SCBWI-IL Prairie Writers Day

This past Saturday I attended the Fifth Annual SCBWI-IL Prairie Writer's Day at Harper College in Palatine.  It was amazing!  The day long conference was themed "Brick by Brick: The Architecture of Our Stories".  The panelists were wonderful and included:  Yolanda LeRoy Editorial Director at Charlesbridge, Alisha Niehaus Editor at Dial, Stacy Cantor Associate Editor at Walker Books, Nick Eliopulos Associate Editor at Random House, Michael Stearns Agent and Co-Founder of Upstart Crow Literary and award-winning author Cynthia Leitich Smith.  One of the highlights was a broadway worthy performance by Yolanda LeRoy to her song "There's no business like book business".  The day was truly spectacular!