Speaker Bios in Alphabetical Order
In Praise of the speakers... |
"The speakers selected as presenters were exceptional. The materials covered produced more quality information than I've received in the dozens of seminars, workshops and conferences I've attended over the last several years. To say I highly recommend the 805 Writers Conference wouldn't do it justice."
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Brenda Avadian, Publisher, North Star Books
Wisconsin-born first first-generation American-Armenian, Brenda Avadian, MA founded North Star Books in 1992 in order to bring to market a humorous career development title while everyone was still packing a parachute. Drive North in Your Career gave readers a safer and humorous alternative on land. The book was even approved by a CHP officer who requested Brenda’s autograph and a donation and by the traffic school instructor. Since then, books published by North Star Books have been translated in German, Korean, Slovenian, and Spanish and are available in print, e-book, and audio.
North Star Books is a Los Angeles-based publisher founded nearly a quarter century ago. Books published by this micro-publisher are not considered successful until they sell over 10,000 copies. STUFFology 101: Get Your Mind Out of the Clutter (available at this conference) became a bestseller for one week. More copies sold in a single day than that other best-selling clutter book on Tidying Up.
As a micro-publisher North Star Books, works with savvy entrepreneurial authors to ensure critical mass of sales.
Brenda Avadian served as a board member of the Independent Book Publishers Association and is a member of Publishers Association of Los Angeles. She offers a unique 360-degree view of the publishing industry as an author of nine books (traditional and self), publisher, and book reviewer. www.NorthStarBooks.com
Wisconsin-born first first-generation American-Armenian, Brenda Avadian, MA founded North Star Books in 1992 in order to bring to market a humorous career development title while everyone was still packing a parachute. Drive North in Your Career gave readers a safer and humorous alternative on land. The book was even approved by a CHP officer who requested Brenda’s autograph and a donation and by the traffic school instructor. Since then, books published by North Star Books have been translated in German, Korean, Slovenian, and Spanish and are available in print, e-book, and audio.
North Star Books is a Los Angeles-based publisher founded nearly a quarter century ago. Books published by this micro-publisher are not considered successful until they sell over 10,000 copies. STUFFology 101: Get Your Mind Out of the Clutter (available at this conference) became a bestseller for one week. More copies sold in a single day than that other best-selling clutter book on Tidying Up.
As a micro-publisher North Star Books, works with savvy entrepreneurial authors to ensure critical mass of sales.
Brenda Avadian served as a board member of the Independent Book Publishers Association and is a member of Publishers Association of Los Angeles. She offers a unique 360-degree view of the publishing industry as an author of nine books (traditional and self), publisher, and book reviewer. www.NorthStarBooks.com
Mark E. Cull, Publisher, Red Hen Press
Mark E. Cull is the author of the short story collection One Way Donkey Ride (Asylum Arts) and a novel King of the Sea Monkeys (Guernica Editions) and has co-edited three short story anthologies; Anyone is Possible, Blue Cathedral and The Crucifix is Down. He is Publisher of Red Hen Press, which he founded in 1994 with Kate Gale. During the time Red Hen Press has become one of the leading independent literary presses in North America, he has designed and produced more than three hundred volumes of literary fiction and poetry. He also serves on the board of WriteGirl a Los Angeles-based organization that promotes creativity and self-expression to empower girls and is the founding Managing Editor of The Los Angeles Review. www.RedHen.org
Mark E. Cull is the author of the short story collection One Way Donkey Ride (Asylum Arts) and a novel King of the Sea Monkeys (Guernica Editions) and has co-edited three short story anthologies; Anyone is Possible, Blue Cathedral and The Crucifix is Down. He is Publisher of Red Hen Press, which he founded in 1994 with Kate Gale. During the time Red Hen Press has become one of the leading independent literary presses in North America, he has designed and produced more than three hundred volumes of literary fiction and poetry. He also serves on the board of WriteGirl a Los Angeles-based organization that promotes creativity and self-expression to empower girls and is the founding Managing Editor of The Los Angeles Review. www.RedHen.org
Julia Fierro, Author, Journalist, and Writing Instructor
Julia Fierro is the author of the novels The Gypsy Moth Summer (June 6, 2017) and Cutting Teeth (2014), which The New Yorker called "a comically energetic debut."
