6-8 p.m.: Welcome Reception Ustler Hall
8 p.m.: Dine-Around (sign up at registration table if you want to participate)
All day: On-site bookstore open (2066 Weimer Hall; book signings
follow each session)
Breakfast on your own
KEYNOTE 10 a.m. Gannett Auditorium
MICHAEL CONNELLY
The best-selling author of Nine Dragons,
City of Bones, The Lincoln Lawyer and many
other novels talks about his early days as a
storyteller and what led to his life writing
about crime and creating his serial
protagonist, Los Angeles police detective
Harry Bosch.
STORYTELLING SESSION NO. 1 11 a.m.
WRITING THE GREAT FLORIDA NOVEL
by TOM CORCORAN (Hawk Channel Chase)
and TIM DORSEY (Gator A-Go-Go). Gannett
Auditorium
WRITING ABOUT A PLACE by JEFF
KLINKENBERG (Pilgrim in the Land of
Alligators). 1094 Weimer Hall
HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS AND WHY
YOU NEED AN AGENT by JANE DYSTEL
(president, Dystel & Goderich Literary
Management). 3032 Weimer Hall
THE THRILL OF VICTORY, THE AGONY
OF DEFEAT: Sports Writing by CARLOS
FRIAS (Palm Beach Post) with TED SPIKER
(Men’s Health). 1078 Weimer Hall
RICK BRAGG
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for “elegantly
written stories of contemporary America,”
and author of a brilliant trilogy about his
family (All Over but the Shoutin’, Ava’s Man
and The Prince of Frogtown), Bragg will talk
about the art of storytelling in the new
world order of modern media.
STORYTELLING SESSION NO. 2 2 p.m.
WORDS & MUSIC: Writing Songs by KEITH
WHAT A BOOK EDITOR WANTS by AMY
CHICK LIT: It’s Not A Gum – It’s About Young
Women Who Are Voracious Readers (and Buyers) of
Books by KRISTIN HARMEL (The Art of French
Kissing). 1094 Weimer Hall
GOLD FOR FREELANCE WRITERS: Writing
SYKES (Buffett’s “Volcano,” many others), HOLLY
GLEASON (“Better as a Memory”), JOHN FRINZI
(“Shoreline”) and TOM CORCORAN (“Fins”). Gannett
Auditorium
CHERRY (vice president, W.W. Norton) and JOHN
BYRAM (editor, University Press of Florida). 3032
Weimer Hall
for Alumni Magazines by GIGI MARINO (Bucknell
University) and NICOLE CISNEROS MCKEEN
(University of Florida). 1078 Weimer Hall
GROUP SESSION 3:15 p.m. Gannett Auditorium
LIZ BALMASEDA
& FABIOLA
SANTIAGO
Balmaseda won the feature-writing Pulitzer
while working for the Miami Herald and
published her first novel, Sweet Mary, in
2009. Santiago, a Herald veteran who
shared in two Pulitzers, published her first
novel, Reclaiming Paris, and is finishing her
second. Here they discuss navigating the
fact-to-fiction transition. STORYTELLING SESSION NO. 3 4:30 p.m.
WE HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE OF
STORYTELLING AND WE ARE PUMPED
A panel of young journalists, moderated by
MIKE FOLEY. 1094 Weimer Hall
WHAT’S GOING ON: Trends in Book
Publishing by JANE DYSTEL (president,
Dystel and Goderich) and AMY CHERRY
(W.W. Norton). 3032 Weimer Hall
14 BODY PARTS BUT THEY ONLY
FOUND 11: Writing About Crime by
ANDREA BILLUPS (Slaying in the Suburbs).
1078 Weimer Hall
FROM WORDS TO PICTURES: How I
Reinvented Myself as a Filmmaker by
OSCAR CORRAL (director, Tom Wolfe: Zoom
at Your Feet). Gannett Auditorium
5:30 - 7 p.m.: Cocktail and Networking Reception
The Swamp, 1642 W. University Ave. (sponsored by the Society of Professional
Journalists)
8 p.m.: Dine-Around (sign up at registration table if you want to
participate)
All day: On-site bookstore open (book signings follow each session)
Breakfast on your own
GROUP SESSION 10 a.m.. Gannett Auditorium
THOMAS
FRENCH
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his “Angels
and Demons” series for the St. Petersburg
Times, French is the author of the
forthcoming Zoo Story, as well as
Unanswered Cries and South of Heaven, in
which he spent a year reporting on life
inside a high school. STORYTELLING SESSION NO. 4 11 a.m.
WRITING GONZO BIOGRAPHIES by JOHN
CAPOUYA (Gorgeous George) and WILLIAM
McKEEN (Outlaw Journalist). 1094 Weimer
Hall.
INDIANA JONES AIN’T NO HERO &
other Observations from Celebrity Journalism
by ANDREA BILLUPS (People magazine). 3032
Weimer Hall WRITING ABOUT MUSIC AND
MUSICIANS by HOLLY GLEASON (Rolling
Stone) and ELLIS AMBURN (Pearl: The Life of
Janis Joplin)1078 Weimer Hall
STORIES WITHOUT WORDS by
photographer MELISSA LYTTLE (St.
Petersburg Times). Gannett Auditorium
WORKING LUNCH Gannett Auditorium 12:30 p.m. Sponsored by the Gainesville Sun
DAVID FINKEL
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his
reporting for the Washington Post,
Finkel was lavished with praise for his
2009 book, The Good Soldiers. The New
York Times named it one of the top five
non-fiction books of the year. His stories
of the lives of infantrymen in Iraq was
compared with the writing of Ernie Pyle.
STORYTELLING SESSION NO. 5 1:45 p.m.
GETTING PAID: How to Survive as a Freelance
Writer (and Become An Entrepreneurial Writer) by
JOHN CAPOUYA (Sports Illustrated) and TED
SPIKER (Men’s Health). Gannett Auditorium
THE TOUGHEST ASSIGNMENT: Writing
Memoirs and Dealing With the People You Write
About … Your Family by CARLOS FRIAS (Take Me
With You). 1078 Weimer Hall
GREEN INK: Turning a Walk in the Woods Into a
Paycheck (Environmental Journalism) by CRAIG
PITTMAN (Paving Paradise, Manatee Insanity). 1094
Weimer Hall
BOTH SIDES OF THE DESK: How a
GROUP SESSION 2:45 p.m. Gannett Auditorium
LANE DeGREGORY
Winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for her
heartbreaking “Girl in the Window” for the
St. Petersburg Times (accompanied by the
photos of Summit participant MELISSA
LYTTLE), DeGregory is an expert at finding
stories off the beaten path and will share
her secrets of conjuring great stories.
CLOSING SESSION 4 p.m. Gannett Auditorium
ROY PETER CLARK
The author of Writing Tools and the dean
of America’s writing coaches – and the
senior czar of the Poynter Institute for
Media Studies -- offers a benediction,
telling us what every writer needs to
know.
Successful Book Editor (of Kerouac and Vonnegut)
Became a Successful Author by ELLIS AMBURN,
hosted by JON SILMAN. 3032 Weimer Hall.
ABOUT
THE STORYTELLERS
 ELLIS AMBURN began his career in book publishing and edited books by Jack Kerouac, Kurt
Vonnegut, John LeCarre and others. Now widely respected as a biographer of celebrated
entertainers, he is the author of Dark Star (a biography of Roy Orbison), Subterranean Kerouac,
Pearl (a biography of Janis Joplin), Buddy Holly and Jack: The Great Seducer (about Jack
Nicholson)."
 LIZ BALMASEDA, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, has a gift for breathing human
complexity into issues that many see only in black and white. A writer for The Palm Beach Post
and former columnist for The Miami Herald, she recently published her first novel, Sweet Mary, a
tropical noir. Born in Cuba in 1959, Balmaseda was awarded her first Pulitzer in 1993 for her
writings on the plight of Haitian refugees and the Cuban-American population. She shared a
second Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for the coverage of the federal raid to seize refugee boy Elián
González. That year she was also honored with the Hispanic Heritage Award for writing excellence
at the Kennedy Center in Washington. She lives in Miami."
 ANDREA BILLUPS is a former national features correspondent for the Washington Times,
covering politics and culture. She worked for years as a staff correspondent for People magazine,
based in Washington, D.C. and Miami. She, along with co-author Steve Miller of Texas Watchdog, is
the author of A Slaying in the Suburbs (Berkley, 2009). She is a Michigan-based writer and author
completing a novel, Missing in Miami. Her work has appeared in a number of national publications
and she has taught at the University of Florida and Michigan State. She describes herself thus:
“Truly fabulous babe, retail arbiter, Southern belle with urban soul. Dislikes most things natural.
Please underestimate me.”"
 RICK BRAGG won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1996 for his work at The New York
Times. Born in Piedmont, Alabama, in 1959, Mr. Bragg is the author of three best-selling memoirs,
All Over But the Shoutin', Ava's Man and The Prince of Frogtown. Bragg became a domestic
correspondent in The New York Times' Atlanta office in October 1994. Before joining The New York
Times he worked at several newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the St. Petersburg
Times, covering murders and unrest in Haiti as a metro reporter, the Oklahoma City bombing, the
Jonesboro killings, the Susan Smith trial and more as a national correspondent based in Atlanta.
He later became the paper's Miami bureau chief just in time for Elian Gonzalez's arrival and the
international controversy surrounding the Cuban boy. He is professor of writing at the University
of Alabama."
