Writers’ League of Texas hosts 2016 Dallas-Area intensive “First Impressions Are Everything: Composing a Standout Query Letter” with Becka Oliver, Jan. 12

For those polishing up an existing manuscript to get it ready for potential agents, WLT executive director and former literary agent Becka Oliver provides guidance in an evening intensive class Tues., Jan. 12, in Dallas

Participants will learn the necessary components of query letters in the classroom component, and then work on their own letters in the lab component. Students will leave the class with a draft or revision of a query letter for their writing project.

Prior to the class, each student will submit a draft of a query letter for one writing project, a one-page synopsis of the same writing project, and an author bio. Registration is open to current members only and will be strictly capped at 8 participants.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016, 6:00 pm to 8:45 pm

Location: Texas Mezzanine Fund, 320 S. R.L. Thornton Fwy, Suite 110

Dallas, TX 75203

Fee: $99

For more information, visit www.writersleague.org

Becka Oliver joined the Writers’ League in September 2013 as executive director after more than sixteen years of experience working in book publishing. She spent much of her publishing career inside two of the “big six” publishing leaders — Macmillan and Hachette Book Group — licensing domestic and foreign rights on behalf of notable authors, including Sandra Brown, Brad Meltzer, Nicholas Sparks, Jon Stewart and the Daily Show, and more. In 2007, she made the leap from associate director of subsidiary rights at Grand Central Publishing to literary agent, first at Endeavor and then at William Morris Endeavor (WME) after the two powerhouse talent agencies merged in 2009. As a literary agent, Becka represented clients working in both fiction and non-fiction, including Brunonia Barry, Sheryl Crow, Kamran Pasha, Joanna Philbin, Susan Rebecca White, and the popular blog Awkward Family Photos.

{From the organization’s website)

Lone Star Literary Life to introduce new features, crowdfunding in celebration of first anniversary Feb. 2

On February 2, 2015, Lone Star Literary Life published its first issue of Texas’s only comprehensive statewide books-news coverage. We launched on Groundhog Day with a robust subscriber list of Texas booksellers, publishers, libraries, authors, and, most important of all, readers.

We pledged to deliver thoughtful reviews of new Texas books, first-person profiles and interviews of Texas authors, news and coverage of awards, festivals, and author tours, and the state’s only full calendar of book events — every week. And we’ve done so for almost 52 weeks now, bringing readers, writers, publishers, publicists, and librarians the latest in bookish Texas news and information.

We’re supported by advertising, providing a guaranteed vehicle to promote Texas-related books. And in our first year, we introduced such popular features as Lone Star Book Blog Tours, author podcasts, and Top Texas Bookish Destinations, which present editorial content around which publishers, booksellers, and authors can build paid campaigns.

We’ve got even bigger plans in store for 2016. Stay tuned over the next few weeks. And watch for details on our Indiegogo campaign — to learn how you can help Lone Star Lit grow and also earn unique perks.

Make a note of our hashtag: #LoneStarLit2016

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Austin Book Arts Center invites visitors to ring in the New Year by learning book arts, Jan. 16

The Austin Book Arts Center Board of Directors invites the public to a Winter Open House Sat., Jan. 16, 12 pm-8pm. Attendees will learn about the Spring 2016 schedule of workshops, including letterpress printing, bookbinding, book repair, and paper arts. Attendees may print their own bookmark or make their own book. Admission is free.

The 2016 schedule offers workshops on a variety of techniques and structures.

• Bookbinding provides a basic foundation, while Japanese Bookbinding and Coptic Bookbinding will introduce students to centuries-old book structures, still perfectly appropriate today for journals and sketchbooks.
• Need a custom or personalized portfolio to house prints, photographs, or documents? Take the Portfolio for Artists workshop. Learn to make cyanotype prints and then house them in a hand bound photo album in the Alt Print and Photo Album workshop.
• Print your own business cards or another small project in one of the Introduction to Letterpress workshops. Learn to set type by hand, like Gutenberg, or learn about contemporary digital letterpress applications most often used today.
• Curious about book repair? Take Book Repair and Preservation. Do you have your own manuscript or book project you would like to bring to fruition? Learn the skills in DIY Publishing, or Bind Your Manuscript Using Lockstitch.

Complete workshop descriptions may be found at http://atxbookarts.org/workshops/

All workshops are “hands-on” and are appropriate for beginners, artists, and anyone interested in exploring the arts of the book. Workshop sizes are small, and instructors are accomplished artists and experienced professionals. Students can expect to walk away with a new skill set, in addition to beautiful, handmade books and prints that they will be proud to share with their friends and family.

The mission of Austin Book Arts Center is to engage people of all ages in creative, interpretive, and educational experiences related to the arts of the book. ABAC offers workshops in letterpress printing, bookbinding, papermaking, typography, book history and design, and various arts of the book. In addition, ABAC provides access to equipment for qualified users.

For more information contact: Amanda Stevenson, executive director at amanda@atxbookarts.org, (512) 417-5845. ABAC is located at 2832 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd #114, Austin, Texas 78702.

www.atxbookarts.org

(From organization’s press release)