Fisher, Barry headline
By Tim Ryan
Maui writers conference
Star-BulletinWRITER-ACTRESS Carrie Fisher and Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Dave Barry head the list of speakers at the 1998 Maui Writers Conference starting tomorrow at Wailea, Maui. Carrie Fisher, who wrote the N.Y. Times bestseller "Post Cards From the Edge," has starred in more than a dozen films including "Star Wars" and "When Harry Met Sally." Barry, whose Miami Herald columns are syndicated throughout the country, has had a string of bestselling books.
Other conference speakers include bestselling writers Ernest J. Gaines, Richard Carlson, Nicholas Sparks, and Julie Garwood.
Gaines, author of the contemporary classic "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," scored a No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list this year with his novel "A Lesson Before Dying." Carlson, whose "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" reigned at the top of the list for several weeks, quickly followed up with a second bestseller, "Don't Worry, Make Money." Sparks, author of the love story "The Notebook," remained on the bestseller list for several months.
Returning for the '98 conference and retreat are other bestselling authors John Saul, Terry Brooks, Jack Canfield, Dan Millman, and Bryce Courtenay, plus about 50 of the agents and editors, including Arlene Friedman, president of Doubleday, and Jamie Raab, editorial director of Trade Publishing for Warner Books.
The growing demand for agent-editor consultations prompted some changes in the popular one-on-one meetings at this year's conference so organizers made available more than 1,500 consultations.
New this year is the Prose Writing Competition open only to adult fiction and narrative nonfiction like memoir, history, and biography. Entries will be judged by Conference presenters within the genre.
Winners will be announced Monday at the Maui Writers Conference Awards Ceremony. The first-place winner receives The Rupert Hughes Writing Award, plus a $2500 cash prize and complimentary admission to the 1999 Maui Writers Conference.
Also new this year is the National Screenwriting Competition open to the general public without having to be registered for the conference. The winner will receive a $2,500 cash prize and complimentary admission to the 1999 Maui Writers Retreat and Conference. A second place winner will receive a $1000 cash prize and complimentary admission; the third place winner will receive a $500 cash prize and complimentary admission.
The screenplay entries will be judged by literary agents, Hollywood executives and film producers.
Writers conference
What: 1998 Maui Writers Conference
