July 12, 2026 - July 16, 2026
Highlights Foundation Campus
$1649Overview
In-person 5-Day/4-Night Workshop and Retreat
Get away for five days at our Summer Camp for fiction and nonfiction storytellers who are looking for inspiration, guidance, mentorship, community, fun, creativity, and…a place to dream!
At the Highlights Foundation, “summer camp” is different than S’mores by the fire and hiking in the woods. (Though we do that, too.)
Our Summer Camp is a time to find the kind of encouragement for your stories that only a generous mentor can provide. Here you’ll find: inspiration and support; a community that understands the long process of turning dreams into books for children; small group and one-to-one guidance to fine-tune your stories, all while you have some fun.
- This is an in-person workshop at our Retreat Center with hands-on sessions, mentorship, and ample time for independent work, meeting informally with fellow creatives, and resting.
- Lodging and meals are included.
- Begins with dinner 5:30pm Eastern on Sunday, July 12
- Ends with lunch on Thursday, July 16
- Pre-retreat Zoom to answer questions about submissions and discuss our summer camp community will be held on Monday, June 1 at 12 noon Eastern (this will be recorded for those who cannot attend live).
Find Your Magic!
Save $100 on any 2026 in-person workshop with coupon code FINDMAGIC. Use the code at checkout for all 2026 campus workshops.
Offer valid through November 19 at midnight.
Why This Workshop?
This five-day, in-person summer camp is centered on mentorship, inspiration, and community with:
- opportunities for learning and interaction;
- ample self-paced time to make progress on a project and/or play with your creativity;
- and feedback that includes 1:1 mentorship with your faculty reader at the beginning and end of the program, facilitated peer discussions, plus informal feedback throughout.
Mornings will be structured around lectures and meetings with fellow creatives (including your faculty reader and small groups). Afternoons will be for independent writing, drawing, and revising, as well as fiction, nonfiction, illustration, and publishing sessions (with hands-on exercises).
You will:
- Take in educational and inspirational keynotes by our faculty. These will refresh your passion for the craft of writing and motivate you to keep going.
- Participate in breakout sessions with tracks in fiction, nonfiction, illustration, and getting started as a professional writer.
- Explore storytelling through a range of topics, including nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and more!
- Receive guidance on how to submit manuscripts and proposals to publishers and/or agents.
- Work one-to-one with faculty on a project of your choice. Faculty reader/attendee pairings will be made thoughtfully according to your work and your goals. (Turning your submission in by June 8, 2026 allows us to make this pairing.)
- Participate in small group discussions with a thoughtfully chosen group of fellow attendees. This small group style is designed to help you lead a discussion of your work with other creatives, assisted by a workshop facilitator. Storytellers can share the same project they are using with their faculty mentor, or a new project.
- Have ample free writing time so that you can dream and work on your own projects. Summer camp includes time for retreat, mentorship, and inspiration!
This Workshop is a Great Fit If…
- You’re new to writing and/or illustrating for children and/or teens. You’ll get 1:1 feedback that will help you look at your work-in-progress in a new way, and have time to make significant progress on your project(s).
- You have an in-progress or finished manuscript and would like feedback. Your faculty reader will give you feedback, answer questions, and support you in setting goals. Your peer group can help you consider your revision goals and plans.
- You’re an experienced writer and/or illustrator who is curious about how to get started in children’s publishing. You will find out about the children’s market and meet fellow storytellers passionate about bringing stories to kids and teens.
- You need a jolt of creativity or a reminder of purpose. Summer Camp can be about getting work done if you want it to be, but it can also be about renewing your spark and purpose in writing for kids and teens.
- You’d appreciate some retreat time. This course has plenty of built-in time to write, doodle, or dream–whatever you need.
Detailed Agenda
All Times are Eastern Time. Click on the headings below to explore the agenda in more detail.
Retreat Schedule Overview
Daily Schedule
Mornings will be structured around lectures and meetings with fellow creatives (including your faculty reader and small groups).
Afternoons will be for independent work and revising, as well as fiction, nonfiction, illustration, and publishing sessions (with hands-on exercises).
Mentorship and Feedback
Your faculty mentor will provide written feedback on your submission and you’ll discuss this feedback during your 1:1 meetings at the beginning of the program. At the end of the program, you will have a chance to “check-in” with your reader and discuss plans for moving forward with your project(s). During the workshop, there will also be informal moments to meet and discuss your work with attendees and faculty apart from your faculty mentor.
Your peer group discussions put you in control of leading the conversation to gain what you need most to move forward with your revision (and/or completion) of your story. Our feedback sessions offer you support, and give you space to ask questions to help problem-solve, brainstorm new ideas, and work through challenges. All peer group discussions have an engaged facilitator to keep the conversation focused, keep time, and most importantly, build a safe environment for sharing.
Pre-Workshop
- You will receive a link to our virtual classroom where you can introduce yourself to fellow creatives, engage in Highlights Foundation related resources (including our Community Standards), and view submission details related to this course.
- Monday, June 1 at 12pm (noon) Eastern: Pre-retreat Zoom to answer questions about submissions and discuss our summer camp community. (This session will be recorded for those who cannot attend live.)
- Submission deadline: before the workshop, preferably by June 8, 2026.
- Picture book writers can submit one full picture book manuscript of up to 1,200 words. This submission should also contain a cover letter (including where you are in the project, your connection to the topic/theme, and specific questions you have for your faculty reader).
- Those writing longer nonfiction or fiction can submit up to 2,500 words from a current work in progress for their faculty reader. This submission should contain a cover letter (including where you are in the project, a summary of the complete project arc if you know it, your connection to the topic/theme, and specific questions you have for your faculty reader).
- Illustrators can submit one full picture book manuscript (up to 1,200 words), or a digital link to your portfolio of images, or up to 5 pages of a longer piece of illustrated fiction or nonfiction (including a graphic novel). The submission should also include a cover letter including specific questions that you have for your faculty reader.)
- If you are between projects or just starting out, you can submit a book proposal with a short writing sample or a one-page list of ideas you are considering as a full-length project. This submission should also contain a cover letter.
- In addition to submitting one of the above choices to your faculty reader, you will submit pages for your peer groups. These submissions can be from the same work-in-progress given to your faculty reader, or a new project altogether (please follow the same length guidelines and cover letter requests).
- Submissions are due June 8, 2026 to allow ample time for readers to take in your story.
Day 1: Sunday, July 12, 2026
- 3pm – 5pm Eastern: Arrival and check in.
- 5:30pm: Appetizers & Dinner
- Following dinner: Opening & Welcome Activity with Alex Villasante
- Followed by meeting with your faculty mentor for informal introductions.
Day 2: Monday, July 13, 2026
Morning:
- Breakfast
- Keynote with S.K. Ali
- 1:1 Meetings with Faculty Reader (retreat time for those not in meetings)
- Optional Writing Prompt
Afternoon:
- Lunch
- Free writing time
- Breakout Sessions (Your choice of topic, with themes of Fiction, Nonfiction, or Getting Started as a Professional Writer. [Session titles coming soon.] Select one live, with access to a recording of the session you miss.)
- With Don Tate
- With Alison Green Myers
- With Steve Light
Evening:
- Appetizers & Dinner
- After Dinner: Informal fireside chat
Day 3: Tuesday, July 14, 2026
Morning:
- Breakfast
- Keynote with Alison Green Myers
- Small Group Meeting #1 (retreat time for those not in meetings)
- With Alex Villasante
- With NoNieqa Ramos
Afternoon:
- Lunch
- Free writing time
- Breakout Sessions (Your choice of topic, with themes of Fiction, Nonfiction, or Getting Started as a Professional Writer. [Session titles coming soon.] Select one live, with access to a recording of the session you miss.)
- With Rob Costello
- With Don Tate
Evening:
- Appetizers & Dinner
- After Dinner: Hands on Session with Steve Light
Day 4: Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Morning:
- Breakfast
- Keynote with Don Tate
- Small Group Meeting #2 (retreat time for those not in meetings)
- With Alex Villasante
- With NoNieqa Ramos
Afternoon:
- Lunch
- Free writing time
- Breakout Sessions (Your choice of topic, with themes of Fiction, Nonfiction, or Getting Started as a Professional Writer. [Session titles coming soon.] Select one live, with access to a recording of the session you miss.)
