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2022 KCU Pitchfest
December 3, 2022 @ 12:00 pm – 4:15 pm EST
Join us for the highly anticipated KCU Pitchfest event!
This half-day online event includes presentations and a panel discussion with industry insiders on how to get your kids graphic novel picked up by a publisher. The day concludes with a live critique of selected submissions. We’ll reveal the big winners of the Pitchfest competition!
Speakers
Janna Morishima (Host)
Literary Agent of Janna Co. and New Leaf Literary and Media, and founder of Kids Comics Unite. Janna has been working in kids graphic novels since 2004, starting with Scholastic. There she helped co-found the Graphix imprint. After working with authors like Raina Telgemeier, Jeff Smith, and Kazu Kibuishi, she left Scholastic to launch the Kids Group at Diamond Book Distributors. There she worked with publishers like Marvel, Oni Press, and Toon Books. Later, she became a consultant, working with a range of clients from individual creators to publishers to the NYC Department of Education.
Associate Director of Original Content for Epic! Kids; author of Kiss Number 8, the Katie the Catsitter series with Stephanie Yue, Mervin the Sloth is About to Do the Best Thing in The World with Ruth Chan, The Oboe Goes Boom Boom Boom with Lian Cho, and the Guinea Pig, Pet Shop Private Eye series, also with Stephanie Yue.
Senior editor at RH Graphic. She works on award-winning books like Trung Le Nguyen’s THE MAGIC FISH, or best sellers like Sophie Escabasse’s The Witches of Brooklyn series. Before RH Graphic, she was an editor for KaBOOM! and worked on titles like LUMBERJANES and ADVENTURE TIME. She gets to work with super talented creators on helping them bring their beautiful stories to life. Whitney is thrilled to be part of the process and below are the books that she’s been a part of.
Instructor/fearless leader of Kids Comics Intensive; author-artist of the forthcoming Five Wishes (Candlewick Press), illustrator of forthcoming graphic novel with First Second, and author-artist of Steady Beat (Tokyopop).
Event Schedule
12pm EST Introduction
12:15pm EST “You Got an Offer, Now What?” presentation by Janna Morishima
15 minute break
1-1:45pm EST Mini Presentations with Colleen Venable, Whitney Leopard, and Rivkah LaFille
15 minute break
2-2:45pm EST Graphic Novel Pitch Panel/Submitted Questions
15 minute break
3pm EST Announce Winners/Unveiling of Gallery
3:10-4pm EST Critique of selected submissions
4-4:15pm EST Wrap Up/Final Thoughts
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