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SPECIAL OFFER! | CONFERENCE LIVESTREAM & RECORDING PACKAGE

Only $99 for over 6 hours of conference programming

Thanks to a grant from our friends at CultureWorks, we are excited to be able to livestream a selection of programs from the regular conference schedule.

Can’t make it to the in-person conference? Here’s your chance to stream more than six hours of programming, live from the main room of the conference, on Saturday, October 8. In addition to providing a full catalog of online pre-conference Master Classes, we are excited to offer a slate of highly anticipated Saturday programming via livestream. In addition, you’ll be able to access recordings of these programs for thirty days after the conference. This will include the Keynote with Beth Macy and the conference favorite, The Agent Dating Game.

If you are attending the in-person conference, you will receive the recording package of programs with your regular registration at no extra cost to you, so no need to take any further action. 

The livestream and the recordings will include closed captioning.

This special offer includes access to the livestream and recordings of the following programs from the 2022 conference line-up:

A Writer’s Journey with Keynote Speaker BETH MACY

Virginia journalist and author Beth Macy unpacks how she went from newspaper writer to book author and, more recently, as a cowriter and executive producer on the award-winning Hulu series Dopesick, her transition to writing for television. Her talk will also address her research and reporting processes, and how we do our best work when we find the intersection of what moves us personally and what society most needs to understand.

Moderator: Melissa Sinclair

Successful Self-publishing

There are more tools than ever available to make self-publishing easier and more accessible. What do you need to know to achieve self-publishing success, what experts will be the most helpful, and how do you juggle all the hats you have to wear? Our panel of authors shares their experiences with getting their work out in the world on their own terms and at their own pace.

Panelists: Kathleen Reid, Michelande Ridore, Abby L. Vandiver

Moderator: Rebekah L. Pierce

Writing Your Identity

How does who you are impact your writing and the stories you’re most interested in telling? If you draw from your life experiences to “write what you know,” how do you handle the publication of personal details and emotions? Three writers of memoir, literary fiction, and literary mystery (with hints of science fiction) who know what it means to put themselves on the page, share the advantages and disadvantages of mining your own life for your writing.

Panelists: Steve Majors, Kyle Lucia Wu, Michael Zapata

Moderator: Derek Kannemeyer

The Agent Dating Game

For each round of this fun and engaging game show style session, three contestants that are attending the conference in person will be selected to come on stage with an agent. The agent, hidden from the contestants, will ask each questions (for instance “What would be your main character’s idea of a perfect date?” or “What does your protagonist want most of all?). After a few follow-up questions, our emcee will encourage the agent to select a winner. Winners of each round will meet the agent and have a chance to send them manuscript pages.

By watching the agents interacting with the contestants (writers), the audience will gain keen insights into the thinking of agents and how to apply these insights to their own work? This is a conference favorite, year after year!

Agents: Jessica Felleman, Saritza Hernández, Soumeya Bendimerad Roberts, Lori Steel

Queer Writing in 2022

In this time, where one of the primary focuses of renewed censorship and book banning efforts is decreasing access to LGBTQIA+ books, what does it mean to be a queer writer? How can queer writing provide hope and joy for readers? How do you handle expectations that your writing be centered around trauma? Hear from three queer writers on the importance of queer representation and how readers can support writing that includes a diversity of experiences.

Panelists: Kayla Cottingham, TJ Klune, Meg Pillow

Moderator: Wendy DeGroat

Sell It Before You Write It: The Nonfiction Book Proposal

Unlike selling a novel, selling a nonfiction book doesn’t require you to write the entire project before you pitch. Our panel will walk you through the components of the nonfiction book proposal and give you tips for catching an agent or publisher’s eye.

Panelists: Catherine Baab-Muguira, Dawn M. Hardy, Jessica Felleman

You can find details of the presenters of these sessions HERE.

This special offering is made possible by a grant awarded to James River Writers by CultureWorks.