07/10/2010 9:00 am
07/11/2010 5:00 pm
The second annual Chestnut Hill Book Festival on July 10th, and 11th will feature over 50 locally and nationally recognized authors and a street fair featuring local publishers and authors.
Philadelphia Stories will be hosting the following Festival events for writers in the Bombay Room at the Chestnut Hill Hotel:
SATURDAY, JULY 10: Philadelphia Stories will be hosting three fiction workshops. Workshops are $10 and open to the public*. Space is limited, so please email christine@philadelphiastories.org to reserve a seat, or complete and return the application below. The schedule is as follows:
Getting Started (12-1:30)
You have a great idea. You've always wanted to write. You used to write but haven't in years. This hands-on workshop will offer tips and strategies to wake up that muse and get writing!
Moderator: Curtis Smith
Shaping a story (2:30-4) - THIS WORKSHOP IS NOW CLOSED, SORRY.
How can you grab readers from the start, hold them through the middle, and leave them satisfied at the end? This hands-on workshop will explore the writing process and help you shape your characters, plot, and voice into a dynamic story.
Moderator:Susan Barr-Toman
The Art of Revision (4:30-6)
You've finished your first draft. Now what? This workshop will discuss how to polish the language, characters, and structure of your story.
Moderator: Alison Hicks
SUNDAY, JULY 11: Get great marketing tips and a chance to learn about the local literary scene at these panel discussions. Panels are $10 and open to the public. Please email christine@philadelphiastories.org to reserve a seat, or complete and return the application below. Lunch with local authors is free; food is available from the Chestnut Hill Hotel restaurant.
Getting connected (11:30-1): Trying to connect with other writers or figure out the best place to get published? This panel discussion will cover the local literary scene, including how to find workshops, retreats, readings, and other great community events for writers. Panelists include: Alison Hicks (Wordshop Studio), PR guru Don Lafferty, author and writing workshop leader David Sanders, author Marie Lamba, and author Jon McGoran.
Lunch with Local Authors (1:30-2:30). Grab a bite and stop by the Bombay Room to meet local authors from the summer issue of Philadelphia Stories and from the new anthology, PROMPTED, from members of the Greater Wordshop Studio. See below for a list of readers.
TIPS FOR MARKETING YOUR WORK (3-4:30): How do you get your book noticed when you are competing with thousands of other new titles? This panel discussion will cover how to find a publicist, marketing your book in a 2.0 world, getting media coverage, and more. Panelists include: Publicist Elise Brown, author Marie Lamba, PR guru Don Lafferty, author Nancy Viau and author Scott Heydt.
Other fair events will include author readings, signings, panel discussions, writer workshops, poetry slams and more. For children, there will be storytelling, costume parades, and other fun activities.
READERS
From the summer issues of Philadelphia Stories:
Kathleen Furin is a social worker, childbirth educator, and the co-founder of the Maternal Wellness Center, www.maternalwellness.org She was a regular contributor to The Mother magazine from 2005 to 2007.
Grant Clauser is a medical magazine editor near Philadelphia and freelance technology writer.
Kathryn Elisa Ionata is a student in the graduate creative writing program at Temple University.
Morrow Dowdle spent her childhood on the Jersey shore. She graduated from The Medical University of SC with a Master’s in Physician Assistant studies and returned to her home state, where she works as a family medicine PA for McGuire Air Force Base.
From the new anthology, PROMPTED:
Maria Casale’s fiction has appeared in Kalliope, PMS, Bucks County Writer and on-line. She is currently at work on her second novel. Maria lives and writes in Morrisville, Pennsylvania.
Matthew Jordan teaches English at Holy Ghost Preparatory School in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.
Maurya Walsh Johnson joined the Wordshop Studio before it had a name, and helped to organize and promote the group’s first two public readings. She later wrote Black Studies as a graduate student in theatre at Villanova, studying with Michael Hollinger. With over 30 years in northwest Philly, she was a news writer and board secretary for The Mt. Airy Express in its community-owned incarnation. She also served as president of that newspaper’s board, and was a very early staff member of Mt. Airy Learning Tree. She currently writes, teaches English as a second language, and stage manages.
C. G. (Chris) Bauer’s debut novel SCARS ON THE FACE OF GOD was released by Drollerie Press as a paperback and an eBook. The eBook version was a finalist for a 2010 EPIC Award for excellence in horror eBook publishing. His short fiction has appeared in Thuglit and has been podcasted in Well Told Tales.
*All proceeds from workshops and panels support Philadelpia Stories, the all-volunteer nonprofit literary magazine that publishes local writers and artists and distributes free of charge to a wide demographic throughout the region.
