SCBWI-MI Events: Looking Ahead

Heads up, friends! We’ve been cooking up some fabulous opportunities for you to learn new skills, connect to your community, and flex your creativity.

I’m proud to say that our region is one of the busier ones with multiple programs that engage our members throughout the year. It’s been our goal to provide you with events that are accessible, diverse in content, and valuable. What we are doing in the upcoming year is no different and we’re very excited to share it all with you. Here’s a bit of a sneak peek:

Webinars:

• 
  Take a Leap- What never works and what sometimes works for writing, art, school visits, marketing, and surviving the author life with Ruth McNally Barshaw & Charlie Barshaw.  Click HERE for more info. & to register.
  

•  Do what you want. No one cares. Plus Q+A. with Bob Shea. Details coming soon!

We will also have 2 spring pre-conference webinars which brings me to…

SCBWI-MI’s 2027 Spring Conference- Navigating Your Narrative in Grand Rapids on May 14^th and 15^th

We can’t give it all away right now, but here are a few highlights:

•       2 editors, 1 agent, 1 art director, 2 illustrators, 2 authors (pb & novel)
•       3 intensives on Friday, May 14^th
•       Pitch sessions
•       Written and in-person critique opportunities
•       Portfolio Showcase
•       Friday night social

It all looks pretty good right? Here’s something else you may like. We are offering a “Now & Later” payment option. What does this mean? In November, we will open registration for the 2027 conference for 2 weeks. At that time people can register for the conference and pay the first half of the total early bird conference fee. The second half will be paid when early bird registration opens in March. Here’s an example using Premium member pricing.

•      Now & Later fee in November $82.50
•        Now & Later fee in March $82.50
•       $165 total

If you take advantage of this payment plan, you can still add a critique, an intensive, and all the other fun stuff when you pay the second half of the registration fee when early bird registration opens in March.

This might feel complicated, but it’s our effort to give folks the chance to attend a conference when it may be hard to do so. Splitting up the cost is like putting the conference on layaway and we’re happy to help in any way possible.

There’s a lot coming up so get ready. We’re looking forward to bringing all these events to you and we hope to see you there!

Other SCBWI-MI events on the horizon:

•       SCBWI-MI’s book donation program: Shelf-care: Brighten a Child’s Day With a Book. Click HERE for more info. on how to donate.
•       The 2026 Critique Carousel. Click HERE for more info.
• ·       PLUS:

o   Two Scholarships- BIPOC Scholarship and the E&I Scholarship for the Critique Carousel

o   A virtual critique session on August 26^th. Click HERE to sign up.

o   Little Free Library Day on Saturday, Sept. 26th

o   A book signing event- Funky Ferndale Art Festival. Click HERE to register

o   And MORE!

-Jodi McKay, SCBWI-MI RA