Writer’s Nook Workshops will be offered throughout the day for aspiring writers: Publishing Boot Camp for Beginners, Spark Your Child’s Inner Fire for Writing, What Freelance Editing Can Do for You, Handwriting v. Typing, Science Thriller Publisher and Author, Self-Publishing Instruction/Tools/Links and a panel discussing Romancing the Reader.
Jeff Lyons
Jeff Lyons is a published author with more than 25 years’ experience in the film, television, and publishing industries as a writer, story development consultant, and editor. He is an instructor through Stanford University’s Online Writer’s Studio, and lectures through the UCLA Extension Writers Program,and is a regular presenter at leading writing and entertainment industry trade conferences. Jeff has written on the craft of storytelling for Writer’s Digest Magazine, Script Magazine, and The Writer Magazine. His book, Anatomy of a Premise Line: How to Master Premise and Story Development for Writing Success, is published through Focal Press and is the only book devoted solely to the topic of story and premise development for novelists, screenwriters, and creative nonfiction authors. He will be publishing his second book through Focal Press in 2016, Rapid Story Development: How to Use the Enneagram-Story Connection to Become a Master Storyteller. Visit him at www.jefflyonsbooks.com and follow him on Twitter @storygeeks.
Karen Arnpriester
Karen Slimick Arnpriester has released two new non-fiction books over the last year. Slimy is a children, teen, parent and teacher version of her real-life struggle with bullying. This short story shares the pain and devastation from five years of humiliation and isolation. The book also covers tools to survive bullying and how students can step up and make a difference in their schools. Karen hopes to have the fiction novel Leadbottom, inspired by Karen’s true story, ready to share at the Bookfest. The second non-fiction book is titled Miraculous Relationship. This is a collaboration of accounts of miraculous encounters with the Holy Spirit. Karen is also a Christian fiction author (Anessia’s Quest and Raider’s Vendetta) who writes about real-life conflict and struggles. Her stories do not sugar-coat the trials that humanity must endure, whether is it abuse, abandonment, addictions or the need to discover the purpose of life. Karen wants to challenge the reader to evaluate their beliefs and to consider what God means to them. Her stories are sprinkled with blessings from Heaven in the appearance of angels, miracles and God’s divine intent in the characters’ lives. Mrs. Arnpriester resides in Manteca, California, and is a wife, mother, grandmother and adoptive mother of her two daughters. While writing is her passion, she is also a graphic designer and designs her own covers.
Elisabeth Kauffman
Elisabeth is a freelance editor at Writing Refinery. Her favorite part about being an editor is helping authors achieve their dreams of being published. Whether they take a traditional track or decide to self-publish, she is excited to help authors present the best side of their story to the world. When she’s not editing, Elisabeth writes her own creative fiction, obsesses over all things British, and plays board games.
Amy Rogers
Amy Rogers, MD, PhD, is a Harvard-educated scientist, professor, author, and critic who switched from teaching university biology classes to reviewing, writing, and publishing science-themed thrillers. Her novels Petroplague (2011) and Reversion (2014) use real science and medicine to create plausible, frightening scenarios in the style of Michael Crichton. In 2014, she launched ScienceThrillers Media, an independent publishing company specializing in fiction and popular nonfiction with scientific, medical, or technical themes. A member of International Thriller Writers, Amy served as a judge for ITW’s 2015 Thriller Awards and was a panelist at ThrillerFest IX and X in New York. At home in Sacramento she is treasurer for Northern California Publishers and Authors. In addition, she runs the ScienceThrillers.com website and writes a “Science in the Neighborhood” column for Sacramento’s Inside Publications. Learn more at AmyRogers.com.
