Tuesday March 24, 2020
Breakout Seminars A – 10:30 AM
- Literary agent Jevon Bolden
- Literary Agent: An Author’s Best Friend – Part 1: Acquiring an Agent
- Finding the right agent is critical to an author’s publishing career, sometimes making or breaking it. In this three-session series, Jevon will discuss the important relationship between author and literary agent. You will learn how literary agents serve authors in the following ways:
- Negotiating the best publishing relationships for their authors
- Helping them establish and fulfill publishing goals and benchmarks
- Working with you to develop winning book concepts and manuscript publishers will love
- And advocating and liaising for you behind publishers’ closed doors
You will also learn how to find the right literary agent for you, what you should expect and not expect from the relationship, and how to keep a long, productive, and flourish chemistry between the two of you as your influence grows.
- Finding the right agent is critical to an author’s publishing career, sometimes making or breaking it. In this three-session series, Jevon will discuss the important relationship between author and literary agent. You will learn how literary agents serve authors in the following ways:
- Literary Agent: An Author’s Best Friend – Part 1: Acquiring an Agent
- J. Dana Trent
- What Every Writer Needs to Know
- I’ve known that I wanted to be a writer since I could hold a pencil. I was too young to craft a sentence, but I longed to create beauty. But between childhood and adulthood, creative dreams dissolved into worries about what was employable. Being a writer, I’d been told, was not a realistic career path. So I opted for safety—and, therefore, misery. Then, a candid mentor encouraged me to turn my tears into work that would, ultimately, forge the path to my writing life. Ten years later, I’m the award-winning author of four books. Though my road circuitous, yours needn’t be. Join us for “What Every Writer Needs to Know,” a session covering a decade of lessons that will equip you for the journey (and save you a little time, too).
- What Every Writer Needs to Know
- Literary agent Kathryn Helmers
- YOU AND YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS: Five steps to a more satisfying relationship
- A far better end goal than success for writers and authors is sustainability. By drilling down into the who, what, when, where, and why of your creative process, we will explore how discerning your unique balance of process and outcome can help you get traction on your path as a creative person.
- YOU AND YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS: Five steps to a more satisfying relationship
- Reader Track: Patrice Gopo
- Why Read Personal Essays: Connecting with Others, Connecting with Ideas, Connecting with Self
- Personal essays encompass more than an interesting story about someone’s life. Personal essays are a powerful way for us as readers to connect with other human beings, connect with a broad range ideas, and ultimately better connect with our own selves. In this workshop, we’ll examine several examples of rich, personal essays. We’ll consider the ways we can approach reading these essays so that we’re in a position where the words, the writing, the story can impact us, possibly even transform us.
- Why Read Personal Essays: Connecting with Others, Connecting with Ideas, Connecting with Self
Breakout Seminars B – 1:30 PM
- Literary agent Kathryn Helmers
- HOW BOOK PUBLISHING HAS CHANGED: Three major shifts that affect everything you do as a writer and author
- Much of the “how to get published” industry was originally built on a model of book publishing that no longer exists. Get an insider’s view of the most critical changes that have narrowed the funnel to conventional publishing while opening up new opportunities for serious writers.
- HOW BOOK PUBLISHING HAS CHANGED: Three major shifts that affect everything you do as a writer and author
- Margot Starbuck
- Crafting a Nonfiction Book Proposal That Helps Publishers Say YES!
- Want to discover what delights the hearts of agents and publishers when they’re reading a book proposal? Come find out! We’ll discuss the purpose of your book proposal, identify the three things every publisher must see, and review the nuts and bolts of a strong book proposal—as well as detailing creative ways to make yours shine. Plenty of time for Q and A.
- Crafting a Nonfiction Book Proposal That Helps Publishers Say YES!
- Kathy Izard
- Dream it. Write it. Publish it.
- Kathy Izard started with a New Year’s resolution on Dec 31, 2010, that she would finally write something longer than an email. While she had never written a book or planned to publish, Kathy had a story she felt needed to be told. It took thirteen drafts, six years, four workshops and two editors to complete that first book, but she finally self-published in 2016. Eighteen months later, Kathy signed a book deal and now, she has also written and published a children’s book. In this session, Kathy will teach you how to get your story into the world.
- Dream it. Write it. Publish it.
- Reader Track: J. Dana Trent
- Pulling Back the Curtain on Creative Nonfiction: A Reader’s Insider View
- As an avid reader of creative nonfiction, I love learning how a book idea travels from a writer’s mind to the reader’s hands. As the author of four books in this genre, I make new discoveries in this process each time I publish. “Pulling Back the Curtain on Creative Nonfiction: A Reader’s Insider View” will offer a behind-the-scenes look at the story behind the story–including how books are snapshots in a writer’s craft, their readerly sensibilities, and their life.
- Pulling Back the Curtain on Creative Nonfiction: A Reader’s Insider View
Wednesday March 25, 2020
Breakout Seminars C – 10:00 AM
- Patrice Gopo
- Where Your Voice Meets the World’s: The Personal Essay as a Vehicle for Social Change
- Personal essays are a popular and important way to share deeper thoughts and insights about our lived experience. But the personal essay can also be a vehicle for social change. In the act of writing a personal essay or conveying a personal experience through writing, we may not always realize how these stories intersect with the stories unfolding in society. In this session, we will consider the ways our lived experiences and insights can connect with the larger conversations happening in the broader world. We will examine how writing our personal stories can help promote positive social change in and beyond our spheres of influence.
- Where Your Voice Meets the World’s: The Personal Essay as a Vehicle for Social Change
- Kathy Izard
- Dream it. Write it. Publish it.
- Kathy Izard started with a New Year’s resolution on Dec 31, 2010, that she would finally write something longer than an email. While she had never written a book or planned to publish, Kathy had a story she felt needed to be told. It took thirteen drafts, six years, four workshops and two editors to complete that first book, but she finally self-published in 2016. Eighteen months later, Kathy signed a book deal and now, she has also written and published a children’s book. In this session, Kathy will teach you how to get your story into the world.
- Dream it. Write it. Publish it.
- Literary agent Jevon Bolden
- Literary Agent: An Author’s Best Friend – Part 2: The Pitching Process
- Finding the right agent is critical to an author’s publishing career, sometimes making or breaking it. In this three-session series, Jevon will discuss the important relationship between author and literary agent. You will learn how literary agents serve authors in the following ways:
- Negotiating the best publishing relationships for their authors
- Helping them establish and fulfill publishing goals and benchmarks
- Working with you to develop winning book concepts and manuscript publishers will love
- And advocating and liaising for you behind publishers’ closed doors
You will also learn how to find the right literary agent for you, what you should expect and not expect from the relationship, and how to keep a long, productive, and flourish chemistry between the two of you as your influence grows.
- Finding the right agent is critical to an author’s publishing career, sometimes making or breaking it. In this three-session series, Jevon will discuss the important relationship between author and literary agent. You will learn how literary agents serve authors in the following ways:
- Literary Agent: An Author’s Best Friend – Part 2: The Pitching Process
- Reader Track: Margot Starbuck
- Who really writes these books? The secrets of ghostwriting revealed
- If you’re like many readers, you may have been disappointed the first time you realized an author had not written every word of his or her book. New York Times bestselling collaborator Margot Starbuck discusses why ghostwriting is good for readers, reveals how it works, and welcomes your questions and critiques!
- Who really writes these books? The secrets of ghostwriting revealed
Breakout Seminars D – 2:15 PM
- J. Dana Trent
- What Every Writer Needs to Know
- I’ve known that I wanted to be a writer since I could hold a pencil. I was too young to craft a sentence, but I longed to create beauty. But between childhood and adulthood, creative dreams dissolved into worries about what was employable. Being a writer, I’d been told, was not a realistic career path. So I opted for safety—and, therefore, misery. Then, a candid mentor encouraged me to turn my tears into work that would, ultimately, forge the path to my writing life. Ten years later, I’m the award-winning author of four books. Though my road circuitous, yours needn’t be. Join us for “What Every Writer Needs to Know,” a session covering a decade of lessons that will equip you for the journey (and save you a little time, too).