Her work has been published in The Millions, Poets & Writers, Buzzfeed, Glamour, Psychology Today, Time Out New York, and other publications, including the essay anthologies Me, My Hair, & I and SCRATCH: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making A Living. She has been profiled in Brooklyn Magazine, the L Magazine, Poets & Writers, The Writer, The Observer and The Economist.
A graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop where she was a Teaching-Writing Fellow, Julia founded The Sackett Street Writers' Workshop in 2002, a creative home to 3,500 writers in NYC, online and, coming soon, Los Angeles. Sackett Street was named “Best Writing Classes” by The Village Voice, Time Out NY, Brooklyn Magazine and the L magazine, and “Best MFA-Alternative” by Poets & Writers.
She lives in Los Angeles and Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
Julia Fierro is the author of the novels The Gypsy Moth Summer (June 6, 2017) and Cutting Teeth (2014), which The New Yorker called "a comically energetic debut."
Her work has been published in The Millions, Poets & Writers, Buzzfeed, Glamour, Psychology Today, Time Out New York, and other publications, including the essay anthologies Me, My Hair, & I and SCRATCH: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making A Living. She has been profiled in Brooklyn Magazine, the L Magazine, Poets & Writers, The Writer, The Observer and The Economist.
A graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop where she was a Teaching-Writing Fellow, Julia founded The Sackett Street Writers' Workshop in 2002, a creative home to 3,500 writers in NYC, online and, coming soon, Los Angeles. Sackett Street was named “Best Writing Classes” by The Village Voice, Time Out NY, Brooklyn Magazine and the L magazine, and “Best MFA-Alternative” by Poets & Writers.
She lives in Los Angeles and Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
R. Daniel Foster, Writer, Photographer, and Visual Artist
R. Daniel Foster is an award-winning writer, photographer and visual artist. His publication credits include the Los Angeles Times, Esquire, Los Angeles Magazine, Houzz, The Advocate, and San Francisco Chronicle, among other outlets. He has also written and announced features for National Public Radio and Marketplace Radio. He has taught non-fiction and newswriting courses at UCLA Extension, and California State University Long Beach and Northridge. His visual-based work (art video, documentary, theatrical projection design) has been featured by PBS, the LA Opera, Walker Art Center and the Hammer Museum. He has served as president of the California Writers Club, founded in 1909, and as board member of the Independent Writers of Southern California. A skilled storyteller who often combines word and image, Foster is known for conveying meaning and message in unforgettable ways. www.rdanielfoster.com @rdanielfoster
R. Daniel Foster is an award-winning writer, photographer and visual artist. His publication credits include the Los Angeles Times, Esquire, Los Angeles Magazine, Houzz, The Advocate, and San Francisco Chronicle, among other outlets. He has also written and announced features for National Public Radio and Marketplace Radio. He has taught non-fiction and newswriting courses at UCLA Extension, and California State University Long Beach and Northridge. His visual-based work (art video, documentary, theatrical projection design) has been featured by PBS, the LA Opera, Walker Art Center and the Hammer Museum. He has served as president of the California Writers Club, founded in 1909, and as board member of the Independent Writers of Southern California. A skilled storyteller who often combines word and image, Foster is known for conveying meaning and message in unforgettable ways. www.rdanielfoster.com @rdanielfoster
Emily Heckman, Editor and Author
Emily Heckman has been working in the publishing industry for thirty years as an editor, writer and consultant. She began her career at the acclaimed North Point Press in Berkeley California and then went on to work as an acquisitions editor for major New York publishing houses including Grove Press, Macmillan, and Bantam Books, culminating with her tenure as an Executive Editor at Simon and Schuster. She had her digital publishing dot-com experience as a VP of Business Development for one of the pioneering self-publishing companies.
For the past decade, she’s worked independently and has edited dozens of best-selling books (both fiction and nonfiction and, since 2003, has written or co-authored nine books which have been published by S&S, Harper Collins, Penguin, Random House, and Rodale Books. Her greatest joy comes from helping fellow writers become successful authors. She may be reached at [email protected]
Emily Heckman has been working in the publishing industry for thirty years as an editor, writer and consultant. She began her career at the acclaimed North Point Press in Berkeley California and then went on to work as an acquisitions editor for major New York publishing houses including Grove Press, Macmillan, and Bantam Books, culminating with her tenure as an Executive Editor at Simon and Schuster. She had her digital publishing dot-com experience as a VP of Business Development for one of the pioneering self-publishing companies.
