Scribblers University

We’ve worked hard to bring you the finest talent teaching the art and craft of storytelling under one roof at Scribblers University. All of the instructors listed here are known personally by Lia Keyes, who has attended at least one workshop or class by each. So when you sign up for class with these creative writing teachers you know they’ve been pre-screened for your benefit.

FACULTY:

Chancellor
NANCY LAMB
The author of 43 fiction and non-fiction books for adults and children. She is also the author of The Art and Craft of Storytelling, and The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children. Lamb serves on the faculty of the Big Sur Writing Workshops run by the Andrea Brown Literary Agency and recently taught a master class in Singapore for the Media Development Authority. In addition to writing and teaching, she is also an editor and story strategist.
www.nancylamb.com

JAMES BONNET
For the last twenty years, James Bonnet, writer, teacher and story consultant, has been the director of Astoria Filmwrights, a research project studying all the significant story models and theories about story from around the world and their connection to the creative process, storymaking, psychology, myth and film. The culmination of this work is the breakthrough “unified” theory of the origin and nature of story and a revolutionary new story model that can be used by writers and filmmakers to create more successful stories.
The book he has written on these findings, Stealing Fire from the Gods: A Dynamic New Story Model For Writers And Filmmakers, was published by Michael Wiese in 1999. A second edition,Stealing Fire from the Gods: The Complete Guide to Story For Writers And Filmmakers, was published in 2006. His new book, Cracking the Story Code, Part One: The Dominant Patterns All Great Stories Have in Common, will be ready for publication in the Fall of 2010.
Since 1990 he has been giving intensive weekend seminars, Storymaking: The Master Class, to screenwriters, producers, directors, psychologists and mythologists. The radical new ideas about story revealed in his book and his seminars are having a major impact on writers in all media.
He has written or acted in more than forty television shows and features. He was elected twice to the Board of Directors of the Writer’s Guild of America (a ten thousand member union) and served four years in that capacity.
www.storymaking.com

ANDREW SMITH
Andrew Smith lives in the mountains above Los Angeles on a ranch where he and his family keep horses. In addition to writing, he teaches high-school advance placement classes and coaches rugby. His novels include Ghost Medicine, and In the Path of Falling Objects, nominated by ALA/YALSA as a “Best Books for Young Adults 2010”. He is currently completing a YA fantasy.
www.ghostmedicine.com

LORIN OBERWEGER:
Prior to establishing her own company, Lorin spent nearly ten years working as an editor and author in the publishing industry. With the knowledge and experience she gained, Lorin launched Free Expressions in 1996. Currently, she also serves as Editorial Director of the nationally-acclaimed Writers Retreat Workshop as well as Program Director for the Writing Success Series and other seminars. She has taught poetry online, was a featured instructor for the Tampa Bay Writer’s Voice program, and gives talks on fiction writing and the publishing industry.
An award-winning author, Lorin’s articles, short stories and poetry have appeared in nearly one-hundred periodicals, including: StoryQuarterly, Amelia, The Montserrat Review, Isosceles, Gryphon, Day Tonight/Night Today, Impetus, Woman of Power, Journal of the Arts, Scene and Sequel, Fiction Writers Guideline, The Sarasota Arts Review, The Stamford Advocate, and many others. Her story, “Blue Elephant,” appears in FRENCH QUARTER FICTION, a literary anthology, now available through nationwide booksellers and via www.frenchquarterfiction.com.
www.free-expressions.com

ELLEN HOPKINS:
Publisher, Juniper Creek Publishing, Inc. and Three Leaping Frogs, Northern Nevada’s Fun Newspaper for Kids; freelance writer (regular contributor, Reno Gazette Journal); author; scriptwriter; Nevada Artist in Residence (literature); Tumblewords artist. Ellen is the author of the novels Tricks (debuted #1 on New York Times Bestseller List!), Crank, Identical, Glass, Impulse and Burned, plus twenty nonfiction titles, and has published over 450 articles on subjects ranging from aviation to child abuse to winegrowing. Publications include Reno Magazine, Tahoe Quarterly, Sierra Heritage, Nevada Magazine, Carson Magazine, Nevada Living, Ski Tahoe and Newsweek. She writes video production scripts for CAV Media, teaches through the Nevada Artist in Residence and Tumblewords programs and is a regular speaker at schools and writing conferences. Her seventh novel in verse, Perfect, will be published in 2011.
www.ellenhopkins.com

JILL CORCORAN:
Jill Corcoran is an associate agent with the Herman Agency and an award-winning children’s poet and writer. Corcoran earned a BA in English from Stanford University and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from The University of Chicago. After years of marketing and advertising, she gave up the glamour of cereal boxes and sneakers for family life with her husband, 3 kids and 2 dogs. She now takes writing classes at UCLA, writes children ’s books, and teaches writing workshops in Palos Verdes, California. An article about her workshops has been syndicated in parenting magazines nationwide by Kathy Sena (www.kathysena.com). Corcoran’s YA novel TWIN SISTER: I AM NOT YOU won a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Work-in-Progress Honorary Mention, and her humorous picture book collection, SINK YOUR TEETH INTO POETRY won the SCBWI Los Angeles Writer’s Day Poetry Award. http://jillcorcoran.blogspot.com

Founder:
LIA KEYES
Lia Keyes moved from London to California 13 years ago, where she now pens tales of murder, magic, mystery and mayhem for those with curious minds. When she’s not writing, she runs a Ning network for writers at www.scribblerati.com and co-hosts #YAlitchat on Twitter. She also contributes to The Enchanted Inkpot blog and runs the official FANS OF SCBWI page on Facebook with Aaron Hartzler. She is represented by Laura Rennert at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
www.liakeyes.com

Are you interested in joining us as a faculty member? At present this is a purely voluntary position, but might be an interesting way to promote a book on writing, or workshops that you all ready run. An instructive article here, with a link to your website where readers can pay for a class with you, could be a good way to link up supply and demand. If you’re interested in a collaboration, send an e-mail to lia@scribblerati.com