Call for Applications for Book Week Authors and Illustrators

Date posted: March 30, 2010
Posted by: The Canadian Children's Book Centre
Application deadline: April 30, 2010

General Information:
The mission of TD Canadian Children’s Book Week is to connect the authors and illustrators of Canadian children’s and young adult books with readers across Canada. TD Canadian Children’s Book Week is Canada’s largest celebration of reading and Canadian children’s books. The first Book Week tour was held in 1977 and since then over 300 Canadian authors, illustrators and storytellers have toured throughout the country.

In celebration of TD Canadian Children's Book Week, the Canadian Children's Book Centre (CCBC) sends authors, illustrators and storytellers on a cross-Canada tour to give readings, workshops and presentations to children in schools, libraries, community centres and bookstores. The next Book Week tour will run from Saturday, April 30 to Saturday, May 7, 2011.

Description and duties:
Applying authors and illustrators must be available to tour a province/territory (other than their home province) from Saturday, April 30 to Saturday, May 7, 2011. They should be prepared to give readings and workshops in schools, libraries, community centres and bookstores across their tour region.

Touring for TD Canadian Children’s Book Week can be an exhausting, but exhilarating experience. Along with the smiling faces of hundreds of children and the dedicated teachers and librarians that authors and illustrators will meet on their journey, they will also be facing long days (up to four presentations a day), hours of travel and potential bumps in the road (i.e., weather interruptions, flight cancellations and delays, etc.).

Individuals must be comfortable with all major forms of travel (i.e., planes, buses, trains, being driven in cars by volunteer drivers, etc.) and be prepared to rise to the challenges of TD Canadian Children’s Book Week.

Qualifications:

  • Authors and illustrators with books being released in 2010 and Spring 2011 are eligible. Re-issues or re-releases of previous titles are not eligible.
  • Only Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada are eligible.
  • Authors, illustrators and storytellers are eligible to tour every two years. Therefore, authors and/or illustrators who toured in 2009 are not eligible to tour for TD Canadian Children's Book Week 2011.
  • Authors and illustrators must have published professionally at least two complete books for children and/or young adults — picture books, fiction, short stories, poetry, drama or non-fiction — that lend themselves to a public reading.
  • Authors of travel guides, bibliographies, cookbooks, exhibition catalogues, instruction manuals, self-help books, scholarly books, textbooks and specialized reference works are not eligible.
  • Illustrators of children's books are eligible, provided they have illustrated the complete text of at least two professionally published works for children and/or young adults.
  • Self-published authors and illustrators are not eligible to tour, as per Canada Council funding guidelines.
  • Author/author teams or author/illustrator teams are not eligible to apply unless the individuals or their publishing company are prepared to pay the travel, accommodation and meal costs for one of the team members. The CCBC receives a limited amount of funding for a certain number of tour spots and we are not able to use two blocks of funding to send two individuals to one location.
  • Authors and illustrators must provide two letters of reference from schools and libraries that have hosted them for readings and/or workshops during the past two years. Letters sent via email will be accepted.
  • Each author and illustrator will be touring outside of his/her home province and must be comfortable travelling and keeping up with a busy schedule for the week of the tour.
  • Authors and illustrators must have experience presenting engaging readings and/or workshops to children and/or young adults.
  • Authors and illustrators must be accessible by both phone and email.
  • Authors and illustrators must have necessary ID for travelling (i.e., valid passport or driver’s license with photo ID).
  • All authors and illustrators chosen to tour for TD Canadian Children's Book Week must be a member of the Canadian Children's Book Centre. (Membership details can be arranged once the roster has been selected and authors/illustrators have been contacted.)
  • The CCBC will consider all applications with regard to achieving a tour roster having broad representation of the publishing companies (smaller presses as well as the larger ones) in Canada and the various genres in children's writing.
  • The tour roster is selected to provide fair representation of gender, regional and cultural diversity.
  • The CCBC will also consider awards and honours received.

Compensation:
All travel expenses, accommodation expenses and meal expenses are covered by the Canadian Children's Book Centre. A per diem of $50.00 per day is allowed for meals.

Authors and illustrators will be paid $150.00 (plus GST or HST, if applicable) per school reading. There are usually 10 to 14 school readings given during the tour.

The Canadian Children's Book Centre also receives funding from the Canada Council to pay for four public readings per author and illustrator. The authors and illustrators will be paid $250.00 for each of the four Canada Council public readings (plus applicable taxes).

Additional Information:
There are 25 available tour spots. In addition, three storytellers are being selected to tour by the Storytellers of Canada. The Canadian Children's Book Centre’s goal is to finalize the roster by the end of May. Only those authors and illustrators who are selected to tour will be contacted, as will their publishers.

A unique aspect of the Book Week touring program is that authors and illustrators always tour outside of their home province so that they can meet young fans from different parts of the country. If you are chosen to tour, you will be asked for your list of the top three provinces and/or territories you would like to tour. The CCBC will then determine the location you will be touring (keeping your top choices in mind) and you will be assigned a Book Week Coordinator who will be located in the province or territory you will be touring. They will be responsible for coordinating all aspects of your Book Week tour (i.e., booking school and library readings, booking your travel and accommodations, etc.)

Authors and illustrators should inform their publicist(s) that they are applying so that they are aware of the author’s and/or illustrator’s intention to tour.

Applicants are also encouraged to have their publicist(s) send further information (i.e., current books, backlist titles, press releases or media kits, etc.) to the Canadian Children’s Book Centre prior to the April 30, 2010 deadline.

The CCBC is looking for individuals who will bring knowledge, experience and enthusiasm to the Book Week tours. The more information we know about each applicant, their published works and their reading/workshop experience, the better.

Applicants should read our list of Frequently Asked Questions about the Book Week touring program. If applicants have further questions or would like to learn more about TD Canadian Children's Book Week, please contact Shannon Howe Barnes, Program Coordinator at 416.975.0010 or by email at shannon@bookcentre.ca.

Applicants may also wish to visit our read the reports and view photos from last year's Book Week tour participants.

Applicants should use the Book Week Application Checklist (PDF or Word document) to ensure that they have submitted all of the required information. Applications that are missing information will not be considered.

Application deadline: Friday, April 30, 2010.
Applications being sent by mail must be post-marked by this date (not received by this date).

How to apply:
All interested authors and illustrators are asked to complete the application form (PDF or Word document) and submit two letters of reference (letters sent via email will be accepted) by Friday, April 30, 2010 to:

Shannon Howe Barnes
Program Coordinator
The Canadian Children's Book Centre
40 Orchard View Blvd., Suite 101
Toronto, Ontario M4R 1B9
Tel: 416.975.0010
shannon@bookcentre.ca

Application files for download: