The WRWA Fall Conference starts September 25th. I will provide continued updates here through next week. I am joining the Board of Directors and look forward to growing the organization in beneficial ways for published and unpublished writers alike.
Guest speakers include:
Barbara Poelle: “From Query to Shelf: The Business of Books”
Originally from the west coast, Barbara Poelle, literary agent, worked for a Bay Area Publisher before accepting the offer to join the Irene Goodman Literary Agency in New York, NY. A voracious reader and award winning debater, Barbara is not only able to devour manuscripts, but fight for them as well... and her very brief stint as a stand-up comic comes in handy for those particularly raucous debates, both in the office and at home. With her strong background in editing and copywriting, Barbara has no qualms about helping writers turn a “maybe” into a “yes”, and values client communication above all else. Barbara is passionate about thrillers, mysteries, historical romance, and humorous non-fiction, but will be a proud promoter of any writer with a strong, unique voice.
Cassie Hansen: “An Emerging Generation of Writers”
I am currently the Youth Member Services Coordinator for the Wisconsin Regional Writer’s Association. Through this, one of my goals is to organize a writer’s group, at either the high school or university level, in each of the six geographical regions of the Association. I will be graduating from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point in May, with a B.A. in English and an emphasis in Business and Technical writing. From January-Mary 2008, I was an editing/reporting intern at the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, where I currently freelance. After graduation, I hope to find a job as an editor, technical writer, designer, or any combination of the three.
Eva Apelqvist: “How Hard can it Be? Writing for Children and Young Adults”
Eva Apelqvist is the author of “Swede Dreams,” a young adult novel about 16-year-old Calista’s life changing experiences as an exchange student in Sweden (Penguin, 2007). Her first non-fiction book for teens, “Learning to Drive,” is due out by Enslow in June, 2010. Eva Apelqvist writes for younger children and has been published in a large number of children’s magazines, among them, Highlights for Children, Spider Magazine, Winner Magazine, Jack and Jill, Ladybug, and New Moon. In her spare time, she writes newspaper and magazine articles for adults, and an occasional romance short story for a Swedish women’s magazine. She is also the director of På svenska, a Swedish Language and Culture Immersion Camp for adults in northern Wisconsin. Apelqvist enjoys meeting her readers and loves doing school visits. Learn more about her at her website, http://www.evaapelqvist.com
Greg Peck: “Potholes on the Road to Publication: Pros and Cons of Working with a Small Mainstream Publisher”
Greg Peck is Opinion Page Editor of The Janesville Gazette and author of “Death Beyond the Willows.” The book is a true story of rural Wisconsin history surrounding a 1927 wedding day tragedy that took place in Portage and inspired Zona Gale's prize-winning fictional short story, “Bridal Pond.” The bride and groom were married in Greg's hometown of Marshall.
Greg will review his eight-year process from research to publication of “Death Beyond the Willows” and why he sought a mainstream publisher, even a small one, rather than going the self-published route. He also will chronicle his own marketing efforts.
A Wisconsin native, Greg graduated with a journalism degree from UW-Oshkosh in 1979. He has spent thirty years working for newspapers in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin Rapids and now Janesville. Greg has won journalism awards in news, editorial, sports and column writing and was named 2007 World Champion Liar by the Burlington Liars Club. He joined WRWA in 2006.
Jean Feraca: “From 'Less is More' to More or Less! Turning Poetry into Memoir”
Host Jean Feraca is a 25-year veteran of public talk radio in the United States, and is Wisconsin Public Radio's Distinguished Senior Broadcaster and has been host and co-producer of the Ideas Network's award-winning call-in news and cultural affairs program, Conversations with Jean Feraca, from 1990 to 2003. In 2003 she started her new weekend program Here On Earth.
Jean's new book, "I Hear Voices: A Memoir of Love, Death, and the Radio", came out in September 2007. It has been selected as the winner of this year's Kingery/Derleth Booklength Nonfiction Award, sponsored by the Council for Wisconsin Writers. Conversations with Jean Feraca won the National Telemedia Council's Distinguished Media Award in l996. Jean Feraca was the recipient of The Nation's l975 Discovery Award and was named "one of the most promising poets of her generation. She received a Wisconsin Arts Board Fellowship to complete Crossing the Great Divide, her second book, which was published in l992 and nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
She is a member of Poets and Writers, Inc. and is listed in the International Who's Who in Poetry, and Who's Who in American Writers, Editors and Poets. Feraca holds a B.A. cum laude in English from Manhattanville College in New York where her honors work in dramatic literature was completed with Harvard University. She received an M.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan and completed the course work toward her Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky. She did graduate studies in drama at the University of California in Berkeley and studied studio art at Columbia University. A native of New York, Feraca has lived in Italy and has traveled extensively in Europe, the Mediterranean, Mexico, Canada, the Carribean, and the Amazon. She has two sons, and now lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
John Lehman: “10 Things I Think I Know For Sure (About Writing and Getting Published)”
John Lehman is the founder and original publisher of Rosebud, a national magazine of short stories, poetry and illustration for people who enjoy good writing. He is the poetry editor of the Wisconsin People & Ideas as well as managing partner of Zelda Wilde Publishing and-with editors Andrea Musher and Marilyn Taylor-for three years published the free, street-quarterly Cup of Poems and a Side of Prose.
John was a finalist for the Wisconsin Poet Laureate position in 2004 and again in 2008. John Lehman's collections of poetry include Acting Lessons, Shrine of the Tooth Fairy, Dogs Dream of Running and Shorts: 101 Brief Poems of Wonder and Surprise. His latest nonfiction books are America's Greatest Unknown Poet: Lorine Niedecker Reminiscences, Photographs, Letters and Her Most Memorable Poems and Everything is Changing: How to Gain Loyal Customers and Clients Quickly.
John Lehman grew up in Chicago but for the last twenty years he has lived with his wife, Talia Schorr, their four dogs and six cats in Rockdale, the smallest incorporated village in Wisconsin.
See you there.
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