 JOHN CAPOUYA is the author of Gorgeous George (HarperCollins, 2008) and a professor of
journalism and non-fiction writing at the University of Tampa. During his journalism career, he
worked at Newsweek, The New York Times, SmartMoney magazine and New York Newsday, among
other places. Capouya has written for Sports Illustrated, Travel + Leisure and LIFE magazine, and
he is a contributor to the St. Petersburg Times. Gorgeous George, the biography of the flamboyant
wrestling celebrity, is now the basis of both a documentary and a feature film."
 AMY CHERRY, vice president and senior editor at W. W. Norton, has worked primarily with
nonfiction. Her main interests are biography, history, and narrative nonfiction. She edited John
Matteson's Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father, which won the
Pulitzer Prize for biography, Lawrence Hill's Commonwealth Winning-novel Someone Knows My
Name, and more recently Alice Echols' Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture."
 ROY PETER CLARK is America's writing coach, a teacher devoted to creating a nation of
writers. A Google search of his name shows an astonishing web of influence, not just in the United
States, but also around the world. He is a teacher who writes, and a writer who teaches. That
combination gives his most recent book, Writing Tools (Little, Brown, 2008), a special credibility.
More credibility comes from Clark's long service at The Poynter Institute. Clark has worked fulltime at Poynter since 1979 as director of the writing center, dean of the faculty, senior scholar and
vice president."
 MICHAEL CONNELLY decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond
Chandler while attending the University of Florida. After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at
newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, before landing at the Los Angeles Times. He
became one of the best feature writers in American journalism and began writing novels in the
early 1990s. Many of his books feature Harry Bosch, his police-detective protagonist. His novels
include The Poet, Blood Work, City of Bones, The Lincoln Lawyer and The Scarecrow. His latest
novel is Nine Dragons (Little, Brown, 2010)."
 TOM CORCORAN has been a disc jockey, bartender, AAA travel counselor, U. S. Navy officer,
screenwriter, freelance photographer, automotive magazine editor, computer graphic artist, and
journalist. He’s written songs with Jimmy Buffett and screen treatments with Hunter S.
Thompson. His Key West-based mystery novels include The Mango Opera, Bone Island Mambo,
and Air Dance Iguana. His latest novel is Hawk Channel Chase (Ketch and Yawl, 2009). As coowner of of a small press, Corcoran has published twelve South Florida-related books. He has
contributed stories to two recent anthologies, Miami Noir and A Merry Band of Murders."
 OSCAR CORRAL is a former reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Newsday and the Miami
Herald, who switched careers two years ago and reinvented himself as a visual storyteller. He’s
completing a documentary film about Tom Wolfe, whom he has followed during the research and
writing of his new novel. Corral will debut portion of the film, titled Zoom at Your Feet, during
the Storytellers’ Summit. Corral won the national championship in writing from the William
Randolph Hearst Foundation and is the managing partner of Explica Media Solutions in Coral
Gables."
 LANE DeGREGORY won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for her “Girl in the
Window” story for the St. Petersburg Times. She prefers writing about people in the shadows.
She sweated with a mailman who was mowing strangers' lawns; hung out with a mother who was
giving up custody of her adopted son; followed the guy who carries the the flag in a rodeo. She
graduated from the University of Virginia, where she was editor-in-chief of the Cavalier Daily
student newspaper. She earned a master’s degree in rhetoric and communication studies from
the University of Virginia."
 TIM DORSEY was born in Indiana, moved to Florida at age 1, and grew up in a small town
about an hour north of Miami called Riviera Beach. He graduated from Auburn University in
1983 and worked at The Tampa Tribune before beginning his full-time fiction writing career a
decade ago. He has published 11 novels, including Florida Roadkill, Orange Crush and Atomic
Lobster and his latest best-seller, Gator A-Go-Go. He lives in Tampa with his family."
 JANE DYSTEL has been a literary agent since 1986 and has owned her agency, Dystel &
Goderich Literary Management, since 1994. Born in Chicago, Dystel grew up in Rye, New York.
In her teens, she was an accomplished figure skater. Dystel received her B.A. from New York
University and attended Georgetown law school for one year before leaving for her first job in
publishing. She has an abiding interest in legal subjects. She is married to Steven Schwinder and
has a daughter, Jessica, and a son, Zachary. She lives in New York City with her family and two
dachshunds and is a tenacious golfer."
 DAVID FINKEL is a staff writer for The Washington Post, and also the leader of the Post's
national reporting team. He won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2006 for a series
of stories about U.S.-funded democracy efforts in Yemen. Finkel lives in Silver Spring, Maryland,
with his wife and two daughters. His latest book, The Good Soldiers (Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
2009), was hailed by The New York Times as one of the 10 best books of 2008 and his writing
about the war has been compared to the brilliant journalism of Ernie Pyle."
