Faculty
Sigrid Nunez—Keynoter and Afternoon Fiction Seminar
Sigrid Nunez has published five novels: A Feather on the Breath of God, Naked Sleeper, Mitz: The Marmoset of Bloomsbury, For Rouenna, and The Last of Her Kind. Her sixth novel, Salvation City, will be published in fall, 2010. Her work has also appeared in several anthologies, including two Pushcart Prize volumes and four anthologies of Asian-American literature. A Feather on the Breath of God was a finalist for both the PEN/Hemingway Award for First Fiction and the Barnes & Noble Discover New Writers Award. It also received the Association for Asian American Studies Award for best novel of the year. Mitz, a mock biography of Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s pet monkey, won the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Sigrid Nunez has also been the recipient of a Whiting Writer's Award, a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and a residency from the Lannan Foundation. She was the 2000-2001 Rome Prize Fellow in Literature at the American Academy in Rome. In 2003, she was elected as a Literature Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In spring 2005, she was the Berlin Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. Nunez has taught at Amherst College, Smith College, Columbia University and the New School, and has been a visiting writer at Washington University, Baruch College, and the University of California, Irvine. She has also been on the faculty of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, and the Rope Walk Writer’s Retreat. Sigrid Nunez lives in New York City.
April Eberhardt—Visiting Agent (Pitch Sessions for Full Week Participants Only)
April joined Kimberley Cameron & Associates in 2008 after five years of editorial work with Zoetrope: All-Story, a literary magazine, and another agency. Her specialty is adult literary fiction, particularly ironic family dramas and realistic midlife tales, often with a twist, preferably involving strong female characters. She is attracted to collections of interlinked stories with a common character or theme. An original voice and smart, speedy delivery are critical, as is a subtle sense of the absurd. She enjoys working with new authors to edit and streamline their manuscripts before submitting them to publishers. April does consider selected non-fiction works. She does not represent mysteries or murders, thrillers, historical fiction or fantasy, nor does she represent children's titles. April earned an MBA in Finance and Marketing from Boston University, a BA in Anthropology and French from Hamilton College, and a CPLF degree from the University of Paris. Her prior careers in banking and management consulting honed her strategic, marketing and presentation skills and serve her well in her literary endeavors.
Janet Reid—Visiting Agent (Pitch Sessions for Full Week Participants Only)
Janet Reid specializes in compelling fiction, particularly crime fiction; and narrative non-fiction. She's always on the lookout for fabulous projects. Her publishing background includes fifteen years in book publicity with clients both famous and infamous. She is actively looking for projects that show mastery of craft and originality. Recent sales include Even by Andrew Grant (Minotaur); The Breach by Patrick Lee (Harper: 2010); Chasing Smoke by Bill Cameron (Bleak House); All Roads Lead Me Back to You by Kennedy Foster (Pocket); The Eternal Prison by Jeff Somers (Orbit); First Contact by Evan Mandery (Harper: 2010); Siesta Lane by Amy Minato (Skyhorse); Declarations of a Dinosaur by Dr. Lucy Hornstein (Kaplan); The Ephailtes Affair by Gary Corby (Minotaur; 2010); Numb by Sean Ferrell (Harper: 2010); Brains by Robin Becker (Harper: 2010) The Little Book of Curses and Maledictions for Everyday Use by DawnRae Downton (Skyhorse). Ms. Reid is a member of the literary agents’ professional association AAR, as well as a past board member of the NYC chapter of the Women’s National Book Association. She's an associate member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers. She keeps a blog with information about clients, answering questions about publishing and query letters, and other things that strike her interest at jetreidliterary.blogspot.com. Further information for new authors is also available at jetreidlitery.com
Morning Fiction—Crystal Wilkinson
Crystal Wilkinson is the author of Blackberries, Blackberries and Water Street. Nominated for both the Orange Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, she has received recognition from The Kentucky Foundation for Women, The Kentucky Arts Council, The Mary Anderson Center for the Arts, The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and is a recipient of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature. Her short stories, poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She currently teaches in the BFA in Creative Writing program at Morehead State University and the brief residency MFA in Writing program at Spalding University.