For the past decade, she’s worked independently and has edited dozens of best-selling books (both fiction and nonfiction and, since 2003, has written or co-authored nine books which have been published by S&S, Harper Collins, Penguin, Random House, and Rodale Books. Her greatest joy comes from helping fellow writers become successful authors. She may be reached at [email protected]
Kathleen Kaiser, Author Services and Media Relations
Beginning as a music journalist turned publicist, Kathleen Sexton Kaiser’s career spans 40 years of involvement in the most exciting industries of her generation. From rock and roll in the 60s and 70s to the digital/Internet revolution of the late 80s and 90s, she has been a marketing professional for Fortune 100 companies, small startups, and nonprofits. She opened Kathleen Kaiser & Associates in 1993 which now focuses on working with the literary and arts communities. With four published books and three plays under her belt, Kate understands how authors are often confused by the new world of marketing books and themselves. She aids authors navigate social media, build audience and sell books. She was named "Publicist of the Year" for 2016 by the Book Publicists of Southern California
Kate is the executive director of the Pacific Institute for Professional Writing (PIPW), President of the Small Publishers, Artists & Writers Network (SPAWN), Past President of the Ventura County Writers Club, and producer of the 805 Writers’ Conference. www.KathleenKaiserAndAssociates.com.
Beginning as a music journalist turned publicist, Kathleen Sexton Kaiser’s career spans 40 years of involvement in the most exciting industries of her generation. From rock and roll in the 60s and 70s to the digital/Internet revolution of the late 80s and 90s, she has been a marketing professional for Fortune 100 companies, small startups, and nonprofits. She opened Kathleen Kaiser & Associates in 1993 which now focuses on working with the literary and arts communities. With four published books and three plays under her belt, Kate understands how authors are often confused by the new world of marketing books and themselves. She aids authors navigate social media, build audience and sell books. She was named "Publicist of the Year" for 2016 by the Book Publicists of Southern California
Kate is the executive director of the Pacific Institute for Professional Writing (PIPW), President of the Small Publishers, Artists & Writers Network (SPAWN), Past President of the Ventura County Writers Club, and producer of the 805 Writers’ Conference. www.KathleenKaiserAndAssociates.com.
Shelly Lowenkopf, Author and Editor
Shelly Lowenkopf has held major editorial positions with general trade, mass market paperback, literary, and scholarly book publishers in addition to executive editorial participation in special interest, literary, and genre fiction magazines. Those companies include: Sherbourne Press (Editor-in-Chief); Dell Publishing (Director, Los Angeles office); Clio Books (Editor-in-Chief); Ross-Erickson (Editor-in-Chief); and, Capra Press (Advisory and Acquisitions Editor). He has seen over seven hundred book projects and hundreds of short story and essay projects through the publishing process. Currently a freelance consultant and teacher, his clients include novelists, retired and active academics, and the humorist creator of one of the most popular television series of all time.
Lowenkopf taught courses in short story, novel, dramatic writing, editing, genre fiction, and revision at the graduate level in one of the most prestigious writing programs in America at the University of Southern California, where he was given a Lifetime Teaching Award. He is now a visiting professor in the College of Creative Studies, UCSB.
Lowenkopf has had over 35 book published, along with short fiction, pulp novels, essays and reviews. His latest book is an award-winning collection of short stories, Love Will Make You Drink and Gamble, Stay Out at Night. His 2013 book, The Fiction Writer’s Handbook, is a guide to terms, concepts, and forms related to storytelling. In March of 2014, a collection of his short fiction will appear. Visit his daily blogs on writing at: www.Lowenkopf.com
Shelly Lowenkopf has held major editorial positions with general trade, mass market paperback, literary, and scholarly book publishers in addition to executive editorial participation in special interest, literary, and genre fiction magazines. Those companies include: Sherbourne Press (Editor-in-Chief); Dell Publishing (Director, Los Angeles office); Clio Books (Editor-in-Chief); Ross-Erickson (Editor-in-Chief); and, Capra Press (Advisory and Acquisitions Editor). He has seen over seven hundred book projects and hundreds of short story and essay projects through the publishing process. Currently a freelance consultant and teacher, his clients include novelists, retired and active academics, and the humorist creator of one of the most popular television series of all time.
