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Anyone can attend any Network,
anywhere at anytime!
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Live, in-person, and online meetings are free and open to all! Networks focus on craft and industry programming and are our first point of outreach with the wider creative community.
Scroll down to see the complete list
of networks and offerings!
Network Representatives are valued SCBWI-IL volunteers.
Contact them with your questions about attending any of our programs.
Interested in starting a NETWORKS group?
Email Sheila Path-McMahon, co-RA
All Network times are CST
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Want to stay connected and never miss out on exciting opportunities, resources, and community happenings? For the latest updates and event information for SCBWI members, join our Google Listserve by emailing Alan Woodrow.
You can also find our latest information on the SCBWI Illinois website here.
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JUNE 2025
For more information on the networks, scroll down
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JULY 2025
For more information on the networks, scroll down
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AUGUST 2025
For more information on the networks, scroll down
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SCBWI-IL Members: You can also join in the fun at our SCBWI Illinois Illustrators Network Group on Facebook – request to join here.
SCBWI member illustrators please make sure you are on the illustrator Google Group! To be added please email Allan Woodrow
| | Chicago-Area Illustrators’ Network | | Equity & Inclusion Network | |
Diversity Network Meetings create a space where writers and illustrators who’ve traditionally been left at the margins in children’s publishing can get together. At these meetings we’ll build community, share stories of hurdles and successes, work to dismantle barriers, improve diversity and inclusion in children’s literature and SCBWI-IL, work on our craft and improve our writing and/or illustrating careers.
Our focus on diversity springs from the #WeNeedDiverseBooks movement: We recognize all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, Native, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities. Because of the breadth of this focus, we will be particularly conscious of the intersectionality of oppressions and identities. Allies are welcome. (An ally is a person who supports, empowers, or stands up for another person or a group of people.)
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Email Network Representative Donna Beasley for more information:
Donna Beasley
| | Chicago Southside Network | | |
OPEN CRITIQUE NIGHT:
Bring up to 1,000 words of your picture book, middle grade, or young adult work in progress to share for feedback and camaraderie. It's also fine to attend if you don't have work to share.
Mark your calendar for:
Thursday, July 17 at 7:30 PM
| | Chicago Northside Network | |
Email Chicago Northside Network Representative Mary Jo Gugliemo for more information.
| | Chicago's Southland Network | | |
Join other creatives for exercises and craft discussions.
Mark your calendars for:
Thursday, June 12 at 7 PM
Thursday, July 10 at 7 PM
Thursday, August 14 at 7 PM
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Email Chicago's Southland Network Representatives Linda Dryfhout or Jim Danielson for more information.
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Join the North Suburban Network in person for a Potluck Summer Party! RSVP to Carolyn Crimi for details and location.
Mark your calendar for:
Wednesday, August 13 at 6 PM
| | Far North Suburban Network | | |
Far North Suburban Network will meet at 7 PM on the first Wednesday of the month. Come mingle and socialize with your SCBWI pals! Everyone will be responsible for your own tab. Location will be emailed out with the meeting reminder.
Mark your calendar for:
Wednesday, June 4 at 7 PM
Wednesday, July 2 at 7 PM
Wednesday, August 6 at 7 PM
Contact Kim to get on the email list.
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Email Far North Suburban Network Representatives, Kim Oclon and Nicole Hewitt for more information:
| | Far Northwest Suburban Network | | |
OPEN CRITIQUE
Far Northwest Suburban Network will meet at 6:30 PM on the third Wednesday of the month, from January to November, at the Café in Barnes and Noble, 1470B E. Golf Road, Schaumburg, IL 60173.. If you would like to share your work and receive feedback, please prepare a picture book manuscript or no more than five double-spaced pages of a novel excerpt.
Instructions on how to submit will be sent with the meeting reminder.
Mark your calendar for 6:30 PM on:
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
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Email Dundee Area Network Rep & Co-Regional Advisor Jennifer Wagh if you are a first-time attendee.
Jennifer Wagh
| | Near West Suburban Network | | |
HOW TO MAKE YOUR PROSE AND POETRY POP WITH POETIC DEVICES
Have you ever wondered why some phrases from favorite books, snippets of famous speeches, or even lyrics from popular songs linger in your mind? What exactly is it about the wording that makes them so memorable? In this 50-minute program, author and poet Eileen Rajala Meyer will review nineteen different poetic devices that add audible effects, intensify emotion, heighten relationships between words, and help capture mood through sound in your writing. A program for prose and poetry writers alike, Eileen will provide examples from a dozen children’s picture books as she highlights these poetic devices. Handout (book list and term definition sheet) included for attendees. Q & A at the end of the program.
