William Bernhardt

Faculty

Aprilynne Pike
Aprilynne Pike is the author of the # 1 New York Times bestselling debut novel, Wings, which is currently in production as a major motion picture from Disney Studios. Aprilynne has been spinning stories since she was a child with a hyperactive imagination. At the age of twenty, she received her BA in Creative Writing from Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. When not writing, Aprilynne can be found exercising, singing, acting, reading, or working with pregnant moms as a childbirth educator and doula. Aprilynne recently returned to Arizona where she is enjoying the sunshine with her husband and three children. Her eagerly awaited next novel, Spells, will be released shortly before the Workshop, to be followed by Life After Theft.

Donald Maass
Donald Maass heads the Donald Maass Literary Agency in New York City, which represents more than 150 novelists and sells more than 150 novels every year to publishers in New York and overseas. He is the author of The Career Novelist (now available as a free download from his agency’s website), Writing the Breakout Novel, and Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook and most recently The Fire in Fiction: Passion, Purpose and Techniques to Make Your Novel Great. He is a past-president of the Association of Authors’ Representatives, Inc. (AAR). He will teach a special workshop focusing on contemporary fiction and the breakout novel.

Lisa Rector
Lisa Rector provides editorial services to published and advanced fiction writers through her New York-based company, Third Draft. A late-stage story specialist, she focuses on what is often the final and most elusive 10% required of authors before publication--understanding what works in a manuscript, what doesn’t, and why. Lisa works with thrillers, suspense, mystery, historical, fantasy, YA, mainstream, and literary fiction. She is also the author of the forthcoming book on writing, The Third Draft. She will teach a special workshop on revision and editing.

Marcia Preston
Marcia Preston’s first novel, Song of the Bones, won the 2004 Mary Higgins Clark Award. Her subsequent literary novels have been equally successful and equally acclaimed. New York Times bestselling author Jodi Thomas wrote that in The Piano Man, "Preston's writing allows characters to come alive and touch your heart with their emotions." The Butterfly House became a national bestseller in Great Britain. Trudy’s Promise was a fascinating look at the life of a recent émigré from East Berlin in the 1960s. Her latest novel, The Wind Comes Sweeping, drew praise from Publishers Weekly for its “multidimensional characters.”

Will Thomas
Will Thomas writes a Victorian mystery series featuring Cyrus Barker, a Scottish detective or "private enquiry agent," and his Welsh assistant, Thomas Llewelyn. The Barker/Llewelyn novels are set in the 1880s and often feature historical events, people, and movements. Martial combat is a recurring theme throughout this hardboiled series. Thomas's first novel, “Some Danger Involved,” was nominated for a Barry Award and a Shamus award. The fifth book in the series, "The Black Hand," was nominated for a 2009 Shamus Award.


Jim Stovall
Jim Stovall has been a National Olympic weightlifting champion, the President of the Emmy Award-winning Narrative Television Network, and an internationally popular author and motivational speaker. He is the author of many books including the best selling, The Ultimate Gift, which was made into a major motion picture starring James Garner and Abigail Breslin, and The Sound of Honor, the first in a series featuring blind detective Jacob Dyer. For his work making television accessible to our nation’s 13 million blind and visually impaired people, the President’s Committee on Equal Opportunity selected Jim Stovall as the Entrepreneur of the Year. He was also chosen as the International Humanitarian of the Year, joining Jimmy Carter, Nancy Reagan, and Mother Teresa as recipients of this honor.

Sheldon Russell
Dr. Sheldon Russell, Professor Emeritus, is the author of five novels, including the acclaimed crime novel, The Yard Dog, and the award-winning Dreams to Dust. His other books are Requiem at Dawn, The Savage Trail, and Empire. Dreams to Dust was awarded the Langum Prize for excellence in American Historical Fiction and many other awards, based upon its skillful blend of true history and page-turning story-telling.

Mel Odom
Mel Odom is the author of over 140 novels. He received the American Library Association's Alex Award in 2002 and was nominated for the Christy in 2005. He also has been inducted into the Professional Writers Hall of Fame. He's written in several genres, including tie-in novels for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Without A Trace, and novelizations of Blade, XXX, and Tomb Raider.

Jeff Martin
Jeff Martin is the author of the fictional memoir, The Dog Ate My Nobel Prize: The Fabricated Memoirs of Jeff Martin and edited The Customer is Always Wrong: The Retail Chronicles. He is a regular contributor to NPR and writes a monthly book column. He serves on the advisory board for the Nimrod International Journal of Poetry and Prose. He is also the co-founder fo the ground-breaking "hip" book club, BookSmart.

John Wooley
John Wooley has been writing for more than a quarter of a century. A veteran novelist, music historian, journalist, scriptwriter, and musician, his writing talents have been showcased in virtually every form of entertainment. John's distinctive, distinguished literary voice and years of experience make him not only an outstanding writer but also a powerful writing instructor. His most recent books include the nonfiction history, From Blue Devils to Red Dirt, and the beautifully evocative novel Ghost Band, which the Chicago Sun-Times called "a fantastic narrative."

K.D. Wentowrth
K.D. Wentworth has sold more than seventy short stories to such publications as Fantasy and Science Fiction, Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, and Return to the Twilight Zone. Three of her stories have been Finalists for the coveted Nebula Award. She has written a dozen novels; the most recent is The Course of Empire. She serves also teaches and serves as Coordinating Judge for the Writers of the Future program.

Barry Friedman
Barry Friedman is a writer and professional comedian. His first book, Road Comic, was an autobiographical look at his life on the comedy circuit, which he describes as "a raw, funny, pathetic, relentless, and self-glorifying look at how a man shouldn't spend his 30s and 40s." His second book, Funny You Should Mention It, is a collection of essays exploring the cultural zeitgeist of life, love, humor, gun shows, and Winnie Cooper. Barry also provides essays and guest hosts on NPR, and he has written several pieces for Esquire. His performance as toastmaster and comic-in-residence has been a high point of the Workshops since their inception.

Brandi Barnett
Brandi Barnett is the author of the young adult novel Glamour, a beautiful story of deception, redemption, friendship, and homecoming that has much to say about the importance of beauty in the contemporary world. A National Board Certified Teacher of secondary English, Brandi is also an executive board member of Oklahoma Writers' Federation, Inc., and a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She and Aprilynne Pike will offer a special workshop on young adult fiction, the most booming sector of today's current book market.

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William Bernhardt
In addition to being the bestselling author of more than twenty novels, Bernhardt founded HAWK Publishing Group in 1999 and added this annual Writing Workshop in 2005. HAWK, the Annual Workshop, and his small-group Seminars have graduated several authors now published at major New York houses, some of whom will be attending the 2010 Workshop. He holds a Masters Degree in English Literature and is the only writer to have received both the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award from the University of Pennsylvania in Scranton and the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author award, which is given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work that has profoundly influenced the way in which we understand ourselves and American society at large."