 MIKE FOLEY is a veteran newspaper editor and executive now on the faculty of the College of
Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He started his
journalism career in 1970 as a reporter for the St. Petersburg Evening Independent, an
afternoon newspaper that was owned by the St. Petersburg Times. He moved to the Times in
1974 and remained there until retirement in 199, serving as executive editor, managing editor,
metropolitan editor and city editor. He also worked on the business side of the paper as vice
president of Community Relations. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the
University of Florida and was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of the College of Journalism
and Communications and named Teacher of the Year for the College and University. "
 THOMAS FRENCH has spent the past quarter century redefining the possibilities of
journalistic storytelling, both in his writing and in his teaching. He earned a degree in
journalism from Indiana University and worked for 27 years at the St. Petersburg Times,
covering hurricanes and criminal trials and the secret lives of high school students. He
specialized in serial narratives, book-length stories published one chapter at a time. In 1998, he
was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing and a Sigma Delta Chi award for “Angels &
Demons,” a series that chronicled the murder of an Ohio woman and her two teenage daughters
as they vacationed in Tampa. His books include Unanswered Cries and South of Heaven. His new
book, Zoo Story (Hyperion, 2010) will be published in a matter of days."
 CARLOS FRIAS, author of the heart-wrenching memoir Take Me With You (Atria, 2008),
spent his formative years as a journalist traveling the South, primarily as a sports reporter for
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This "Southern Fried Cuban" has known the country on an
intimate level, painting portraits of America's most recognizable sports figures and reporting on
the hotly debated topics in sports. He is a special projects reporter in sports for The Palm Beach
Post, and says he is "assembled in America from Cuban parts.”"
 HOLLY GLEASON is a longtime music journalist whose writing has appeared in Rolling
Stone, the Huffington Post and many other venues, Gleason is also the composer of the muchawarded country song, “Better as a Memory,” which was a huge hit for Kenny Chesney. In
addition to journalism, songwriting and music publicity, Gleason maintains a popular Web site
called The Yummy List."
 KRISTIN HARMEL is a novelist whose books have been translated into numerous languages
and are sold all over the world. Cosmopolitan magazine has called her writing "hilarious," and
People magazine has referred to her books as "Bridget Jones-esque." A longtime reporter for
People magazine (where she specializes now in "Heroes" stories of good people doing good
things), is the author of the novels How to Sleep With a Movie Star, The Blonde Theory, The Art
of French Kissing and Italian for Beginners. She graduated summa cum laude from the
University of Florida, and has lived in Paris, New York, Boston and Miami and now splits time
between Orlando and Los Angeles. Her latest novel is After (Delacorte, 2010)."
 JEFF KLINKENBERG is the only two-time winner of the Paul Hansell Distinguished
Journalism Award, given to the writer with the best body of work each year by the Florida
Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2007 and 2009, the American Association of Sunday Features
Editors selected a body of his work as the best in the nation. A 33-year-veteran of the St.
Petersburg Times, he is the author of Blind Dog in a Smokehouse, Dispatches from the Land of
Flowers, Real Florida and Seasons of Real Florida. His latest book is Pilgrim in the Land of
Alligators (University Press of Florida, 2008). He is writer in residence for the Florida Studies
program at the University of South Florida. As author Carl Hiaasen says, “If Jeff Klinkenberg
isn’t careful, he might give journalism a good name.’’ "
 MELISSA LYTTLE is a photojournalist committed to documenting the lives of people in her
community and telling their stories in new and interesting ways. Her work has been recognized
by the Pictures of the Year Competition, the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, the Southern
Short Course, the Best of Photojournalism and the Alexia Foundation. Once a student of the
Eddie Adams Workshop, she has served on the prestigious program’s faculty three times. She is
the proprietor of an online communication for photojournalists called APhotoADay. She lives in
Tampa and works for the St. Petersburg Times.  GIGI MARINO is editor of Bucknell Magazine, the alumni publication of Bucknell University
in Pennsylvania. She previously worked for Tech Review, the magazine of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. She is a graduate of Penn State and is a published poet.
 NICOLE CISNEROS McKEEN joined the University of Florida College of Engineering as
editor of The Florida Engineer when her brain began to feel like mush after birthing three boys
back-to-back (OK, not really back to back, more like every 17 months). She is not an engineer Thanks to College of Journalism and Communications / John Wright dean
The Gainesville Sun / James Doughton publisher
The William Randolph Hearst Foundation
The Hugh Cunningham Journalism Fund / Mike Foley administrator
The Society of Professional Journalists / Gainesville Professional Chapter
The University of Florida Bookstores
The Division of Continuing Education
The Journalism and Communications Ambassadors
The New York Times
Mike Foley & William McKeen head honchos
Ted Spiker spiritual adviser
Dori Faust person who did all of the hard stuff
Craig Lee person who put it all online
Linda Hallam person who pitched in when the chips were down
Helga Williams person who will help us pay the bills