Lowenkopf taught courses in short story, novel, dramatic writing, editing, genre fiction, and revision at the graduate level in one of the most prestigious writing programs in America at the University of Southern California, where he was given a Lifetime Teaching Award. He is now a visiting professor in the College of Creative Studies, UCSB.
Lowenkopf has had over 35 book published, along with short fiction, pulp novels, essays and reviews. His latest book is an award-winning collection of short stories, Love Will Make You Drink and Gamble, Stay Out at Night. His 2013 book, The Fiction Writer’s Handbook, is a guide to terms, concepts, and forms related to storytelling. In March of 2014, a collection of his short fiction will appear. Visit his daily blogs on writing at: www.Lowenkopf.com
Toni Lopopolo, Literary Agent, Editor, and Writing Mentor
Literary Agent, Toni Lopopolo, has a book publishing resume that began in 1970 in the publicity department of Bantam Books, where she helped publicize authors such as Philip Roth, Barbara Cartland, Isaac Asimov, and Louis L’Amour. She next served as Library Promotion Director at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, and visited almost every major library in the USA. Then Houghton Mlfflin offered her a position in Boston as Marketing Manager, Paperback Books. Her big campaigns included Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins. When Macmillan presented Toni the title of Executive Editor, she moved back to New York City and published Judy Mazel’s Beverly Hills Diet and Elvis 56 by Al Wertheimer among other hits. St. Martin’s Press made an offer she couldn’t refuse, so Toni became Executive Editor there from 1981 to 1990 and published Hot Flashes by Barbara Raskin and Rich and Famous by Kate Coscarelli plus Elsa Lanchester, Herself, by Elsa Lanchester, On The Other Hand by Fay Wray and many more titles.
In l991, Toni opened Toni Lopopolo Literary Management. She has since sold books for authors Sol Stein, Lee Silber, Lillian Glass, Steve Duno, Nancy Baer, Flo Fitzgerald, Judith Smith-Levin, Howard Olgin, Jeanette Baker, Larry Seeley, and several others. Toni relocated her company to Santa Barbara, California in 2011. Toni is also known for her writing workshops where she uses a unique method that helps first-time novelists to master the skills needed to successfully write book-length fiction, and she aids nonfiction writers to produce compelling narrative nonfiction, using fiction techniques. www.LopopoloLiterary.com
Literary Agent, Toni Lopopolo, has a book publishing resume that began in 1970 in the publicity department of Bantam Books, where she helped publicize authors such as Philip Roth, Barbara Cartland, Isaac Asimov, and Louis L’Amour. She next served as Library Promotion Director at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, and visited almost every major library in the USA. Then Houghton Mlfflin offered her a position in Boston as Marketing Manager, Paperback Books. Her big campaigns included Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins. When Macmillan presented Toni the title of Executive Editor, she moved back to New York City and published Judy Mazel’s Beverly Hills Diet and Elvis 56 by Al Wertheimer among other hits. St. Martin’s Press made an offer she couldn’t refuse, so Toni became Executive Editor there from 1981 to 1990 and published Hot Flashes by Barbara Raskin and Rich and Famous by Kate Coscarelli plus Elsa Lanchester, Herself, by Elsa Lanchester, On The Other Hand by Fay Wray and many more titles.
In l991, Toni opened Toni Lopopolo Literary Management. She has since sold books for authors Sol Stein, Lee Silber, Lillian Glass, Steve Duno, Nancy Baer, Flo Fitzgerald, Judith Smith-Levin, Howard Olgin, Jeanette Baker, Larry Seeley, and several others. Toni relocated her company to Santa Barbara, California in 2011. Toni is also known for her writing workshops where she uses a unique method that helps first-time novelists to master the skills needed to successfully write book-length fiction, and she aids nonfiction writers to produce compelling narrative nonfiction, using fiction techniques. www.LopopoloLiterary.com
Christopher Meeks, Author and Publisher, White Whiskers Books
Chris Meeks is a published author and short story writer. White Whisker sprang to life in 2005 when Christopher Meeks wanted to bring out his short stories previously published in literary magazines as a collection. His agent didn’t want to send the collection out to publishers because “short stories don’t make money; collections are published as favors to high-profile authors.” Meeks’ friend, Daniel Will-Harris, who had worked at Prelude Press when Meeks had been the company’s senior editor, told Meeks, “You know publishing. You saw what we did. You can start your own publishing company. I’ll do the book design for you.” White Whisker Books is one of the emerging hybrid publishers, a nimble small publisher that uses marketing tools used by big publishers as well as many of the tools self-publishers are discovering.
