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2012 Presenters
The 2012 Write On The River Conference promises to be our best yet…here’s a look at the fantastic writers and professionals who will be coming to inspire, empower and transform your writing! Click here for descriptions of our presenters’ exciting workshops.
Jonathan Evison – 2012 Keynote
Jonathan Evison is an American writer best known for his debut novel All About Lulu published in 2008, which won critical acclaim, including the Washington State Book Award. In 2009, Evison was awarded a Richard Buckley Fellowship from the Christopher Isherwood Foundation. A second novel, West of Here, was released in February 2011 from Algonquin. Editor Chuck Adams (Water for Elephants, A Reliable Wife, An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers Homes in New England) has called West of Here the best novel he’s worked on in over four decades of publishing. It received a coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly and was an Amazon.com Best Book of the Month. In his teens, Evison was the founding member and frontman of the Seattle punk band March of Crimes, which included future members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Born in San Jose, California, he now lives on an island in Western Washington.
C.C. Humphreys – Sunday Intensive and Friday Members-Only Jump-Start Workshops
Chris (C.C.) Humphreys was born in Toronto and grew up in Los Angeles and the UK. He has acted all over the world and appeared on stages ranging from London’s West End to Hollywood’s Twentieth Century Fox. Favorite roles have included Hamlet, Caleb the Gladiator in NBC’s Biblical-Roman epic mini-series, AD – Anno Domini and Jack Absolute in Sheridan’s The Rivals.
Chris has written seven historical novels. The first, The French Executioner told the tale of the man who killed Anne Boleyn and was runner up for the CWA Steel Dagger for Thrillers 2002 while his Jack Absolute series is popular both sides of the Atlantic. He has also written a trilogy for young adults The Runestone Saga, a heady brew of Norse myth, runic magic, time travel and horror. His latest Young Adult novel The Hunt of the Unicorn was released by Knopf in North America in March 2011 and will be published soon in Spain. His last adult novel was: Vlad, The Last Confession–the true history of Dracula. Published in 2008 it was a bestseller in Canada, and has been translated in Germany, Spain, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Serbia, Turkey and Brazil. In May 2011 it was published by Sourcebooks in the USA. His new adult novel, A Place Called Armageddon, is about the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
Chris has an extensive teaching record including masterclasses at major conferences such as Surrey BC, PNWA, Willamette and Banff. He has appeared at festivals all over the world. He has been writer in residence at schools and often teaches at them, where he is known to actually distract kids from texting. He lives on Salt Spring Island, Canada, with his wife, young son and border collie.
Steven Barnes
NY Times bestselling author Steven Barnes has published twenty-four novels and over three million words of science fiction and fantasy. He’s been nominated for Hugo, Nebula, and Cable Ace awards. While his television work includes Twilight Zone, Stargate and Andromeda, his “A Stitch In Time” episode of The Outer Limits won the Emmy Award. His alternate history novel Lion’s Blood won the 2003 Endeavor. And In the Heat of the Night, an erotic mystery novel written with his wife, American Book Award-winning novelist Tananarive Due and Hollywood luminary Blair Underwood, won the NAACP Image Award. Barnes is also a lecturer and personal consultant who has lectured on creativity and human performance technologies from UCLA, USC, and Pasadena JPL to the Smithsonian Institute. He was for three years Kung Fu columnist for Black Belt Magazine (he holds a 4th degree black belt), and hosted the “Hour 25” radio show on KPFK Pacifica Radio for four years. His web sites, www.diamondhour.com and http://www.darkush.blogspot.com/, have a wide variety of free resources for writers who seek to build their careers. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and son Jason.
Gordon Warnock – 2012 Literary Agent
Gordon Warnock, Senior Agent with Andrea Hurst Literary Management, combines industry knowledge with a sharp editorial eye and experience as a college-level tutor to provide friendly and respectful aid with polishing manuscripts and book proposals. He is a frequent teacher and speaker in the literary community at events such as the San Francisco Writers’ Conference, the AWP national conference and bookfair, and the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts MFA program. With a zest for fresh, new writing and a deep love of the classics, Gordon always has his eye out for works which will not only thrive in the current market but will also withstand the test of time, bringing joy to readers for years to come. In that spirit, he seeks to establish involved, long term working relationships with talented and dedicated authors of many genres. For more about Gordon, please see his website.
