Megan Mayhew Bergman
Opening Keynote: Harnessing Inspiration for Publishing Success | Craft Session: I've Got Something to Say: Writing and Selling Personal Essays
Megan Mayhew Bergman is a Raleigh native who now works at Bennington College as the Director of Special Programs, where she oversees the Robert Frost Stone House Museum and teaches in the literature department. She also is the director of Middlebury’s Breadloaf Environmental Writers Program. Megan’s first story collection, “Birds of a Lesser Paradise,” published by Scribner’s in 2012, was a Barnes & Noble Discover pick, Indie Next selection, and one of Huffington Post’s Best Books of 2012. Her second collection,“Almost Famous Women,” was published in 2015, and also was an Indie Next selection. Her first novel will drop in 2018. (mayhewbergman.com)
Don Vaughan
Building a Better Article
Donald Vaughan has made his living with words for more than 40 years. He worked at The Lake Worth (Fla.) Herald, Your Health and Medical Bulletin, and The National Examiner before becoming a full-time freelance writer in 1991. Don has been published in an eclectic array of publications, including Writer’s Digest, Boys’ Life, MAD Magazine, Omni, Cure Magazine, Cat Fancy, Veterinary Practice News, Filmfax, Videoscope, VFW Magazine and many others. He has also authored or co-authored more than 30 nonfiction books on topics ranging from the
Columbia shuttle disaster to World War II. Don is the founder of Triangle Association of Freelancers. (donaldvaughan.com)
John Kessel
Who Are These People Anyway? Character Development in Short Fiction
John Kessel is a professor of creative writing and American literature at North Carolina State University. A winner of the Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award, the Locus Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, his books include “Good News from Outer Space,” “Corrupting Dr. Nice,” and “The Pure Product.” John’s story collection, “Meeting in Infinity,” was named a notable book of 1992 by the New York Times Book Review, and Kim Stanley Robinson has called “Corrupting Dr. Nice” "the best time travel novel ever written." With James Patrick Kelly he edited the anthologies “Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology,” “Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology,” and most recently, “The Secret History of Science Fiction.” His novel “The Moon and the Other” was published by Simon & Schuster in April 2017. (johnjosephkessel.wixsite.com/kessel-website)John Claude Bemis
Children's Writing 101
John Claude Bemis is the author of “The Wooden Prince,” “Lord of Monsters,” “The Prince Who Fell from the Sky,” and “Flora and the Runaway Rooster.” He received the Excellence in Teaching Award from UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Education for his work in the schools as an author-educator and served as North Carolina’s 2013 Piedmont Laureate for Children’s Literature. (johnclaudebemis.com)
Lisa Hagan
Slush Pile Confidential:
An Insider's Advice on Landing an Agent
Lisa Hagan has been a literary agent for 25 years. Her focus is on the genres of health, spirituality, science, wisdom, and business. Lisa recently joined forces with publishing icon Beth Wareham to form Lisa Hagan Books. (lisahaganbooks.com)Mandy Howard
A Beginner's Guide to Writing Success
Mandy Howard is a Raleigh-based freelance writer whose professional background spans sports and event management, teaching, childcare, non-profit management, and marketing. It took an investment in herself, and a leap of faith, to begin writing full-time, but since Mandy found her niche, she has been published in Redbook, Writer’s Digest, Military Officer Magazine, Raleigh Magazine, and numerous other publications. (bymandyhoward.com)
Karin Wiberg
From Children's Lit to Business Legit: Making Your Message Stick
Karin Wiberg is the owner of Clear Sight Books. She helps business leaders who know they need to write a book but struggle to find the time or the words. Whether she ghostwrites, edits, or coaches, her clients develop a clear message and compelling voice to engage their audience. Karin’s experience ranges from the Fortune 500 to a nonprofit literary magazine. She holds an MBA from the University of Iowa and a business coaching certificate from NC State. She sits on the City of Raleigh arts grant committee and judges student essay contests for the Jane Austen Society and Phi Beta Kappa. (clearsightbooks.com)
Tivi Jones
Seven Keys to Creating a Profitable Online Brand
Tivi Jones has been a professional marketer since 2004. She currently serves as a marketing, branding, and communications consultant and has worked with a wide variety of brands including Carolina Parent magazine, Cisco, PBS Blog, NBC17, ABC11, and more. While she enjoys working with big brands, Tivi also likes helping small businesses and “solopreneurs” use effective media, awesome marketing, and contagious moxie to create sustainable businesses. (tivijones.com)
Jeff Davidson
Introduction to Copyright
Jeff Davidson is the founder and executive director of the Raleigh-based Breathing Space Institute and the author of numerous books on work-life balance, including “Breathing Space,” “Simpler Living,” “The 60-Second Organizer,” and “Getting Things Done.” He is the past president of the Carolinas Chapter of the National Speakers Association and the former national chair of the Public Relations Committee of the Institute of Management Consultants. (breathingspace.com)
Mike Sager
Concluding Keynote: Creativity and Reinvention | Craft Session: 51 Ways to Improve Your Writing
Mike Sager is a bestselling author and award-winning reporter. A contributing editor to Esquire magazine, Mike also writes for GQ, Smithsonian, Playboy, Rolling Stone and other top-tier publications. In 2010 he won the American Society of Magazine Editors National Magazine Award for profiling writing. Nine of his articles have been optioned for or have inspired television movies and feature films, including “Boogie Nights.” The author of more than a dozen books and eBooks, Mike is also the editor and publisher of The Sager Group LLC, a consortium of multi-media artists and writers. (TheSagerGroup.net)