NANCY SONDEL, Founding Director

The Pacific Coast Children’s Writers Workshop (PCCWW)
and TeenSpeak Novel Workshop

After attending various children’s writers events, Nancy envisioned the masterclass (open clinic) format for PCCWW, launching it in 2003. Her intention was—and is—to encourage writers to learn from each other’s work, observing “one-on-one” faculty critiques that traditionally take place behind closed doors. To make the most of this opportunity, enrollees review selected peer manuscripts in advance—rather than cold-critiquing pages at the workshop.

Since its inception, the one-day PCCWW with Central Coast California participants has evolved to a full weekend—with East Coast faculty, and worldwide writers from across the USA, Canada, Europe, and China. We doubled in size, but have now reduced enrollment to provide an intimate, personalized setting.

In 2009, PCCWW “gave birth” to the TeenSpeak Novel Workshop, which dovetails with PCCWW to provide mutual, intergenerational benefits. Teens offer critical target-reader feedback to adults, while adults may volunteer to critique manuscripts of talented, dedicated teens—the next generation of children's book writers.

DIRECTOR’S BIO

Nancy’s graduate work included studies in English Literature at the University of Iowa. In 2002, she taught in a national writing seminar at an Iowa community college, then one of the top five in the United States. Her courses included “Chapter One: From Power Plot to Polished Prose” and a dramatized, character-archetypes session team-taught with Laura Backes, publisher of Children’s Book Insider (former New York editor and agent).

Nancy has published 50 adult nonfiction articles in local and international periodicals. One of Nancy’s animal-world essays appears in an adult book published by Simon & Schuster. Since 1995, she has been a contributing editor at Children’s Book Insider (CBI) www.CBIClubhouse.com.

A teacher since the early 1970s, Nancy has taught young people music, Spanish, and story- and skit-writing workshops. She also published an international school-subscription periodical that explored birds in literature, science, and history. Like many PCCWW attendees, Nancy is writing a YA novel; one excerpt received an Honorable Mention in a national Writer’s Digest contest.

Now Nancy enjoys gathering talented faculty, as well as lively writers, to enrich the PCCWW and TeenSpeak experience. She delights in meeting new and returning enrollees every year.

Read a media interview with Nancy and more details about the workshop.