A note from 2008

Marise Morse of Washington, D.C., attended BWC 2008 with her daughter, Delphine, and wrote us recently about how the conference helped with her pursuit of graduate writing programs. She's set now to continue writing with guidance from authors at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. "My time at the Baltimore Writer's Conference is memorable in several ways," she wrote.

From the beginning I was struck by the convivial, welcoming atmosphere. The opening panel session of writers with keynote speaker Larry Doyle was lively, amusing, and for me, revealing. I found their personal stories and anecdotes stimulating and when the discussion turned to their motivation for writing it particularly struck home for me. I had several conversations on various writing programs which proved extremely helpful & found the feedback from one-on-one sessions discerning and very encouraging. Before arriving I wasn't sure what to expect and once there discovered a wonderful synergy of writers, authors and readers. I was not only moved but motivated by a sense of people dedicated to their craft, writers wishing to learn and teach, open and ready to offer advice, and plenty of insights.

Panel on YA novels to include FUNNY LITTLE MONKEY author

Andrew Auseon, a video game designer and the author of young adult novels, will join the Baltimore Writers Conference for its panel on writing for young adults. Auseon's books include Funny Little Monkey, Jo-Jo and the Fiendish Lot, and Freak Magnet. His recent project, Alienated, will be published in fall 2009. Written in collaboration with filmmaker David O. Russell, Alienated tells the story of two boys who discover aliens in their town, a discovery that puts them in the center of an intergalactic struggle.

BWC 2009 keynote speaker's latest in Vanity Fair

Our keynote speaker for 2009, Mark Bowden, also contributes to Vanity Fair. Here's an excerpt from his latest, an examination of the New York Times, its ownership, and what forces of economy and character have combined to endanger one of the country's great newspapers.

America is not kind to the heir. He is a stereotypical figure in our literature, and not an appealing one at that. He tends to be depicted as weak, pampered, flawed, a diluted strain of the hardy founding stock. America celebrates the self-made. Unless an heir veers sharply from his father’s path, he is not taken seriously. Even in middle age he seems costumed, a pretender draped in oversize clothes, a boy who has raided his father’s closet. The depiction may be unfair, but it is what it is.

Award-winning poet to appear at BWC 2009

Jane Satterfield, a poet and nonfiction writer, will lead the BWC 2009 craft session on poetry. Satterfield is the author of two books of poetry and has just published a memoir called Daughters of Empire: A Memoir of Year in Britain and Beyond. She is also the literary editor for the Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering. Her work has won awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Towson University, and the Maryland State Arts Council, among others.

A BWC success story

Word comes to us from Peggy Rowe, who attended the BWC 2008 edition, of a publishing success. Her essay about her mother, "An O's Fan to the Last Pitch" appeared in the Baltimore Sun for Mother's Day. Peggy, a former school teacher from Perry Hall, writes:

Last fall I attended the Baltimore Writers Conference at Towson. The presentations on Freelance Writing and Creative Nonfiction were especially helpful to me. At the end of the day, I took advantage of a one-on-one critique session. I had brought an essay I’d recently completed, and received some very beneficial feedback. I took the suggestions, and my essay was recently printed in The Baltimore Sun.

I plan to attend the Baltimore Writers Conference again this fall. I’m hoping there will be a presentation on writing humor, my particular area of interest.

Have you attended a BWC and gone on to publish? Let us know your story with a comment to the this blog, and we'll post it here.

Black Hawk Down author to offer keynote address

Mark Bowden, award-winning journalist and author of Black Hawk Down, will be the keynote speaker at the 2009 Baltimore Writers’ Conference. His most recent book is The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL.

From Bowden’s biography on the Philadelphia Inquirer web site:

Mark Bowden is the author of the bestselling books Guests of The Ayatollah, Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo. He is a national correspondent for The Atlantic, and an occasional contributor to National Public Radio.
Black Hawk Down was a finalist for the 1999 National Book Award, and Killing Pablo received the Overseas Press Club’s Cornelius Ryan Award for the best book of 2001. Bowden worked as a consultant and screenwriter on the film version of Black Hawk Down. He is currently adapting Killing Pablo for the screen and is writing an original screenplay for Imagine Entertainment.
He has also written for The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated and The New York Times, among other publications. Bowden teaches journalism and creative writing at his alma mater, Loyola College of Maryland.