Festival U

Festival U 2024 – A Fundraiser for SDWF
One Day ~ Online ~ 8 Amazing Workshops for only $60
Spaces are limited

Get Tickets

SDWF is Proud to Partner with Zibby’s Bookshop!

SDWF Festival U is our yearly fundraiser and online day of learning. The virtual program runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and includes 7 stellar classes, workshops, and discussions from world-class talent. This year our focus is on PUBLISHING and we are including some pre-recorded bonus material. This fundraiser helps the in-person festival remain 100% free.

Speakers for Festival U

Anne Lamott
Anne Lamott is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Hallelujah Anyway; Help, Thanks, Wow; Small Victories; Stitches; Some Assembly Required; Grace (Eventually); Plan B; Traveling Mercies; Bird by Bird; and Operating Instructions. She is also the author of seven novels, including Imperfect Birds and Rosie. A past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an inductee to the California Hall of Fame, she lives in Northern California.
Neal Allen
Neal Allen is a writer and spiritual coach. His focus is on removing the obstacles of the ego, with the faith that whatever shines through the opening is your own personal freedom. A former journalist and corporate executive, he holds a Master’s degree in Eastern Classics. His book Shapes of Truth was released in 2021. Better Days: Tame Your Inner Critic is due out later this year from Namaste Publishing. Anne Lamott is the renowned feminist, Christian, lefty author and speaker whose 19 best-sellers include novels, books on faith, hope, and recovery (most recently Dusk Night Dawn), the classic on writing Bird by Bird, and Operating Instructions on Childrearing. Married, Annie and Neal live in Fairfax, California.

Agent Elise Capron
Session: Ask an Agent Anything!

An hour to ask a top agent any question you have about the current state of the publishing industry, query letters, what agents are looking for, how to avoid the slush pile, best practices when reaching out to an agent, and more!

Bio: Elise is an agent at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. In addition to handling her own list, she oversees the daily operations of the SDLA office. She is most interested in well-written narrative non-fiction (particularly trade-friendly history, cultural studies, and science) as well as character-driven literary fiction for the adult market. (Please note that she is handling much more non-fiction than fiction at this particular time.)

A graduate of Emerson College, Elise holds a BFA in Writing, Literature and Publishing. She has been with the Dijkstra Agency since 2003.

On the non-fiction front, Elise is looking for fascinating true stories told in a compelling way. She is especially interested in working with up-and-coming scholars (particularly historians) who are looking to transition from the academic market to a trade readership, as well as journalists. Some of Elise’s representative non-fiction titles include Cynthia Barnett’s The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans (Norton) and Rain: A Natural and Cultural History (Crown), which was long-listed for the National Book Award and the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award; Meera Subramanian’s A River Runs Again: India’s Natural World in Crisis, from the Barren Cliffs of Rajasthan to the Farmlands of Karnataka (Public Affairs); Luis J. Rodriguez’s From Our Land to Our Land: Essays, Journeys, and Imaginings from a Native Xicanx Writer (Seven Stories); Andrew Baker’s To Poison a Nation: The Murder of Robert Charles and the Rise of Jim Crow Policing in America (New Press); Jack Shuler’s This Is Ohio: The Overdose Crisis and the Front Lines of a New America (Counterpoint); Onaje X. O. Woodbine’s Take Back What the Devil Stole: An African American Prophet’s Encounters in the Spirit World (Columbia University Press); Tom Chaffin’s Odyssey: Young Charles Darwin, The Beagle, and The Voyage that Changed the World (Pegasus); Jonathon Keats’s You Belong to the Universe: Buckminster Fuller and the Future (Oxford University Press); and more.

