About Our Nonprofit Organization Capitol City Young Writers is a national 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to educating and inspiring young writers up to and including high school. Our goal is to educate today's youth on the art and craft of writing, so as to encourage their own love of writing. Students are exposed to fiction, nonfiction, poetry, memoir, screenplay, broadcast radio, songwriting, and many other forms of creative writing.
CCYW is sponsored by the English Department at Sacramento State University in CA and several student run organizations through the English Department.
Our Board Of Directors
Verna Dreisbach is an award-winning published author who has been featured in books, literary journals, magazines, and newspapers. Her Seal Press anthology on women and horses is due for publication in 2010. Verna represents both fiction and non-fiction authors through her agency, Dreisbach Literary Management.She travels throughout the U.S. and Canada at various writers’ conferences and has established numerous contacts in the publishing industry. Verna serves on the board of directors for the CSUS Writers Conference in Sacramento, CA. and is the founder and president of Capitol City Young Writers. She holds a BA degree in English with honors from Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society.She is currently pursuing a MA degree in creative writing. Other interests include riding and training horses, playing with her dogs and teaching archery to Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
Verna Dreisbach
Founder and President
Deborah LeBlanc is an award-winning author from Lafayette, Louisiana. She is the author of Family Inheritance, Grave Intent, A House Divided, and Morbid Curiosity. Her next book, Water Witch, is scheduled for release in December 2008. She takes her high passion for literacy and a powerful ability to motivate to high schools around the country. In 2004, Deborah created the LeBlanc Literacy Challenge which is an annual, national campaign designed to encourage young readers to continue reading and increase literacy throughout the United States. You can read more about Deborah at www.deborahleblanc.com and www.literacyinc.com.
Deborah LeBlanc Board Member
Bob Yehling is the author of seven books and owner of Word Journeys, Inc., since 1996 a full writing services provider to fiction and non-fiction authors and writers throughout the United States. After beginning his professional career at age 16 as a newspaper journalist, Bob went on to edit a variety of magazines for nearly 20 years, including American Idol Magazine and One Giant Leap for Mankind, NASA's official 25th anniversary commemorative publication of Apollo 11. He has taught writing workshops since 1999, has worked with many young writers, and has organized and taught summer library writing programs to children and teens in four states. He is the author of the award-winning Writes of Life: Using Personal Experiences in Everything You Write, and the forthcoming The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life and The Voice. He is co-creator of The Write Time Teens 'N Twenties Writers Conference, which will feature periodic conferences around the country, beginning April 11 in Bloomington, IN. Bob lives in Western Kentucky, where he is a high school track and cross-country coach. His hobbies include photography, organic gardening, wakeboarding, landscaping, playing music and competitive distance running. In 2009, he will compete in the Boston Marathon for the fourth time.
Bob Yehling Board Member
Michele Scott is the author of Murder Uncorked, the Wine Lover's Mystery Series as well as the Horse Lover's Mystery Series published by Berkley Prime Crime (Penguin). Michele began writing at 9 years old as has never stopped. After twelve years of pursuing her passion, she signed her first book deal with Berkley. Her debut novel Murder Uncorked, nominated for a best first mystery award by Romantic Times BookClub, hit the Barnes Nobles mystery bestseller list and the Independent Mystery Bestseller list. Her third book in her equine series, Tacked To Death, will be released February 2008. Michele is currently under contract for eight books with Berkley. Michele has been featured in The Writer, Romantic Times, San Diego Magazine, and Touring Tasting. She graduated from The University of Southern California with a degree in communications where she studied journalism and hoped to be a reporter. Michele lives in San Diego, California, with her husband and three children! .
Michele Scott Board Member
Patricia V. Davis has taught extensively in private and public high schools in the United States and in Greece. In 1995, in Athens, Greece, Patricia founded an education service, Serafim Books, named for “a good book is like a guardian angel.” Serafim Books gained international acclaim for its dedication to education and its philanthropic work with organizations such as Make-A-Wish Greece chapter, TESOL Greece and TESOL Macedonia Thrace. Patricia’s essays, opinion articles and celebrity interviews have appeared in various newspapers and magazines nationally and internationally. Patricia is also the editor-in-chief of Harlots' Sauce Radio, non-partisan e-magazine and podcast at www.harlotssauce.com. Patricia’s book,Harlot's Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece, is an award winning finalist in the 'Multi-Cultural, Nonfiction' Category of the National Best Book Awards 2008, sponsored by USABookNews.
Patricia V. Davis Board Member
Kathryn Mattingly has a Fine Art degree from the University of Oregon, and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR. Five of her eight short stories published in various anthologies have won awards. Kathryn received an honorable mention from Writer's™ Digest Magazine for one of her short-short pieces and her second novel was a quarterly finalist for the New Century Writer's™ Award. She is also published in the magazine: "Dark Discoveries" Through the Maui Writers Retreat Kathryn has studied under NY Times Best Selling Authors; Terry Brooks, Dorothy Alison, Gail Tsukiyama and Elizabeth George. She would love to branch out from short stories to books! Kathryn is the Department Chair for Graphic Design at International Academy of Design and Technology in Sacramento where she teaches advanced drawing, design fundamentals, color theory, and the 400 level literature film course. Her passion is to help creative minds master their media of choice.
