Posted: August 29, 2019Written by: Ritchie Bermudez

SAN LUIS OBISPO – Named one of the 2019 “Best Writing Conferences in America” by The Writer magazine, the 35th Annual Central Coast Writers Conference (CCWC) takes place at Cuesta College’s San Luis Obispo campus on September 26-28.

Forty presenters will offer 112 classes covering topics such as marketing, publishing, and writing for beginners, poetry, memoirs, nonfiction, novels, screenwriting, and more.

“We’ve decided to shoot even higher for 2019 – we’re keeping what works while also offering exceptional new opportunities,” said CCWC Director Teri Bayus. “No matter where they are in their writing career, every single person who attends this conference will enter feeling welcome and leave prepared to take their writing to the next level.”

After selling out last year, nine Master Class sessions are available this year. The six-hour, immersive workshops focus on specific areas of writing and are designed to provide a finished product by the end of the course. Each class is limited to 20 students and offers post-conference support, including a “scribe tribe” and a faculty mentor. Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer and writer Peter Dunne is back this year as an instructor, bringing three decades of Hollywood experience. “Many who have attended a lot of conferences said CCWC was head and shoulders above the rest,” said Dunne. “I couldn’t agree more – not only for the quality of the faculty but for the comfort of the community.”

Disney Channel writer Ricky Roxburgh will once again teach the Teen Program. Roxburgh will lead teen writers on a crash course in screenwriting and discuss the basics of building a story, developing characters, and constructing a plot. Students will produce screenplays for a ten-minute movie. Finished scripts are submitted for judging, and the winning script will be made into a short film and shown at the 2020 SLO Film Festival. Scholarships are available and are due by September 20.

Conference attendees will have access to all workshops, keynote presentations, yoga breaks on the Cuesta campus lawn, a wine and appetizer reception, lunches, and one personal critique session.

Registration begins at $300 and is available now at www.CentralCoastWritersConference.com.