FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) September 23, 2008 -- James River Writers is pleased to announce that Kirk Ellis, the screenwriter of HBO's hit miniseries, "John Adams" will appear at the organization's annual conference October 10-11 , 2008 at the Library of Virginia in Richmond, VA. Ellis, who was a previous Emmy nominee, won his first golden statuettes on Sunday at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences awards ceremony. As a writer, Ellis won for Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special. As co-executive producer along with executive producer Tom Hanks and others, Ellis won for Outstanding Miniseries. The series set a record for Emmy wins with 13.

"We have Kirk scheduled for a number of sessions of an hour each and – unlike ABC – we plan to give him lots of time to talk.

He's obviously someone from whom others can learn the craft and business of writing," said conference co-chair Emyl Jenkins, alluding to the network's much-talked-about cut away from Ellis's acceptance speech.

In addition to Ellis, the writers conference will feature a number of other well known authors, top editors and literary agents. They include:
-David Baldacci , New York Times best-selling author of 17 novels.
-Adriana Trigiani , New York Times best-selling author of the Big Stone Gap series.
-Diane Mott Davidson , New York Times best-selling culinary mysteries.
-Claudia Emerson , Pulitzer Prize-winning poet.
-Kate Jacobs , New York Times bestselling author of The Friday Night Knitting

Club.
-Shannon Ravenel , founder of Algonquin Books and editor of thirteen volumes of The Best American Short Stories.
-Chuck Adams , an editor at Algonquin Books who has edited a range of both fiction and nonfiction, including Water for Elephants.
-Colin Fox , senior editor at Simon & Schuster, where he has worked with Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Rose, Billy Crystal, Lou Dobbs and Henry Louis Gates.

Literary agents include:
-Jeanne Fredericks (Jeanne Fredericks Literary Agency)
-Natanya Wheeler (Lowenstein-Yost Associates)
-Ken Wright (Writers House)
-Barbara Clark (Barbara Clark Literary Agency)

Sponsored by Dominion, this year's conference is James River Writers's sixth annual event. Meant to cater to established and aspiring writers of various genres, the conference revolves around small, intimate panels that address fiction, non-fiction, magazine writing, short stories, poetry and screenwriting. The event includes popular "first page" critiques and attendees can also register for one-on-one sessions with literary agents.

Registration for the two-day event, including breakfast and lunch, is $155. After October 1, one-day-only tickets will be sold at $85 if seats are still available. More information may be found at:
http://www.jamesriverwriters.com/jrw_programs/conference/index.htm .