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  Workshop Description Back to Founders Workshop Main Page
 

Date: June 10 - 13, 2004
Begins Thursday at 6:00 P.M. with dinner; ends Sunday with lunch.

Designed For: Writers with some nonfiction writing experience.
Maximum Capacity: 12 participants

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Share your passions for nature and science with kids! Learn how to find good science and nature stories and make them appealing to readers (and editors).
This workshop features a combination of lectures, nature walks, and hands-on critiques. Lecture topics include:

  • where to find good story ideas;
  • how to use characters and plotting to create good nonfiction;
  • the importance of solid research, fact checking, and images; and
  • working with nonfiction editors.
  
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  Workshop Faculty


Stephen Swinburne

 Stephen Swinburne
Writer, photographer, and naturalist Stephen R. Swinburne is the author of many nature books for children, including Safe, Warm, and Snug, illustrated by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey; Once a Wolf: How Wildlife Biologists Fought to Bring Back the Gray Wolf, photographed by Jim Brandenburg; and Swallows in the Birdhouse, illustrated by Robin Brickman.

Born in London, Steve loves to travel and observe nature. A safari in Africa, hiking in Scotland, monitoring sea turtles on a Georgia island, and a winter trek through Yellowstone National Park have all led to book projects. To learn more about Steve, visit his Web site at www.steveswinburne.com

Margery Facklam		 Margery Facklam
Margery Facklam's first book was based on her own experience as a teenager working in a zoo reptile house. During the years her own five teenagers were heading for college, she worked at a science museum, and then an aquarium where ideas were everywhere. She wrote Wild Animals, Gentle Women; and Frozen Snakes and Dinosaur Bones.

Years later, when she and her husband collaborated on a book about weather, Margery joined a research team on a ship in the Galapagos to learn about El Niño. When she wrote about the discovery of the first dinosaur eggs, she visited Mongolia's Gobi Desert. But most of her books are researched from home, including Bugs for Lunch, illustrated by Sylvia Long. The Big Bug Book and Creepy Crawly Caterpillars were illustrated by her son, Paul, and her newest book, Lizards Weird and Wonderful, was illustrated by Alan Male.