KidLit Summer Camp 2025 Directory
Connect with our featured guests (alphabetized by last name) through their websites and social media. Here you’ll also find links to their YouTube channels, podcasts, and other resources they offer.
And PLEASE support the KidLit Summer Camp book fair, hosted by Swamp Fox Bookstore and running July 7 through July 13! You’ll find our guests’ books featured, but you may also order ANY book that is available through bookshop.org. A part of all sales is supporting the purchase of books at their local schools for an upcoming author event. Thank you Swamp Fox Bookstore for your generosity and support of kids!
Featured Guest Interviews
Gabrielle Kirouac Byrne
Click here to watch Gabby’s interview on using environmental science to create fully developed worlds.
Connect with Gabby on her website and Instagram.
Gabby’s books are featured in the KidLit Summer Camp book fair!
Gabby has been writing speculative fiction in the Pacific Northwest for more than fifteen years. She has two fantasy books for middle grade readers out with Macmillan. RISE OF THE DRAGON MOON was a Junior Library Guild selection and the Kirkus review for her second book, THE EDGE OF STRANGE HOLLOW, called the story "spookily thrilling with superlative world building." She's helped all kinds of writers--published and unpublished--improve their stories, including as a mentor (in the MG reader category) for three years with the (now retired) global writing contest "Pitch Wars." She has a masters degree in literature and a second bachelors in environmental studies--and is now an Author Accelerator certified book coach in the fantasy and romance space for all age groups.
Laurie Calkhoven
Click here to watch Laurie’s interview on using meditation and creative play to get unstuck in your writing.
Connect with Laurie on her website, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Laurie’s books are featured in the KidLit Summer Camp book fair!
Children's book writer and book coach Laurie Calkhoven loves nothing more than inspiring young readers them to love books, reading, and writing as much as she does, and working with authors to make their stories shine. From more than fifteen early readers to laugh-out-loud chapter books and historical novels that bring the wacky facts of history to light, she’s published more than fifty books for children and teens under her own name and as a ghostwriter. She’s had experience with all genres of children’s fiction, including mysteries, fantasies, thrillers and historical novels. She’s also created nonfiction titles for children just learning to read, established middle grade readers, and teenagers. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Laurie spent many years working in book publishing. She was the founding editor of the Teen People Book Club and was an executive editor with the Scholastic Book Clubs.
Tina Cho
Click here to watch Tina’s interview on her writing journey and how she writes across multiple age categories.
Connect with Tina on her website, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X).
Laurie’s books are featured in the KidLit Summer Camp book fair!
Tina Cho is the award-winning author of six picture book--RICE FROM HEAVEN: THE SECRET MISSION TO FEED NORTH KOREANS, KOREAN CELEBRATIONS, MY BREAKFAST WITH JESUS, THE OCEAN CALLS: A HAENYEO MERMAID STORY (4 starred reviews, JLG, Freeman Honor Award), GOD’S LITTLE ASTRONOMER, GOD’S LITTLE OCEANOGRAPHER, and the forthcoming THE PRINCESS AND THE GRAIN OF RICE (Feb. 2026) and GOD’S LITTLE ZOOLOGIST (2027). Her lyrical middle grade graphic novel, THE OTHER SIDE OF TOMORROW received five starred reviews (Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, School Library Journal, The Horn Book), an SCBWI Golden Kite Award, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, SLJ Best Graphic Novels List 2024, Kirkus Best Middle Grade 2024, & Booklist Editors’ Choice 2024 & the Freeman Book Honor Award/NCTAsia). She’s a kindergarten teacher by day and an author by night.
Rebecca Dolence
Click here to watch Rebecca’s interview on creating and including fantastical creatures in your stories.
Connect with Rebecca through her website, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Click here to sign up for Rebecca’s free Creature of the Month Club.
Rebecca A. Dolence is a lover of stories, over-analyzing, and everything creepy. When she’s not listening to the crows cackle or writing under the oak tree’s canopy, you’ll find her dancing under the moonlight in the backyard or flinging mud in her Jeep.
As an Author Accelerator certified fiction book coach, she specializes in coaching fantasy, magical realism, and various subgenres of horror for adults and children (yes, kids love horror too), by helping authors from the scary blank page, to drafting and revision, to a complete manuscript. Rebecca loves supporting writers through collaboration and brainstorming to help the words dance off the page.
Rebecca has a Bachelor’s of Arts from the University of Detroit Mercy, is a long-time member of SCBWI, has earned several certificates in writing for children from The Institute of Children’s Literature, is a blogger, developmental editor, and business owner of RAD Notes Book Coaching, LLC.
Erin is a writer, developmental editor, and certified book coach who helps writers dig into the emotional heart of their stories to solve the problems that are stopping them from getting to The End. She has a deep love of literature for young people of all genres, characters on "who am I?" journeys, and stories that end on a note of hope. A former television producer and scriptwriter, she has published more than a dozen short stories and holds an MFA in writing for young people. When she's not thinking about, talking about, tinkering with, and fixing stories, she can be found in her attic, writing more stories.
Cordelia Jensen
Click here to watch Cordelia’s interview on writing novels in verse for tweens and teens.
Connect with Cordelia on her website, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X).
Cordelia teaches classes about writing novels in verse at the Highlights Foundation.
