15th Annual Conference

September 11-13, 2009
University of California, Los Angeles
UCLA Conference Center, De Neve Plaza

Conference Collaborator: The Autry National Center to host a preview of their exhibition, Homelands: How Women Shaped the West

Note that the conference in 2009 will be one month earlier than our usual schedule.

Registration Forms:

Use this form to mail in a check

Use this form to pay by credit card or PayPal

Conference Registration deadline:
August 30, 2009 (Absolutely NO refunds after this date)

Friday Pre-Conference Tour

WWW members will facilitate our Friday bus tour of Hollywood/Beverly Hills, which includes Grauman’s Chinese
Theatre, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Rodeo Drive, film stars’ homes. Cost: $53.

Throughout the Conference

8:30a–6:00p WWW Registration Table Open

9:00a–6:00p Conference Bookstore Open

All day Covel Commons Restaurant tickets available at Front Desk

Friday, September 11

9:00–11:00a Bus Tour of Hollywood/Beverly Hills Grauman’s Chinese, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Rodeo Drive, film stars’ homes. (20 minute stops at Grauman’ s and Rodeo Drive)

9:00–10:00a Green Dots meeting-- First-time conference attendees

10:00–11:30a Panel 1: Who’s Buying? Four Agents, Four Views
Paul S. Levine, Paul S. Levine Literary Agency
Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, LLC
Andy Ross, Andy Ross Literary Agency
Elizabeth Trupin-Pulli, JET Literary Associates

11:30–11:45a Break

11:45–12:00p Welcome by WWW President
Sheila Wood Foard

12:00–1:00p Lunch on your own
Tickets available at Covel Front Desk

1:00–2:30p Panel 2: Tips on California’s Leading Collections
Facilitated by Cathy Luchetti, author of six groundbreaking studies on life in the West
Peter Blodgett, Huntington Library, Curator of Manuscripts of the American West;
Theresa Salazar, Bancroft Library, Curator of the Bancroft Collection of Western Americana; Genie Guerard, Head, UCLA Manuscripts Division, Dept.of Special Collections, and
Dace Taube, USC Regional History Librarian.

2:30–2:45p Break

2:45–4:00p Panel 3: Homelands: How Women Made the West, An Autry National Center Traveling Exhibition, 2010-2012
Preview PowerPoint by curators
Virginia Scharff, Women of the West Chair, Autry National Center of the American West/Professor of History, University of New Mexico
Carolyn Brucken, Autry Associate Curator for Western Women’s History exhibitions and programs.

4:00–4:15p Break

4:15–5:15p Alternative Activities
Visit conference bookstore, Meet with Kathie Fong Yoneda, Master Pitch Coach; Teresa Fogarty, Independent Book Publishers Association; Paddy Calistro, Angel City Press, or take a Walking Tour of UCLA campus.

5:15–6:00p Break

6:00–7:00p Social Hour
Wine and beer with prepaid tickets.

7:00–9:00p WWW/Autry Joint Buffet
Lisa See, Keynote Speaker
"All Things Not at Peace Will Cry Out: Finding Women’s Hidden Stories." A Los Angeleno, half-Chinese, See has won international acclaim for her deeply researched and evocatively rendered novels and histories on Chinese culture.

9:00–9:15p Break

9:15–10:15p Readings by 2009 WILLA Awardees
LAURA Awards announced

Saturday, September 12

7:00–8:30a Breakfast
Covel Commons Restaurant

8:30–8:45a President Sheila Wood Foard

8:45–9:45a Panel 4: Marketing the New West: Proven
Strategies and Techniques
Mara Purl, novelist, radio dramatist, book marketer, winner of the 2009 C.I.P.A Award for fiction.
Wendy Wilkinson, freelance journalist, co-author (4 non-fictions), contributing writer to Frontier Airlines’ in-flight Wild Blue Yonder, book publicist

9:45–10:00a Break

10:00–11:30a Panel 5: Book Publishing in the 21st Century Paddy Calistro, Angel City Press;
Teresa Fogarty, Independent Book Publishers Association;
Judith Keeling, Texas Tech University Press
Jessica Tribble, Poisoned Pen Press

11:30–12:00p Break

12:00–1:30p 2009 WILLA Awards Finalists Luncheon
Welcome by Kathleen Ernst, Past President
Jane Kirkpatrick, Keynote Speaker “Literary Lives Before We Turn Fifteen.”

1:45–3:15p Workshop 1. Kathie Fong Yoneda
Story Analyst/Development Exec, veteran of major film studios, leader of more than 160 workshops, master pitch coach, will speak on “From Book to Screen: Strategies to get your book noticed by Hollywood,” and critique 3 attendee pitches.

3:15–3:30p Break

3:30–5:00p Workshop 2. Harryette Mullen
UCLA Professor of Creative Writing and African American Studies. Students describe her as “amazing,” “interactive,” and “tough.” Her books, short stories, and poetry appear on required reading lists. Her work has been supported by leading western and national arts-oriented grants.

6:00–6:30p Social Hour
Wine and beer with prepaid tickets.

6:30–9:00p WWW WILLA Awards Banquet
Helena Maria Viramontes, Keynote Speaker
A native of East Los Angeles and youngest of eight, Viramontes has cleared unimaginable obstacles to become a professor of Creative Writing, Cornell University; and a celebrated explorer of her Chicana roots in novels, short stories, essays, histories, lectures,and social activism. Mentored by widely recognized
authors, praised by reviewers, and a recipient of awards and grants, she continues to write and to teach with equal fervor.

9:00–9:15p Break

9:15–10:30p WILLA Award Winners
Announced by Kathleen Ernst and Jane Kirkpatrick

Sunday, September 13

Please note that everyone must check out on Sunday, September
13. The campus will not be able to extend one room for this night as they expect students to be returning to campus on Sunday.

7:00–8:30a Breakfast
Covel Commons Restaurant

8:30–10:30a WWW Annual Meeting

10: 30–11:00a Check-out

10:00–10:30a Check-out, board bus w/ luggage

10:30–1:30p Visit Getty Center
Exhibition “In Focus: Making a Scene.” Staged photographs from causually directed scenes to elaborate tableaux vivants. Early daguerreotypes, platinum plate, also polaroids and chromogenic prints.

1:30p Board bus. Return stops include UCLA and LAX.

Contact Harriet Rochlin for more information.

Registration Forms:

Use this form to mail in a check

Use this form to pay by credit card or PayPal

Conference Registration deadline:
August 30, 2009 (Absolutely NO refunds after this date)

Past Conference Recaps

See what we've done in the past:

Contact Harriet Rochlin for more information.