On the fiction side, Elise is interested in manuscripts that have unforgettable writing, a distinctive narrative voice, and memorable characters. She loves novels with an unusual or eccentric edge and is drawn to stories she has never heard before. She aims to work with writers who are getting their work published regularly in literary magazines and who have a realistic sense of the market and their audience. Some of Elise’s representative fiction titles include Tiphanie Yanique’s Monster in the Middle (Riverhead), Land of Love and Drowning (Riverhead) and How to Escape from a Leper Colony (Graywolf); Howard A. Rodman’s The Great Eastern (Melville House); Courtney Brkic’s The First Rule of Swimming (Little, Brown); Rachel Toor’s On The Road to Find Out (FSG); Jonathon Keats’ The Book of the Unknown (Random House); Rikki Ducornet’s Netsuke (Coffee House Press); Maureen McHugh’s After the Apocalypse (Small Beer Press), which was picked as a “Top 10 Best of the Year” by Publishers Weekly, and more.

Website: https://www.dijkstraagency.com/agent-page.php?agent_id=Capron

April Eberhardt, Agent, Author Consultant and Retreat Leader in Chateau-du-Loir, France

April Eberhardt is a self-described “literary change agent” and author advocate passionate about helping authors be published in the most satisfying way. After 25 years as a corporate strategist and management consultant, April joined the literary world, where she saw strategic opportunity to play a role in the changing world of publishing. She advises and assists authors as they choose the best pathway to publication, and serves as a consultant to publishing startups serving indie authors. She represents a diverse group of clients in the U.S. and abroad, and speaks at conferences worldwide. April serves on the Advisory Council for The American Library in Paris, and is a reader for The Best American Short Stories series published annually by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. April divides her time between San Francisco, New York and Paris.

Website: https://aprileberhardt.com/

 

NY Times Bestselling Author and Thought Leader, Chip Conley
Session: An Hour with NY Times Bestselling Author on his new book, Learning to Love Midlife.

Festival Director, Marni Freedman sits down with Chip Conley to discuss his book, his career, and his profound business experiences that opened up a new way of viewing and dynamically living midlife.

Bio: New York Times bestselling author, multiple-time TED talk speaker and MEA founder.

A three-time TED speaker on the big stage, Chip Conley is one of the world’s leading experts at the intersection of business innovation, psychology and spirituality. As one of the creators of the boutique hotel movement and the ‘modern elder’ to the young Airbnb founders, Chip’s been a disruptor and expert on entrepreneurship and business leadership. But what sets him apart as a speaker is the fact that he’s written 7 popular book and is a globally recognized thought leader on the future of work, the value of corporate culture, and the competitive advantage of a multi-generational workplace. Inspired by his experience of intergenerational mentoring as a ‘modern elder’ at Airbnb, where his guidance was instrumental to the company’s extraordinary transformation from fast-growing start up to the world’s most valuable hospitality brand, Chip founded MEA (Modern Elder Academny.) The world’s first midlife wisdom school.” Dedicated to reframing the concept of aging, Chip and MEA support students in navigating midlife with a renewed sense of purpose and possibility.

Website: https://chipconley.com/

The midlife crisis is the butt of so many jokes, but this long-derided life stage has an upside. What if we could reframe our thinking about the natural transition of midlife not as a crisis, but as a chrysalis-a time when something profound awakens in us, as we shed our skin, spread our wings, and pollinate our wisdom to the world? Drawing on the latest social science research, inspiring stories, and timeless wisdom, Chip reveals 12 reasons why life gets better with age.

Chip Conley Featured on Oprah.com: https://www.oprahdaily.com/life/health/a44052600/modern-elder-academy-chip-conley/

 

Famed Psychologist and Author, Peter A Levine, Phd
Session:  Writing about Trauma – A Path to Healing

Festival Director Marni Freedman sits down with famed psychologist and author Peter A. Levine, Phd, for a candid and thoughtful discussion of his latest book, An Autobiography of a Trauma: A Healing Journey. The discussion will cover his wide-ranging career, during which he developed Somatic Experiencing, a therapeutic approach that has transformed modern therapy.

Bio: Peter A Levine, PhD, is the renowned developer of Somatic Experiencing, the founder and faculty of the Ergos Institute of Somatic Education, and the Founder and Advisor of Somatic Experiencing International. He holds a doctorate in medical and biological physics from the University of California at Berkeley and a doctorate in psychology from International University. The recipient of four lifetime achievement awards, Peter is the author of several world-renowned books, including Waking the Tiger, which has now been printed in 33 countries and has sold over a million copies.

“The most essential figure in the Somatic Therapy movement”  – The New York Times

 

 

In The Autobiography of  Trauma, Peter Levine shares his personal journey to heal his severe childhood trauma, describing the inner experience of being guided through Somatic Experiencing to untangle his traumatic wounds. He reveals the mysterious and unexpected dreams that have guided him through his life’s work as well as his breakthroughs on the path to create Somatic Experiencing.

 

 

 

Author and Woman Building an Empire, Zibby Owens
“NYC’s Most Powerful Book-fluencer” — Vulture

Bio: Zibby Owens is the author of Blank: A Novel, Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Literature and children’s book Princess Charming, and the editor of two anthologies. A frequent contributor to Good Morning America and other outlets, Zibby has been called “NYC’s Most Powerful Book-fluencer” (Vulture). Zibby is the creator and host of the award-winning, daily podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books, co-founder and CEO of publishing house Zibby Books, owner of Zibby’s Bookshop, an independent bookstore in Santa Monica, CA, and creator of “ the Zibby-verse” community of book lovers for which she offers retreats, classes, special events, a book club, a writing group, and more under the Zibby Media umbrella. A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School, Zibby currently lives in New York with her four children ages 9 to 16 and her husband Kyle Owens, co-president and founder of Morning Moon Productions. Follow her on Instagram @zibbyowens and Substack where she tells it like it is. www.zibbyowens.com

A wife, mother, and frustrated writer faces an impossible deadline for turning her life around in a hilarious debut novel about family, friendship, success, and exhilarating self-(re)discovery.

Pippa Jones is a fortyish former literary sensation who fears she will be a one-hit wonder. After the follow-up book she was almost done writing, Podlusters, had to be tossed (it ended up sharing a plot and title with superstar author Ella Rankin’s summer blockbuster!), she couldn’t write a thing. Months of staring at a blank page made her confidence vanish like a one-night stand. When she finds out that she has only five days left to finish (or rather, start) or repay an advance she’s already spent, Pippa has a brilliantly original idea. Okay, fine, her twelve-year-old son came up with it as a joke, but Pippa and her teenage daughter approved.

Pippa’s not only going to make a bold statement, but she’ll change the book world while she’s at it! Can she pull it off? At this point, she doesn’t have a choice.

When Pippa’s publisher gets intimately involved, it unlocks a series of plot twists she never saw coming. From the courtyards of posh Beverly Hills hotels and Malibu mega-mansions to Brentwood and Santa Monica bookstores, Pippa races against time―in her used Volvo―and discovers more about her career, marriage, family, friends, and herself than she ever could have dreamed up.

Tupelo Press
Session: What Every Writer Needs to Know About Small Publishers

 

 

Three Successful Small Publishers (Tupelo Press, Agate Press, and Ashland Creek Press) Discuss The Publishing Industry, Common Mistakes Writers Make, and Insider Tips to Connect with a Stellar Small Publisher

Kristina Marie Darling, Editor-in-Chief for Tupelo Press and Tupelo Quarterly

Bio: Kristina Marie Darling is the author of over thirty books. An expert consultant with the United States Fulbright Commission, a twice-awarded Fulbright Scholar, and a member of the peer review panel for Fulbright grants, Dr. Darling’s work has also been recognized with three residencies at Yaddo, where she has held the Martha Walsh Pulver Residency for a Poet and the Howard Moss Residency in Poetry, a 2024 Villa Lena Foundation Fellowship, a 2024 Civita Institute Fellowship, and ten juried residencies at the American Academy in Rome. Currently a faculty member at The Los Angeles Review of Books Publishing Workshop, she has taught at Yale University, the American University in Rome, Stanford University, where she leads a workshop in professional empowerment through their Continuing Studies Division, the New School, the University of Cyprus, San Diego State University, where she has served as Editor-in-Residence in partnership with Poetry International on three occasions, and in Cedar Crest College’s Pan-European M.F.A. Program. Dr. Darling currently teaches in the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Wilkes University and will serve as Visiting Researcher at Universidad Complutense de Madrid for the 2025-2026 academic year. Born and raised in the American Midwest, she now divides her time between Greece, Madrid, and the Amalfi Coast.

Website: https://www.tupelopress.org/tupelo-team/

About Tupelo Press: Tupelo Press, Inc., which released its first five books in fall 2001, is an independent, literary press devoted to discovering and publishing works of poetry, literary fiction, and creative nonfiction by emerging and established writers. Tupelo Press is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit company. What we look for is a blend of urgency of language, imagination, distinctiveness, and craft. What we produce and how we produce it — from design to printing to paper quality — honors the writing in books which boast the uniquely sensual look and feel of a Tupelo Press book. Readers and writers alike have already come to recognize both the aesthetic appeal and unique literary merit of Tupelo publications. No other press in America approaches the production standards of Tupelo Press. Tupelo has quickly established itself as the new standard among independent literary presses.

Doug Seibold, Founder of Agate Publishing

Bio: Doug Seibold has been a writer, editor, and publisher for 40 years. In 2002, he founded Agate Publishing, based in Evanston, Illinois. Today, the company comprises four trade imprints, an educational content development division, and a new career development and training program for publishing launched in late 2023.

 

 

 

Website: https://www.agatepublishing.com/

About Agate Press: Chicago-based indie publisher of food and lifestyle books; leadership and business books; and literature for all ages from African American voices.

Latest news: Agate Rolls Out Its Publishing Academy

Doug Seibold, founder of Evanston, Ill.–based Agate Publishing, has begun the official rollout of the Agate Publishing Academy (APA). The goal of APA, Seibold said, is to provide an affordable professional development program for those interested in joining the publishing industry, as well as for publishing professionals looking to improve their understanding of the business.

Ashland Creek Press

Midge Raymond, Co-Founder, Author and Editor

Bio: Midge has more than twenty years of experience in writing, editing, and publishing. In addition to being a published fiction writer and journalist, she has worked as an editor and copywriter with several New York publishing houses, including Penguin and St. Martin’s.

She has held classes in writing and publishing at Boston’s Grub Street Writers, San Diego Writers, and Seattle’s Richard Hugo House, and for six years she taught communication writing at Boston University, where she earned her master’s degree in international communication. An award-winning writer, she has published dozens of short stories in literary magazines, including Bellevue Literary Review, TriQuarterly, Indiana Review, North American Review, Ontario Review, and the Los Angeles Times magazine, and has written articles about the art and craft of writing for such publications as Poets & Writers magazine and The Writer.

About:  Ashland Creek Press is a boutique publisher dedicated to publishing books with a world view. We’re passionate about the environment, animal protection, ecology, and wildlife, and our goal is to publish books that combine these themes with compelling stories.

Our books have received critical acclaim from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews, among others, and have been recognized by national award juries, including the Chautauqua Institution and the Lambda Literary Foundation.

Website: https://ashlandcreekpress.com/

Praise for Ashland Creek Press

“In an atmosphere of increasingly dire predictions for the future of the printed book, Ashland Creek Press, a small publishing house based in Oregon, offers a flag not of surrender but of vigorous synergy and growth…The publishers are not only devoted to their authors, as evidenced by the loving care of editing, cover design, and publicity but are equally committed to the happiness of their readers, providing great works of stunning diversity…to thrill book readers everywhere.” — Huffington Post Books

Anastasia Zadeik
Session: Alternative Paths to Publishing with Award-Winning Author, Anastasia Zadeik

Anastasia Zadeik will discuss often uncovered paths to publishing to help writers break through myths and common misconceptions to uncover dynamic roads many writers miss.

Bio: Anastasia Zadeik is a writer, editor, and storyteller.  After graduating from Smith College with a degree in psychology, she had an international career in neuropsychological research while raising her children. She now serves as Director of Communications for the San Diego Writers Festival, as a mentor for the literary nonprofit So Say We All, and as a board member for the International Memoir Writers Association.

