Award-winning Los Angeles screenwriter-actor-comedian Rick Najera will open up the 6th Annual Puerto Vallarta Writers Conference taking place February 25-27 in sunny Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Najera is also a featured speaker at the conference, themed ‘Becoming a Writer – Seriously.’
“It’s not everyday one gets to mingle with an award-winning filmmaker and actor, an author whose first novel was judged one the best of 2010 and a publisher’s acquisition agent who just might be looking for manuscripts from aspiring writers,” said conference chairman Doug Danielson.
For participants attending the 6th Annual Puerto Vallarta Writers Conference at Biblioteca Los Mangos on Feb. 25-27, however, that opportunity is waiting.
“We are really fortunate to have this caliber of presenters,” Danielson said of this year’s program.
Opening speaker Rick Najera, honored as ‘100 Most Influential Latinos in America’ twice by Hispanic Business Magazine, will mix humor with insight and give a seminar on using humor in writing. Najera has written movies (Nothing Like Holidays), starred on Broadway and has written pilots for major TV networks. He’s also one of the most sought-after comic writers in the industry.
Concluding speaker Lisa Brackmann, whose first novel Rock Paper Tiger was ranked by Amazon as one of the top 100 books of 2010, comes with an impressive background in the film industry, a worker on a presidential campaign and a singer in a rock band. Her talk will follow the conference theme: Becoming a Writer – Seriously. She will also lead a seminar on “writing the high impact novel.”
Sandwiched in between is a program Danielson describes as ”very talented writers and editors presenting stimulating seminars and workshops.”
Susie Albin-Najera, editor of The MEXICO Report, who has covered broad facets of Mexico travel, tourism, art, entertainment and Latin culture, will conduct a seminar on travel writing-blogging-freelance writing. Sunny Frazier, who specializes in writing mysteries with an astrological twist and has edited four anthologies of mystery stories, will address the issue of finding a publisher and delve into the question of what publishers are looking for. As an acquisitions editor at Oak Tree Press, Frazier will also be on the lookout for potential manuscripts. Sara Cortez, who has received a PEN Texas literary award for poets and has edited and published an anthology of short mystery fiction by Latino authors, will discuss the fundamentals of writing a memoir. Michael Bracken, who has written 11 books and more than 1,200 shorter works that have appeared in over 150 publications, will recount how he became successful at ”Selling and Writing Confessions.” Panel discussions on writing sort fiction and what editors want are also scheduled.
The weekend will conclude Feb. 27 with workshops in the morning and a Book & Author Fair on the lawn of the library Sunday afternoon. Local authors, conference presenters and the library will be selling and signing books. A portion of conference profits will go to support Biblioteca Los Mangos, which is co-sponsoring the event.
Registration for the full conference is $100 U.S or 1,300 pesos if paid before Jan. 31. After that it is $120 U.S. To register, contact Ted Druch or Maria Ruiz, Phone: (322) 123-9249, Email: langton64@hotmail.com or go to the webpage and register on line using Paypal. http://www.puerto-vallarta-writers-group.com/Conference.php. A portion of the profits will be donated to the library.