Hello and happy March everyone! I hope you’ve been enjoying the pockets of sunshine in this slog of rain, sleet, and occasional snow(!?!?!) this month. As I am *acutely* aware, we’re nearly in the home stretch of the term. For anyone out there in the midst of midterms or for anyone finishing up, please know that Young Adulting is sending you all of the good luck!
In case you need a well deserved break from all the school work, I invite you to join the kidlit community and stay a while. At the very least, catch up on what you might have missed since our last newsletter.
YAing updates:
It was a month of middle grade wonders featuring:
- Cath Ayres, one of Young Adulting’s very own past Associate Editors, finessed an interview with the incredibly talented and wildly cool David Farr. David Farr is one of the UK’s leading screenwriters and directors for film, TV and theatre. Cath had the opportunity to ask him five questions about his career, his inspiration, and about his middle grade novel, The Book of Stolen Dreams. You can catch up with David and see everything he had to say here.
- GiGi Kang reviewed Reasons to Look at the Night Sky by Danielle Daniel. This is a Canadian middle grade novel, which is already something we love to highlight, but also written in verse which I think is very cool. This novel explores an aspiring astronaut’s experience navigating the world of science and the challenges she faces figuring out where both intersect. You can read the full review here.
Keep an eye out for our upcoming reviews!
Industry Events and News
Fold Academy is hosting a free webinar on March 21st from 9-10AM PDT. This event, Building Characters Using Role-Playing Games, will be led by Anuja Varghese. As an overview, this webinar will cover: “how to develop characters using character sheets, stats, classes, and more – based on the rich world of D&D. From bards and rogues to barbarians and wizards, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) offers a treasure-trove of character building tools, archetypes, and strategies that have unique potential to go beyond the gaming table and onto the page!” If you’re interested, click here to find the full specs and access tickets.
The Vancouver Public Library has lots of fantastic workshops happening in the coming weeks. If you have a project you’ve been sitting on and want an extra pair of eyes on, VPL’s Storyteller in Residence, Cee Patel, has spots open for consultations. From the registration page: “Indigenous Storyteller in Residence Cee Peal is offering accessible one-on-one consultations to local writers in person and online with the Central Library. Cee’s focus is on playwriting and idea generation. He is particularly interested in supporting other Indigenous playwrights or writers.” This will be taking place March 19th from 2:30-5:15PM PST. You can register for the March 19th consultation here.
If you aren’t much of a playwright but have other work you’d love a consultation on, fret not! On April 2nd from 1-4PM PST, The VPL Central Library is offering 45 minute 1-1 sessions with a graduate from SFU’s Writer’s Studio: Creative Writing Certificate program. From the webpage: “Submit up to seven (7) pages of your poetry, fiction prose, or non-fiction prose, and receive supportive feedback that will help guide you on your writing journey.” This is a great opportunity to get some personalized feedback. You can register here.
Last but certainly not least, on April 14th from 7:30-8:30PM PST, VPL is hosting an online event with Blue Pencil Writing Consults. This is a great chance to get some professional editing advice on your project. From the registration page: “Need an expert opinion on how to take your writing project to the next level? Sign up for an editing session with a member of the British Columbia branch of Editors Canada to get feedback on your writing. Provide your submission of up to 2,500 words in advance, along with a short description of your project and one question for the editor. An editor will prepare a two-page report and discuss it with you during the Zoom session.” Act fast and register before spots fill up!
Submissions
- Great Plains Press is open for submissions! They’re looking for nonfiction, literary fiction, but most excitedly, writing for middle grade and teens. From the submissions page: “Yellow Dog publishes contemporary and historical fiction and non-fiction for middle grade and teen readers. Yellow Dog is interested in speculative, climate and genre fiction with characters rooted in the real world.”
This is a small Canadian press that accepts submissions from Canadian citizens or permanent residency holders. Read the full guidelines here.
- Linda Leith Publishing is also open for submissions! “LLP welcomes submissions by new and established Canadian writers working in English in the following genres: fiction, literary non-fiction, including Singles essays, and books for young people.”
One quick, but very important, tip that they share is that ” The best way to judge if your work is likely to be a good fit for LLP is to check out our catalogue and read our books.” So, make sure your work aligns with LLP and then follow the submission guidelines here.
- If you’re over 18 and Canadian, Kids Can Press is accepting the following manuscript submissions:
- Non-rhyming picture books for ages 3–5 / 3–7 / 4–8
- Nonfiction for ages 5–8 / 7–10 / 8–12 / 10–14
- Fiction for ages 6–9 / 7–10 / 8–12 /10–14
- Graphic novels (fiction and nonfiction) for ages 5-8 / 6-9 / 7-10 / 8-12
To find out more, read the full specs here.
- Finally, Annick Press is open for submissions!
They share that “Annick Press is currently accepting submissions of picture books, early chapter books, middle grade fiction, YA fiction, graphic novels, and non-fiction for kids of all ages. We also encourage illustrators to submit their portfolios for consideration. Our books aim to empower readers, open minds, and create a lifelong love of reading. They feature contemporary themes (even if the setting is historical) and center kids’ perspectives and experiences.”
So, if you’ve got your manuscripts ready, polish them up and follow the submission guidelines found here.
Job Opportunities:
- Greystone Books is hiring a Production Editorial Assistant! Greystone is based in Vancouver and publishes nonfiction books for adults and picture books and middle-grade nonfiction for young readers.
From Greystone: “This position requires a perfectionist’s attention to detail, self-motivation, and a relentless drive to keep projects moving. Exceptional time management, the ability to prioritize, and communication are key traits for a successful candidate. It is a full-time position, based out of Greystone’s Vancouver office in historic Railtown, reporting to the Publisher, under the supervision of the Production Manager and the Editorial Director. ”
The deadline to apply for this role is March 24th so prep your cover letter and resume! Read the full specs here.
- HarperCollins Canada is looking for an intern in Brand Publishing. This 12 month contract is out of Toronto.
The job summary is as follows: “Reporting to the Assistant Manager, Brand Publishing, and supporting the Product Manager, the Intern will get a broad overview of the Harlequin brand publishing and product strategy efforts within the Core Series Publishing team, which deals exclusively with category romance. The Intern will gain experience in a variety of areas within book publishing, product management, and brand strategy.
This team works closely with the brand marketing, editorial, art and sales departments to develop and raise awareness for books under the Harlequin Brand publishing umbrella across a wide variety of genres.”
This opening has been posted for two months now, so, let this be the sign that maybe they’re waiting for you – apply here!
- HarperCollins Canada is also looking for an Editorial Assistant in Toronto.
The job summary is as follows: “Reporting to the Senior Editor, this position is responsible for providing administrative support for the Harlequin Special Edition, Montana Mavericks and Fortunes of Texas imprints as well as soliciting, acquiring and developing authors/books for the Harlequin series business.”
This role also requires you to provide editorial support to the Senior Editor. This includes “preparing draft revision and rejection letters, evaluating suitability of books for the program, assisting with first reads, author alterations and text refreshes; corresponding with author and agents; line editing with supervision.”
If that sounds inspiring to you, apply here!
As always, please do send us your news related to children’s and young adult literature at young.adulting@ubc.ca so we can feature them in future newsletters. And remember to keep up with us on on Instagram!
Take care, and happy reading,
The Young Adulting Editors
YOUNG ADULTING 