Saturday, July 28, 2012

8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

SAN DOMENICO SCHOOL

1500 Butterfield Road  •  San Anselmo, CA 94960  •  415.258.1900 

Registration Details:  Youth Registration - $100 for the conference.  Includes lunch. 
See registration details below.   

 Special Registration Details:  If you are a parent or teacher, you can attend the conference and accompany your young writer for only $20.  Your registration includes lunch.

CONFERENCE SPEAKERS

DAVID CORBETT is the author of four critically acclaimed novels: The Devil’s Redhead, Done for a Dime (a New York Times Notable Book), Blood of Paradise (nominated for numerous awards, including the Edgar, and named both one of the Top Ten Mysteries and Thrillers of 2007 by the Washington Post and a San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book), and Do They Know I’m Running? published in March 2010 to widespread praise. His short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies, and his story “Pretty Little Parasite” was selected for inclusion in Best American Mystery Stories 2009. David has also contributed a chapter to the world’s first serial audio thriller, The Chopin Manuscript—which won an Audie Award for Best Audio Book of 2008—and to its follow-up, The Copper Bracelet. He has taught at UCLA Extension, Book Passage, Wordstock, and the East of Eden Writers Conference. For more about David, go to www.davidcorbett.com.

WORKSHOP: The Outer Limits of Inner Life 
Building strong, credible characters who engage our empathy requires a dynamic understanding of their inner life.  Such characters often combine both real-world solidity and an almost otherworldly sense of the mysterious.  Part of the wrtier's craft is learning how to naviage that line between the concrete and the inexplicable.  In this workshop, David will guide students through a variety of in-depth exercises to build characters who both reward expectation and yet "consistently surprise."  The classwork will focus on tapping into unconscious imagery, recongnizing important personal themes based on reactions to film and fiction, learning how to use people in one's own life for raw material, and delving into personal experiences of profound emotional impact.

PATRICIA V. DAVIS’ aim is to leave her spot of the world just a little bit better than it was before she got there. She focuses on that through her writing, teaching, philanthropic work, and the promoting of other people who she believes have that same goal.  She wrote the award-winning Harlot’s Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss and Greece, with the hope that it would encourage young women not to make the same mistakes she made. Adelphi University adopted it as a reader for its Gender Studies program, Main Independent Journal called it “delicious”, The Greek Star called it “an inspiring, great read”, and the Orange County Register called her a “Renaissance woman”. As founder and editor-in-chief of the non-partisan Harlots' Sauce Radio  e-magazine and podcast, she loves encouraging new writers and interviewing other “Renaissance people”, such as Neal deGrasse Tyson, Scott James, Jane Friedman, and more. Patricia’s essays, opinion articles, political/social satire, and celebrity interviews have appeared in various newspapers and magazines nationally and internationally. Holding a Master's Degree in Creative Writing and Education, she has taught, spoken, read, and conducted seminars extensively in various venues and schools throughout the US and overseas.

WORKSHOP: The Challenging Art of Satire
In literature, satire is the use of wit, especially irony, to shed light on an unseen truth. In other words, it’s being funny to make a point, and while it’s one of the most difficult literary devices to master, done correctly, it can be make very vivid social commentary. Think “The Daily Show”, or “The Colbert Report”.  In this session, Patricia V. Davis reads examples from a number of satirical works and discusses with the class the approach to satire used in each. We then do some writing exercises to practice our own technique. 

VERNA DREISBACH is the founder and president of Capitol City Young Writers, an organization that began because of her own daughter’s passion and love of writing.  Verna is the editor to the Seal Press anthology, Why We Ride: Women Writers on the Horse in their Lives.  Her writing has been featured in books, literary journals, magazines, and newspapers.  Through her agency, Dreisbach Literary Management, Verna represents both fiction and non-fiction authors.  She teaches college level English and has taught publishing and writing courses through the University of California Davis Extension. Verna serves on the executive committe to the El Dorado County Child Abuse Prevention Council, is a graduate of Sacramento Metro Chamber’s Leadership Program and is a board member to Sacramento's Police Activities League. 

 WORKSHOP: Multi-Genre Writing (with Bob Yehling) 
How do we weave poetry into fiction? Or art into non-fiction? How do we turn our stories into interactive experiences between print and online? Or write a novel that has elements of journalism, music, art and journaling in it? Cross-genre (or hybrid) writing is an increasingly popular form of writing that works well with today’s multi-platform publishing options – and with the demands of readers to see original presentations and greater expositions of the narrator’s or characters’ inner and outer worlds. We will share basic strategies for writers who find it hard to stick with one genre, or want to write books that reach the increasingly multi-dimensional reader. 

