The Storytellers’ Summit
About the Summit
Five Pulitzer Prize winners and several best-selling authors will share the secrets of their trade at the Storytellers’ Summit, held at the University of Florida May 14-16.
The workshop, sponsored by the College of Journalism and Communications, is aimed at helping all sorts of storytellers, from novices to veterans, from writers to photographers.
Speakers include:
- Michael Connelly, author of several best-selling novels, including The Lincoln Lawyer, The Poet, Blood Work and City of Bones.
- Pulitzer winner Rick Bragg, whose trilogy of memoirs includes the best selling All Over but the Shoutin’ and The Prince of Frogtown.
- Pulitzer winner Lane DeGregory, honored last year for her moving “Girl in the Window” for the St. Petersburg Times.
- Pulitzer winner David Finkel, author of The Good Soldiers, an account of the war in Iraq named one of the year’s 10 best books by the New York Times
- Pulitzer winner Thomas French, author of Zoo Story, coming out this summer.
- Pulitzer winner Liz Balmaseda, who recently published her first novel, Sweet Mary.
Several other novelists, including Tim Dorsey (Gator-a-Go-Go), Tom Corcoran (Hawk Channel Chase), Fabiola Santiago (Reclaiming Paris) and Kristin Harmel (The Art of French Kissing) also will speak, as will several visual storytellers, a literary agent and a book editor from New York.
Bill Frakes of Sports Illustrated and Melissa Lyttle, a St. Petersburg Times photographer who covered the earthquake in Haiti, will discuss visual storytelling. Damien Cave of the New York Times will also talk about his experiences covering the Haitian disaster.
Literary agent Jane Dystel, whose agency represented President Barack Obama at the beginning of his writing career, will discuss the important first steps for a beginning writer. Amy Cherry, senior vice president of W.W. Norton, a revered independent book publisher, will talk about how authors should get their books before editors. John Byram of the University Press of Florida will also speak about writers should go about getting their books published.
The summit will feature specific areas of special focus:
- Writing about entertainment: Several authors, including Victor Bockris, Ellis Amburn and Holly Gleason, will discuss their careers writing about Hollywood and the music business.
- Writing songs: Gleason is composer of “Better As a Memory,” a No. 1 hit for singer Kenny Chesney. She will also discuss songwriting with Nashville singer-songwriter Keith Sykes and Jeff Klinkenberg of the St. Petersburg Times, a believer in writers learning from narrative songs.
- Writing biographies: Bockris (Warhol: The Biography), Amburn (The Sexiest Man Alive, a biography of Warren Beatty), John Capouya (Gorgeous George) and William McKeen (Outlaw Journalist, a biography of Hunter S. Thompson) will share their experiences.
- Writing about health and sports: Men’s Health contributing editor Ted Spiker, a UF faculty member, will discuss his role in writing two phenomenally successful series of books – You: An Owner’s Manual and The Abs Diet.
Registration for the workshop is under way. The workshop begins with an opening ceremony and reception on the evening of Friday, May 14. Most of the events will take place between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on May 15-16.
New storytellers are being added to the program, so check back often for updates.
The Campaign for the University of Florida