Artsday LA Speakers: Creative Writing
Abercrombie, Barbara
Panel: Discovering the Writer WithinTime: 10:00-11:00 Room: Court of Sciences 50
Area: Creative Writing
Ms. Abercrombie is author of 12 books, including her latest, Courage and Craft: Writing Your Life into Story, published by New World Library this fall. Ms. Abercrombie's personal essays have been published in The Christian Science Monitor, Hemisphere, Los Angeles Times, and Baltimore Sun, among others. She was the recipient of the UCLA Extension Outstanding Instructor Award in Creative Writing, 1994.
Alumit, Noel
Panel: Discovering the Writer WithinTime: 10:00-11:00 Room: Court of Sciences 50
Area: Creative Writing
Author of the novels Letters to Montgomery Clift (MacAdam/Cage) and Talking to the Moon (2007). Mr. Alumit's first novel was winner of the Stonewall Book Award (American Library Association), the Violet Quill Award (InsightOut Books), and was a fiction finalist for the PEN Literary Award and the Lambda Literary Award. His work has been published in USA Today, The Advocate, and others.
Brandli, Jami
Panel: Living Your Life as a WriterTime: 2:30-3:30 Room: Court of Sciences 50
Area: Creative Writing
MFA, fiction writer, screenwriter, and playwright whose stories have appeared in Other Voices, Memorious, Salt Hill, and other publications. Ms. Brandli, whose plays have been staged at the Kennedy Center and the Boston Center of the Arts, received a Massachusetts Cultural Council playwriting fellowship and won an honorable mention in The Atlantic Monthly short story competition. She is a finalist for the Disney ABC Writing Fellowship
Escandon, Maria Amparo
Panel: Discovering the Writer WithinTime: 10:00-11:00 Room: Court of Sciences 50
Area: Creative Writing
Ms. Escandón is a bestselling bilingual fiction writer originally from Mexico whose first novel, Esperanza's Box of Saints (Santitos in Spanish), has been translated into 21 languages and made into a Sundance Festival Award-winning film produced by John Sayles. Ms. Escandón's latest novel is González & Daughter Trucking Co. (Three Rivers Press, 2005).
Forster, Rebecca
Panel: Looking Ahead to PublicationTime: 1:15-2:15 Room: Court of Sciences 50
Area: Creative Writing
MBA, author of 24 novels, including Keeping Counsel and the series books Silent Witness and Hostile Witness. Ms. Forster is a USA Today bestselling author and her most recent book, Priviledged Witness (Signet Books/New American Library), debuted on the Barnes & Noble top-seller list.
Friedman, Amy
Panel: Living Your Life as a WriterTime: 2:30-3:30 Room: Court of Sciences 50
Area: Creative Writing
MA, writer and editor who has published two books of creative nonfiction, Nothing Sacred: A Conversation with Feminism and Kick the Dog and Shoot the Cat. Ms. Friedman has written for The Boston Globe and Chatelaine, among others. Her syndicated children's column, "Tell Me a Story," is published in more than 150 newspapers internationally.
Jaffe, Daniel M.
Panel: Living Your Life as a WriterTime: 2:30-3:30 Room: Court of Sciences 50
Area: Creative Writing
MFA, internationally published fiction writer, essayist, and literary translator whose novel, The Limits of Pleasure, was selected by ForeWord Magazine as a Book of the Year Award finalist. Mr. Jaffe compiled and edited With Signs and Wonders: An International Anthology of Jewish Fabulist Fiction. He is the recipient of the UCLA Extension Outstanding Instructor Award in Online Writing Education, 2006.
Kann, Rachel
Panel: Discovering the Writer WithinTime: 10:00-11:00 Room: Court of Sciences 50
Area: Creative Writing
Ms. Kann is an award-winning fiction writer and poet whose poetry has appeared in various book anthologies including So Luminous the Wildflowers (Tebot Bach Press), and in compilation CD's. Ms. Kann has peformed her poetry in venues nationwide including Disney's Concert Hall and as part of HBO's Def Poetry Jam, ABC's Eye on L.A. and for several Los Angeles-based slam teams.
Liu, Aimee
Panel: Looking Ahead to PublicationTime: 1:15-2:15 Room: Court of Sciences 50
Area: Creative Writing
Ms. Liu's most recent novel is Flash House. Her novel Cloud Mountain was published in more than 10 languages and was a Literary Guild "Super Release"; her first novel, Face, was featured in Barnes & Noble's Discover Great New Writers program. She also is the author of Solitaire, a memoir and Gaining: The Truth about Life after Eating Disorders.
Mandelbaum, Paul
Panel: Looking Ahead to PublicationTime: 1:15-2:15 Room: Court of Sciences 50
Area: Creative Writing
MFA, whose short stories have appeared in DoubleTake, Glimmer Train, Prairie Schooner, The Massachusetts Review, The Southern Review, and others. Mr. Mandelbaum also has edited two anthologies, First Words and 12 Short Stories and Their Making. He is the author of two novels-in-stories, Garrett in Wedlock (2004) and Adriane on the Edge (2005).
Smith, Sherri L.
Panel: Living Your Life as a WriterTime: 2:30-3:30 Room: Court of Sciences 50
Area: Creative Writing
MA, MSBA, award-winning novelist whose book, Lucy the Giant (Random House), was an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. Ms. Smith is the author of Sparrow (2006), chosen as a National Council for the Social Studies/Children's Book Council Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People. Her forthcoming novel is Hot Sour Salty Sweet (2008).
Williams, Bett
Panel: Looking Ahead to PublicationTime: 1:15-2:15 Room: Court of Sciences 50
Area: Creative Writing
MA, nonfiction writer and author of the novel Girl Walking Backwards (St. Martin's Press) and the memoir The Wrestling Party. Ms. Williams has written columns and features for such publications as Out Magazine, Frontiers Magazine, and Flaunt Magazine, and her work has been anthologized in Virgin Territory and Userlands, among others.
Wolfson , Steven
Panel: Learning the Art & Craft of StorytellingTime: 11:15-12:15 Room: Court of Sciences 50
Area: Creative Writing
MFA, screenwriter/producer, and WGA member whose feature credits include Dinner and Driving and Gang Tapes. Mr. Wolfson was the co-creator and writer of the Fox 21 pilot Hollywood Vice and currently is writing the feature film Serial for Bruce Willis's Cheyenne Entertainment. He was the recipient of the UCLA Extension Outstanding Instructor Award in Screenwriting, 1998.