- with S.K. Ali
- With Alex Villasante
Evening:
- Appetizers & Dinner
- Final Mentor Meetings: Part One
- After Dinner: Open Mic on the Patio (weather permitting)
Day 5: Thursday, July 16, 2026
Morning
- Breakfast
- Final Mentor Meetings: Part Two (writing and packing time for those not in meetings)
- Optional closing writing prompt
- Closing keynote with Rob Costello
Afternoon
- Lunch and farewells
Previous Breakout Topics and Keynotes
Note: Breakout topics and keynotes are still being developed by faculty. Past Summer Camp session topics have included:
- Confessions of a Slow Writer
- Checking Boxes: Identity and Bringing Yourself to Your Stories
- Educator to Author: Creating Entry Points for Complex Topics
- Dream, Dare, Do—Writing Takes Vision, Courage, and Energy, Each to the Fullest
- Creating a Sense of Belonging in Your Stories for Kids
- Telling the Stories that Only YOU Can Tell
- Waking the Inner Voice: It’s Time
- Picture Book as an Act of Mischief: Bringing the Right Voice & the Right Play to a Picture Book
- Propulsive Language: Making Stories MOVE
- Writing is Re-writing: Maximizing Revision
- Beginnings & Endings: Pathways to the Reader’s Mind & Heart, & Gaining Welcome Entrance
- Literature, Lessons, and Life: How the Desire to Write One Good Sentence Pursued Me
- JUST Fiction: Writing Race, Culture, and Power in Children’s Books
- Submission Basics: How to Start and End Your Query Letter
- The Importance of the Page Turn
- What I Really Want to Write About: Finding Stories That Matter
- Educational Writing & Work-for-Hire (and everything in-between!)
- The Poetry of Facts
- Gathering Native Voices: WOW Readers with Meaningful Sentences
- and many, many more!
About Summer Camp for Writers and Illustrators
DUMMY ROW - WILL BE HIDDEN
What Level of Feedback Can I Expect for My Work?
Feedback Expected
Guidance and mentorship will be offered in two ways, both through our faculty readers and in your facilitated peer group. Our feedback sessions offer you support, and give you space to ask questions to help problem-solve, brainstorm new ideas, and work through challenges. You will receive comprehensive submission details closer to the start of Summer Camp.
- Picture book writers can submit one full picture book manuscript of up to 1,200 words. This submission should also contain a cover letter (including where you are in the project, your connection to the topic/theme, and specific questions you have for your faculty reader).
- Those writing longer nonfiction or fiction can submit up to 2,500 words from a current work in progress for their faculty reader. This submission should contain a cover letter (including where you are in the project, a summary of the complete project arc if you know it, your connection to the topic/theme, and specific questions you have for your faculty reader).
- Illustrators can submit one full picture book manuscript (up to 1,200 words), or a digital link to your portfolio of images, or up to 5 pages of a longer piece of illustrated fiction or nonfiction (including a graphic novel). The submission should also include a cover letter including specific questions that you have for your faculty reader.)
- If you are between projects or just starting out, you can submit a book proposal with a short writing sample or a one-page list of ideas you are considering as a full-length project. This submission should also contain a cover letter.
- In addition to submitting one of the above choices to your faculty reader, you will submit pages for your peer groups. These submissions can be from the same work-in-progress given to your faculty reader, or a new project altogether (please follow the same length guidelines and cover letter requests).
- Submissions are due June 8, 2026 to allow ample time for readers to take in your story.
NOTE: What if I don’t have anything to submit at this time? Read our guide to learn more. You can also learn more about feedback and critique here.
What Level of Commitment is Expected During the Retreat?
As an in-person event at our Retreat Center, you’ll have a chance to step away from everyday life to experience the workshop. We build in breaks and independent time so you have space for your personal needs. While we encourage participation in all group events, we know that as an adult learner you can decide if you need more time to yourself. Please let someone from our staff or faculty know if you plan to step away from group activities.
The Highlights Foundation strives for a safe and inclusive environment. You will have access to our Community Standards prior to the workshop where we ask for your respectful engagement with fellow creatives, including our faculty and staff.
How Does This Retreat Support Our Mission?
Our mission is to positively impact children by amplifying the voices of storytellers who inform, educate, and inspire children to become their best selves. Creating for children and teens is often referred to as a labor of love. It is rewarding work because your stories can have a big impact on the lives of children, and it is hard work. This summer camp will offer support, motivation, reassurance, and sense of community from fellow creators who share your passion.
Can I Connect with Other Participants Prior to the Retreat?
You will receive a link to our virtual classroom where you can introduce yourself to fellow creatives and engage in Highlights Foundation related resources (including our Community Standards), prior to the event.
