2024 2025 San Diego Region Events

San Diego 2024 2025 Season

MayFest Illustrator Contest

Design our website banner for MayFest 2025! The winner will be attributed to our website–great for publicity–plus receive free registration to MayFest, San Diego SCBWI’s annual one-day conference.

What we need:

Banner Size: 1600 x 500 (72PPI or higher)

Buttons Size: 60-72 pixels square

Format: JPG or PNG

Chapter Meetings

2024-2025 Meetings Will Be Virtual

All meetings will be recorded, and all registered attendees (Season Ticket or Individual Purchase) will receive the link to the recording.

IMPORTANT Information

This coming season our meetings will vary from the 1st to the 3rd Saturday of the month--please take note each month. Those who register and pay online will receive the Zoom invite by email no later than the Friday evening before the meeting. Registration for each event closes the Friday evening prior to that meeting so we are assured of getting the Zoom invite to attendees on time. SCBWI members please verify your correct email is on record with SCBWI to facilitate your receiving your invite. Any issues please contact us at sandiego@scbwi.org, sandiego-ara2@scbwi.org, or sandiego-ara@scbwi.org.

To get all of the SCBWI discounted rates you are entitled to you must be logged into the SCBWI.org website with your email and password before registering and paying.

Sept 14, 2024: New Agents and Editors to Watch Who Are Open to Submissions with Deborah Halverson, Award-winning Author and Freelance Editor. For more info and to register, click HERE

Oct 19, 2024: Crafting Believable Characters for Children's Books with Zoie Konneker, Assistant Editor, Peachtree Publishing Company. For more info and to register, click HERE

Nov 9, 2024: Strategies for "Selling" Your Work to an Agent with Mary Cummings, Founder of Great River Literary. For more info and to register, click HERE

Dec 14, 2024: Lessons Learned with new children's lit authors and illustrators. For more info and to register, click HERE

Jan 11, 2025: Editor/Agent/Author: Professional Perspectives to Propel Your Career with Abigail Samoun, Co-Founder Red Fox Literary. For more info and to register, click HERE

Mar 1, 2025: Decoding Authentic Voices with Saba Sulaiman, Senior Agent, Talcott Notch Literary. For more info and to register, click HERE

March 8, 2025: Perfecting Your Pitch with Eddie Gamarra, Media Rights Consultant and Former VP of Literary Affairs at Paramount Global’s Kids & Family Division. For more info and to register, click HERE

April 5, 2025: First Page, First Impressions (aka How to Catch an Editor's Eye on the First Page) with Foyinsi Adegbonmire, Editor at Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. For more info and to register, click HERE

Chapter Meeting Schedule 2024–25 (Pacific Time).

Times and Dates Subject to change.

2:00-2:20 p.m. Announcements and Member News

2:20-3:30 p.m. Craft Talk by Guest Speaker

3:30-4:00 p.m. Questions

Prices

Individual Chapter meeting cost: $10 for SCBWI members, $25 for nonmembers.

Season Ticket: September through April Meetings $60 for SCBWI Members, and $115 for Non-Members.

Season Tickets are available through Mid-December. Those who purchase a Season Ticket between Sep.-Dec. will receive recordings of the meetings they missed.

Season Tickets provide admission to all chapter meetings; discounted pricing for intensives, conferences and workshops; and access to chapter meeting recordings. For more info and to register, click HERE

If you are an SCBWI member facing financial hardship, please contact us at sandiego@scbwi.org. We will be offering a free meeting, one time per person.

Writing for Children 101 With RAE Patricia Morris Buckley

This on-line class takes you from idea to a polished manuscript and covers plotting, dialogue and characters, as well as finding an agent or publisher. Also included are critiques of students' work. 

Cost is $60 for members, $90 for nonmembers. 

Registration is open, first class in October. For more info and to register click HERE.

Dates and times will be held Oct. 26, Nov. 6, Dec. 21, Jan. 18, New Date TBA, March 15, April 12.

Recordings are available for 30 days after the class.

Intensives

Any Intensive SAME-DAY Registrations will not receive the Zoom link to attend live, but you will receive the recording link on the following Tuesday.

Author Intensive with Wendy Loggia, VP/Publisher, Delacorte Press

November 16, 2024 9:00 AM (PT) - 12:00 PM (PT)

Editing Tips Every Author Should Know (With First Pages from the Audience) 

For more info and to register, click HERE

FOR SEASON TICKET HOLDERS ONLY Virtual Intensive $35 for SCBWI Members and $45 for Non-Members

FOR NON-SEASON TICKET HOLDERS Virtual Intensive $40 for SCBWI Members and $50 for Non-Members

Illustrator Intensive with Mariam Quraishi, Senior Designer of Picture Books at MacMillan Publishing

New Date April 26, 2025 9:00 AM (PT) - 12:00 PM (PT)

Picture Book as Art Object--From Words to Trim Sizes, How Every Part of a Book Tells a Story

Registration will open soon! For more information click HERE

FOR SEASON TICKET HOLDERS ONLY Virtual Intensive $35 for SCBWI Members and $45 for Non-Members

FOR NON-SEASON TICKET HOLDERS Virtual Intensive $40 for SCBWI Members and $50 for Non-Members

Illustrator Mentorship Katie Fitch, Art Director at Scholastic-SOLD OUT

This is a San Diego SCBWI Member Only Event.

The mentorship provides illustrators or author/illustrators the opportunity to work directly with Katie Fitch. The mentorship is appropriate for those interested in illustrating picture books, book covers, or art for chapter and middle-grade books. Participants submit a dummy, portfolio, or book cover for a first-round review. Katie will return a Gold Form with comments, offer one-on-one fifteen-minute Zoom critiques, and give an hour-long talk after the first round (anonymously) about common things that were well done or needed improvement in the work.

$170 for members with a SD Season Ticket and $190 for members without a Season Ticket. For more info and to register click HERE

Author Mentorship with Nick Thomas, Executive Editor, Levine Querido Publishing House-SOLD OUT

This is a San Diego SCBWI Member Only Event.

The Author Mentorship is open to Unpublished SCBWI Members to work directly with Nick Thomas, Executive Editor with Levine Querido. 

$170 for members with a SD Season Ticket and $190 for members without a Season Ticket. For more info and to register click HERE

MayFest 2025

May 17, 2025

Schedule and Faculty TBA

SAN DIEGO REGION REFUND POLICY

Chapter Meetings, MayFest, and Intensives--refunds will be decided on a case-by-case basis. Any refund will be minus Stripe fees and any other expenses. No refunds one month before the event, because all events are being recorded and available for viewing for 30 days after the event.

Critiques and Mentorships--no refunds because the payment is already promised to the faculty.

NO REFUNDS will be offered for Season Tickets, because the meeting recordings are available to attendees for thirty days.