This weekend was the 2016 Chapter One Young Writers Conference! We had an absolutely incredible time at the conference this year and hope you did as well.
The weekend started with a pizza party Friday night in the hotel courtyard!
The official conference began Saturday morning, with a fun query-writing workshop led by Ch1Con team members Christina Li (YA writer represented by Jessica Regel of Foundry Media) and Patrice Caldwell (editorial assistant at Scholastic).
After the workshop, our first speaker took the stage: Jordan Villegas (YA writer represented by Emily Keyes of Fuse Literary)! He gave a great lecture titled “How to Write a Book: A Guide to Getting Your First Rejection.”
Between sessions throughout the day, Ch1Con team members asked attendees trivia questions. Winners got to select books from the huge stacks of ARCs and signed editions on a table at the back of the conference room.
Attendees also had an opportunity to color a picture and answer questions on the white boards throughout the room.
After Jordan spoke, it was time for the keynote address by the one and only Susan Dennard (New York Times bestselling author of Truthwitch)! She gave an inspiring talk titled “How I Became a Writer.”
Next up was lunch and our group picture!
After lunch, Jennifer Yu (author of upcoming novel Four Weeks, Five People) took the stage to talk about how to balance writing with school in a super helpful workshop titled “College 101.”
Following Jen, Francesca Zappia (acclaimed novel Made You Up) led a wonderful session titled “Character Building Across Genres.”
Aaand following the panel, Francesca and Susan signed books for attendees!
Overall, Ch1Con 2016 was awesome.
See you next year!
– The Ch1Con Team
Jordan is a YA writer represented by Emily Keyes of Fuse Literary. He’s a senior in high school, an alum of the Alpha Workshop, and recently was accepted to Harvard University. (Congrats!) You also might recognize him from the 
Chapter One Conference 