Whale Rock Mentorships, Fall 2025

Instructors: Liz Bicknell, Kathryn Erskine, Liz Garton Scanlon, Gary Schmidt, and Shelley Tanaka
September - December 2025
Times TBD | Online | Workshops recorded
Level: Advanced

Our Mentorships are immersive, writing experiences designed to offer writers one-on-one attention, feedback and skill building from master, MFA-level faculty members.

Our mentorship faculty members team up for this unique online program designed for picture book, middle grade, and young adult authors. With award-winning authors, editors, professors and former professors from Hamline University and Vermont College of Fine Arts, students receive one-on-one guidance and stewardship. For authors contemplating an MFA program, this is a wonderful alternative to grow your skills without the steep price tag. For authors who have an MFA or never considered one, this is your opportunity to get pages read and critiqued by master instructors.

*Please Note: We do not yet have confirmation of availability from all our mentors, but 80% of our mentors return session after session. If you wish to register early in order to confirm your spot, you will be able to revisit your mentor choice once we have our faculty in place.

Payment plans are available for this program. Email us for more information.

The Art of Children’s Non-Fiction

Instructor: Katie Scott
Sundays, September 14 - October 5, 2025
1:00 - 3:00 PM EST | Online | Workshop recorded
Level: All Levels

Have you contemplated writing a children’s non-fiction book but are unsure of where to start? Or maybe you have a book idea and want to know how to make your pitch stand out to an editor. Perhaps you already write non-fiction, but you're stuck on an idea or looking for more industry insight. In this four-week workshop, Senior Kids Can Press editor Katie Scott will explore what goes into making an outstanding children’s non-fiction book. Each session will include mentor texts, breakout room workshops, and a 30-minute Q&A discussion, where participants can get direct feedback from Katie on their ideas.

You’ll walk away with:

• An understanding of where good ideas come from and how to turn them into great books.

• Strategies for finding an original way into your topic.

• Tools for making your proposal stand out to an editor.

• Insight into how to apply craft to create a strong non-fiction manuscript.

This workshop is for you if:

• You are an experienced author who wants to break into the non-fiction market to diversify your portfolio and skill set.

• You are a published non-fiction author looking to sell your next book idea.

• You're not yet published, but you are want learn more about and write non-fiction for young readers.

• You are looking for insider knowledge about the non-fiction children’s book market today and what editors are looking for.

• You’re looking for constructive feedback from a publishing professional.

Caboose Retreat 2025:

WEEK ONE DATES: November 2 - November 7, 2025
WHERE: Sabillasville, MD
SPECIAL GUEST: Patricia Lee Gauch
ONLY FIVE SPOTS LEFT

WEEK TWO DATES: November 9 - November 14, 2025
WHERE: Sabillasville, MD
SPECIAL GUEST: Agent Miranda Paul, Erin Murphy Literary Agency
ONLY THREE SPOTS LEFT

Join Whale Rock Workshops faculty for a cozy writing retreat in Sabillasville, MD. Make lifelong writer friends with this six-day, five-night getaway.  Faculty and writers will cook together, eat together, walk together, laugh together, and of course write together.

Payment plans are available for this program. Email us for more information.