Judith Turner-Yamamoto

Wednesday June 21, 8:00 PM, Pacific Ballroom

Award-winning author, poet and journalist Judith Turner-Yamamoto was born into a family of storytellers in an insular community in rural North Carolina. An art historian and inveterate traveler, she has interviewed such luminaries as Frank Gehry, Annie Leibovitz, Alison Krauss and Lucinda Williams and published more than 1,000 cover stories and features in publications such as The Boston Globe Magazine, Elle, Interiors, Art & Antiques, The Los Angeles Times and Travel & Leisure. A labor of love 30 years in the making, Loving the Dead and Gone is her first novel, part of a trilogy that draws upon memories of her red-dirt childhood to spin a tale that Publishers Weekly called a bittersweet, fantastical must-read debut. Currently she lives in Cincinnati with her husband, visual artist Shinji Turner-Yamamoto.

SBWC Agent Appointment Registration is Open

Many SBWC attendees have gone on to publish their work because of the agents they met at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. You will see some of these SBWC alums as panelists at the 2023 conference.

If your manuscript is complete and polished, and you think you’re ready for an agent to represent your work, read about the agents below and register for appointments with those who seem interested in your genre or already represent clients whose work you think is similar to your own.

Advance Submission is your chance to separate yourself from the thousands of queries received each year. Though SBWC has had many success stories in the past, we make no promises of representation, nor further interest in your manuscript.

We do, however, hope your appointments are a rewarding and enlightening experience, and at the very least, an opportunity to make personal and professional connections.

You must be registered for the conference to participate. 

 How it works

1. Register for the 6-day conference and then register to meet with one or more agents on the agent page, where you can click and read specifics on all 6 agents. We expect some will fill their schedules quickly, so register for your appointments early. You may submit to as many agents as you like. If the agent(s) you’ve picked are not available for reasons beyond our control, we will make sure you have an appointment with the next most appropriate agent. Remember each agent knows others in the business who might be more appropriate to represent your work.

2. Email the first 5 pages of your manuscript to info@sbwriters.com

3. The deadline for pages to be received is May 19. You may include a cover letter to each specific agent and a brief synopsis, if you wish. Formats accepted: Attached Word Doc or PDF.

4. Once you check into the conference on June 18, we’ll give you the details of your meeting arrangements. Your agents or editors will have read the pages before you meet and will come prepared to talk about your writing. This is a one-on-one meeting for 10 minutes, a chance for you to get personal feedback from an agent or editor. All meetings will take place Tuesday, June 20, 2023.

Stephen T. Vessels Memorial Scholarship Writing Contest for SBWC

The winner of the Stephen T Vessels Memorial Scholarship Writing Contest for SBWC is Nikki Blakely. Tomorrow we will list the honorable mentions.

We will be contacting all the contestants and making a more formal announcement early this week.

The submission period for this contest is over. Thank you to everyone who entered. We hope to have our winners announced by April 30.

Writers are invited to submit an entry to the  Fantasy/Science Fiction Contest in memory  of SBWC alumnus, Stephen T. Vessels.

No entry fee.

These pieces should fall under the category of fantasy/sci-fi.

For extra credit, take inspiration from the writing of Stephen T. Vessels. Before you submit your work, consider Stephen’s oft-repeated advice: “Rub a little weird on it.”

To familiarize yourself with the style and spirit of Vessels’ writing, see The Mountain & the Vortex, and other Tales from Muse Harbor and Fall of the Messengers from ShadowSpinners. 

Or take a look at The Fifth Fedora, an anthology of fiction by other writers inspired by the work of Vessels.

You may share this contest opportunity with others.

The judges will look for overall writing excellence, as well as “the weird factor.”

Submissions should be 1000 words or fewer.

Limit of 1 entry per person.

Contest judges are published authors. We do not announce the names of the judges.

Enter via email: sbwc.mascot@gmail.com

This must be your original work, previously published or not.
Put your contact information into the body of the email and send your entry as an attached Word doc or PDF.
Contact information should include:

Name
Phone number
Email address
Mailing address

First prize will be a full tuition day scholarship to the 2023 Santa Barbara Writers Conference. ($799 value).

Scholarship recipient must be able to attend the conference this year, June 18-23, 2023.
If not, the full scholarship will be awarded to the first runner-up who is able to attend.
No entry fee
Contest opens:  Now
Submission period closes MIDNIGHT, Friday, April 14, 2023 PDT

Winners announced by April 30, 2023