Recently as a writer, he's focused on novels. The Brightest Moon of the Century is a story of a man who yearns for love and success, covering over thirty years—a tale that Marc Schuster of Small Press Reviews describes as “a great and truly humane novel in the tradition of Charles Dickens and John Irving.” Love at Absolute Zero is about a physicist who uses the tools of science to find his soul mate--and he has just three days. Critic Grady Harp calls the book “a gift." Blood Drama and A Death in Vegas had him edge into crime stories. The upcoming The Chords of War takes place in the Iraq War in Baqubah.Chris teaches creative writing at Santa Monica College and the Art Center College of Design, and he lives in Los Angeles with his wife as their two children are off to college. Visit him online at www.chrismeeks.com.
Chris Meeks is a published author and short story writer. White Whisker sprang to life in 2005 when Christopher Meeks wanted to bring out his short stories previously published in literary magazines as a collection. His agent didn’t want to send the collection out to publishers because “short stories don’t make money; collections are published as favors to high-profile authors.” Meeks’ friend, Daniel Will-Harris, who had worked at Prelude Press when Meeks had been the company’s senior editor, told Meeks, “You know publishing. You saw what we did. You can start your own publishing company. I’ll do the book design for you.” White Whisker Books is one of the emerging hybrid publishers, a nimble small publisher that uses marketing tools used by big publishers as well as many of the tools self-publishers are discovering.
Recently as a writer, he's focused on novels. The Brightest Moon of the Century is a story of a man who yearns for love and success, covering over thirty years—a tale that Marc Schuster of Small Press Reviews describes as “a great and truly humane novel in the tradition of Charles Dickens and John Irving.” Love at Absolute Zero is about a physicist who uses the tools of science to find his soul mate--and he has just three days. Critic Grady Harp calls the book “a gift." Blood Drama and A Death in Vegas had him edge into crime stories. The upcoming The Chords of War takes place in the Iraq War in Baqubah.Chris teaches creative writing at Santa Monica College and the Art Center College of Design, and he lives in Los Angeles with his wife as their two children are off to college. Visit him online at www.chrismeeks.com.
Zhena Muzyka, Author and Publisher, Enliven Books
Zhena Muzyka is a social entrepreneur, author, women’s business and life coach, public speaker and the publisher of Enliven Books, a new Mind-Body-Spirit imprint from Atria/Simon and Schuster. As the host of "Change Maker" CBS Radio Podcast, Zhena explores the inner terrain of personal development with bestselling authors, politicians, artists, experts and business leaders. Zhena’s book, Life by the Cup, chronicles her experience of growing a multimillion-dollar fair trade tea company, Zhena’s Gypsy Tea, as a single mom with $6 to her name in hopes to inspire others to achieve their most audacious dreams. Life by the Cup is in development for a TV series by Mark Wahlberg and his production company, creators of HBO shows Boardwalk Empire, Entourage and In Treatment.
Celebrated for her work in fair trade business practices, Zhena was named a Country Living Women Entrepreneur Honoree, a Top Woman in Business by Pacific Business Times, 20 most inspiring women in Coco Eco Magazine, and has received the Enterprising Women of the Year award and the Socially Responsible Business award, among others. She has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire, Inc., Entrepreneur, and additional mediums for her unique view of business and meditation, work and family life with empire building.
Zhena is a trusted advisor to women-owned businesses and creates inspirational media on www.Zhena.TV now. She lives in California with her 2 kids, husband, 2 cats, puppy, and hummingbird garden. You can contact her at www.Zhena.TV
Zhena Muzyka is a social entrepreneur, author, women’s business and life coach, public speaker and the publisher of Enliven Books, a new Mind-Body-Spirit imprint from Atria/Simon and Schuster. As the host of "Change Maker" CBS Radio Podcast, Zhena explores the inner terrain of personal development with bestselling authors, politicians, artists, experts and business leaders. Zhena’s book, Life by the Cup, chronicles her experience of growing a multimillion-dollar fair trade tea company, Zhena’s Gypsy Tea, as a single mom with $6 to her name in hopes to inspire others to achieve their most audacious dreams. Life by the Cup is in development for a TV series by Mark Wahlberg and his production company, creators of HBO shows Boardwalk Empire, Entourage and In Treatment.
