Young Authors Get Drawn Into Words

Almost 200 students from 15 central Minnesota schools discovered storytelling at Sourcewell's Young Authors Conference, Nov. 13 and 14, 2025, at Central Lakes College — Staples.

Students in grades 4-6 were invited to attend this long-running event, which was hosted across two days to accommodate a wide range of schools. Nine presenters from around the Midwest taught workshops on a range of topics, including:

• Writing
• Illustrating
• Character design
• Storyboarding
• Worldbuilding
• Publishing

Sourcewell’s student academic programs coordinator, Crysta Blake, said that students were highly engaged and eager to learn about all aspects of storytelling.

“The atmosphere was incredible this year,” Blake said. “Even from the start, with keynote speakers Trisha and Stephen Shaskan, students were buzzing with excitement to tell their stories. I’m so thankful we get this chance to nurture students’ passion for writing, creation, and storytelling.”

“It’s such a great event, grounded with great people — including the awesome CLC faculty and staff who made hosting this event possible!” 

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Presenters and topics included:

Trisha Speed Shaskan and Stephen Shaskan

How to Create a Graphic Novel Character!

Creativity is accessible to everyone. In this session, Trisha and Stephen will show you how to create a character through both drawing and writing. Using simple personality questions, simple shapes, and expressions, you can bring a new character to life and have fun doing it!

Trisha and Stephen are a wife and husband team that has created a combination of over 75 books for children. They created the “Q & Ray” graphic novel series together. Trisha and Stephen love visiting schools and libraries, where they share their passion for creativity and stories.

Magdalena Mora

Storyboarding 101: Using Drawing to Get to the Heart of a Story

Storyboards help illustrators, animators, and graphic novelists develop their art and ideas. In this interactive session, Magdalena will help you get more comfortable with your own visual storytelling style through collaborative drawing activities. Students of all drawing abilities are welcome!

Magdalena is an award-winning illustrator. She illustrated “The Notebook Keeper” and “Still Dreaming/Seguimos Soñando.” She lives in Minneapolis where she spends her time reading, cooking, and working in her ceramics studio.

Dr. Tyronne Carter

Paper Rocket Fun and Book Reading

Ordinary events in your life can lead to a learning experience — and a storytelling opportunity! In this session, Dr. Carter will share the experience of writing a book and getting it illustrated and published. And (because he’s a scientist) he’ll explore how the whole experience relates to Newton’s Third Law.

Dr. Tyronne Carter is a K-8 science teacher, K-12 principal, and children’s book author. He works with America’s Fun Science, which offers hands-on science experiment activities and STEM programs for Pre-K through eighth grade.

Art Coulson

Why Does Writing Shorter Take Such a Long Time?

When you’re writing a story, every word counts! So which words do you choose? In this session, Art will show you the differences between short and long books and how each approaches writing differently. You’ll learn how to figure out the “core” of your story…and you’ll test your skills by writing a story that’s only six words long!

Art Coulson, the 2023 McKnight Fellow in Children’s Literature, has written 20 books, graphic novels and plays, including “All the Stars in the Sky,” “Chasing Bigfoot,” and “Look, Grandma! Ni, Elisi!” Art started his career as a journalist, writing exciting (and very short) stories for newspapers and magazines.

Candace Simar

Building a Fantasy World with Words

Learn how to create a believable, detailed, and unique fantasy world! Candace will show you how to use your imagination as a foundation for writing fictional universes. Learn the importance of creating geography, culture, and technology as you make a “Map of Secrets” that will pull your readers into your new world.

Candace Simar likes to imagine how things might have been. She combines history with her Scandinavian ancestry to create exciting frontier fiction set in Minnesota and North Dakota. Her eighth and newest novel, “Montana Matrimonial News,” was released this year.

Stacy Ebert

The Page is Your Stage

Starting a story is hard. One way to get creative ideas is to ask a simple “What if?” question and see where it takes you! In this session, Stacy will share lots of ways to create story ideas and experiment with them. You’ll get more confident as a writer and have a lot of fun in the process!

Stacy is a children’s book illustrator and writer originally from Brainerd, MN. She has experience in education, design, and picture books. She uses that experience to help young writers and artists take simple ideas and bring them to life in lively scenes, characters, and stories.

Kathleen Sheridan

Origami and You

Kathleen Sheridan is an origami teacher and owner of Origami and You. After teaching Spanish for 18 years, Kathleen decided to stop correcting papers and start folding them! She has loved origami since she was first introduced to it back in 4th grade. She teaches origami to students ages 7 to 97. She teaches at libraries, birthday parties, conferences, festivals and special events. She strives to bring a connection between herself, her students and the papercraft.

Nicholas DeShaw

Nicholas DeShaw is a proud father, educator, and traditional lacrosse coach, and “Loaf the Cat Goes to the Powwow” is his debut picture book. He is Anishinaabe (Bois Forte Ojibwe), Migiziwan Odoodeman (he is Eagle clan). Nicholas studies and speaks the Ojibwe language. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota