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Saturday, May 5, 2012

Proposals for Japan Writers Conference Coming Due

Here's a reminder from the Japan Writers Conference. I have deleted the email addresses of the conference coordinators, but if you want to get a hold of them, please email me and I will send you their contact info.

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Hello. We hope you’re enjoying the Golden Week holidays.

This is to remind those of you who are thinking about presenting at the Sixth Annual Japan Writers Conference that we need to see your proposals soon. The deadline is June 1, 2012, less than a month away.

The Conference will return to Kyoto this year, to the Imadegawa campus of Doshisha Women’s College on November 10th and 11th, 2012. As always, it will be free and open to all who wish to attend.

All published writers, translators, editors, agents and publishers who would like to lead a session are invited to submit proposals. Those who have presented at past conferences are welcome to submit new proposals and we welcome proposals from new submitters.

Please forward this to any friend or colleague who might be interested. If you know someone the conference organizers might approach—either living in Japan or planning to visit Japan next autumn—please send us your suggestion. If you have contact information, that would be a great help.

Briefly, a proposal needs to include a brief bio, including some publication credits, the type of presentation you wish to make, a title, a summery of 50 words, a longer abstract (150 words) and any special requests you might have. Standard sessions are fifty minutes long, but if you have something special in mind, please let us know and we will accommodate if possible.
Presentations on all genres and all aspects of writing and publishing are welcome.

Proposal Guidelines

When planning your proposal, keep your audience in mind. Your listeners will be writers and others (translators, editors, publishers, and agents) concerned with creating the published written word. While teaching, literary studies and private self-expression are certainly worthy activities, they are not the focus of this Conference. Ask yourself as a writer or other word professional these questions:

What information do you have which could be useful to others?
What writing, rewriting, editing, or marketing techniques have worked for you?
What topic would make for a lively and enlightening discussion?
What publishing or other professional opportunities do you know about?
What will an attendee take away from your fifty-minute session that he or she will find worthwhile?

You may submit more than one proposal.

The only qualification one needs to be a presenter is to have published. You need to have written, edited, translated, or otherwise worked on writing which has made it to the public eye. That is, published.

Proposal Deadline and Format

Using the following format, please send your ideas for a presentation by June 1, 2012. Send your proposal in the body of an email (no attachments) to both these addresses:

*****Deleted by me (Jessica); email me if you need this info*****

In your subject line give your name, “JWC,” and the date.

In the body of the email, give:

1. Your name (or names)
2. Contact information (email, telephone. These remain confidential.)
3. Your publications (Need not be complete, but give names of journals and genre for short pieces; title, publisher and date for books; venues and dates for plays, and so on)
4. Title of presentation. (20 words or less)
5. Type of presentation (short lecture with Q&A, craft workshop, panel discussion, reading with Q&A, etc.)
6. Short summary of the presentation (50 words or less)
7. Abstract of the presentation (150 words or less)
8. Personal and professional biography (50 words or less. Make mention of your publications, as this will be part of the Conference program)
9. Anything else, such as special equipment needs or questions.

Your proposal doesn’t have to be a “finished” document to submit. There will be time to shape and polish your ideas for a presentation. But there are a limited number of session slots available and if you are want one, please let us know soon. Several people have already submitted. One more time, the deadline is June 1, 2012.

John Gribble
Bern Mulvey
Co Co-ordinators,
2012 Japan Writers Conference

 

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