Event Description

Seminar
What Do You Think? Writing and Selling Personal Essays

Saturday, July 21, 2007

What do YOU think?

Ever since 16th-century writer Montaigne created the essay form, scribes and littérateurs have experimented with the boundaries of non-fiction prose. Today, the display of private experience as public intimacy through memoirs, one-person stage performances, and personal essays has become an increasingly important part of the writing business.

From magazines to such book series as “Chicken Soup for the Soul,” personal essays have a home in today’s literary marketplace. In this IWOSC seminar, author Marvin J. Wolf will discuss both style and sales, helping participants identify their own unique experiences worth writing about.

After earning a battlefield commission for his achievements as a combat photographer in Vietnam and serving thirteen years in the U.S. Army, Wolf worked briefly as a business communicator, then became a freelance photojournalist, advertising copywriter, magazine writer, and nonfiction author. Wolf’s first book, “The Japanese Conspiracy,” appeared in 1983, followed by a dozen more, including the best-sellers “Fallen Angels” and “Where White Men Fear To Tread.” In addition, his byline has appeared in hundreds of magazines and newspapers around the world. Recently Wolf turned to screenwriting. His first produced film was “Ladies Night,” which aired on the USA Cable Network in 2005.