From a press release:An international best-selling writer, the fellow who was nearly pecked to death by ducks, and the smartest man Alexandra Fuller ever met are among the guests scheduled to attend the 16th Jackson Hole Writers Conference Jun. 26-29 at the Center for the Arts in Jackson.
Tim Sandlin, co-director of the summertime gathering of writers in search of agents and publishers, recently announced the line-up for this year’s conference. In addition to well-known writers of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, the guest faculty will include editors from major publishing houses, literary agents, successful magazine writers and representatives from the universe of young adult books.
Here’s the complete faculty list:
Fiction:
- Elizabeth George (pictured above) – The best-selling author of 22 novels, most of them made into BBC Masterpiece Theatre movies, her latest is “What Came Before He Shot Her.”
- Gail Tsukiyama – The bestselling author of six novels, the latest being “Street of a Thousand Blossoms,” Tsukiyama was the recipient of the Academy of American Poets Award and the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award.
- Jane Hamilton – Her first novel, “The Book of Ruth,” won the PEN/Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award for best first novel and was a selection of the Oprah Book Club. Her second novel, “A Map of the World,” was an international bestseller. Her latest is “When Madeline Was Young.”
- Bob Mayer – The speaker, instructor, West Point graduate and former Green Beret has written 35 books – fiction and nonfiction – including many New York Times bestsellers.
Nonfiction:
- Michael Perry – The author of “Population 485,” “Truck” and “Big Rigs Elvis and the Grand Dragon Wayne,” Perry also has a CD entitled “Never Stand Behind a Sneezing Cow.”
- Tim Cahill – The founding editor of Outdoor Magazine and a frequent contributor to National Geographic Adventurer, Cahill is author of 10 books about adventure, travel and nature, including “Pecked to Death by Ducks” and “Road Fever.” He lives in Livingston, Mont.
Magazine:
- Bryan Christy – The author of “The Lizard King: A True Tale of Reptile Lover” is a former lawyer, a Fulbright Scholar, and a freelance writer for National Geographic and Playboy. In the course of his years of research on reptiles, he has been bitten between the eyes by a blood python, chased by a mother alligator, sprayed by a bird-eating tarantula, and ejaculated on by a Bengal tiger. Alexandra Fuller called him “the smartest man I ever met.”
Young Adult:
- Melissa Manlove – The young adult editor at Chronicle Books blogs about children’s book at www.ChronicleBooks.com/blog.
- Christian Burch – An artist and real-life “manny” (male nanny), Burch is the author of the popular and funny novel, “The Manny Files.”
Poetry:
- Christopher Merrill – Author of four collections of poetry, including “Brilliant Water and Watch Fire” – for which he received the Peter I. B. Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets – Merrill also is a translator, editor and director of the international writing program at The University of Iowa.
- Cecily Parks – Parks’ poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Five Points, The Paris Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Yale Review and elsewhere. In December, she will publish her first book, “Field Folly Snow.”
Editors:
- Sam Douglas – An associate editor at Picador, Douglas works mostly on literary fiction, memoir and narrative nonfiction. He also has worked as a newspaper reporter, a freelancer and an MFA student at Columbia.
- David Cashion – A senior editor at Penguin Books, Cashion has worked in the publishing industry for 15 years, including stints at Hyperion and Dell Books. He graduated from NYU with a degree in film and English literature.
Agents:
- Joëlle Delbourgo – The president of Joëlle Delbourgo Associates, based in Montclair, N.J., Delbourgo has been an editor, editor-in-chief and associate publisher at HarperCollins and Random House. Her agency’s clients include Julie Fenster, Geeta Anand, Pamela Duncan, Chris Farrell and Jackson Hole’s own John Byrne Cooke, among many others.
Literary Management, Publishing Consultants:
- Doug Stewart – Before joining Sterling Lord Literistic in December 2003, Stewart was an agent at Curtis Brown, Ltd. Specializing in literary fiction, narrative nonfiction and young adult fiction, his clients include Carolyn Parkhurst, David Mitchell, Alison McGhee, Jane O’Connor, T Cooper and Lindsay Moran, among others.
- Katharine Sands – An associate with Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency in New York City, Sands is the editor of “Making the Perfect Pitch: Advice from 35 Top Book Agents” and author of “PitchCraft.”
Local faculty: Karol Griffin, Tina Welling, Broughton Coburn, Amanda Gersh, Lise McClendon, Debbie Atkinson, Christian Burch, Leah Shlachter, Tim Sandlin, Tiffanie DeBartolo, John Byrne Cooke.
Fees: "Early Bird" registration (before May 10) is $360 USD. On May 10, the rate goes up to $390 USD. Your registration fee includes all events at the conference plus three 15-minute individual manuscript critiques with published writers, editors, or agents; a welcome cocktail party; and a barbecue.
If you are a parent, you can register for both yourself and your teen writer for a combined $575 USD.
There are a few scholarships available to qualified candidates. Scholarships are for the conference fee only.
FMI: 307.413.3331; tim@jacksonholewritersconference.com