SETH HARWOOD graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 2002, and teaches writing and literature at Stanford University and the City College of San Francisco. In 2005, Seth started writing Jack Wakes Up. After almost 9 months of working on the novel, July 2006, the “Jack Palms Crime Podcast Series” was born. As Jack Wakes Up was followed by A Long Way From Disney, Jack Palms II: This is Life, and Jack Palms III: Czechmate, his podcast audience grew into a sizeable world-wide following, as covered by the San Francisco Chronicle here. When Breakneck Books published Jack Wakes Up in March 2008, Seth's online audience jumped all over amazon.com and bought enough copies to raise the book to #1 in Crime/Mystery and #45 overall in books. Jack Wakes Up was subsequently purchased by Three Rivers Press and was re-released on May 5th 2009—‘Cinco de Harwood’. It received rave reviews from Publisher's Weekly, Michael Connelly, and was featured in the New York Times Book Review. Seth talks about how he sold Jake Wakes Up by giving it away in free podcasts at his website’s home page. Seth’s short stories have been published in various online and print journals, and his story “White” was nominated for a Pushcart prize. Seth’s latest novel, Young Junius, is coming out in the fall.

Workshop: Making Free Serialized Audiobooks: How I Built My Audience
In this workshop, we’ll look at the current publishing landscape and the ways you can use the web and new technology to bring your writing to eager readers, thereby generating an audience even before your work sees print.

KAY ANDREAS (KOSTOPOULOS) is an acting teacher and director for the Stanford University Drama Department.  She also teaches and directs projects at Stanford for the Graduate School of Business, Symbolic Systems, School of Medicine, and Continuing Studies Program. She is an MFA graduate of A.C.T., where she taught acting and directed student projects as a core faculty member of A.C.T.'s Advanced Training Program. Kay has appeared on many regional stages, including A.C.T., the California and San Francisco Shakespeare Festivals, the Magic Theatre, and Stanford Summer Theatre. A San Francisco Bay Area based vocalist and percussionist, she has performed with guitarists, Lenny Carlson and Josh Workman; pianists Larry Vuckovich, Si Perkoff and Roscoe Gallo; bassists Bill Douglass and Barry Green, and percussionists Jimmy Robinson, Michael Pinkham, Oliver Brown, and Roberto Acevedo. She has also been a featured vocalist with David Hardiman's Big Band. Her group, Black Olive Jazz, has performed at concerts, nightclubs, wineries, and universities.

WORKSHOP: ‘CROW’ and the “Neutral Scene”
Kay will lead a short acting workshop, featuring  a "neutral scene" to illustrate the improvisational elements of CROW-- "character", "relationship", "objective" and "where". This exercise is especially useful for writers, as it enables them to do more specific and colorful character work.

RANSOM STEPHENS, Ph.D., is a professor of particle physics turned author and speaker. Ransom has worked on experiments at SLAC, Fermilab, Cornell and CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. During this time period, he discovered a new type of matter, and was on the team that discovered the top quark. During the tech boom that ended in 2001, he directed patent development for a wireless web startup and, a few years later, led an engineering commando team in conquering signal integrity issues in timing noise. Ransom now lives in Petaluma and makes his living writing novels, giving speeches, producing and hosting literary events, (such as San Francisco’s Litquake and Inside Story Time) and teaching writing seminars. But he still helps engineers solve problems. He is the author of over 200 articles on impossible subjects like quantum physics, the future of publishing, and parenting teenagers. His first novel, The God Patent, was called “a milestone not only for Ransom, but for the book industry as well, as it is the first debut novel to emerge from the new paradigm of online publishing.…an ambitious first novel that sings of the heart and the scientific method as two parts of the same song,” by the San Francisco Chronicle. For more information, visit www.TheGodPatent.com.  

WORKSHOP: Making a Career in Creative Writing (right now!) 
The publishing industry is changing, but it's all new to you anyway!  Ransom will show you how it works (right now) and what you can do about it (right now) - regardless of your age - to make the most of what has become a wide open field.

BOB YEHLING is the author of The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life, and Writes of Life: Using Personal Experiences in Everything You Write, which won the 2007 Independent Publishers Book Award., in addition to Full Flight, Shades of Green, Coyotes in Broad Daylight, The River-Fed Stone and the forthcoming novel, The Voice. He teaches fiction, poetry and non-fiction writing workshops at colleges, universities and writers conferences throughout the country. He is also a book and magazine editor, author’s consultant and three-time Boston Marathon participant. More about Bob can be found at: http://www.wordjourneys.com/

WORKSHOP: Multi-Genre Writing (with Verna Dreisbach) 
How do we weave poetry into fiction? Or art into non-fiction? How do we turn our stories into interactive experiences between print and online? Or write a novel that has elements of journalism, music, art and journaling in it? Cross-genre (or hybrid) writing is an increasingly popular form of writing that works well with today’s multi-platform publishing options – and with the demands of readers to see original presentations and greater expositions of the narrator’s or characters’ inner and outer worlds. We will share basic strategies for writers who find it hard to stick with one genre, or want to write books that reach the increasingly multi-dimensional reader. 

