Learn From the Masters at the Southampton Children's Literature Conference This Summer

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y., April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Caldecott Medal Winner Ed Young, New York Times Bestselling Author Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and award-winning authors Tor Seidler and Margaret McMullan will headline the Southampton Children's Literature Conference, July 28-August 1. Part of the internationally renowned Southampton Writer's Conference sponsored by Stony Brook Southampton's acclaimed MFA in Writing and Literature Program, the Children's Literature Conference offers a unique forum for established and emerging writers, artists, and lovers of children's literature to study and discuss the craft of writing for young readers.

The Southampton Writer's Conference, which Tom Wolfe has called "the best conference in the Country," is known for its prestigious faculty and for attracting participants from around the world. The Children's Literature Conference is "rapidly becoming one of the best places in the country to learn about writing for young people," according to Conference Director Emma Walton Hamilton, who is also Executive Director of the MFA Program's Young American Writers Project (YAWP) and Editorial Director for The Julie Andrews Collection publishing program.  

Attendees are guided through workshops, lectures and group discussions by world-renowned authors, illustrators and editors, while enjoying the summer resort on the East End of Long Island. Workshops and guest presenters include Editor/author Cindy Kane's workshop, "Jump Start Your Story"; Arlene Alda and Lisa DeSimini (Iris Has a Virus), and Jim and Kate McMullan (I Stink!!), explore the author/illustrator collaborative process. Amy Krouse Rosenthal (Duck/Rabbit, The Wonder Book) discusses her work and screens one of her short films. Novelist/librarian Catherine Creedon (Blue Wolf) will head an elective on research for writers, and Whiting Award-winning poet Julie Sheehan (Bar Book), will offer "Meter Making" for those who write in verse.

Emma Walton Hamilton, also a freelance children's book editor and offers online courses in writing for children (www.justwriteforkids.com), will lead an elective on marketing in the digital age. She has co-authored twenty children's books with her mother, Julie Andrews, five of which have been on the New York Times best-seller list, including the recent anthology, Julie Andrews' Collection Of Poems, Songs, And Lullabies. Her book, Raising Bookworms, premiered as a #1 best-seller on Amazon.com in the literacy category.

The application deadline for the 2010 Children's Literature Conference is May 15. Information is available at http://www.stonybrook.edu/writers/children.

SOURCE Emma Walton Hamilton