Joy Radio’s Pattie Welek Hall

Joy Radio, a Blog Talk Radio show featuring inspirational authors, editors, agents and other folks in the publishing biz, is now featuring a series about a great annual resource for writers, Words & Music, A Literary Feast in New Orleans.

Words & Music takes place this year from November 28-December 2 (if you haven’t registered, it’s the place to be as an aspiring or emerging author), and as a special preview to this year’s writers conference, Joy Radio show host Pattie Welek Hall will be interviewing several of the festival’s editor and agent faculty in the coming weeks.

The lineup begins August 23 at 11:30 a. m. EDT, when Hall will speak with Helene Atwan, director of Beacon Press, and Howard Yoon, a partner at Ross-Yoon Agency.

Items up for discussion include:

• How to get your book read at a first class publishing house
• How to maneuver the complex maze of creative non-fiction
• Why writers should register for the Words & Music and what they can expect at this year’s writer’s week in New Orleans!

Helene Atwan, born in Paris in 1953, has been director of Beacon Press since 1995. She began her career in publishing at Alfred A. Knopf and has worked at The Viking Press, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and Simon and Schuster. She specializes in non-fiction and her acquisitions at Beacon include Gayl Jones’s The Healing, a National Book Award Finalist; Lillian Faderman’s I Begin My Life All Over; and DeWitt Henry and James Alan McPherson’s Fathering Daughters. She serves on the board of PEN-New England and the National Coalition against Censorship (NCAC)

Howard Yoon, an agent for 20 years, specializes in narrative nonfiction, history, science, religion, culture, business and food. Howard looks for original voices and original experiences. His strength is in helping talented authors find their place in the book world. He brings together market trends and writing potential to create an appealing package for publishers. He loves working with first-time authors but also enjoys helping guide veterans with career decisions and new book ideas.

You can tune in to the show at the appointed time and to ask your questions, or tune in to the recording later. Visit wordsandmusic.org  or e-mail Faulkhouse@aol.com to learn more about the conference and to sign up to attend. Writer registrations include a critique and sit-down with BOTH an editor and agent.

Future Joy Radio shows on Words & Music include:

• April Eberhardt, April Eberhardt Literary, specializing in new era publishing, with Brandy Rivers, literary manager/producer for film and television at Gersh Agency
• Carole Desanti, Penguin editor and author of The Unruly Passions of Eugénie R., with Deborah Grosvenor, Grosvenor Literary Agency, both fiction experts
• Webster Younce and Ginny Younce, editors at Simon & Schuster and Penguin, respectively

To listen to the last Joy Radio interview with show producer Rosemary James and co-director of programming, WWW’s own Shari Stauch, visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/joyradio/2012/08/02/rosemary-james-shari-stauchwords-music-writers-conf.