February Sessions: San Miguel Writers Conference and Literary Festival

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As we ramp up for the festivities of February, we are ecstatic to announce that this month’s theme will be Publishing and Marketing, perhaps one of the most sought out topics of all time in writers’ conferences worldwide. Do you have a manuscript that you want to see published? Wondering about some element of how to make that happen and the options that are available to you? Like other months, we will cover a variety of themes, however, Publishing & Marketing will be the cornerstone.

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We’ll be kicking off the week with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Isabel Wilkerson, as she examines aspects of caste systems across civilizations and reveals a rigid hierarchy in America today. In her conversation with award-winning journalist and author of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker which was recently turned into the Netflix series Self-Made, A’Leila Bundles, they will discuss how history can help us understand ourselves, our country, and our current era of upheaval. Isabel Wilkerson was the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for journalism. She also won the National Humanities Medal, and her new book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, has spent many weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and is an Oprah Book Club selection. Don’t miss the provocative conversation between these two brilliant women on Sunday, February 7, 2021, at 6:00 p.m.

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To wrap up our February session, we will have pop-culture superstar and author Diana Gabaldon whose hit series, Outlander, has swept the nation. Initially, Diana was a science professor and decided to write a novel for “practice, just to learn how.” that incredible novel became the beloved series we know today. A blend of historical fiction, adventure, romance, mystery, and science fiction/fantasy, she will be speaking with Robert Stolebarger on Saturday, February 13, 2021, at 6:00 p.m. “It sounds simple, but so does breathing. And like breathing, it’s a necessity. People who want to write always ask, ‘Where do you start?’ and ‘How do you know what to do?’ This is where, and this is how. Join us to learn the art of writing.

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And, as all writers know, once it’s written, it must be published. We’re excited to be hosting one of our most popular panels: The Wisdom of Agents. This panel, featuring April Eberhardt, Anna Knutson Geller, Elizabeth Kracht, and moderated by Hal Wake, will escort you through the world of publishing to ascertain which path is right for you. This panel will guide you through the dizzying array of options, answer your questions, and give you the latest information about whether you need an agent and how to engage one to get your book off of your computer and out into the world. Don’t miss this informative panel on Sunday, February 7, 2021, at 2:00 p.m.

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We will have varied and exceptional workshops, as always, including, Elizabeth Kracht, a literary agent with Kimberley Cameron & Associates and the author of The Author’s Checklist: An Agent’s Guide to Developing and Editing Your Manuscript. Elizabeth represents both literary and commercial fiction as well as nonfiction, and brings to the agency her experience as a former acquisitions editor, freelance publicist, and writer. Through all of her movements in the literary world, she noticed that many manuscripts that were being rejected suffered similar, easy-to-solve problems. As a result, she began keeping a list, hoping to one day be able to share this feedback with writers struggling to understand why their work keeps receiving rejections. Her workshop, based on her book, will take place on February 9th and 11th from 7:30 PM-9:00 PM.

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