Florida Gulf Coast University invites working and aspiring writers to learn from and mingle with published authors, editors and literary agents at the 13th annual Sanibel Island Writers Conference, to be held November 8 to 11 at BIG ARTS.
The conference welcomes any aspiring writer who wants to create new work or refine a project already in progress. Participants at all stages of development — from notebook scribblers to published novelists — are invited to attend a variety of workshops in fiction, poetry, songwriting, children’s literature, journalism, screenwriting, and creative nonfiction; panels on publishing & editing; and readings, keynote addresses, & concerts.
Bestselling authors Ann Hood and Joyce Maynard and celebrated singer-songwriter Alastair Moock headline the conference.
Keynote speaker Hood is the author of 14 novels, including the bestsellers The Knitting Circle, The Obituary Writer and The Book That Matters Most. She has published three memoirs, most recently Morningstar: Growing Up with Books. Hood’s presentation is free and open to the public and begins at 6 p.m. on Saturday, November 10 in Schein Hall at BIG ARTS.
Maynard’s most recent memoir, 2017’s The Best of Us, is about finding her husband and losing him to cancer four years later. She also wrote the darkly comic novel To Die For, which was adapted as a film starring Nicole Kidman. Maynard will give a free public reading at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 9 in Schein Hall.
Folk and Americana singer-songwriter Moock will perform at 6 p.m. on opening night of the conference.
For a complete schedule of workshops, presentations, panels and readings, visit www2.fgcu.edu/siwc, where you can also register. For more information, contact conference director Tom DeMarchi at [email protected] or 239-590-7421. BIG ARTS is located at 900 Dunlop Road on Sanibel.
