Jambalaya Writers’ Conference – a treat for aspiring authors, poets

The annual Jambalaya Writers’ Conference continues to draw plenty of well-known authors and editors to Houma for a day of presentations and sessions with audience members.

This year’s sixth Jambalaya Writers’ Conference has Louisiana wildlife photographer and artist C.C. Lockwood as the keynote speaker.

Held Saturday, April 4, at the Terrebonne Parish Main Library, the conference is part of Nicholls State University’s yearly Jubilee: A Festival of the Arts and Humanities.

“It’s a way for people who love to write to be published,” said Amy Whipple, assistant library director and Jambalaya committee member. “It’s a way to get first-hand knowledge from experts in the field.”

Other panelists include Betsy Mitchell, editor in chief of the Del Rey science fiction and fantasy division of Random House; Louisiana Poet Laureate Darrell Bourque; historical fiction writer Barbara Hambly; Houma native and Southeastern Louisiana University English professor Jack Bedell, and screenwriter Alexandra Sokoloff.

The conference’s 30-plus panel presentations and readings begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 4:50 p.m.

The cost to attend sessions and to hear Lockwood and to have breakfast and lunch is $35. Lockwood will speak from 12:30 to 1 p.m.

The price includes refreshments served at a social held with the authors on the library’s rooftop sundeck from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

Whipple said people tell her that they cannot get into other writers’ conferences for less than $100.

“It’s a steal considering the caliber of the panelists,” she said.

Participants can eat their jambalaya lunches while attending 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. special sessions with western romance writer Bobbi Smith (“How to Grab Readers by the Heart: Creating Memorable Characters”) and New Orleans writer Earl Higgins, author of “The Joy of Y’at Catholicism.”

The conference’s book fair will have tables filled with books for signing by the authors.

Aspiring writers who submitted works of fewer than 1,800 words will have 15-minute, one-on-one critiquing sessions with one of the authors. The sessions are included as part of the $35 cost of attending.

Whipple said the most exciting part of the conference has been the First Page Critique event, which will take place from 4 to 4:50 p.m. in the library’s Large Meeting Room downstairs.

Betsy Mitchell, action-adventure novelist Cherry Adair and Molly Bolden, co-owner of Houma’s Bent Pages Bookstore, will give scathing assessments of the first pages of manuscripts written by participants and handed up for abuse, free of charge.

“You have to have a thick skin, but it’s not anything different than what editors and agents do,” Whipple said. “It’s a lot like the people on ‘American Idol.’ It’s strictly for learning and to have fun.”

“Molly’s a lot of fun. She really let’s people have it,” Whipple said. “Audience members learn what to do and what not to do.”

Highlights of the conference’s first period from 8:30 to 9:20 a.m. are a question-and-answer session with Mitchell and the first part of a presentation on screenwriting with Alexandra Sokoloff.

The 9:30 to 10:20 a.m. section will have part one of “Texturing and Layering Your Novel” with Adair.

“Call and Response: A Poetry Duo” with Poet Laureate Bourque and Jack Bedell, as well as a presentation on “World Building” with Barbara Hambly, are the highlights of the 10:30 to 11:20 a.m. slot.

In the 2 to 2:50 p.m. period, horror and science fiction author F. Paul Wilson, creator of Repairman Jack; romance author and fiction writer on supernatural themes Heather Graham and Hambly will discuss “Writing in the Dark-Trends with the Occult, Vampires and Ghosts.”

The 3 to 3:50 p.m. slot will feature Bobbi Smith and New Orleans literary agent Pam Ahearn discussing whether agents are needed for aspiring writers and ways to help get publishers to buy manuscripts.

All the panels will have moderators.

The Terrebonne Parish Main Library is located at 151 Library Drive in Houma. Call (985) 876-5158 for more information.

Renowned Louisiana wildlife photographer and artist C.C. Lockwood is this year’s keynote speaker.