wise and sell oneself more successfully in the tough world of publishing

Suzanne Cantrell began her talk: ‘Blank page to under a child's pillow – the creative process’ with a slide of her desk back home in the UK with its pictures, mementos, reminders and notes around it to illustrate the different kinds of work and some of the authors and illustrators she works with. Her insider accounts of working with Emily Gravett, Julia Donaldson, Kazuno Kohar and Chris Riddell were deliciously entertaining but at the same time provided interesting insights into the creative process. We were all encouraged to hear that although Macmillan says it doesn’t accept unsolicited manuscripts, in practice staff can’t resist opening the letters – some of their established authors were ‘discovered’ in this way.

Many participants were surprised and delighted to find the new avenues of work magazines offer them. Christine Clark’s talk on magazines in the US provided extensive information on the wide range of children's magazines which are available in the US and practical tips on how to get your writing or illustrations published. She highlighted the importance of making a study of the content and the particular identity of the magazine, including the particular target group. Guidelines for submission are usually posted on the web site.

The Retreat was a wonderful experience. As one person put it, “I came here thinking I was expecting too much, but this has far exceeded my expectations”.

See below details about the retreat that was held in May 2008...


1) Event information and description

2) Programme Schedule

3) Notes

4) Cost for the Retreat and accommodation

5) More about the International presenters

6) More about the South African presenters



Event: 4-Day Writers and Illustrators Retreat

Date: May 5-9, 2008

Location: Goudini Spa Holiday Resort, Rawsonville (±100 km from Cape Town, South Africa, www.goudinispa.co.za)

Cost: Details below

E-mail SCBWI@goodtaste.co.za (NB! Kindly put “Writers & Illustrators Retreat Inquiries” in the subject line of your e-mail)

The Retreat is made possible in part by an SCBWI Professional Grant

Description: The 4-day Writers and Illustrators Retreat will take the form of an informal symposium at a natural hot water spa near Cape Town. The Retreat will include whole-group seminars, small workshops, one-on-one sessions, and a host of informal activities. Writers and illustrators will have the chance to mingle with accomplished and prominent, local and international children’s book authors, illustrators, editors, critics, and publishers.

Each attendee will be scheduled to have a one-on-one review session in which they will get feedback and advice as to what direction they should take with their work and how to get publishers to actually look at their work.

An area will be made available where attendees can display their work and time will be scheduled for agents and publishers to view the displays.

Our country is a beautiful and exciting destination and the Goudini Spa is situated in a particularly magnificent, mountainous part of the Western Cape. The talks, reviews and workshops will be scheduled in such a way that writers, illustrators and our guests will also have time to bathe in the warm spring water, socialise, and to dream... to even become a bit healthier while they charge their batteries!


Programme Schedule


MONDAY:

Travel to Goudini Spa, register, book in and get to know the resort

18h30 - Dinner and welcome address by Marjorie van Heerden, co-Regional Advisor of the SCBWI SA.

Opening speech: Children’s books come of age: a London agent’s international perspective. - a talk by international literary agent, Rosemary Canter, from United Agents


TUESDAY:

Morning at leisure until 10h00 - Breakfast (not included in the fee - see NOTES* below); a walk or a swim

10h00 - From story board and manuscript to published book: How to find your own way in the world of publishing.
- a talk by international literary agent Susanne Koppe

11h30 - Tea break

12h00-13h30 Three workshops running concurrently:

Writers workshop (English) – Writer’s tools; style, grammar and dialogue - Robin Malan

Writers workshop (Afrikaans) – Writer’s tools; style, grammar and dialogue - Janie Oosthuysen

Illustrators workshop- How to draw children; An in-depth look at children of different ages and how their bodies change – Marjorie van Heerden

13h30-14h30 Lunch

14h30-17h30 20-minute one-on-one review sessions with: either one of the international literary agents, an international editor or a local editor (the attendee’s choice)

18h30 Dinner

Evening: Planning, Deadlines vs. Creativity – Balancing your Life (creativity group discussion followed by a critique session)

Later: Midnight snack and a bedtime story by Sindiwe Magona


WEDNESDAY:

Morning at leisure until 10h00 - Breakfast, a walk or a swim

10h00 - Blank page to under a child's pillow - the creative process. - a talk by Editorial Director, Picture/Gift Books, Macmillan Children's Books, UK, Suzanne Carnell

11h30 Tea break

12h00-13h30 Three workshops running concurrently:

Writers workshop (English) - Verbal characterisation; Character development – Helen Brain

Writers workshop (Afrikaans) - Verbal characterisation; Character development – – Marianne Brandt

Illustrators workshop – Visual characterisation; Character development – Joan Rankin

13h30-14h30 Lunch

14h30-17h30 20-minute one-on-one review sessions with: either one of the international literary agents, an international editor or a local editor (the attendee’s choice)

18h30 - Dinner

Evening: Finding your Niche and Nurturing it; Finding your Muse inside Yourself (creativity group discussion followed by a critique session)

Later: Midnight snack and a bedtime story by Sindiwe Magona


THURSDAY: Morning at leisure until 10h00 - Breakfast, a walk or a swim

10h00 - The Naked Editor (an exposé à la Jamie Oliver) – publishers, international and local, in dialogue

11h30 - Tea break

12h00-13h30 The International children’s magazine market: what they material need; how to submit work; How does children’s magazine Copyright and payment work. - a talk by international editor Christine Clark

13h30-14h30 Lunch

14h30-17h30 20-minute one-on-one review sessions with: either one of the international literary agents, an international editor or a local editor (the attendee’s choice)

18h30 - Dinner

Evening: Contracts and payment terms (discussion group session with publishers and editors)

Later: Midnight snack and a bedtime story by Sindiwe Magona


FRIDAY:

Friday will be an opportunity for final informal discussions, networking, follow-ups, exchanging ideas and impressions and wrapping up before travelling home.

11h30 - Closing speech by Sindiwe Magona (Tea/coffee and refreshments)

Fluit, fluit, my storie is uit, by die een deur in en die ander deur uit.

(or as the poet put it) “And they lived happily ever after... for a while.”

NOTES*

All meals, tea/coffee and snacks are included in the price, except breakfast. The bungalows are equipped for self-catering, so you could take some provisions along and make your own breakfast. Alternatively, breakfast is also served in the dining room, at your own cost. We have negotiated a very reasonable price for shared accommodation in the self-catering bungalows which sleep three people (single rooms are available at a higher cost and these can be booked for you through Robyn Eiserman of Good Taste Travel & Event Management, telephone: +27 (0)21 657 8153) or email SCBWI@goodtaste.co.za

For more information about the Goudini SPA/Resort/Conference Venue, see their website: http://www.goudinispa.co.za/

The number attending the Retreat will unfortunately have to be limited. If you are an SCBWI member, you are assured of a place, subject to confirmation of your booking on or before 15th March, and you will also be given a discount on the price (see below). Also, the SCBWI will again have a stand at the Cape Town Book Fair this year, and only SCBWI members will be able to display their work at our stand. (So, if you are not yet a member of the SCBWI, weigh the benefits, do the maths and you may decide to join before the Retreat.)

Please note that, even if your name is currently on the SCBWI SA e-mailing list, you are NOT automatically a member of the SCBWI.

To become a member, go to: http://www.scbwi.org/members/join.htm and follow the HOW TO JOIN instructions.

For any questions about the programme, contact Marjorie van Heerden at +27 (0)21 856 0432 (office hours only) or e-mail scbwi.za@gmail.com (kindly put “Writers & Illustrators Retreat Inquiries” in the subject line of your e-mail). Alternatively, go to either www.scbwi.za.org or www.scbwi-za-capetown.blogspot.com/


About the bookings, payment or other arrangements contact: Robyn Eiserman of Good Taste Travel & Event Management, 11 Myhof Road, Claremont 7708, South Africa. Tel: +27 (0)21 657 8153; Fax: +27 (0)21 671 5106; Mobile: +27 (0)82 972 3181; Email: SCBWI@goodtaste.co.za

COST OF THE RETREAT INCLUDING ACCOMMODATION:

Booking will close on Wednesday 16th May 2008 and no more booking will be accepted after that date - so to assure a place, must be done in the next two days. As soon as we have your booking, we will send you a registration form to fill in.


