Oct 8-9 2010 - James River Writers Conference - Richmond, VA

"Staggering talent and exceptional expertise," is the shorthand outlook for this fall's eighth annual James River Writers Conference, according to this year's conference chair, Kris Spisak Petroski, a Richmond-based writer and college writing instructor.

Set for October 8 and 9 at the Library of Virginia in downtown Richmond, JRW's signature event "is created by writers for writers, where Richmond's lively literary community meets national publishing luminaries and institutions, where Southern hospitality meets creative drive and ambition," Petroski said.

Headliners will include:

Silas House, New York Times bestselling author and recipient of the James Still Award for Writing about the Appalachian South from the Fellowship of Southern Writers.

Mike Olmert, Emmy Award winning screenwriter.

Charles J. Shields, writer of the New York Times bestselling Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee.

Charles Todd, New York Times bestselling mystery author.

Jacqueline Woodson, winner of the Newbery Honor Medal, the Caldecott Honor, the Coretta Scott King Award, the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement, and many others

The conference will also feature one-on-one meetings with literary agents, the popular first-page critique session, and for the first time this year pre-conference Query Writing and Short Story workshops on October 7.

Conference participants will have the opportunity to concentrate on the art and business of writing and to rub elbows with a wide variety of published authors and editors.

In addition to major presentations, break-out groups will examine a variety of genres as well as techniques for crafting dialogue and plot, shaping characters and pacing, and finding out how to get published.

Significant support for the conference comes from Dominion, a national energy company headquartered in Richmond, as well as the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Library of Virginia, which opens its lecture hall and break-out rooms for the two-day event.

Early registration is $175 for both days. After September 1, registration will be $195. Pre-conference workshop registration is $40. Registration and further details, including information on hotel accommodations, are available on JRW's Web site - http://www.jamesriverwriters.org/ - and by calling 804-433-3790.