Two events created for writers of all levels will occur on Saturday, Sept. 21, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie.

This event is free of charge and is open to the public. There is no registration.

9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 21
“He Said, She Said” with Allison Alsup, New Orleans Writers Workshop

During this presentation, Alsup will start with three main criteria for dialog:
• It must move the story forward. After each conversation or exchange, the reader should be one step closer to either the climax or the conclusion of your story.
• It should reveal relevant information about the character. The right dialogue will give the reader insight into how the character feels, and what motivates him or her to act.
• It must help the reader understand the relationship between the characters.

She will then provide tips about writing effective and realistic dialog.

Allison Alsup holds an M.F.A. from Emerson College, Boston. For three years she taught various fiction workshops through the Loyola Writing Institute. Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals. Her short story “Old Houses” was selected for the 2014 O. Henry Prize Stories (the story originally appeared in The New Orleans Review), and will also appear in the forthcoming college textbook, Arguing About Literature, 2nd Edition. Other fiction has won contests from New Millennium Writings, A Room of Her Own Foundation and Philadelphia Stories.

Alsup has been awarded writing residencies from the Aspen Writers Foundation and the Jentel Foundation. Her non-fiction appears in the 2015 Best Food Writing. She writes occasionally on cocktails for The New Orleans Advocate and is a co-author of The French Quarter Drinking Companion: A Guide to Bars in America’s Most Eclectic Neighborhood.

11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 21
“Publishing Panel” with Pam Ahearn (agent) Candice Proctor (traditionally published) and Farrah Rochon (tradition and self-published)

Pam Ahearn - Literary Agent Pamela Ahearn worked at Bantam Books, Dell Books and Richard Curtis Agency before moving to New Orleans, where she was with Southern Writers Agency for eight years. In l992, she founded The Ahearn Agency, Inc., which currently represents between 30-35 authors working in romance and suspense. She has represented several New York Times, USA-Today and Walden’s Bestselling authors as well as RITA, Anthony and Agatha Award winners/nominees.

C.S. Harris - An Air Force brat who grew up exploring castles in Spain and fishing in the mountains of Oregon and Idaho, Harris (real name - Candice Proctor) later worked as an archaeologist and earned a PhD in European history. She writes the Sebastian St. Cyr historical mystery series as C.S. Harris and historicals under her own name, Candice Proctor.

Farrah Rochon - Her debut novel, Deliver Me, the first in her Holmes Brothers series, earned SORMAG Readers' Choice Awards. In 2010, Rochon joined the Harlequin Kimani Romance family with the launch of her series that follows the lives of the fictional New York Sabers football team. The second book in the Sabers series, I'll Catch You, was nominated for the RITA Award given by the Romance Writers of America. The second book in her Bayou Dreams series, Yours Forever, was a RITA nominee in 2015. Also in 2015, Farrah won the Emma Award for Author of the Year.

For more information regarding this presentation, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.