Author Gennifer Choldenko describes being a middle grade writer as being “a professional twelve-year old.” To write middle grade, we can’t merely remember childhood, we have to re-learn how to be kids and write with a 12 year old’s worldview. But how do we do that? After all, middle grade is the great between: it’s not quite edgy enough to be young adult, but it’s got more heft than a chapter book. It’s right in the middle, just like the age of its readers: not quite a teen, but not exactly into the same kid things they were when they read Dr. Seuss.

What exactly are the criteria for middle grade, and how do we write compellingly for this market? How do we get in a space to write the elusive but critical middle grade voice? And how do we design a compelling plot with clear stakes? Join us for this interactive discussion and workshop to ask all your middle grade questions, and take part in exercises to explore your own middle grade voice and find joy in the process.
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MEL EDEN KUYATT is the award-winning author of the 2021 Towson Prize for Literature winning poetry collection “Drowning in the Floating World” and the forthcoming “obsolete hill” (Fernwood Press, 2026) and children’s novels including the Schneider Family Book Award Honor-winning “Good Different,” Stoker nominee “The Girl in the Walls” and “Perfect Enough,” all with Scholastic. When she isn’t writing, she teaches creative writing students in Maryland and beyond. Find her online at megedenbooks.com.