“I love KW so much! love learning from, and just hanging out with and bonding with esteemed authors, illustrators, and fellow editors. It is so liberating to attend a conference like that and be there to learn, rather than teach and be pitched to.”

"If I only do one thing each year that is solely for my professional self, it is attending Kindling Words."

"KW West is a nurturing and magical week for delving deeply into your work, in the best of company. With fabulous food, too!"

"My first year at KW I met, for the first time, other people who did what I did, who sat alone in their offices dreaming up stories for children. On the day I arrived, I didn’t know any of them, but after three days of talking, talking, talking, at the dining tables, around the bookshelves, in front of the bonfire, I knew I’d made friends for life. And, maybe more importantly, I knew I had colleagues, people who understood what it meant to write for children. Kindling Words is, for me, the light in winter during which I define my hopes for the new year."

"Some of my favorite memories from Kindling Words are the meals – not because the food was so good (although it was), but because I, the writer-introvert, felt so comfortable to sit myself down at any table, with anyone something I always craved but rarely got at larger conferences. I felt welcome connected to a community of other writers, and by extension, more deeply to myself sounds grandiose, what can I say? It was a grand experience!"