Cordelia’s books are featured in the KidLit Summer Camp book fair!
Cordelia Jensen graduated with a MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2012. Cordelia has four verse novels: Skyscraping (Philomel/Penguin) The Way the Light Bends (Philomel/Penguin) and Every Shiny Thing (Amulet/Abrams), which she co-authored with VCFA classmate Laurie Morrison, and a forthcoming Middle Grade Lilac and the Switchback (Holiday House, 2025). Skyscraping was named an American Library Association’s 2016 Best Book for Young Adults, A Los Angeles Public Library’s Best Book for Teens and a 2016 NCTE Children’s Notable Verse Novel. Every Shiny Thing was nominated for the South Carolina Junior Book Award. Lilac and the Switchback is a Junior LIbrary Guild Gold Star Selection and received a starred review from Booklist. Cordelia has taught creative writing in a variety of settings: Bryn Mawr College, The Kelly Yang Project, The Writing Barn and The Highlights Foundation. Cordelia is a certified book coach through Author Accelerator. Cordelia is represented by Liza Fleissig at Liza Royce Agency.
Victoria Marie Lees
Click here to watch Victoria’s interview on writing short stories for the children’s magazine market.
Connect with Victoria on her website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (X), and LinkedIn.
Victoria’s memoir is featured in the KidLit Summer Camp book fair!
Victoria Marie Lees is an award-winning poet and author. She has published in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Business Insider, and national magazines and anthologies. She leads writing workshops at libraries and assisted living centers on various topics in fiction, memoir, and poetry. She also helps beginning writers, one-on-one, to hone their skills.
Victoria earned her B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and has recounted her college experiences as a mother of five, the trials, the heartache, and the humor. Her memoir, Determination: A Mother of Five Conquers College, has just been released.
When Victoria isn’t writing, she can be found camping and hiking in the mountains or enjoying her children and grandchildren at the beach. One thing’s for sure. She finds inspiration for her creative work from family adventures and nature.
Beth McMullen
Click here to watch Beth’s interview on writing stories for kids and teens that feature the exciting adventure and action young readers crave.
Connect with Beth on her website, Instagram, and Facebook.
Check out the Writers With Wrinkles podcast.
Click here to grab Beth’s free resources for writers.
Beth’s books are featured in the KidLit Summer Camp book fair!
Beth McMullen is the author of ten traditionally published novels and cohost of the Writers With Wrinkles podcast. With over 20 years in the industry and an Author Accelerator certification under her belt, she brings deep, no-fluff expertise to fiction writers navigating messy middles, saggy plots, and stalled momentum. Beth also writes the Substack newsletter You CAN Write a Book! and coaches writers who are serious about getting to “The End.” She lives in Northern California with her family and two fluffy cats.
Justin Minkel
Click here to watch Justin’s interview on worldbuilding for your middle grade and YA fantasy novels.
Connect with Justin on Instagram.
Justin Minkel has known he wanted to be a writer since 2nd grade. He grew up surrounded by the woods, creeks, and hollows of the Ozark Mountains, where he’d go on rambling adventures with characters from whatever fantasy book he was reading at the time.
Justin is the author of the chapter book CLUBHOUSE CLASH for kids in grades 2-4. His novel WINGED, a fantasy novel for readers in the middle grades inspired by the Icarus myth, is currently on submission.
Justin has an MFA in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University. He mentors young writers through Society of Young Inklings, and loves working with young writers as their imaginations flourish and their stories unfold.
Justin is also a bookseller at Pearl’s Books, a truly wonderful independent bookshop in his hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he lives with his 14-year-old son, 17-year old daughter, his wife, way too many books to fit on the shelves, and a tender-hearted black cat named Smudge.
Erin Radniecki
Click here to watch Erin’s interview on going beyond setting to feature nature prominently in your fiction writing.
Erin Radniecki is a nature enthusiast and Author Accelerator certified book coach based in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. She helps nature-passionate people write fiction that makes readers care about the natural world. Her goal as a book coach is to get more books out into the world that inspire others to pay attention to the creatures and natural spaces around us. When she's not reading, you’ll find her in her backyard gardening for pollinators.
Sharon Skinner
Click here to watch Sharon’s interview on the various publishing paths available to writers.
Connect with Sharon on her website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (X), LinkedIn.
Click here to listen to the Coaching KidLit podcast.
Click here to take Sharon’s quiz, “Plot Your Path to Publishing.”
Sharon’s books are featured in the KidLit Summer Camp book fair!
Sharon Skinner holds a BA in English, an MA in Creative Writing and is a Certified Book Coach and freelance editor, who helps writers weave their words into stories that shine. She mainly writes fantasy, science fiction, paranormal, and the occasional steampunk, for audiences of all ages. Skinner is an active member of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) and serves as the Regional Advisor for SCBWI AZ.
Eija Sumner
Click here to watch Eija’s interview on staying curious as a writer.
Connect with Eija on her website, Instagram, and Facebook.
Click here to sign up for Eija’s newsletter on Substack.
Eija’s books are featured in the KidLit Summer Camp book fair!
Eija Sumner writes picture books for children and novels for older kids and teens. She is the author of the picture books CROCODILE HUNGRY and THE GOOD LITTLE MERMAID’S GUIDE TO BEDTIME, both published by Tundra books, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada.