Regional authors, instructors featured at Ventana Sierra conference in Carson City

The Sierra region’s own literary stars will be shining at the Ventana Sierra Advanced Writing Workshop Friday-Sunday, June 14-16, at Western Nevada College in Carson City.

New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins is the keynote speaker and the architect of the event, designed to help writers of all genres and skill levels to be successful. All proceeds benefit Ventana Sierra Youth Housing and Resource Initiative, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit foundation created by Hopkins to provide housing and resources to local youth.

The workshop runs from 2 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 14; 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 15; and 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 16.

It will provide intensive craft sessions, state of the industry talks, editor and agent panels, and peer group critiques. Optional one-on-one manuscript reviews by high-level industry professionals are also available to workshop attendees for a fee.

Hopkins, a Washoe Valley resident, is the keynote speaker on the opening evening. She will talk about the importance of ‘paying it forward’ in our public and personal lives, as no one achieves success alone. Her address will be followed by an open mic reading from various authors.

For just $10, the general public will be able to meet the authors at a dessert/wine reception, enjoy Hopkin’s keynote address, listen to open mic readings, and participate in a silent auction/booksigning, 6:30 to 9 p.m, at Carson Nugget Community Hall in the Bristlecone Building.

Among the readers is Krista Lukas, who was born and raised in the Lake Tahoe Basin and now lives in Minden. She will read from her poetry collection, “Fans of My Conscience,” that was published this year by Black Rock Press.

Award-winning WNC English professor emeritus Marilee Swirczek will read from her work, and present a workshop on Saturday as well. She is cocreator of the nationally acclaimed “Always Lost, A Meditation on War” art and humanities exhibition.

Swirczek said that her workshop will help participants deepen their understanding of imaginative literature’s chief component, the telling image “by deconstructing the ways in which effective imagery does not simply record an experience, but becomes an experience for the reader.

“This is valuable for beginning and experienced writers in order to achieve what professor and writer John Gardner called the ‘vivid and continuous dream’ of the fictional world,” Swirczek said. “Writers will take away practical suggestions to use in their work, and will appreciate the complexity and nuance of the adage 'Show, don't tell.'"

Lukas’ advice to developing writers is to read often and refrain from becoming single-minded about getting a book published. “Try to focus on the process, not what you imagine to be the glory of publication.”

Other participants will be Judith Curr, Atria Books publisher; Jill Corcoran, Herman Agency agent; Lorin Oberweger, Free Expressions freelance editor; Eric Elfman, author and writing coach; Emma D. Dryden, freelance editor and publishing consultant; Lara Perkins, Andrea Brown Literary associate agent and digital manager; and Laurie McLean, Foreward Literacy agent.

Workshop staff includes top U.S. writing coaches, five literary agents, two publishers, two editors, two college-level creative writing professors, two poets and five award-winning, bestselling authors. Registration fee for the three-day workshop is $550.

Young writers are also included in the conference. A free one-day workshop is being offered to writers age 18 and under on Saturday, June 15, designed to improve and promote their writing through safe and social networking. Register and learn more at www.ventanasierraworkshops.com.