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.
Eldon Thompson, author and screenwriter, shared his entertaining experiences of being a writer and the long journey to success as a published fiction author and screenwriter.His Harper Collins “Legend of Asahiel” trilogy and screenplay adaptation of Terry Brooks’ “Shannara” has earned him a place as an artist and professional.Eldon also discussed the structure of a screenplay, the plotting of a story and offered to review samples of member’s writing and provide feedback.Verna Dreisbach, of Dreisbach Literary Management, discussed the basic process of getting a book published and provided insight into the career of a literary agent.
**This meeting has been professionally taped and will be available at a later date.
MAY 16, 2009 The Art of Fiction
Laurel Ann Hill, author of Heroes Arise. ForeWord Magazine selected Heroes Arise for a 2007 Book of the Year Award (bronze, science fiction category) and was a finalist in the young adult category. Laurel talked about her journey as a writer and provided insight to the members on "How to breathe life into characters and stories instead of sucking all the life out of them." Charlotte Cook, co-founded Komenar Publishing in 2005, a mainstream house dedicated to bringing attention and opportunity to remarkable first-time novelists. Komenar publishes mostly literary mainstream and mystery, some historical adventure. Peter Grandbois, led members through a fiction writing workshop. He is the author of The Gravedigger and the translator of San Juan: Memoir of a City. He teaches creative writing and contemporary literature at Sacramento State University.
**This meeting has been professionally taped and will be available at a later date.
SEPTEMBER 12, 2009 The Art of Poetry
Indigo Moor, is a 2003 recipient of Cave Vanem's Writing fellowship in poetry and the winner of the 2005 Vesle Fenstermaker Poetry Prize for Emerging Writers. His work has appeared in the Xavier Review, LA Review, Mochila Review, BostonUniversity's The Comment, The Ringing Ear, the NCPA 2006 Anthology, and Gathering Ground. His collection, Tap Root, was published in 2006 as part of Main Street Rag's Editor's Select Poetry Series. Jeff Knorr, is the author of Standing Up to the Day (Pecan Grove Press) and Western Reach (Red Hen Press). He is also the co-author of Mooring Against the Tide: Writing Poetry and Fiction (Prentice Hall) and the co-editor of A Writer's Country (Prentice Hall). He was the founding co-editor and poetry editor of the Clackamas Literary Review. He teaches literature and creative writing at SacramentoCityCollege. Andy Jones, has taught in the English department at University of California, Davis, since 1990. He hosts "Dr. Andy's Poetry and Technology Hour" on radio station KDVS. His recent publications include an essay on Beat Art and Poetry in Lifescapes Magazine, and a book of poetry, Split Stock, that Andy do-authored with Writing Program colleague Brad Henderson. Currently, Andy is working on a new book, Cages, and enjoys co-hosting a poetry series at Bistro 33 in Davis on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month. Bob Stanley, led members through a poetry writing workshop. Bob has been acting President of the SacramentoPoetryCenter’s board for eleven years, organized the 2008 gathering of California community poets laureate, and in 2009 edited Sometimes in the Open, an anthology of poems by sixty-five laureates. His poems have won a number of awards including the California Focus on Writers prize for poetry in 2006.
**This meeting has been professionally taped and will be available at a later date.
NOVEMBER 14, 2009 CCYW Celebrates National Novel Writing Month
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. Linda Joy Singleton, has published over 25 Middle-grade and Young Adult Books. Her REGENERATION series from Berkley Books was chosen by the ALA as a 2001 Quick Pick Choice for reluctant young adult readers. It was also released in foreign and large-print editions, plus it was optioned by Fox for a year. And TWIN AGAIN, the first book in the series, MY SISTER THE GHOST, won the Eppie Award for the best children’s book in 2003. Amy Burkhardt,joined Kimberley Cameron & Associates as an intern in the fall of 2007, and is now an Associate Agent. Amy also recently completed her MFA in Writing from the University of San Francisco and is hard at work polishing her first novel manuscript. She holds a BA in English Literature (with a concentration in Creative Writing) from BatesCollege.
DECEMBER 5, 2009 The Craft of Non-Fiction
Jennifer Basye Sander has worked in all aspects of the book publishing business, everything from book retailing to book publicity, from authoring New YorkTimes bestselling books herself to acquiring them for a large trade publisher. She is also the author, co-author, or ghostwriter of more than a thirty books herself, including the recent gift book hits Wear MoreCashmere and The Martini Diet and The Complete Idiot’s Guideto Getting Published.
Koula Gianulias is thrilled to be reporting in her hometown of Sacramento for CBS13. Her first news internship was right here at KOVR when she was a senior in college. After graduating from UC Davis and working in public relations, Koula went back to school to pursue journalism. She interned at Fox 11 in Los Angeles and Sky News London as she worked towards her masters degree at USC.
JT Long led the writing workshop. She is a freelance editor and reporter for business, political and financial publications. Her work has appeared in Fortune, Engineering News-Record and Comstock's magazines. She started in community newspapers and has launched six magazines in her career. Her workshop, The Write Audience, included brainstorming magazine story topics and then creating leads for different publications based on an understanding of the audience. Members learned to understand the importance of The hook, The voice, and The spin.
**This meeting has been professionally taped and will be available at a later date.
MARCH 13, 2010 The Art of Memoir
PATRICIA V. DAVIS, author of 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’s essays, opinion articles and celebrity interviews have appeared in various newspapers and magazines nationally and internationally. She is the author of published poems on women's issues, including,“If This Woman is Being Operated Recklessly” which appeared alongside Laurence Ferlinghetti's work in New Press magazine. Patricia is also the editor-in-chief of Harlots' Sauce Radio, non-partisan e-magazine and podcast at www.harlotssauce.com.
LINDA JOY MYERS, PHD - is a practicing therapist of thirty years in Berkeley, California. She has taught writing as a healing courses to her clients and has trained therapists in this method. She is President and Founder of the National Association of Memoir Writers and author of The Power of Memoir: Writing Your Healing Story.
**This meeting has been professionally taped and will be available at a later date.