Rachel Dillon graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1994, with a Bachelor of Science in Art, emphasizing in Graphic Design. Rachel combined her passion for animals, teaching children, and creative expression, to write and illustrate her first book, "Through Endangered Eyes - a poetic journey into the wild." It is a non-fiction children's book, published by Windward Publishing, an imprint of Finney Company, in 2009. Rachel is currently working on her second endangered species book with Windward Publishing, "Through Desert Eyes."
www.racheldillon.com

http://throughendangeredeyes.blogspot.com/

Cynthia Jaynes (CJ) Omololu majored in English at U.C. Santa Barbara because she liked to read, not because she liked to write. In fact, for years all of her journals ended on or about January 21st because writing about her life was well…boring. After her kids were born, she discovered that she did like to write about the lives of fictional people, and that the voices in her head often have interesting things to say. Her most recent book is Dirty Little Secrets from Walker/Bloomsbury, about a girl growing up in a hoarded home and the difficult decisions she has to make to keep the family secret safe in the face of disaster. Next up are two paranormal books about reincarnation—Destined, due in Spring 2012 and Fated, due Winter 2013, both from Walker/Bloomsbury. www.cjomololu.com

Cynthia will be part of our afternoon young adult panel. 

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, Boston University'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.

NAHEED SENZAI  Back in her boarding school in London, England, Naheed used to sit in class reading contraband novels while hidden behind thick textbooks. Born in Chicago, IL, she got on a plane for the first time at the age of two months and has been flying around ever since. Naheed’s lived in various parts of the world, where her father, a civil engineer, built airports and industrial cities. After studying accounting and marketing at the University of California Berkeley, she worked as a technology consultant, then returned to Columbia University to pursue a Masters in International Business. Currently she’s an Intellectual Property Consultant in Silicon Valley, helping inventors make the most of their patents. An active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, she is currently fine-tuning a young adult adventure with the support of her critique group. Naheed lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, a Professor of Political Science, her son and their cat. 

Naheed will be part of our afternoon young adult panel. 

Evan Karp covers literary culture as a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and is a regular contributor to SF Weekly's Exhibitionist blog. He is the founder and editor of Litseen and creator and host of Quiet Lightning, a monthly submission-based reading series that publishes each show as a book called sparkle & blink, which he also edits. He is a contributing editor of Instant City and the official blogger of Litquake.

Evan moved to the Bay Area from Savannah, GA in June of 2009 having never attended a spoken word event. In that time he has filmed over 2,000 author readings, which you can see on YouTube and vimeo. In addition to covering the literary arts, he sometimes works as a freelance marketing and publicity consultant and as a book doctor.

Evan lives in Bernal Heights and is always looking for these things: someone to climb the hill with him; more reporters for Litseen; and more volunteers for Quiet Lightning.

  SCHEDULE

8:00-9:00        Registration 

9:00-10:00     Session 1 (1 hour classes)

                       1) Michael Neff

                       2) 

                       3) 

                       4)

10:15-12:00     Session 2 (2 hour workshops)

                       5) Bob Yehling

                       6) Tanya Egan Gibson             

                       7) David Corbett

12:00-12:45     Lunch

12:45-1:30       Keynote:

(Attendees have the option to attend either a 2-hour workshop or 2 one-hour classes.)

1:45-3:45         Session 3 (2 hour workshops)

                       8)   Rachel Dillon     

                       9)   Indigo Moor (Poetry)

                       10)  Patricia V. Davis

1:45-2:45         Sessions 4 (1 hour class)

                       11) Jennifer Basye-Sander          

                       12) Seth Harwood  

2:55-3:55         Session 5 (1 hour classes)

                       13) Ransom Stephens                       

                       14) Kay Kostoplous                    

4:10 – 5:00      Session 6 (Panels) 

                       Young Adult Panel:  Moderator 

                                    Cynthia Omololu, Naheed Senzai

                       Publishing Panel:  Moderator

5:00 - 5:30      Bookstore open for final purchases

REGISTRATION

Registration for this conference is open to youth in grades 6-12, seniors who JUST graduated from high school and parents and teachers who wish to attend with their young writer/reader. If you have a young writer younger than grade 6 who you believe is ready for this event, please contact Verna Dreisbach at verna@capitolcityyoungwriters.org.    

To register, please go online to the "Contact Us" tab and add in the name/s of the registered person/s and select "Conference" as the event/reference. 

For payment, you are welcome to pay with Paypal or by check/money order (details below). 

Registration

Attending Youth Attending Adult/Sponsor Sponsor Only

To pay with a check or money order, mail to the address below with the check made payable to Capitol City Young Writers.

Capitol City Young Writers
Conference Registration
PO Box 5379
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762

If you have any questions, please email info@capitolcityyoungwriters.org.

ACCOMMODATIONS

If you happen to be traveling from out of town, the Larkspur Hotel in Mill Valley has a limited number of discounted hotel rooms available to CCYW Conference attendees.  Room rate is $149 per night. Reserve your room online now.   Individual call-in Reservations may be made directly with the hotel’s reservations department at 866-399-3379 - ask for the Capitol City Writers Room Block. The Check-in time is 3:00pm and check-out time is 12:00 noon. Hotel will accommodate any early arrivals on a space available basis. Reservations must be made approximately 30 days prior to the event in order to receive the reduced rate.   

CONFERENCE SPONSORS

The following persons and/or organizations have donated $100 (or more) for scholarships for students who require financial assistance, or have provided services or food at a discount for this event. 

Thank you for supporting Capitol City Young Writers!

  
If you would like to be a sponsor for this program, please contact founder and president Verna Dreisbach at verna@capitolcityyoungwriters.org.