*** This has been postponed to the following weekend, 2-1 &2-2, due to the threat of snow***

Get your pen and paper ready. The sixth annual Roanoke Regional Writer’s Conference is this weekend, January 25 and 26th.

I’ve attended this twice in past years and enjoyed it both times. If you’re a writer I suggest you look into attending.

The price is $60, but considering it includes a reception on Friday at Veranda Bistro, lunch on Saturday and a full day of classes (several of which are taught by award winning authors), I think $60 is a bargain price. Other conferences I’ve seen are priced much higher.

It sold out last year, so if you want to go you’d better go ahead and buy your ticket.

In case you missed it, Mike Allen’s Sunday Arts & Extras column featured author Karen Osborn’s return to her alma mater, Hollins, for the conference.

Here is more information about the lineup sent in by RRWC Director Dan Smith.

“The lineup for 2013 features a number of writers with new books published during the past year or so led by keynote speaker Kathleen Grissom, whose The Kitchen House has sold 500,000 books in the past two years and whose movie rights were recently purchased. Other writers who are on the teaching with recent books include:

Karen Osborn (Centerville),

Roland Lazenby (Black Jesus),

Gina Holmes (Wings of Glass—March release),

Mollie Cox Bryan (Scrapbook of Secrets),

Carrie Brown (The Rope Walk—2008, AWARD WINNER),

Dan Smith ((Saving Homer),

Michael Abraham (Providence VA),

Bill Kovarik (Revolutions in Communication and 2010 Power Alcohol),

Neil Sagebiel (The Longest Shot),

Angie Smibert (Memento Nora and The Forgetting Curve, both 2011),

Brooke McGlothlin (Hope for the Weary Mom: Where God Meets You in Your Mess),

Jim Minnick (Blueberry Years),

Tiffany Trent (The Unnaturalists),

Matthew Vollmer (Fakes: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux-Lectures, Quasi-Letters, “Found” Texts, and Other Fraudulent Artifactsand Inscriptions for Headstones),

Betsy Ashton (Mad Max: Unintended Consequence)

For the first time, we will have a class on songwriting, taught by the estimable Greg Trafidlo, a nationally-known folk artist who will entertain you Friday evening with an original song for the conference. This year’s classes will be an hour for first time. They have been 45 minutes in the past, but you asked for more and here it is. Our roundtable discussion—featuring some very successful bloggers—will be on the art and craft of the successful blog.

We are truly excited by this year’s lineup. Take a few minutes to visit the website and read the bios of those teaching this year. We know you’ll be ready to write. I hope to see you there.”