Book Store Interview Series – Interview #2 Meet Cute Bookshop
Interview: Becca Title Written By: Stacey Ebert Tell the truth – how many hours have you spent in bookstores? These special spaces transport us to places unknown, heal us in ways we didn’t even know we needed, and connect us to worlds and humans who change our lives...
The End of My Life Is Killing Me: How A Humorist Copes With Existential Despair
Annabelle Gurwitch, actress, humorist, essayist, storyteller, and New York Times bestselling author of six books, has released a new book, The End of My Life Is Killing Me (Zibby Books, 2026). Released in March, the book is already a national bestseller. The inciting...
Author Interview with Anne Lamott and Neal Allen
Good Writing 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences Written By: Neal Allen and Anne Lamott Filled with enlightening practical tips that change the way we look at language, writing, sentence structure, and the finished pieces we send out into the world, Good Writing and its...
Sponsor Interview: Daniel Branco
1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here? For many years, I wanted to write a book. I felt like I had so much to say and share, but the theme of the book wasn't very clear to me. My dad has written...
Sponsor Interview: Janell Strube
1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here? Answer - I wrote my first novel at the age of 11 and edited my high school and university literary magazines - but I think I have always been writing. The path to...
Sponsor Interview: Kelly Fisher
1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here? I’ve wanted to write since childhood. In fact, the first book I authored in kindergarten was titled The Friendly Ghost. Growing up, stacks of journals filled my...
Sponsor Interview: Tim Spenny
1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here? I have wanted to be a child and have written throughout my life; I was called to anomalous phenomena and began writing about it in earnest of several...
Sponsor Interview: Leslie Ferguson
1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here? I've always loved writing, and after I started my teaching career, I knew I wanted to write. I went to grad school at Chapman University and earned my MA in...
Sponsor Interview: Laura L. Engel
1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here? I cannot remember a time in my life when I did not love books. Even as a toddler, my favorite thing was being read to by my mother. As an older child I loved...
Sponsor Interview: Ashley McGirt
1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here? I realized I wanted to be a writer the moment someone first told me it was something I could be. Growing up, I spent much of my youth in environments where very...
Sponsor Interview: Natalie Freedman
1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here? I realized I wanted to be a writer in elementary school and was very lucky to be encouraged by high school teachers. I was actually given a writing coach, a...
Sponsor Interview: Stephanie Weaver
1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here? I started writing as a teen but received many (understandable) rejections and lost heart. I was a technical writer for museums for more than twenty years. My first...
Sponsor Interview: Jerry Berberet
1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here? I became interested in writing a memoir five years ago and then enrolled in Marni and Tracy's IMWA course in January 2023. I found it so interesting that I...
Sponsor Interview: Janet Kintner
1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here? I handwrote a newspaper when I was in second grade and planned to sell it for two cents, but instead I gave it away. I drew a picture of my teacher...
Sponsor Interview: Anthony Green
1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here? I’ve had a strong desire to be a writer since my sophomore year of high school. During that time I was heavily influenced by music and film and I knew I wanted to...
Sponsor Interview: Lisa Cheek
1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here? In fourth grade, I wrote a short story my teacher liked. I held on to that praise, but my father didn’t encourage me, even though he was a prolific reader who...
Dreams: A Source of Creativity
In our ‘Dare to Dream’ series, the team of the San Diego Writers Festival invites you on a journey. Hear what inspires us, why we put on the festival, what we hope attendees will experience, why we connect dreaming with hope and intentions, and what nudges our souls...
Sponsor Interview: Anthony and Christina Adams, Chasing Shadows
1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here? We started writing short stories and poems in our early teens, then moved on to songs, plays, musicals, screenplays, and articles for publications such as...
Sponsor Interview: Dr. Gina Simmons Schneider
1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here? As a pre-teen, I was inspired by The Diary of Anne Frank. Diaries and poetry became my earliest forms of self-expression. Eventually, I branched into...
Dare to Dance With Your Dreams
In our ‘Dare to Dream’ series, the team of the San Diego Writers Festival invites you on a journey. Hear what inspires us, why we put on the festival, what we hope attendees will experience, why we connect dreaming with hope and intentions, and what nudges our souls...
Such Good People by Amy Blumenfeld
Book: Such Good People Author: Amy Blumenfeld Review Written By: Stacey Ebert I loved Such Good People, a summer smash hit by Amy Blumenfeld. Capturing those special relationships, trusted friendships, all things adulting, and how an individual’s character and...
Putting Dreams By
In our new 'Dare to Dream' series, the team of the San Diego Writers Festival invites you on a journey. Hear what inspires us, why we put on the festival, what we hope attendees will experience, why we connect dreaming with hope and intentions, and what nudges our...
