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San Diego Writers Festival Wraps Up With A Focus On Getting Published

Books stacked on white background in this undated photo.
Alexander Nguyen
Books stacked on white background in this undated photo.
The San Diego Writers’ Festival holds its final day of on-line speakers this Saturday August 8th, focusing on what it takes to get published.

The San Diego Writers’ Festival holds its final day of on-line speakers this Saturday Aug. 8th, focusing on what it takes to get published. Co-founder of the festival, Marni Freedman, and literary agent Elise Capron from the Sandra Dijkstra Agency talk about how the writing community in San Diego is growing.

Capron said her agency receives hundreds of unsolicited offers from writers all over the world every week and, after an initial lull when the coronavirus pandemic began, her agency is very busy again now. She and other literary agents will hold a pitch session during the festival on Saturday where authors will have seven minutes to pitch their stories.

Freedman’s passion is mentoring writers who are working on memoirs, which can be a powerful healing process. She said she has seen a great desire for community among San Diego authors, and attendance of the festival this year has been high. Freedman said sessions on screenwriting, the craft of writing and the KidsWrite program have been particularly popular at the festival.

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The full series of panels and lecture sessions is available free on-line at sandiegowritersfestival.com