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2008 Writer Workshop SpeakersDecember 20 Christmas Party November 15 Contest Awards No Speaker October 18 Legends of Oklahoma David Farris and Jim Marion Etter Jim Marion Etter is a retired reporter for The Daily Oklahoman newspaper and a freelance writer, mostly about rural people and places. He grew up in the small eastern Oklahoma town of Oktaha, and his first newspaper job was with The Muskogee Daily Phoenix & Times-Democrat. While most of his writing career has been in Oklahoma, he also has been a newsman in Laredo, Texas, served as a military journalist and translator in Latin America and for a while lived in and wrote about New Mexico. Most of his books are available at various outlets, from New Forums Press, Inc., or from the author himself. He spins yarns out loud when signing books in stores or giving talks at schools, libraries, church functions, ladies’ club meetings, retirement homes, farm group suppers and such. Contact Jim Etter. David A. Farris is a native Oklahoman and graduate of Bishop McGuinness High School and the University of Central Oklahoma with a degree in Communications. More > > Since the early 1990s, he collected tales of Oklahoma outlaws and the Oklahoma’s spooky past. Author of three books: Mysterious Oklahoma, More Mysterious Oklahoma and Oklahoma Outlaw Tales, Farris presents a series of lectures for the Metro Oklahoma City Library System : Oklahoma Outlaw Tales, Mysterious Oklahoma, eerie true tales from the Sooner State and Self Publishing. September 20 Copyright Law for Writers Barbara Yuill Patent and Copyright Attorney Ms. Yuill primary area of practice is intellectual property and particularly patent prosecution. As a registered patent attorney, Barbara has drafted, filed and prosecuted numerous patent applications. She also provides legal services in the areas of trademark and copyright. Prior to her law career, Ms. Yuill worked for Atlantic Richfield as a research engineer. She continued her engineering career doing project development work at TechRad and project evaluation and research at Kerr-McGee. She was also an adjunct physics professor. Ms. Yuill provided an extensive handout and presentation. August 16 Summer Workshop Legal Theft: Three Poetry Generating Games Sandi Soli is a past president of Oklahom City Writers, Inc. whose poems have appeared in many literary journals. Her chapbook, What Trees Know, is the 2008 Oklahoma Book Award winner. Sandra Soli did a great job and had us all laughing -- even those of us who are not poets! July 19 Summer Workshop The Five Things Writing Teachers Never Tell You Carolyn Wall is the author of the novel Sweeping Up Glass, which recently sold as paperback edition in the US (with audio rights), Canada, and Europe. Bantam will release the hardcover edition of Sweeping up Glass in early summer, 2009, and the paperback edition and Wall’s second novel, The Coffin Maker, in 2010. Wall served as Fiction Editor and columnist for ByLine magazine and Senior Staff Writer for Persimmon Hill. She is freelance writer and international lecturer. Wall conducts workshops in Fiction, Short Story and Feature Writing, Journaling, Writing for Children and “How To Write What You Feel”. In 1995, she edited the book Braced Against The Wind, the only literary history of the bombing of Oklahoma City. In the fall of 1998, she wrote, produced and recorded The Journaling Tapes: Writing From The Heart, a six-weeks’ course in daily journaling. June 21 Summer Workshop Writing the Stage Play Gordon Greene performed in summer stock, Shakespearean repertory, resident professional companies and played major roles on two national tours; one with Ned Beatty and another with Morgan Freeman. His first career was theatre. College professor, freelance writer, advertising executive and newspaper editor jobs did not quench his desire to do theatre. He wrote and produced videos and TV spots and hosted a syndicated radio show. Greene is an award-winning author of many essays, poems, short stories, articles, humorous pieces and five published books. Greene is past president of Oklahoma City Writers, Inc. and past president of and honorary life member of the Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc. More information on his latest production, The Scopes Monkey Trial . May 17 William Bernhardt is the author of many novels, including Primary Justice, Murder One, Criminal Intent, Death Row, Hate Crime, and Dark Eye. He has won twice the Oklahoma Book Award for Best Fiction, and in 2000 he was presented the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award "in recognition of an outstanding body of work in which we understand ourselves and American society at large." Readers are invited to write to Bernhardt. Visit William Bernhardt site to read his blog, subscribe to newsletter, obtain autographed books, and to schedule speaking engagements, and his newest book, Capitol Conspiracy. April 19 National Poetry Month Maria Veres and Kristyn Reid Maria Veres has won many awards for fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Her book-length memoir, Holly's Gift, received the 2004 Oklahoma City Writers Crème-de-la-Crème Award and won first place for nonfiction book at Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc. last year. Kristyn Reid's poetry has won awards from the Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc., which has led to invitations to read at this year’s Woody Guthrie festival in Okemah, Oklahoma. She’s had poems published in Taj Majal Review, Pedestal Magazine, the Ludlow Press, Amaze: the Cinquain Journal, Tamafyhr Mountain Poetry’s TMP Irregular, Autumn Leaves, and here-now.org. Both poets gave a lively discussion about poetry and their individual methodology to achieve prize winning verse. March 15 The Loneliness of the Long Distance Writer Marcia Preston is a native Oklahoman, an honorary life member of both OCWI and Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc., and a past president of both organizations. She’s now a full-time novelist. Marcia’s first books were mysteries with an Oklahoma setting. Song of the Bones won the 2004 Mary Higgins Clark Award and the Oklahoma Book Award in fiction. The Butterfly House became a bestseller in Great Britain. Her newest book, Trudy’ Promise, is set primarily in 1963 Berlin and has a long history with Oklahoma City Writers, Inc. It won the OCW novel contest back in the 1980s, and just now found its way to publication. Consequently, Marcia’s topic will be The Loneliness of the Long Distance Writer. She hopes to convince members of the value and the payoff that comes from sticking with your goals for the long haul. In her checkered past, Marcia taught high school English, edited two national magazines, and freelanced for a long list of publications. She’s a gardener, amateur lepidopterist and birdwatcher. She also oversees the family farm homesteaded by her grandparents. February 16 Preserving Family Legends Using Creative Non-fiction M. Carolyn Steele educated in journalism and art, she began her career as Editorial Assistant on the staff of the Independent Petroleum Monthly, a magazine that served the oil industry. Carolyn has won numerous awards and has short stories published in six anthologies, with stories in anthologies due for publication in the Spring of 2007 and Spring of 2008. Drawing upon a childhood steeped in Civil War history and Indian lore, she has completed three award winning novels and written a collection of short stories set in the early twentieth century Alaska. At present, she is collecting oral histories of the Creek removal to Indian Territory in 1836, as well as working on a series of short stories of the event. Combining her knowledge of storytelling and genealogy, Carolyn presents a program designed to inspire others to preserve family legends and spin stories using the research tools of genealogy. Presently, she instructs a creative non-fiction class at the Tulsa Genealogy Society. January 19 January 19 Writing about Ballistics and Wounds Getting the facts about weapon systems, cycle of operation, ammunition types and design, introduction to wound ballistics, and firearms safety. DENNIS POLK served in Law Enforcement for over twenty-six years, which includes twenty-four years in the Moore, Oklahoma Police Department. He has extensive experience and training with firearms. Polk received a Bachelor's Degree in Law Enforcement Administration at OU. He is cerfified as a Firearms Instructor by the Council of Law Enforcement Education and Training in revolver, semi-automatic pistol, shotgun, open sight rifle and scoped rifle. He is a certified Firearms Instructor in select fire weapons and precision rifle by the National Rifle Association. |
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