Morning Poetry—Cathy Smith Bowers
Cathy Smith Bowers' poems have appeared widely in publications such as The Atlantic Monthly, The Georgia Review, Poetry, Shenandoah, The Southern Poetry Review, The Southern Review and the Kenyon Review. She teaches in the MFA program in creative writing at Queens University of Charlotte, NC.
Morning Creative Nonfiction—Ann Hagedorn
Ann Hagedorn took her first newspaper job at the San Jose Mercury News where she wrote about crime and covered trials in San Francisco's East Bay region. Her next job was writing for the Wall Street Journal in New York City where she reported on a broad range of crime subjects. In 1991, Hagedorn focused her knowledge of fraud and bankruptcy on probing the collapse of America's premier horseracing dynasty, Calumet Farm. The result was the highly acclaimed book Wild Ride: The Rise and Tragic Fall of Calumet Farm, Inc., a story of greed and intrigue in the 1980s that is now under option with Paramount Pictures. The author left the WSJ in late 1993 to join the New York Daily News as Special Projects Editor. Next, she wrote a mini-sequel for the Wild Ride paperback edition and began researching and writing Ransom. After the release of Ransom, she discovered a stunning story in the Ohio River Valley that resulted in her third book Beyond the River, now under option with Clear Pictures Inc. After writing Beyond the River, she taught a writing course at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in Evanston, Illinois and while in Chicago she began the research for Savage Peace.
Morning Professional Connections Guest Speakers:
Pitch Query Session—Jeffrey Marks. Jeff has published four non-fiction works, three novels, and three short story collections. Most recently his non-fiction book, Anthony Boucher: A Biobibliography, won the Anthony for best Critical Non-fiction.
Agent Talk—April Eberhardt--see Bio above.
Agent Talk—Janet Reid--see Bio above.
First Book Talk—Cyndi Pauwels and Susan Carpenter
Webs/Blogs/Podcasts—Virgil Hervey
Afternoon Fiction Seminar—Sigrid Nunez
Please see Sigrid’s bio at the top of this page. (Please Note: Sigrid's afternoon seminar is now full. Please see bio for new Afternoon Fiction faculty member, Trudy Krisher.)
Afternoon Fiction Seminar—Donald Ray Pollock
Donald Ray Pollock was born in 1954 and grew up in southern Ohio, in a holler named Knockemstiff. His collection of short stories--also named Knockemstiff--has received rave reviews from The New York Times and many other newspapers and journals as a valuable entry in literature of place. Donald dropped out of high school at seventeen to work in a meatpacking plant, and then spent thirty-two years employed in a paper mill in Chillicothe, Ohio. He is a graduate of the MFA program at Ohio State University and still lives in Chillicothe with his wife, Patsy, a high school English teacher. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Third Coast, The Journal, Sou’wester, Chiron Review, River Styx, Boulevard, Folio, and The Berkeley Fiction Review. He is currently at work on a novel set in 1965, about a serial killer named Arvin Eugene Russell. (Please Note: Donald's afternoon seminar is now full.)
Afternoon Fiction Seminar—Trudy Krisher
Trudy Krisher has a reputation as a talented writer who does not hesitate to explore sensitive issues. She grew up in the South like her heroines Maggie, in Spite Fences, and Pert, in Kinship. Trudy Krisher graduated from the College of William and Mary with a B.A. in English and received her Masters degree from Trenton State College; she is an associate professor at Sinclair Community College. Trudy Krisher has won many awards for her writing. They include Best Book for Young Adults selection of the American Library Association, 1994, 1997, 2004; International Reading Association Award; The Jefferson Cup Honor Book of the Virginia Library Association; Parents’ Choice Honor Book/ Tennessee Volunteer State Book Award; Amelia Bloomer Project Recommended Books. www.trudykrisher.com (Please note, Trudy's Seminar is now full.)
