(Ventura, CA – September 76, 2011) Santa Barbara editor and author, Shelly Lowenkopf, will be a morning speaker at the Central Coast Book and Author Festival, to be held September 18 in San Luis Obispo. He will be speaking at 10:30 a.m. in the History Center of San Luis Obispo, 696 Monterey Street at the corner of Broad. After speaking, he will be available at the Book Festival to sign copies of his 30th book, The Fiction Lover’s Companion, which will be released on September 12th.

“When a writer tells a story, she needs to know who the narrator is,” Lowenkopf said.  “Will it be her, ‘telling’ the story as though conversation?  Will it be one or more of her characters?  The seasoned writer has already discovered that audiences are more willing to believe her characters than they are willing to believe her.  The seasoned writer knows also that every narrator, herself included, has some blind spot.”



Shelly Lowenkopf will discuss the various applications and nuances of narrative and their downstream consequences relating to believability and relevance.  For instance, if you truly believe this press release and truly wish to gain insight into the applications of point of view, you will be there.

This master editor has shepherded over 700 books through publication. He now distills for fiction lovers-both readers and writers-a lifetime of editorial wisdom. The Fiction Lover’s Companion is the definitive volume explaining the words and phrases writers use when they discuss their work-terms and concepts writers need to know to be able to compete in today’s crowded markets, and that will enrich the joy of books for readers.

Lowenkopf taught courses in short story, novel, dramatic writing, editing, genre fiction, and revision at the graduate level in one of the most prestigious writing programs in America at the University of Southern California, where he was given a Lifetime Teaching Award.  Since its inception, Shelly has led the nightly Pirate Writing Workshops at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. He is a past regional president of the Mystery Writers of America. Since 1975, he has been writing book reviews that have appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The National Catholic Reporter, The Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, Publishers’ Weekly, the Santa Barbara News-Press and the Santa Barbara Independent.  He has been the weekly book reviewer for the Montecito Journal since 2005. Shelly blogs daily on literary topics at www.lowenkopf.com.

TFLC trade paperback is available at www.WriteWorksPublishing.com and e-books at WriteWorks, Amazon, iBookstore and Barnes & Noble.

For information on the Central Coast Book & Author Festival, visit: http://www.slolibraryfoundation.org/CCBAF2.html

Photos available upon request.


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