Crossroads Writers Conference is so called because it is a

meeting place for both beginning and accomplished writers, for writers

of all backgrounds and ethnicities, and for writers of all genres.  The

conference is appropriately located in a city known as the "crossroads"

of the south, beautiful and historic Macon, Georgia.  The conference

is also meant to provide wonderful opportunities for those at a

"crossroads" in their writing careers, evolving from amateurs to

professionals.  

2008 Crossroads:

This year's Crossroads Conference will be held on Saturday,

October 4 in downtown Macon, with preliminary readings at various

middle Georgia campuses on the preceding days.  Guest

speakers for this year's conference include:

____________________________________________________

Joshilyn Jackson--"Her short fiction has been published in literary

magazines and anthologies including TriQuarterly and Calyx, and her

plays have been produced in Atlanta and Chicago. Her bestselling debut

novel, gods in Alabama won SIBA's 2005 Novel of the year Award

and was a #1 BookSense pick. Between, Georgia was also

a #1 BookSense pick, making Jackson the first author in BookSense

history to receive #1 status in back to back years. Jackson read the

audio version herself, winning a Listen Up award from Publisher's

Weekly and making Audiofile's Best of 2006 list. Both books

were chosen for the Books-A-Million Book Club. Her third novel,

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, will be published by GCP (formerly

Warner Books) in March of 2008."-- from www.joshilynjackson.com

____________________________________________________

Carlo Rotella--Creative nonfiction author and recent recipient of a

Whiting Award, Carlo Rotella explores the intersections of place, identity,

and American culture.  His recent interests include connections between

urban landscapes and the art of boxing.  He is the author of Cut Time:

An Education at the Fights (2003)., Good With Their Hands: Boxers,

Bluesmen, and Other Characters from the Rust Belt (2002), and  October

Cities: The Redevelopment of Urban Literature (1998).  He is also a regular

contributor to Harper's and The Washington Post.  Review of Good with

Their Hands: http://www.ucpress.edu/books/sale/pages/9074.html. 

Feature on Rotella:

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/rvp/pubaf/chronicle/v9/mr15/rotella.html

_____________________________________________________

Ad Hudler--Former journalist and the inventor of the Waffle House

Workshop, Ad Hudler is also the author of three humorous novels

published by Ballantine, including Househusband, Southern Living,

and All This Belongs to Me.  The setting for Southern Living is modeled

on Macon, satirizing the North Macon crowd. Interview: 

 http://www.adhudler.com/author/interview.asp

______________________________________________________

Kevin Cantwell--Kevin Cantwell's poetry collection Something Black

in the Green Part of Your Eye was published by New Issues Press at

Western Michigan State University. His poems have appeared in such

places as The New Republic, Poetry, Metre (UK), Commonweal, Antioch

Review, and The Paris Review. A regular reviewer of poetry

collections and a former editor of Quarterly West magazine, Cantwell

now edits the Redbone Chapbooks series, which published its fourth title

in the fall of 2007. He is the recipient of an Academy of American Poets

Prize; two River City Poetry Awards; a Tennessee Williams Scholarship;

and the Agnes Scott Poetry Prize. He currently teaches creative writing,

composition, professional writing, the literature of the workplace, and

print history at Macon State College. His most recent chapbook was

published in 2007, and he can be heard reading some of his poems

on Drunken Boat, Spring 2004, #6.

_____________________________________________________

Marty Williams--Marty Williams' poems have appeared in The Best

of the Prose Poem, Verse and Universe: Poems about Science and

Mathematics, Solo, Quarterly West, What There Is, Art/Life, and

elsewhere. Other publications include How much Earth: The Fresno

Poets (Roundhouse Press, 2001) and "Knowers and Makers in The

Measured Word: On Poetry and Science" (University of Georgia Press,

2001).  He teaches creative writing at Valdosta State University. 

 http://www.thescreamonline.com/poetry/poetry4-3/index.html

_____________________________________________________

Craig Hamilton--Illustrator for comics and graphic novels, Craig

Hamilton has worked for D.C. Comics, Marvel Comics, and S.Q. Publishing

as a graphic artist, and he moved from there to producing logos and

promotional graphics for movies  (Stand by Me, Aliens, The Princess

Bride, Batteries Not Included, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) and for

rock and roll bands (Bon Jovi, Skid Row, INXS, Bangles, M.O.D., and

Leather Wolf).  He has worked on comic books such as the Green Lantern,

Superboy, Legion of Super Heroes, Starman, Flinch, The Spectre, Fables,

and Lucifer, and will be providing our conference members with insight

into the graphic novel industry.

__________________________________________________________ 

Telephone

FAX

Postal address

Humanities Division

      100 College Station Dr.

Macon, GA 31008

Send mail to kelly.whiddon@maconstate.edu with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: 07/22/08