Afternoon Poetry Seminar—John Drury
John Drury's poems have appeared in Poetry, Shenandoah, The Paris Review, The New Republic, The American Poetry Review, The Southern Review, The Hudson Review, Western Humanities Review, and other periodicals, as well as in a Pushcart Prize anthology and in Ravishing DisUnities: Real Ghazals in English, edited by Agha Shahid Ali (Wesleyan University Press, 2000). He has won the Bernard F. Conners Prize for Poetry from The Paris Review, as well as two Ohio Arts Council grants. His poetry collections include Burning the Aspern Papers (Miami University Press, 2003), The Disappearing Town (Miami University Press, 2000), and a chapbook, The Stray Ghost (State Street Press, 1987). He is also the author of The Poetry Dictionary (Writer's Digest Books, 2006) and Creating Poetry (Writer's Digest Books, 1991). After studying at the University of Maryland and serving in the U.S. Army, he earned degrees at SUNY/Stony Brook, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Iowa. Since 1985 he has taught at the University of Cincinnati, where he is now a professor. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Afternoon Memoir and Personal Essay Seminar—Ralph Keyes
Ralph Keyes is the author of fifteen books. His bestseller Is There Life After High School? was made into a Broadway musical that is still produced in this country and abroad. The Courage to Write – which John Jakes called “one of the two or three best books on writing I’ve ever read” – has been in print continuously for fourteen years. Chancing It was a New York Times “Notable Book,” and Timelock was selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club. Keyes has appeared on Oprah Winfrey, The Today Show, The Tonight Show, ABC World News Tonight, and 20/20. He has been a frequent guest on NPR radio shows such as All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation and Fresh Air. www.ralphkeyes.com
Afternoon Creative Nonfiction Seminar—Matthew Goodman
Matthew Goodman is the author, most recently, of the acclaimed narrative history The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York (Basic Books, 2008). The book was named a 2008 Best Book of the Year by The Economist magazine and was selected as an Original Voices book by Borders bookstores nationwide. Matthew is also the author of Jewish Food: The World at Table (HarperCollins, 2005), which combines more than 175 recipes with dozens of essays about Jewish food around the world. His essays, articles, and short stories have appeared in The American Scholar, Harvard Review, the Village Voice, Bon Appetit, Sewanee Review, and elsewhere, and have been cited for Special Mention in the Best American Short Story and Pushcart Prize anthologies. He has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the Blue Mountain Center, and has taught creative writing and literature at Vermont College, Emerson College, and Tufts University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Afternoon Focus on Form Seminar—for Full Week Participants:
Moderator/Fiction—Nancy Pinard
Nancy is the author of two published novels, Shadow Dancing and Butterfly Soup, as well as of short stories. She speaks frequently on writing topics and is a current board member for the Antioch Writers’ Workshop. www.nancypinard.com
Poetry—Herb Woodward Martin
Martin is the author of four books of poetry, including The Forms of Silence, and an opera, Paul Laurence Dunbar: Common Ground.
Creative Nonfiction—Greg Hoard
Author of JOE: Rounding Third and Heading for Home (Orange Frazer Press, Inc.) Joe Hoard came to Cincinnati in the winter of 1979 as a member of the Cincinnati Post sports department, where he was a feature reporter and columnist. He joined the Cincinnati Enquirer in 1984 as the Reds beat writer. He received numerous awards for his writing in Ohio and Indiana, but left journalism in 1990 for a career in television. Hoard worked for WLWT from 1990 through 1993, when he joined Fox19 as sports director.
