Speakers for the educational sessions at VC Book & Author Fair
 Margaret Brownley
| Margaret Brownley is a bestselling author of 28 books including Romance Writers of America RITA and Inspy finalist A Lady Like Sarah, and 2010 Best Western Romance finalists A Suitor for Jenny and A Vision of Lucy. She currently has a novella in A Log Cabin Christmas Collection which is on the NY Times Bestsellers List and the first book in her Last Chance Ranch series will be published March 2012. Margaret's website is at: www.MargaretBrownley.com
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Lesley Daley
| Lesley Daley is an enthusiastic and resilient woman. She began her working career as a pediatric nurse, specializing in oncology. She left the city of Los Angeles and moved to a small beach town and found her other passion: black and white photography. When the true love of her life was diagnosed with cancer in 2002, she was devastated. To start her healing process and to help her husband to grow strong again, she used her photographic talents and created a collection of women's portraits and stories about their bravery with cancer titled Goddesses Don’t Buy Green Bananas. Her website is: www.goddessbook.com
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 Sheli Ellsworth
| Sheli Ellsworth holds a Master’s Degree in psychology used mainly to annoy family and friends. You can find her tongue-in-cheek advice column, “Dear Miss Betty-Advice for those who need to be slapped” in the Ventura Breeze newspaper. She is a book critic for the Sacramento Book Review, the San Francisco Book Review and the Portland Book Review. Visit Sheli's websites at www.jellybeanfield.com
and www.DearMissBetty.com |
 Patricia Fry
| Patricia Fry has been writing for over 35 years. She established her own publishing company in 1983, and she currently has 34 books to her credit. Her latest book is Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for Enterprising Authors,(Allworth Press). Patricia is Executive Director of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network). Visit Patricia's websites at www.PatriciaFry.com, www.spawn.org and www.MatilijaPress.com.
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 Catherine Ryan Hyde
| Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of 18 published and forthcoming books. Her newest releases are Don’t Let Me Go, Jumpstart the World and Second Hand Heart. Forthcoming is When You Were Older. Older works include the story collection Earthquake Weather, and the novels Funerals for Horses, Pay it Forward, Electric God, and Walter’s Purple Heart. Pay It Forward was adapted into a major motion picture, chosen by the American Library Association for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated for distribution in over 30 countries. Her website is: www.CatherineRyanHyde.com
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 Toni Lopopolo
| Toni Lopopolo's publishing resume began in 1970 in the publicity dept of Bantam Books. She moved to Macmillan as Executive Editor, then next to St. Martin’s Press as Executive Editor from 1981 to 1990 She has taught fiction and narrative non-fiction writing at Temple University. In l991, Toni opened Toni Lopopolo Literary Management, which she recently moved to Santa Barbara from the east coast. Toni's website is: www.LopopoloLiterary.com
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 Shelly Lowenkopf
| Throughout his career, Shelly Lowenkopf held executive editorial positions with a wide range of book publishers, where he saw over 700 titles to market. Lowenkopf taught courses in short story, novel, dramatic writing, editing, genre fiction, and revision at the graduate level at USC, where he was given a Lifetime Teaching Award. He has published over 30 works of fiction and nonfiction. His most recent book, The Fiction Writer’s Companion, has already become a valued resource among writers, readers, and teachers. His blogsite: www.Lowenkopf.com.
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 Christopher Meeks
| Christopher Meeks began as a playwright and has had three plays produced. His short stories have been published in journals and are available in The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea and Months and Seasons. Recently he's focused on novels. The Brightest Moon of the Century, a story that Marc Schuster of Small Press Reviews describes as “a great and truly humane novel in the tradition of Charles Dickens and John Irving.” His books are available through:
www.whitewhiskerbooks.com. |
Gene Perret
| Gene Perret has been a comedy writer since the early 60’s. He worked as a writer on such TV classics as The Jim Nabors Show, Laugh-in, The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show, The New Bill Cosby Show, The Carol Burnett Show, and as head-writer/producer on Welcome Back, Kotter, Three’s Company and The Tim Conway Show. He worked as a writer for Bob Hope for almost 30 years. Perret captured three Emmy awards and one Writer’s Guild Award. He has written or co-authored 30 books on comedy. His website is: www.comedywritersroom.com.
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 Tristine Rainer
| Tristine Rainer, Ph.D, is a pioneer in the fields of contemporary journal writing and narrative autobiography. Her book The New Diary, has sold over 200,000. Your Life as Story, Writing the New Autobiography, published in 1997, hit the Los Angeles Times bestseller list and is presently being used as a text in many college writing programs. Rainer is the founder of the Center for Autobiographic Studies, and for eleven years was an adjunct professor within the Masters of Professional Writing Program at USC. Tristine’s website is: www.storyhelp.com.
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Anita Reinsma
| While Anita Reinsma was in college, she was offered a job as a writer/producer for radio and TV commercials in the LA area. She transitioned into multi-media productions for the rock industry and film studios. Her first book “Stop Waiting for Prince Charming! He’s Already Married to Bob. The Odds of Getting Married and Other Nonsense” is a hilarious collection of essays and advice. She won the Irwin Award for Most Innovative Book Campaign 2011. Read the book, then, watch her reenactments of the essays on YouTube. You can live a crazy, funny life. Vist her website at:
www.anitareinsma.com |
 Angela Rinaldi
| Angela Rinaldi is president of The Angela Rinaldi Literary Agency, founded in 1994. Prior to starting the agency she was Executive Editor at NAL and Bantam Books, Senior Editor at Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster) and started the book publishing program for The Los Angeles Times. She represents both fiction and nonfiction including the eight million copy bestseller Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr. Spencer Johnson. She is actively seeking novelists writing literary fiction that can cross over into the commercial arena and wants non fiction authors who are energetic and have marketing savvy and resources. Her website is:
www.rinaldiliterary.com |
Heather Schmidt | Heather Schmidt is a freelance writer working on her first novel, as well as various short stories. After capping off her graduate work in Political Science and Philosophy with two academic publications, Heather then moved into working primarily on literary fiction, which she continues today. Prior to graduate school, Heather worked in politics as a community organizer. This brings to her writing a wealth of experiences, as well as an understanding of the necessity of networking and the utility of social media and blogging. More information and her satirical blog may be found at: http://heatherchristenaschmidt.com.
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 Flo Selfman
| Flo Selfman is a public relations consultant with more than twenty years experience creating and implementing PR campaigns for lifestyle companies, festivals and events, theatre productions, and personalities. She consults on all aspects of publishing, marketing, and publicity for self-published authors and small presses. Flo is currently serving her eighth term as president of Independent Writers of Southern California--www.IWOSC.org. She is a partner in Words à la Mode, a writing-editing service; to learn more visit: www.wordsalamode.com.
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Kate Sexton
| Beginning as a music journalist turned publicist, Kate Sexton’s career spans 30 plus years of involvement 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 nonprofit. She is currently President of the Ventura County Writers Club, and on the Board of Directors of the Pacific Institute for Professional Writing. www.KathleenKaiserAndAssociates.com
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 E. Van Lowe
| E. Van Lowe is an author, television writer, screenwriter, playwright and producer who has worked on such shows as "The Cosby Show," "Even Stevens," and "Homeboys In Outer Space." He was nominated for an Emmy and an Academy Award. His first YA paranormal novel, Never Slow Dance With A Zombie, hit shelves September 2009. It was a selection of The Scholastic Book Club, and a nominee for an ALA Award. His newest is Boyfriend From Hell was released September 2011. Visit him at http://vanlowe.blogspot.com/ or his website http://evanlowe.com/
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