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25th Annual
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The Mission of the Blue Ridge Writers' Conference is to educate, inform, and inspire writers. No matter the level of expertise, the Blue Ridge Writers’ Conference provides a venue for professional writers, editors and agents to provide honest and accurate feedback to the aspiring writer in how to craft that first novel, sell a magazine article, market yourself in the literary world, or finding inspiration for your poetry. Previous keynote speakers have included a number of well-known writers such as novelist Claire Cook, Terry Kay, mystery writers Patricia Sprinkle, Joshilyn Jackson and Sharyn McCrumb, essayists James Kilgo and Steven Harvey, suspense writer Karin Slaughter, and former Georgia poet laureate, David Bottoms.
Saturday, April 9th begins with light breakfast fare and our keynote speech. The 2022 keynote speaker will be Julie Gwinn. Julie Gwinn has a background in editorial, launching the Pure Enjoyment line at B&H Publishing Group where she served as Fiction Publisher and was awarded Editor of the Year and Agent of the Year finalist by the American Christian Fiction Writers. Julie also has more than 25 years of public relations and marketing experience and has worked in marketing for several Nashville nonprofit organizations, including the Tennessee Association for the Education of Young Children, the Nashville Area Red Cross, and the YWCA. She puts that marketing expertise to use in working with her authors. For more information on our keynote speaker, visit www.theSeymourAgency.com
The day continues with concurrent workshops on everything from Fiction and Non-Fiction to Poetry and marketing a manuscript. Our 2022 speakers include a wide variety of fiction, non-fiction, poetry writers, agents, and editors. Conference attendees appreciate the chance to network with other writers and speakers during the day and the opportunity to submit their work for critique by one of the conference speakers.
The Blue Ridge Writers’ Conference also offers a four-hour Workshop Intensive on Friday, April 8th. For an additional fee, the Workshop Intensive provides a more concentrated workshop to strengthen and inspire your literary endeavors. The 2022 workshop entitled “Diggin' up Bones – Writing People of the Past” is an intensive and interactive session in researching and writing stories about historical characters - real life or imagined for short (blog posts or personal interest articles) or longer works (full-length fiction and nonfiction). Workshop Instructor Rona Simmons, who identified and interviewed 19 veterans for her award-winning book, The Other Veterans of World War II, combed the internet and visited museum archives to produce her next work, A Gathering of Men. She will share her research process and resources, interview guides and techniques, and story making methods.
If you are an author and have registered for the conference, you may sign up with the Art Center to have your books for sale on Friday evening during the reception and on Saturday afternoon during the conference until 3:00pm. Please email the Art Center no later than March 18th at blueridgearts@gmail.com to pre-register for a space. Please limit your book sales to no more than (5) titles, with a total of (10) books per title. All books for sale must be delivered to the Art Center no later than 5pm on Thursday afternoon, April 7th. The Art Center will sell books in the Mahan Gallery & Art Supply Station for a 10% commission. We look forward to you joining us this year for our 25th Annual Blue Ridge Writers’ Conference!
Saturday, April 9th begins with light breakfast fare and our keynote speech. The 2022 keynote speaker will be Julie Gwinn. Julie Gwinn has a background in editorial, launching the Pure Enjoyment line at B&H Publishing Group where she served as Fiction Publisher and was awarded Editor of the Year and Agent of the Year finalist by the American Christian Fiction Writers. Julie also has more than 25 years of public relations and marketing experience and has worked in marketing for several Nashville nonprofit organizations, including the Tennessee Association for the Education of Young Children, the Nashville Area Red Cross, and the YWCA. She puts that marketing expertise to use in working with her authors. For more information on our keynote speaker, visit www.theSeymourAgency.com
The day continues with concurrent workshops on everything from Fiction and Non-Fiction to Poetry and marketing a manuscript. Our 2022 speakers include a wide variety of fiction, non-fiction, poetry writers, agents, and editors. Conference attendees appreciate the chance to network with other writers and speakers during the day and the opportunity to submit their work for critique by one of the conference speakers.
The Blue Ridge Writers’ Conference also offers a four-hour Workshop Intensive on Friday, April 8th. For an additional fee, the Workshop Intensive provides a more concentrated workshop to strengthen and inspire your literary endeavors. The 2022 workshop entitled “Diggin' up Bones – Writing People of the Past” is an intensive and interactive session in researching and writing stories about historical characters - real life or imagined for short (blog posts or personal interest articles) or longer works (full-length fiction and nonfiction). Workshop Instructor Rona Simmons, who identified and interviewed 19 veterans for her award-winning book, The Other Veterans of World War II, combed the internet and visited museum archives to produce her next work, A Gathering of Men. She will share her research process and resources, interview guides and techniques, and story making methods.
If you are an author and have registered for the conference, you may sign up with the Art Center to have your books for sale on Friday evening during the reception and on Saturday afternoon during the conference until 3:00pm. Please email the Art Center no later than March 18th at blueridgearts@gmail.com to pre-register for a space. Please limit your book sales to no more than (5) titles, with a total of (10) books per title. All books for sale must be delivered to the Art Center no later than 5pm on Thursday afternoon, April 7th. The Art Center will sell books in the Mahan Gallery & Art Supply Station for a 10% commission. We look forward to you joining us this year for our 25th Annual Blue Ridge Writers’ Conference!