Afternoon Young Writers Seminar—Katrina Kittle
Katrina Kittle is the author of Traveling Light and Two Truths and a Lie. Her third novel, The Kindness of Strangers, was released in February of 2006. Early chapters from this third novel earned Katrina grants from the Ohio Arts Council and from the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District. The Kindness of Strangers was selected as a BookSense pick for February, and was the Fiction Book winner for the 2006 Great Lakes Book Awards. Her fourth novel, The Blessings of the Animals is scheduled for release in the summer of 2010. Kittle has extensive experience teaching middle school and high school students. She taught high school Advanced Placement British Literature for five years at Centerville High School (Centerville, OH), spent several years freelancing as a children’s theatre director and creative writing instructor (mostly at Town Hall Theatre, Washington Township, OH), and taught 6th and 7th grade English at the Miami Valley School in Dayton, where she directed a middle school play each year.
Afternoon ONLY Focus on Form Seminar:
Moderator/Fiction—Rebecca Morean (please see bio below)
Poetry—Jamey Dunham
Jamey is a prose poet and an Assistant Professor of English at Sinclair Community College, where he edits the journal Flights. His poems have appeared in Sentence, Paragraph, Key Satch (el), Fence, Boston Review, and ACM among other journals and his poem "An American Story" was included in the anthology Great American Prose Poems: Poe to the Present.
Creative Nonfiction: Jeffrey Bruce (please see bio below)
Saturday Seminar Instructors:
Saturday Seminar Morning Keynoter and Fiction Leader—Carrie Bebris
Award-winning author Carrie Bebris is best known for her Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Mystery series. Set in Regency England, the novels entangle some of Jane Austen’s most beloved characters in intrigue, with sharp dialogue, romantic interplay, and a dash of gothic atmosphere. She made her mystery debut in 2004 with Pride and Prescience. The novel made the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association bestseller list and was named one of the five best mysteries of 2004 by Library Journal. Successive Darcy mysteries have earned starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly; North by Northanger won the 2007 Daphne du Maurier Award, which honors excellence in romantic suspense, and a Reviewers Choice Award from Romantic Times BOOKreviews magazine for Best Historical Mystery of 2006. The fourth book of the series, The Matters at Mansfield (Or, the Crawford Affair), released in September 2008. www.carriebebris.com
Saturday Seminar Poetry Leader—Julie Moore
Julie L. Moore is the author of Slipping Out of Bloom (WordTech Editions, 2010) and Election Day (Finishing Line Press, 2006). Moore's poetry has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Atlanta Review, Cimarron Review, The Christian Science Monitor, and many others. Moore has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, received the Rosine Offen Memorial Award from the Free Lunch Arts Alliance as well as the Judson Jerome Poetry Scholarship from the Antioch Writers' Workshop (AWW) and won the 2008 Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize from Ruminate. Moore earned her M.A. in English from the University of Dayton and is presently the Writing Center Director at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio where she lives with her family.
Saturday Seminar Nonfiction Leader—Jeffrey Bruce
Jeff Bruce is the journalist in residence at Wright State University and the former editor of the Dayton Daily News and editor-in-chief of Cox Ohio Publishing. Jeff was editor and managing editor of several Cox newspapers during a 30-year newspaper career. Jeff has written a weekly column and blogged regularly for the Dayton Daily News' editorial pages. He covered the fall of the Soviet Union, two Super Bowls, four political conventions and a variety of other reporting assignments during his stints as editor in Arizona and Ohio.
Saturday Seminar Query Critique Plus Nuts & Bolts—Heather Webber
Heather Webber is the author of the Lucy Valentine novels. The first book in the series, Truly, Madly: A Lucy Valentine Novel is due out February 2010 and the second book, Deeply, Desperately: A Lucy Valentine Novel not long after. She is also the author of the Nina Quinn mystery series. www.heatherwebber.com
Saturday Seminar Awakening the Writer Within—Rebecca Morean
Rebecca Morean is a novelist, short story writer, essayist, and grant writer. She’s the author of In the Dead of Winter (St. Martin’s Press) along with numerous stories and articles. An assistant professor of English at Sinclair Community College, she’s the director for the college’s annual creative writing contest. She also serves as a board member for the Antioch Writers’ Workshop, and teaches workshops on a variety of writing-related topics.