Anastasia’s debut novel, Blurred Fates, won both the 2023 Sarton Award and the 2023 NIEA for Contemporary Fiction. Her second novel, The Other Side of Nothing (released May 28, 2024) was chosen as a Zibby Summer Read and was awarded the 2024 IPPY Gold for Popular Fiction.

Learn more about Anastasia on her website, www.anastasiazadeik.com (check out the storytelling videos!) and follow her on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and X @anastasiazadeik.

A moving exploration of family, friendship, and how far we are willing to go for the ones we love, The Other Side of Nothing is a powerful read about loss, self-determination, and second chances.

2024 IPPY Awards Gold Medalist for Popular Fiction

2024 Zibby Summer Reads Selection

The day after her eighteenth birthday, Julia Reeves checks herself into a psychiatric facility, longing to find a way out of the grief and guilt that have engulfed her since her father’s untimely death. What she finds is fellow suicide attempt survivor Sam Lorenzo, a brilliant twenty-three-year-old photographer. Sam brings beauty and light back into Julia’s life, so when he asks her to escape with him on a cross-country odyssey, she agrees.

Before Julia can process what she’s done, the two young lovers are on the run.

When Julia’s mother, Laura, learns Julia has disappeared and authorities will do nothing to help find her, Laura forms an uneasy alliance with the sole person who has as much to lose as she does: Sam’s mother, Arabella. Armed with only a handful of clues, the two mothers embark on a journey of their own, desperately hoping to save their children before they are lost forever

Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez
Session: An Interview with celebrated Memoirist, Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez

IMWA President Tracy Jones Interviews author Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez about publishing her debut memoir, My Side of the River and what it meant to her to be a New York Times Editor’s Pick.

A New York Times Editor’s Pick
A People Magazine Best Book to Read in February
A Goodreads Most Anticipated Book of 2024

“My Side of the River is both fierce and poetic. It brilliantly reframes border writing while embracing nature and familial history. There are moments one sees greatness appear. This is one of those moments.” ―Luis Alberto Urrea, New York Times bestselling author of Good Night, Irene

Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez reveals her experience as the U.S. born daughter of immigrants and what happened when, at fifteen, her parents were forced back to Mexico in this captivating and tender memoir.

Born to Mexican immigrants south of the Rillito River in Tucson, Arizona, Elizabeth had the world at her fingertips. She was preparing to enter her freshman year of high school as the number one student when suddenly, her own country took away the most important right a child has: the right to have a family. When her parents’ visas expired and they were forced to return to Mexico, Elizabeth was left responsible for her younger brother, as well as her education. Determined to break the cycle of being a “statistic,” she knew that even though her parents couldn’t stay, there was no way she could let go of the opportunities the U.S. could provide. Armed with only her passport and sheer teenage determination, Elizabeth became what her school would eventually describe as an unaccompanied homeless youth, one of thousands of underage victims affected by family separation due to broken immigration laws.

My Side of the River explores separation, generational trauma, and the toll of the American dream. It’s also, at its core, a love story between a brother and a sister who, no matter the cost, is determined to make the pursuit of her brother’s dreams easier than it was for her.

Bio: Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez is a storyteller, advocate, and the author of, My Side of the Riber, a memoir published by St.Martins Press in February of 2024. Born and raised near the U.S.-Mexican border in Tucson, Arizona, Elizabeth’s upbringing was marked by resilience and determination. At 15, when her parents were forced to return to Mexico due to issues with their immigration status, Elizabeth chose to remain in the U.S., navigating homelessness while fiercely pursuing her education. Her journey from adversity to achievement culminated in her graduation as valedictorian, a testament to her unwavering resolve. Elizabeth then pursued higher education at the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduation in 2018. During her time at Penn, Elizabeth was selected as The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) Scholar of the year, as a U.S. Department of State Gilman Scholar, and as part of competitive business programs at both Harvard and Stanford. Since the publication of her memoir, My Side of the River, in February of 2024, she has been featured on Hola Magazine & NPR. Her book has also been praised as a New York Times Editor’s Pick, People Magazine Best Book to Read in February, and as one of Goodreads Most Anticipated Books of 2024.