Keynote Speakers

Summer 2011's three keynote speakers also served on the Advisory Council for Western's MFA in Creative Writing. See last summer's slate for a taste of the quality of presenters you can expect in summer 2012. See an updated list in January, 2012.

John Helfers	Mainstream and Genre Fiction John Helfers is an author and editor currently living in Green Bay, Wisc. During his fourteen years working for Martin H. Greenberg at Tekno Books (the largest commercial book packager in the nation), he has edited more than twenty short story anthologies as well as overseeing numerous other ones for other publishers in all genres. He is also the Novel Line Developer for Catalyst Game Labs, which produces roleplaying game books and fiction set in the BattleTech and Shadowrun universes. He also published more than forty short stories in anthologies such as If I Were an Evil Overlord, Time Twisters, and Places to Be, People to Kill. His fiction has appeared in anthologies, game books, and novels for the Dragonlance, Transformers, BattleTech and Shadowrun universes. He has written both fiction and nonfiction, including the the third novel in the first authorized trilogy based on The Twilight Zone television series, the YA novel Tom Clancy's Net Force Explorers: Cloak and Dagger, and a history of the United States. He most recently finished writing several novels in their other long-running series as well. Currently he is working on several tie-in projects, as well as an epic dark paranormal alternate history series with his wife, fellow author, and editor Kerrie Hughes.
Marilyn Taylor	Poetry Marilyn L. Taylor, Ph.D., the State of Wisconsin’s Poet Laureate for 2009 and 2010, is the author of six collections of poetry. Her work has also appeared in many anthologies and journals, including The American Scholar, POETRY, Able Muse, Poetry Daily, Measure, Mezzo Cammin, and Iris. She has been awarded First Place in contests sponsored by The Atlanta Review, Passager, The Ledge, and the GSU Review, and she was also the recipient of the Dogwood Prize for a crown of sonnets titled “The Good-Girl Chronicles”. Her second book, SUBJECT TO CHANGE (David Robert Books, 2004), was nominated for the Poets Prize in 2005, and her most recent collection, titled GOING WRONG, was published in 2009 by Parallel Press. Marilyn taught poetry and poetics for fifteen years with the English Department and the Honors College at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Since her retirement from academia, she has lectured and led independent poetry workshops in dozens of communities throughout Wisconsin and across the country, from California to Connecticut. In 2004 and 2005, Marilyn served as Poet Laureate of Milwaukee, her home town. She is currently a Contributing Editor for THE WRITER magazine, where her ”Poet to Poet” columns on the craft of poetry appear bimonthly.
Linda Seger	Screenwriting Dr. Linda Seger has consulted on over 2000 scripts, including over 40 produced feature films and about 35 produced television projects. Her clients have included TriStar Pictures, Ray Bradbury, William Kelley, Linda Lavin, Suzanne de Passe, Tony Bill, as well as production companies and writers from six continents. is an internationally known speaker in the area of screenwriting, having taught and lectured in over 30 countries on 6 continents. She presented the first professional screenwriting seminar in both Moscow and Bulgaria, and has trained script consultants and script editors in Germany, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Austria, and Italy. She has given seminars for studios, networks, production companies, television series, and film commissions. As the author of nine books, Seger has appeared in more than 60 radio and television shows, including All Things Considered, National Public Radio, Good Morning L.A., Good Morning New York, and CNN.

Keynote Speakers

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