Reality Writing

Writers conference April 25-26
           
Keynote open to the public, 2 p.m. April 25

Columbus State’s fifth annual Writers Conference will feature a keynote speech by investigative journalist and critically acclaimed author Sonia Shah, known for her exposes on human rights, medicine and politics. 

At 2 p.m. on Friday, April 25 (In-Service Day), Shah will give a special presentation for Columbus State students and employees, “Writing the World: The Politics of Reporting on Global Issues.” This lecture is not part of the writers workshop and should be of interest to students in a wide range of academic areas. This presentation will be in Nestor Auditorium.

The conference opens Friday, April 25, at 6:30 p.m. with a reception and continues with the keynote presentation in the Nestor Hall Auditorium at 8 p.m. The keynote lecture is free and open to the public.

The following day’s conference begins at 8 a.m. in Davidson Hall and continues all day until 4:45 p.m. with a fee of $60 for the day’s workshops; $20 for students with an ID. 

The theme of the conference is “Reality Writing: From Worlds to Words,” and will examine how news can travel instantly in our global village, where everyone can be a “citizen reporter.” 

Keynote speaker Sonia Shah’s presentation is titled “Exposing the Exposé: The Real Stories Behind Journalistic Investigations.”  She is author of the 2006 drug industry exposé “The Body Hunter: Testing New Drugs on the World’s Poorest Patients,” which was hailed as “meticulously researched and packed with documentary evidence,” by Publishers Weekly.

Workshops will include such varied topics as screenwriting with Eric Williams of Blue Arm Productions; working with agents and publishers, by Jennifer DiChiara, who owns a literary agency; to sports writing, with Bob Stein, assistant professor in Communication Skills; and narrative reporting, by Todd Jones of The Columbus Dispatch.

Pre-registration (by April 18) is encouraged for the conference. More information, including a list of all presentations, is available at the conference Web site.