Eileen Rajala Meyer writes children’s picture books and poetry. Her new title with Reycraft Books is a rhyming ode to a favorite summer activity, Build a Sandcastle. Her picture book about our sixteenth president, The Superlative A. Lincoln (Charlesbridge Publishing) was a Florida State Book Award Silver Medal Winner for Older Children’s Literature. Eileen is a member of the Rhyme Doctors team and shares articles about different aspects of writing poetry and rhyme in a free monthly newsletter. (Sign up at RhymeDoctors.com.). Check out EileenMeyerBooks.com to learn more.
When: Thursday, June 5, 2025
Time: 7:00 PM
Where: Dole Branch Library Mtg Rm (Part of Oak Park Lib. System)
255 Augusta Street
Oak Park, IL
| | Bolingbrook-Naperville Network | | Galena-Freeport Area Network | | FREE CRITIQUE OR SHARE TIME | | |
Galena-Freeport meets at 7 PM on the fourth Wednesday of the month. To accommodate creators who work during the day, Network Rep. Jamie Petras changed the time of the meetings from 7 to 9 PM.
Each participant gets fifteen minutes to share their WIP, query or synopsis and get feedback, or ask questions about the writing process.
Mark your calendar for 7:00 to 9:00 PM:
Wednesday, June 25
Wednesday, July 23
Wednesday, August 27
Please contact Jamie for the Zoom link.
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Email Galena-Freeport Network Rep Jamie Petras for more information:
Jamie Petras
| | East Central / Champaign-Urbana Network | | |
HOW TO MAKE YOUR PROSE AND POETRY POP WITH POETIC DEVICES: An Evening with Eileen Rajala Meyer
Have you ever wondered why some phrases from favorite books, snippets of famous speeches, or even lyrics from popular songs linger in your mind? What exactly is it about the wording that makes them so memorable? In this 50-minute program, author and poet Eileen Rajala Meyer will review nineteen different poetic devices that add audible effects, intensify emotion, heighten relationships between words, and help capture mood through sound in your writing. A program for prose and poetry writers alike, Eileen will provide examples from a dozen children’s picture books as she highlights these poetic devices. Handout (book list and term definition sheet) included for attendees. Q & A at the end of the program.
Eileen Rajala Meyer writes children’s picture books and poetry. Her new title with Reycraft Books is a rhyming ode to a favorite summer activity, Build a Sandcastle. Her picture book about our sixteenth president, The Superlative A. Lincoln (Charlesbridge Publishing) was a Florida State Book Award Silver Medal Winner for Older Children’s Literature. Eileen is a member of the Rhyme Doctors team and shares articles about different aspects of writing poetry and rhyme in a free monthly newsletter. (Sign up at RhymeDoctors.com.). Check out EileenMeyerBooks.com to learn more.
When: Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Time: 7:00 PM
Where: The Urbana Free Library, 210 West Green Street, Urbana IL
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Email Champaign-Urbana Network Rep Elaine Bearden for more information:
Elaine Bearden
| | Near Normal Kidlit Network | | |
Near Normal Kidlit Network meets in person at the Bloomington Public Library in the 2nd floor Conference room.
Mark your calendar for:
Thursday, June 26 at 6:30 PM
Thursday, July 24 at 6:30 PM
Up to 5 pages of a Chapter Book, Middle Grade, Young Adult, or entire Picture Book may be emailed in advance of the meeting for critique.
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Email Near Normal Kidlit Network Rep Emily Keener for more info.
Emily Keener
| | Springfield Area Scribes Network | | |
Springfield Area Scribes meets at 6 PM on the first Tuesday of the month on Zoom.
Mark your calendar for:
Tuesday, June 3 at 6 PM
Tuesday, July 1 at 6 PM
Tuesday, August 5 at 6 PM
Have 5 pages of Middle Grade, Young Adult or entire Picture Book ready to critique.
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Email Springfield Scribes Network Rep Debra Daugherty for more info.
Debra Daugherty
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The Network meets from 6 to 8 PM on the third Wednesday of the month at Books-A-Million, 6601 Edwardsville Crossing Drive in Edwardsville.
Mark your calendar for:
Wednesday, June 18th at 6 PM
Wednesday, July 16 at 6 PM
Wednesday, August 20 at 6 PM
Bring 5 pages to critique! We do in-person critiques but have traditionally asked that writers new to the group wait until their second meeting to submit work for critique. New writers welcome!
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Email Edwardsville Network Rep Juli Caveny for more information:
Juli Caveny
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Join Published Author Srividhya Venkat for POWER HOUR.
Working in community, quietly crafting a query, brainstorming with breakfast, or perfecting your prose.
This is an opportunity to work in silence with other creators virtually for two 30-minute periods with five-minute breaks to discuss what you accomplished. Power Hours take place on Tuesdays.
June 3 & 17 at 9 AM
July 8 & 22 at 9 AM
August 12 & 26 at 9 AM
| | SCBWI-IL NETWORK POLICIES | | | | |
