Writer's Symposium

2012 Writer's Symposium by the Sea

Monday, February 27 - Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Writer’s Symposium by the Sea is an annual event designed to inspire both the writer and the reader. The evening interviews, conducted by symposium founder Dean Nelson, feature lively conversations about the stories behind the author’s stories. The audience gets to eavesdrop on these exchanges and even interact with the writer during a Q&A session that follows. Specialized afternoon workshops, conducted by published writers, provide tips and insight into the writing process. You are invited to join us and listen in on what some of today’s cutting edge writers have to say!

Special Guest

Dave Eggers - Wednesday, February 29, 6 p.m. Crill Performance Hall - Purchase Tickets

Hailed as the J.D. Salinger of this generation, the New York Times recently called Eggers “the magnetic center of a literary counter establishment.” His books—from his first, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, to How We Are Hungry, and his most recent Zeitoun — put him in a sphere unlike any other modern writer. He has also written Hollywood, screenplays for Away We Go and Where the Wild Things Are. Eggers is also the founder and Editor of McSweeney’s which is both one of the country’s best-read and widely-circulated literary journals and a small publishing house committed to finding new voices.

• Purchase Tickets for Dave Eggers

Interviews and Workshops

Rachel Held Evans interview - Monday, February 27, 7 p.m. Crill Performance Hall - Purchase Tickets

Rachel Held Evans is an award-winning author and popular blogger from Dayton, Tennessee—home of the famous Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925. Rachel’s first book, Evolving in Monkey Town (Zondervan, 2010), explores the relationship between faith and doubt and recounts the challenges of asking tough questions about Christianity in the context of the Bible Belt. In October, Rachel finished a yearlong experiment in “biblical womanhood” in which she attempted to follow all of the Bible’s instructions for women as literally as possible. That experiment will be documented in a book published by Thomas Nelson in 2012. 

Chris Hedges interview - Tuesday, February 28, 7 p.m. Crill Performance Hall - Purchase Tickets

Hedges has written for more than 20 years on wars around the world -- in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans, and he won the Pulitzer Prize with the New York Times for his coverage of global terrorism. His provacative books, however, have given him even higher acclaim. They include War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning; American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America; I Don't Believe in Atheists; Losing Moses on the Freeway; The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress, and his most recent, The Death of the Liberal Class.

Caitlin Rother workshop "When the Truth Hurts" - Tuesday, February 28, 3:30-5:00 p.m. Crill Performance Hall - Purchase Tickets

Rother is a best-selling investigative journalist and crime writer with books such as the New York Times best-seller, My Life, Deleted. She also wrote Poisoned Love about the Kristin Rossum murder case, and is working on a book about John Gardner, the San Diego man who raped and murdered two local high school girls. She has written eight books.

Elise Capron and Andrea Cavallaro workshop "The Future of Publishing" - Wednesday, February 29, 3:30-5:00 p.m. Crill Performance Hall - Purchase Tickets

These two literary agents will spell out where the publishing world is going and how to prepare to participate in it. They can't see the future specifically, but they can see it better than you can! The Dijkstra Agency, based in Del Mar, is one of the top literary agencies in the world. 

Writer's Symposium by the Sea is sponsored by the Point Loma Nazarene University Department of Literature, Journalism and Modern Languages, and partially funded by the estate of Mery Olive Bangs.

For additional information or to ask a question, please contact Event Coordinator, Edie Chapman, at (619) 849-2297

Videos of Past Events

Videos of past Writer's Symposium interviews are available online, including conversations with Anne Lamott, Eugene Peterson, Anchee Min, Bill McKibben, and many more.

 

For assistance, contact event coordinator Edie Chapman at 619-849-2297 or at ediechapman@pointloma.edu

San Diego Lodging for Writer's Symposium

PLNU and Bartell Hotels offer a unique opportunity for friends and family to get reduced rates at some of the finest hotels in San Diego and at the same time contribute to student scholarships at PLNU. All seven Bartell Hotels are conveniently located near Point Loma Nazarene University. Most of the Bartell Hotels provide courtesy airport transportation and free parking. For more information, visit our website www.plnupartnership.com  or call (800) 345-9995.