Celebrated for her work in fair trade business practices, Zhena was named a Country Living Women Entrepreneur Honoree, a Top Woman in Business by Pacific Business Times, 20 most inspiring women in Coco Eco Magazine, and has received the Enterprising Women of the Year award and the Socially Responsible Business award, among others. She has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire, Inc., Entrepreneur, and additional mediums for her unique view of business and meditation, work and family life with empire building.
Zhena is a trusted advisor to women-owned businesses and creates inspirational media on www.Zhena.TV now. She lives in California with her 2 kids, husband, 2 cats, puppy, and hummingbird garden. You can contact her at www.Zhena.TV
Dana Newman, Literary Attorney and Agent
Dana Newman founded her literary agency, Dana Newman Literary, in Los Angeles in 2010. She represents authors of practical and narrative non-fiction, and literary/upmarket fiction. She is also a transactional and intellectual property attorney, focusing on contracts, copyrights, trademarks, and licensing. She has extensive in-house legal experience in the entertainment and technology fields. Dana holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from U.C. Berkeley and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law. She wrote "Copyright Grants: as Powerful as Kryptonite?" published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, and co-authored the chapter on Technology and Intellectual Property Rights in the book Emerging Companies Guide: A Resource for Professionals and Entrepreneurs, Second Edition (American Bar Association 2011). http://dananewman.com/
Dana Newman founded her literary agency, Dana Newman Literary, in Los Angeles in 2010. She represents authors of practical and narrative non-fiction, and literary/upmarket fiction. She is also a transactional and intellectual property attorney, focusing on contracts, copyrights, trademarks, and licensing. She has extensive in-house legal experience in the entertainment and technology fields. Dana holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from U.C. Berkeley and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law. She wrote "Copyright Grants: as Powerful as Kryptonite?" published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, and co-authored the chapter on Technology and Intellectual Property Rights in the book Emerging Companies Guide: A Resource for Professionals and Entrepreneurs, Second Edition (American Bar Association 2011). http://dananewman.com/
Matthew J. Pallamary, Author, Editor, Shamanic Explorer
Matthew J. Pallamary's historical novel of first contact between shamans and Jesuits in 18th century South America, titled, Land Without Evil, received rave reviews along with a San Diego Book Award and was adapted into a full-length stage and sky show performed by an Austin Texas aerial group. The making of the show was the subject of an episode of the PBS series, Arts in Context, which garnered an EMMY nomination.
His memoir Spirit Matters detailing his journeys to Peru, working with shamanic plant medicines took 1st place in the San Diego Book Awards Spiritual Book Category, and was an Award-Winning Finalist in the autobiography/memoir category of the National Best Book Awards. He has eleven books in print in a number of genres and his works have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, Norwegian, and German.
Matt has been teaching at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, the Southern California Writers Conference, and many other venues for the past twenty-five years. He frequently visits the mountains, deserts, and jungles of North, Central, and South America pursuing his studies of shamanism. www.mattpallamary.com
Matthew J. Pallamary's historical novel of first contact between shamans and Jesuits in 18th century South America, titled, Land Without Evil, received rave reviews along with a San Diego Book Award and was adapted into a full-length stage and sky show performed by an Austin Texas aerial group. The making of the show was the subject of an episode of the PBS series, Arts in Context, which garnered an EMMY nomination.
His memoir Spirit Matters detailing his journeys to Peru, working with shamanic plant medicines took 1st place in the San Diego Book Awards Spiritual Book Category, and was an Award-Winning Finalist in the autobiography/memoir category of the National Best Book Awards. He has eleven books in print in a number of genres and his works have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, Norwegian, and German.
Matt has been teaching at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, the Southern California Writers Conference, and many other venues for the past twenty-five years. He frequently visits the mountains, deserts, and jungles of North, Central, and South America pursuing his studies of shamanism. www.mattpallamary.com
Penny C. Sansevieri, Book Marketer and Author
Penny C. Sansevieri, Founder and CEO Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a best-selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert. She is an Adjunct Professor teaching Self-Publishing for NYU.
Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most innovative Social Media/Internet book marketing campaigns. She is the author of fourteen books, including How to Sell Your Books by the Truckload on Amazon and Red Hot Internet Publicity, which has been called the "leading guide to everything Internet."
AME was the first book marketing and publicity firm to use Internet promotion to its full impact through The Virtual Author Tour™, which strategically harnesses social networking sites, Twitter, blogs, book videos, and relevant sites in order to push an author’s message into the online community. AME has had over eleven books top bestseller lists, including those of the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal. To learn more about Penny’s books or her promotional services, you can visit her web site at www.amarketingexpert.com.
Penny C. Sansevieri, Founder and CEO Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a best-selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert. She is an Adjunct Professor teaching Self-Publishing for NYU.
Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most innovative Social Media/Internet book marketing campaigns. She is the author of fourteen books, including How to Sell Your Books by the Truckload on Amazon and Red Hot Internet Publicity, which has been called the "leading guide to everything Internet."
AME was the first book marketing and publicity firm to use Internet promotion to its full impact through The Virtual Author Tour™, which strategically harnesses social networking sites, Twitter, blogs, book videos, and relevant sites in order to push an author’s message into the online community. AME has had over eleven books top bestseller lists, including those of the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal. To learn more about Penny’s books or her promotional services, you can visit her web site at www.amarketingexpert.com.
Paul J. Willis, Poet, Essayist, English professor
Paul J. Willis is a professor of English at Westmont College in Santa Barbara. He grew up in Oregon, attended Wheaton College in Illinois, worked as a mountain guide in the Cascades and Sierra Nevada, and earned his graduate degrees at Washington State University, where he wrote a dissertation on The Forest in Shakespeare: Setting as Character.
His four full collections of poetry are Visiting Home (Pecan Grove Press, 2008), Rosing from the Dead (WordFarm, 2009), Say This Prayer into the Past (Cascade Books, 2013), and Getting to Gardisky Lake (Stephen F. Austin State University Press, 2016). He is also the author of Bright Shoots of Everlastingness: Essays on Faith and the American Wild (WordFarm, 2005) and The Alpine Tales (WordFarm, 2010). His poems and essays have appeared in well over a hundred journals that include Poetry, Image, and Wilderness, and have also been anthologized in The Best American Poetry 1996 (Scribner’s), The Best Spiritual Writing 1999 (HarperSanFrancisco), The Best American Spiritual Writing 2004 (Houghton Mifflin), and The Best Christian Writing 2006 (Jossey-Bass). More recently his poems have been featured on Verse Daily and The Writer’s Almanac.
He completed a term of service as poet laureate of Santa Barbara for 2011-2013, and was a fall artist-in-residence at North Cascades National Park in 2014 and a spring creative resident at the North Cascades Institute in 2015. This fall he served as a poet-in-residence at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Visit his website at pauljwillis.com
Paul J. Willis is a professor of English at Westmont College in Santa Barbara. He grew up in Oregon, attended Wheaton College in Illinois, worked as a mountain guide in the Cascades and Sierra Nevada, and earned his graduate degrees at Washington State University, where he wrote a dissertation on The Forest in Shakespeare: Setting as Character.
His four full collections of poetry are Visiting Home (Pecan Grove Press, 2008), Rosing from the Dead (WordFarm, 2009), Say This Prayer into the Past (Cascade Books, 2013), and Getting to Gardisky Lake (Stephen F. Austin State University Press, 2016). He is also the author of Bright Shoots of Everlastingness: Essays on Faith and the American Wild (WordFarm, 2005) and The Alpine Tales (WordFarm, 2010). His poems and essays have appeared in well over a hundred journals that include Poetry, Image, and Wilderness, and have also been anthologized in The Best American Poetry 1996 (Scribner’s), The Best Spiritual Writing 1999 (HarperSanFrancisco), The Best American Spiritual Writing 2004 (Houghton Mifflin), and The Best Christian Writing 2006 (Jossey-Bass). More recently his poems have been featured on Verse Daily and The Writer’s Almanac.
He completed a term of service as poet laureate of Santa Barbara for 2011-2013, and was a fall artist-in-residence at North Cascades National Park in 2014 and a spring creative resident at the North Cascades Institute in 2015. This fall he served as a poet-in-residence at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Visit his website at pauljwillis.com