WIFYR All Year List

Join us June 16-20, 2025 in Draper, Utah at our 26th annual writing conference. 

Participants get a mini-MFA-style workshop with a small group of likeminded writers for children and young adults. Heading up the workshops are published authors or editors who read your work and give you feedback. Included in your week are class visits from agents and editors and an individual session with an agent or editor who reads your work beforehand and gives you feedback. 

In the afternoons, you'll attend plenary sessions and choose breakout sessions all taught by industry professionals. (Participants can also choose to do the afternoon sessions without participating in the morning workshops.)

The goal of our conference is to help you get published! We have an amazing community of writers and many of our past participants have made life-long connections and publishing success stories as a direct result of attending the conference. 

Registration opens January 1st. Join us!

For those who are new to our book club and a reminder for the others, WIFYR book club is an extension of the Writing & Illustrating for Young Readers conference. Our book club is free and open to all writers (and readers). We have monthly zoom meetings with an author presenter and time for Q&A. We discuss everything from picture books through young adult. Many times our authors give writing presentations, so we learn a lot in this group while reading awesome books. We try to keep our meetings at around 40-45 minutes and full stop at an hour. WIFYR book club will have a lineup of professional authors August - October and January - May (as well as invites to other special events), and then we break for conference in June. If you join the mailing list, you'll receive one email at the start of the month with details on our author of the month and the book to read and then another email with the zoom link the week of our meeting. If you're not able to read the book in time, that is fine. You may still come and hear from our authors and ask any questions about writing, publishing, etc.

In February, we'll be discussing The Forgotten Magic of Zoey Turner by Erin Stewart. A girl whose anxiety disorder has been ruling her life since her father’s death unexpectedly has the story she’s written come alive in this adventurous and tender middle grade fantasy perfect for fans of Barbara Dee and Jamie Sumner.

Getting Ready for Submission

At this year's March Ahead, we're doing something brand new. There's more than eight hours each day of learning how to get your novel ready for submission! Choose to attend either Friday, March 21 (online) or Saturday, March 22 (in person). We'll be in Orem, Utah. Classes are the same for both days.

Learn how to pitch your book, take classes from editors, and enjoy presentations from award-winning authors. Agents Marie Lamba, Stephen Fraser, and Joy Peskin are some of our special guests.

Talks will include "Marketing Yourself" and "That Great Opening Page."

Our newest teacher at WIFYR this year, Brodi Ashton, will present "The Last Things I Do Before Sending My Manuscript Off." Brodi is a New York Times Best Seller. Her novel, My Lady Jane, which she co-authored, is now an Amazon Prime series.

ENTER THE CONTEST FOR A CHANCE TO ATTEND FOR FREE!