Acclaimed university conference connects writers with mentors, agents, editors, and artists
Though he spent his days working as a chiropractor, Eric Luper, a 1992 Rutgers graduate who majored in English and creative writing, always dreamed of becoming an author for teenagers.
For years, Luper submitted his work to agents and was told he wasn’t ready. But his big break came at the Rutgers University Council of Children’s Literature's One-on-One Plus Conference. There, he was able to reconnect with the first agent he’d ever submitted his work to, and jumpstart a new career as a writer.
The daylong conference, which takes places this year on October 16, allows authors, agents, illustrators, editors, and art directors to meet and share advice about their respective work.
Luper credits the conference for helping him launch his writing career. “The agent asked me to re-submit some of my work to her,” says Luper, whose third novel Seth Baumgartner’s Love Manifesto, was published in June. “I did, and she’s been my agent ever since.
From its inception in 1969, the Rutgers University Council on Children's Literature has produced and planned the conference for authors and illustrators. Mason Gross, president of Rutgers at the time of the council’s inception, officially approved the council through a charter.
Founding member Vivian Grey, began the group because at that time, there wasn’t a place where children’s authors could meet and discuss their craft. So, she approached Rutgers University and then President Gross who supported her idea.
“There’s no other conference out there like this one for the children’s literature field,” says Grey, an author, editor, and teacher whose recent biography about baseball legend, Moe Berg, The Spy Behind Home Plate: The Story of Moe Berg, is under option for TV or film. “The quality of the applicants and mentees is truly top notch.”
The main task of the Rutgers' Council on Children's Literature is to organize the conference. Each year, noted authors and illustrators of books for young readers, distinguished editors, agents, and scholars are invited to speak at the conference. Council members weed through nearly 250 submissions for applications and choose the best 75 mentees to attend the conference. They also secure the volunteer services of more than 70 additional publishing professionals (editors, agents, art directors, well-published authors, and illustrators) to serve as mentors.
“Selected mentees then have the opportunity to spend coveted, ‘one-on-one’ time with an agent, editor, or art director at the conference,” says Marcie Aboff, an administrative assistant in Rutgers’ Department of University Relations and one of this year’s 26 council members. Aboff, an author who specializes in children’s picture books, beginning readers, chapter books, and magazine stories, started out as a mentee in the late 1990s and has been a council member for the past five years.
The conference can be most helpful to writers on the verge of breaking into the publishing world. Not only do participants have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with respective editors and agents, they are paired as mentees and mentors for small roundtable discussions.
Michael Joseph, also a Rutgers employee and council member for the past eight years, credits the conference for giving him a better understanding of the children’s literature marketplace and economy. Joseph, a noted author, is a rare book librarian in special collections and university archives at the university and writes reviews about children’s books.
“There is certain energy during this day that’s really invigorating,” says Brian Schatell, co-chair of last year’s conference and an author and illustrator of picture books who became involved with the council during the late 1980s. “Each and every year, I just know we’re making a difference in what we’re doing and it’s a gratifying thing to do.”
The Rutgers University Council on Children's Literature also has established a repository of manuscripts and illustrations by New Jersey authors and illustrators. The illustration collection is housed at Rutgers’ Zimmerli Art Museum and the manuscripts can be found at the Rutgers Special Collections and University Archives.
For more information on how to submit an application to the One-on-One Plus Conference, visit the council’s website.