In March, we invited writers to apply for a six-month mentorship with one of our Published and Listed members, and we received a record number of entries! This year’s mentor, Sherry Shahan, joins us to announce the winner and discuss her selection process.

by Sherry Shahan

What a pleasure to spend time with this year’s mentee submissions, written by accomplished playwrights and actors, teachers, artists, music lovers, well-published poets, and other creators. While genres and approaches differed, each writer presented realistic characters with heartfelt desires. Their unique personalities shined through. Stepping into their characters’ worlds at the beginning of their transformations was a remarkable, emotional experience.

In my early years as a writer, I didn’t know about SCBW. (The “I” for illustrator came later.) I wrote on a manual typewriter and scoured Writer’s Market searching for answers to the mysteries of publication. I met prolific writer Elizabeth Van Steenwyk at a writer’s conference. She recommended me to her editor at a school/library press. They published my first six middle-grade novels. Elizabeth and I became lifelong friends and members of the same critique group. No one hypes you up more than the SCBWI community.

I read each submission over and again. Three manuscripts found their way to the top of my consideration pile. The writing wasn’t more polished than the others. Voice and unique plots drew me in on page one. I chose Julia Edwards because her theme spoke to me. From Julia’s synopsis, “. . . the trees are afraid and it’s time for Phoenix to speak up. Because the forest is only as strong as the weakest tree. We must protect those who cannot protect themselves . . .” Congratulations, Julia. I’m eager to walk by your side while Phoenix battles for those without a voice.

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Sherry Shahan is a teal-haired septuagenarian who writes in a small California beach town. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, taught a creative writing course for UCLA Extension for 10 years, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry and Short Fiction, Best American Short Stories, and Best of the Net Anthology. She has 40 children’s books to her credit—fiction and nonfiction, preschool through YA. Sherry is best known for her middle grade adventure/survival novels FROZEN STIFF (Random House, Yearling), ICE ISLAND (Random House, Yearling), and DEATH MOUNTAIN (Peachtree).

Julia Edwards is a writer and teacher. Her play LOCKDOWN, published through YouthPLAYS, has been performed in schools across the country, and her one-act, A LOSER LIKE YOU, is included in the anthology BULLYING, INK. She teaches writing for all ages, from nursery school to college, including working with first-generation college applicants through ScholarMatch on the dreaded personal essay. She currently works in the 5th/6th grade ELA classroom at Saint Mark’s School of Altadena that is thriving after relocating several times after the Eaton Fire. (Long live Altadena!) She is thrilled to get to work with Sherry Shahan to bring her story of the trees to life.