Book Store Interview Series – Interview #1 Camino Books – For The Road Ahead, Del Mar, CA
Written By: Stacey Ebert Interviewee: John Evans I’ve always loved bookstores. I, like I imagine so many of you reading this, can spend hours upon hours wandering the aisles, escaping in the front and back covers, taking in the feel of the spine and the weight of the...
Being Human Means Being in Relationship with Nature
“The root trauma, and what causes deep human suffering, is our disconnection from Nature,” says Julie Brams LMFT, an Earth-centered psychotherapist, and Certified Forest Therapy Guide. “We were all once deeply connected to Nature,” she says. “But we have been steeped...
5 Reasons Not to Miss Alma Katsu’s Session on Generative AI
5 Reasons Not to Miss Alma Katsu’s Session on Generative AI When: Saturday September 20, 2025 What: “AI For Writers” Where: Online. Attend Future U, Brought to you by the San Diego Writers Festival By Wendy Wong Reason #5 Generative AI (“GenAI”) is the most...
Dr. Judith Orloff’s Newest Book: The Highly Sensitive Rabbit
Dr. Judith Orloff’s Newest Book: The Highly Sensitive Rabbit By Wendy Wong Renowned psychiatrist and author of numerous books, The Empath’s Survival Guide, Second Sight, Emotional Freedom, Guide to Intuitive Healing, among many others, has written a book for children...
Ed Begley Jr’s Second Act – Seeing Life Through a Different Colored Lens
Ed Begley Jr. is an actor, writer, and environmental activist. He is the keynote speaker for Festival U, which will be held virtually September 20, 2025 and is sponsored by the San Diego Memoir Writers Association. In 1982, NBC took a chance on a TV pilot set in a...
An Interview with Sue William Silverman – On Discovering the Metaphors That Give Meaning to Every Story
By Wendy Wong Sue William Silverman is an essayist, poet, memoirist, writer of creative non-fiction, and a teacher of creative writing. She shares some of the most personal and vulnerable life experiences in her writing. Her first book, Because I Remember Terror,...
What You Will Find at the Festival and Easter Egg
Dear book lover, storyteller, creator, writer, or secret dreamer, What will you find at this year’s festival? You may have seen the phrase—over 100 speakers, 50 stellar events, one day—or heard about inspiring entertainment, including The Naruwan Taiko Drummers, DJ...
Elevate Your Craft at the San Miguel Writers’ Conference: 3 Reasons You’ll Want to Be There Jodi Pincus, Director of the San Miguel Writers’ Conference and Literary Festival
Get ready to celebrate two decades of literary excellence at the San Miguel Writers' Conference & Literary Festival! This renowned gathering of writers, readers, and creatives from around the globe takes place in the heart of Mexico’s most magical city—San Miguel...
Hope, Humor, and the Power of Words: a Conversation with 2024 Poetry Collection of the Year winner, Jane Muschenetz
Interview by Diane Gottlieb Diane: Congratulations on your wonderful book “All the Bad Girls Wear Russian Accents” and on your winning the 2024 San Diego Writer’s Festival Poetry Collection of the Year! You’re a woman of several countries and languages. In the...
The Five Steps of Writing-With-Nature Julie Brams, LMFT
As an Earth-centered psychotherapist, writer, and Nature lover, I’m often asked about writing in nature. It occurred to me that this question is another perfect opportunity to shift our thinking about our relationship with the other beings we refer to as nature. Many...
CREATING A DIGITAL AUTHOR PRESS KIT: Five Things To Know by Laura Segal Stegman
We authors have it tough, don’t we? Challenges range from writers block to rejections, and there’s always something to, well, write. So when some “expert” recommends putting together a digital author press kit, many of us tune out. That’s a mistake. The media is drawn...
American Confidential, Tennessee Williams, and the Role of Place — By Deanne Stillman
American Confidential, Tennessee Williams, and the Role of Place By Deanne Stillman My books are generally place-based stories of war and peace in the real and mythological West. In my view, the personal isn’t just political, as the saying goes, it’s geographic as...
The Writer’s Kit Bag — Rules for Confident Writing by Neal Allen
1. Use strong verbs. Question every appearance of the verbs “to be,” “to do,” or “to have.” 2. Substitute an Anglo-Saxon (shorter, punchier) word for a Latinized (longer, more abstract) one, when possible. 3. Question all transitional phrases. Is it...
Inner Critic Getting in Your Way? I am a Therapist for Creatives, and I have a Tool to Help You Tame That Beast
"Where are you now?" "Honestly? Laura said, I'm on the floor, staring at the ceiling. I’m convinced I will never have another original thought in my brain. Laura was a highly sought-after creative professional with a fierce inner critic. As an advertising exec,...