- What Every Writer Needs to Know
- Patrice Gopo
- Exposing, Expanding, or Changing the Narrow Narrative: Honoring One Another as We Write across Culture and Race
- As writers, we know our words can have positive or negative impact we may not even realize. How do we steward this reality well and foster sensitivity when we write about different cultures and races? In this session, we will consider how our writing can either confirm narrow narratives about people and places or, instead, help to expand and/or change those narratives. We will delve into how we can write about different cultures or races in full, dynamic ways. Finally, we’ll discuss key questions to consider as one thinks about writing about another culture or race.
- Exposing, Expanding, or Changing the Narrow Narrative: Honoring One Another as We Write across Culture and Race
- Literary agent Kathryn Helmers
- YOU’RE A WRITER, NOW WHAT? Strategizing your author platform
- Unless your writing is directed only to Dear Diary, you’re in it because you have something you want to say and you want someone to hear it. Once you have a plan for balancing process against outcome, it’s decision time when the rubber meets the road in getting your content out to your audience. We’ll explore components of author platform and best practices for creating your own unique strategy for building your audience.
- YOU’RE A WRITER, NOW WHAT? Strategizing your author platform
- Reader Track: Emerging authors: Niki Hardy, Kate Rademacher, Erin Hall
Breakout Seminars E – 3:30 PM
- Local organizations: CharlotteLit, AK Classics, WordPlay
- Literary agent Jevon Bolden
- Literary Agent: An Author’s Best Friend – Building Relationship with Publisher and Reader
- Finding the right agent is critical to an author’s publishing career, sometimes making or breaking it. In this three-session series, Jevon will discuss the important relationship between author and literary agent. You will learn how literary agents serve authors in the following ways:
- Negotiating the best publishing relationships for their authors
- Helping them establish and fulfill publishing goals and benchmarks
- Working with you to develop winning book concepts and manuscript publishers will love
- And advocating and liaising for you behind publishers’ closed doors
You will also learn how to find the right literary agent for you, what you should expect and not expect from the relationship, and how to keep a long, productive, and flourish chemistry between the two of you as your influence grows.
- Finding the right agent is critical to an author’s publishing career, sometimes making or breaking it. In this three-session series, Jevon will discuss the important relationship between author and literary agent. You will learn how literary agents serve authors in the following ways:
- Literary Agent: An Author’s Best Friend – Building Relationship with Publisher and Reader
- Margot Starbuck
- Crafting a Nonfiction Book Proposal That Helps Publishers Say YES!
- Want to discover what delights the hearts of agents and publishers when they’re reading a book proposal? Come find out! We’ll discuss the purpose of your book proposal, identify the three things every publisher must see, and review the nuts and bolts of a strong book proposal—as well as detailing creative ways to make yours shine. Plenty of time for Q and A.
- Crafting a Nonfiction Book Proposal That Helps Publishers Say YES!
- Reader Track: Kathy Izard
- Living on Purpose: Never Too Late for Next Chapters
- In 2007, Kathy Izard was looking for a different purpose for her life. Although she was a working mom with a successful advertising career, she was approaching empty-nesting and was restless to do something completely different with her life. Kathy followed a series of disruptive nudges that led her to quit her job to begin working for the Urban Ministry Center transforming her life and ultimately, the lives of hundreds of chronically homeless men and women. She has published two books, one for adults and one for children, to encourage people of all ages to dream big and do good. Kathy will be sharing her inspiring story to encourage readers and writers that it is never too late for next chapters.
- Living on Purpose: Never Too Late for Next Chapters
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All information subject to change.