These prices include shared accommodation (in bungalows sleeping three people), coffee/tea, lunch, dinner and the conference fee for the four-day Writers and Illustrators Retreat at Goudini Spa in May 2008:

1) SCBWI members who settle in full upon booking (early payment discount, – R2, 955 per person sharing

2) SCBWI members who wish to only pay a 50% deposit upon booking and the balance in April – R3 642 per person sharing

3) Non-members who settle in full upon booking (early payment discount, – R3,582 per person sharing

4) Non-members who wish to only pay a 50% deposit upon booking and the balance in April - R4,252 per person sharing

Transport to and from Goudini Spa is not included in these prices.

Should an attendee wish to be joined by one or more family member or friend for a four-day holiday in Goudini, this could be arranged. Such holiday makers, however, will not be able to attend any of the Retreat activities, sessions or meals and the price for their accommodation (excluding meals, but with self-catering facilities) will be R600 per person, sharing. Extra guests should be booked at the same time as the Retreat attendee, and space is subject to availability at time of booking.

MORE ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

MORE ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
CHRISTINE FRENCH CLARK

CHRISTINE FRENCH CLARK
Editor, Highlights magazine, USA

Christine French Clark is Editor in Chief of the magazine division of Highlights for Children. In this role, she edits Highlights magazine (for children 6 to 12) and is responsible for the magazine's award-winning web site HighlightsKids.com. She also oversees the publishing of Highlights High Five, a new magazine for children in early childhood. She served as creator and first editor of this publication, which launched in January 2007 and has more than 400,000 subscribers.

Clark has almost 30 consecutive years of experience in children's publishing. Prior to joining the Highlights staff in 1994, she was employed by the Children's Better Health Institute. There, she edited four other periodicals for children. In 1990, she was named Editorial Director, overseeing publication of seven magazines for children. Earlier, she was an Associate Editor of preschool curricula for David C. Cook Publishing Company, where she wrote more than one hundred stories, poems, and lesson segments for children. She has a bachelor's degree in communication arts.

Highlights, with a circulation of almost two million, is the best known and most widely circulated children's magazine mailed to homes. In 2006, Highlights celebrated its 60th anniversary and the printing of its one-billionth copy.


SUSANNE KOPPE

SUSANNE KOPPE

Children’s book Literary Agent, Auserlesen Ausgezeichnet Agency, Hamburg, Germany

Susanne Koppe was born in Munich in 1963. She studied German literature (major), education and psychology in Munich.

She went to Simmons College in Boston, MA on a Fulbright grant. She received an American Master of Arts in Children’s Literature in 1986 and a German Master of Arts in literature in 1988.

After her studies Susanne Koppe worked as a scout for the publishing houses Beltz & Gelberg and Random House. She has also translated and published reviews and essays in various newspapers and magazines.

After having run the children’s booklist Rotfuchs at Rowohlt Publishers from 1997 – 2001 she founded her own agency for literature and illustration in 2002 in Hamburg. Among her clients are authors such as Lilli Thal (runner up for the German Youth Literature Award, published in English by Annick Press and illustrators such as Franziska Biermann and Antje Damm.

For more information see her website: www.auserlesen-ausgezeichnet.de


Rosemary Canter

SAD NEWS! - Rosemary is ill and will not be able to fly to South Africa. She will be coming to South Africa later this year, when she feels better, so you will still have a time to listen & meet with her.

ROSEMARY CANTER

Children’s book Literary Agent, United Agents, London, UK.

"I graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in History. After that I worked for about fifteen years in publishing,to begin with in the world of adult books, fiction and non-fiction. I fell into children’s publishing by accident and stayed by enchantment. Then in l989 I switched careers when I was taken on by Peters Fraser & Dunlop, a big and distinguished agency, with a brief to develop a list of writers for children and teenagers. I added illustrators to the brief too. It was a completely blank canvas and a wonderful opportunity.

I now have an extensive list of clients, who write for a wide range of children, from babies up to aspirant teenagers, children of 11 and 12. I like good writing of all kinds, whether for commercial or more literary markets. After all these years, I still love my job ! It’s fascinatingly varied and I am always hungry for wonderful new talent. I should add that in January of this year, all the agents and staff of PFD left to set up our own agency: United Agents."

Our list of International presenters is perfectly rounded off by the editor from Macmillan, Trade Books, London UK, who will be giving the opening speech and doing reviews too. The editor’s name and CV will be available soon


Susanne Carnell

Suzanne Carnell: “I am so delighted to be joining you for what I am sure will be an enriching experience for us all. On my first visit to South Africa a couple of years ago I was struck by the enthusiasm and dedication of everyone I met connected to the world of children’s books. The commitment and passion of authors and artists was matched by that of booksellers, librarians and educators alike. I look forward to being similarly inspired this May and to learning more about your fascinating country.”


Suzanne Carnell

Editorial Director, Picture/Gift Books, Macmillan Children's Books, UK

After graduating from Oxford University with an English degree she held a temporary post at Penguin Books in New Zealand, and has since had over twenty years of publishing experience, primarily in children’s books.

In her current role, Suzanne works with such internationally successful, award-winning authors and artists as Emily Gravett, Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler, David Roberts and Chris Riddell, while at the same time continuing to seek and to nurture new talent. Her ever-present ambition is to create a picture book list of excellence.

Ann Jacobus and Sandra Guy interviewed her in September 2003. See interview at
http://www.scbwifrance.com/meetthepros/interviews_2003
/suzanne_carnell.htm


Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Sindiwe Magona, storyteller

Sindiwe Magona
Sindiwe is known as Nomabali
Born on the 27th August 1943 in Umtata, South Africa

Dr Sindiwe Magona: author, poet, playwright, story-teller, actor, and inspirational speaker has recently retired from the United Nations and relocated to her home country, South Africa.

PUBLISHED WORKS: Two autobiographical books: To My Children’s Children and Forced to Grow; two collections of short stories: Living, Loving, and Lying Awake at Night ;(Africa’s 100 Best Books of the 20th Century); Push-Push and Other Stories; a novel, Mother to Mother, recently optioned by Universal Studios for a film on the life of Amy Biehl. Rees Witherspoon will play Amy Biehl; Life is a Hard but beautiful Thing [in English and isiXhosa] [Juta – 2005]; sixteen children’s books – in FIVE African languages - [Oxford University Press – 2005] – Forthcoming: Five children’s books – Oxford University Press – 2006; a young young adult novel, [NASOU].

Magona has also been published in the New York Times, the Cape Times, and the Cape Argus as well as in magazines. Several of her short stories and essays have been anthologized. Forthcoming: The Best Meal Ever! [Tafelberg – May 2006] – a children’s book – [in English, isiXhosa, and Afrikaans].

AWARDS:

1993 – Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters – Hartwick College, Oneonta, New York

1997 – New York Foundation for the Arts – Fellowship – Non-fiction category

1997 – Xhosa Heroes Award from the Xhosa Forum – Western Cape

1997 – UNdimande - Grand Prize Winner – Bhala Writers Short Story Contest

2000 – Bronx Recognizes its Own (BRIO) Award – Fiction

2003 – Proclamation (NY State Senate Democratic Leader, David A. Patterson) - on World Aids Day 2003 – in recognition of artistic work on the issue of HIV/AIDS.

VUKANI! An Aids play has been performed in Colleges, Churches, and theatres in the United States.

LOST AND BROUGHT BACK: Original screenplay, just completed – February 2005.

Besides Writers’ Conferences, Magona has given readings and addresses at numerous other international fora, including the United Nations, the Kennedy Centre, The Riverside Church, the Ford Foundation, Temple and Columbia Universities, to name a few. She has received numerous awards in recognition of her work in women’s issues, the plight of children, and the fight against apartheid and racism. Her first ten years at the United Nations were in the Department of Public Information where she worked in the Anti-Apartheid Radio Programmes.

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