The 11th Annual Eckerd College Writers\u2019 Conference: Writers in Paradise, featuring award-winning and bestselling authors in a range of workshops and public readings, will be held Jan. 17-25. The registration deadline for the workshops is Dec. 17.<\/p>\n
The conference, founded by two Eckerd alumni \u2014 best-selling author and Eckerd College graduate Dennis Lehane and Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing and novelist Sterling Watson, features panel discussions on publishing, a faculty of successful authors who critique participants\u2019 manuscripts in intimate workshops, lectures on craft, evening readings, book signings and cocktail receptions. The conference provides a supportive community for established and aspiring authors with a passion for writing.<\/p>\n
Attendees have gone on to publish successful novels, including Lori Roy of Tierra Verde, who won the 2012 Edgar Award for best first novel. Roy, an Edgar Award finalist this year for her second novel, returns as a faculty member for the 2015 conference.<\/p>\n
Other faculty for 2015 include Andre Dubus III, author of New York Times\u00a0<\/em>bestsellers House of Sand and Fog<\/em>, Garden of Last Days<\/em>,\u00a0Townie, <\/em>and his latest, Dirty Love;<\/em>\u00a0Ann Hood, author of 10 novels, including The Knitting Circle<\/em>, which will be made into an HBO film starring Katherine Heigel; and Laura Lippman, whose last six novels were all New York Times<\/em> best sellers. John Searles, acclaimed novelist and book critic for NBC\u2019s Today Show, will debut as a faculty member. Celebrated authors Les Standiford, David Yoo, and co-founder and conference director Sterling Watson round out the all-star faculty.<\/p>\n