Ellie Mathews
Ellie Mathews is a Northwest native and the author of the nonfiction Ambassador to the Penguins: a Naturalist’s Year Aboard a Yankee Whaleship, the middle grades novel The Linden Tree, a memoir The Ungarnished Truth: a Cooking Contest Memoir, and young adult short fiction. She has won cooking and writing awards including the Milkweed Prize for Children’s Literature, a grant from the Seattle Artists Program for Literary Artists, a Fishtrap Fellowship, and the Pillsbury Bake-Off grand prize. Her story of a 1912 journey on a New England whale ship came out to starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus. Her memoir was selected as a Book Sense Notable. Mathews lives with her husband in Port Townsend, Washington.
Susan Wingate
With writing compared to greats like Alfred Hitchcock, Truman Capote and James Patterson, award-winning, bestselling author Susan Wingate has written nine novels, two short story collections, a few plays, one screenplay and tons of poems. Her latest award-winning novel, Drowning (contemporary women’s fiction), 2010 release won her a finalist award in the 2011 International Book Awards. And, the no. 3 book in her very award-winning Bobby’s Diner series, Sacrifice at Sea, is slated for publication the fall of 2011. Susan teaches six writing workshops that she offers around the country. Her pseudonyms include Myah Lin (literary fiction) and JJ Adams (noir mystery). Susan is co-host of the popular talk radio show, “Dialogue: Between the Lines.” You can hear Susan speak with Joshua Graham every Thursday at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time as they chat with other authors about writing and the publishing industry. http://www.susanwingate.com.
Maureen Doyle McQuerry
Maureen Doyle McQuerry is a novelist, poet and educator. Her YA Steampunk novel The Peculiars will be released by Abrams/Amulet in May 2012 followed by the YA fantasy duo Beyond the Door and Time Out of Time. She has taught high school, middle school and college writing for many years and is published in many literary magazines. Maureen has presented at writing conferences including: PNWA, Willamette Writers, and Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. McQuerry and Steve Wallenfels have presented together for the Washington State Library Association and Rivers of Ink. They are founding members of www.YA-WA.com, Washington State’s Young Adult literature website.
Stephen Wallenfels
Stephen Wallenfels was born in New Hampshire and lives in Eastern Washington. He is a freelance writer specializing in the health and fitness industry and has published over 100 feature articles and columns. Stephen’s first love is fiction, and he has published short stores for children in Highlights Magazine and Guideposts for Kids. His debut YA-SciFi novel, POD, was published by namelos in 2010, and his since been acquired by Penguin for a major release in spring 2011. POD is currently in 8 languages and over 30 countries. He is currently working on POD2.
Terry Persun
Terry Persun runs a freelance writing and marketing business from his home. He is published either online or in print every month. (This is how he makes his living.) He is a regular teacher at regional writers’ conferences and this year will present at the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts MFA program. Terry also writes novels, short stories, and poetry. He has won awards for his poetry, fiction, and nonfiction works. His latest novel is a science fiction novel, Cathedral of Dreams.
Doug Heckman
Doug Heckman is the Director of the MFA Program at the University of Idaho. In addition to teaching at the University of Idaho, Doug has has taught creative writing and literature at the University of Washington, Wenatchee Valley College and Creighton University. His fiction, essays and interviews have appeared in numerous publications, including Other Voices; Beloit Fiction Journal; War, Literature and the Arts; Seattle Review; and Powder Magazine. He was the recipient of the Loren D. Milliman Fellowship at the University of Washington, and received a University of Nebraska Press Scholarship for work on a novel. An avid skier, hiker and runner, Doug is thrilled to be living in Moscow, ID with his wife, two sons and Australian Shepard. http://www.uidaho.edu/class/english/dougheckman
Robert Anasi
Robert Anasi is the author of The Gloves: A Boxing Chronicle (Northpoint Press/FSG) and Golden Man: The Remarkable Quest of Gene Savoy (Diversion Books). His third book The Last Bohemia: Scenes from Life in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (FSG) will be published in August of 2012. He has received a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and was named a ‘Writer on the Verge’ by The Village Voice. His journalism, interviews and reviews have appeared in many publications including the New York Times, the TLS, Playboy, Virginia Quarterly Review, The New York Observer, Salon, and Publishers Weekly. Robert is currently a Schaeffer Fellow at the University of California, Irvine, and a founding editor of the literary journal Entasis. For the past decade, Robert has led workshops in literary journalism and creative non-fiction at Hampshire College and UC Irvine. He has also taught classes on writing for the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New York City Boys Club, as well as privately.
