When: 4pm, Saturday April 27 at Odd Fellows Lodge 950 B Street at Mission and Main, Hayward
with WNBA-SF presenters:
Concha Delgado Gaitan works emphasize social justice issues of unrepresented communities. In her capacity as a professor, she lectured on her books and has worked with communities including Latino, Russian Refugees, Alaskans, Native students, Hmong, and transnational populations in Mexico, Canada, and Spain. She’s written 10 nonfiction books. her latest being Wings of a Firebird: The Power of Relationships in Our Later Years–This book marks the beginning of a new direction in her writing, a focus on issues of older adults in our society. In her book Prickly Cactus: Finding Sacred Meaning in Chronic Illness she turns the lenses inward and describes the role of family and community in healing her life and health.
Maxine Rose Schur is an award-winning children’s book author and travel essayist. She’s twice won the Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers for excellence in travel writing. Her travel memoir, Places in Time was named Best Travel Book of the Year by the North American Travel Journalists Association and was awarded the Gold (First Place) for Travel Literature by the Society of American Travel Writers.
Sheila Smith-McCoy is an award-winning poet, fiction writer, and filmmaker. Her full-length poetry collection, The Bones Beneath is a haunting new work from Black Lawrence Press. In addition to her poetry and fiction, Smith McKoy has authored and edited numerous scholarly works. Her books include the seminal text in understanding white race riots, When Whites Riot: Writing Race and Violence in American and South African Cultures. She is co-editor of Recovering the African Feminine Divine in Literature, the Arts, and Performing Arts: Yemonja Awakening (2020), and editor of The Elizabeth Keckley Reader: Writing Self, Writing Nation (2016) and The Elizabeth Keckley Reader: Artistry, Culture and Commerce (2017). Smith McKoy has also written, produced, directed or served as executive producer for four documentary films.
Geri SpielerAfrosurreal Writers Workshop of Oakland
Dirty Bird Lounge – 926 B Street (Mission & Main) – Outside in Rear
The Pizza House – 943 B Street (Mission & Main)
Empowering women and nonbinary writers by helping prepare to submit works for publication.
Lindsey Smith 
Laurie McLean spent 20 years as the CEO of a publicity and marketing agency and 8 years as an agent and senior agent at Larsen Pomada Literary Agents in San Francisco. Following a stint as the CEO of a successful Silicon Valley public relations agency bearing her name, Laurie switched gears to immerse herself in writing. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the State University of New York and a master’s degree at Syracuse University’s prestigious Newhouse School of Journalism.
Andy Ross opened his literary agency in January 2008. Before that, he was the owner for 30 years of the legendary Cody’s Books in Berkeley. The agency represents books in a wide range of subjects including narrative non-fiction, science, journalism, history, religion, children’s books, young adult, middle grade, literary and commercial fiction, and cooking. However, he is eager to represent projects in most genres as long as the subject or its treatment is smart, original, and will appeal to a wide readership. In non-fiction, he looks for writing with a strong voice and robust narrative arc by authors with the authority to write about their subject. For literary, commercial, and children’s fiction, he has only one requirement– simple, but ineffable–that the writing reveals the terrain of that vast and unexplored country, the human heart. 
Born in Port-au-Prince, M.J. Fievre, B.S. Ed, is a longtime educator whose publishingcareer began as a teenager in her native Haiti. At nineteen years old, she signed her first book contract with Hachette-Deschamps for the publication of a YA book titled La Statuette Maléfique. Since then, M.J. has released nine YA books in French that are widely read in Europe and the French Antilles, and she is the author of the award-winning Badass Black Girl book series for tweens and teens (in English). As the ReadCaribbean program coordinator for the prestigious Miami Book Fair, M.J. directs and produces the children’s cultural show Taptap Krik? Krak! In addition, M.J. serves as the managing editor of DragonFruit, which publishes high-quality children’s books, which connect with readers by paving the way to lifelong learning.
Leland Cheuk is a MacDowell and Hawthornden Castle Fellow and award-winning author of three books of fiction, most recently the novel NO GOOD VERY BAD ASIAN (2019). Cheuk’s work has been covered in Buzzfeed, The Paris Review, VICE, San Francisco Chronicle, and has appeared or is forthcoming in publications such as NPR, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Salon, among other outlets.
Georgia Hughes is the editorial director at 
Mary E Knippel is an intuitive writing mentor, international speaker, best-selling author, and journalist for over 35 years. She helps women bring their transformational stories to life in the international bestselling Amazon collaboration book series “Written In Her Own Words-Wise Woman Wisdom”. Mary guides her clients through every aspect of the writing journey, from identifying their story to crafting and editing it into their chapter to bringing their stories to the world. She believes everyone has a unique story to tell and encourages daily journaling.
Dawn Frederick is the owner of Red Sofa Literary, established in 2008. After earningher B.S. in Human Ecology and M.S. in Library and Information Sciences, she moved to the Twin Cities, to work for a publisher after many years working in indie and chain bookstores. She previously worked at Sebastian Literary Agency and co-founded the MN Publishing Tweet Up (a community social monthly meetup). She has been on the Board of Directors for Loft Literary and was once President of the Twin Cities Community Advisory Council for MPR. Wearing both the hat of librarian and agent, she brings an extensive knowledge and appreciation of the publishing and writing processes.
Lindsey Smith (Speilburg Literary Agency) represents non-fiction projects. In addition to being a literary agent, she owns a bookstore in her hometown, runs her own publishing press, and is the author of several books and gift products. Having worked in every facet of the publishing industry—from author to publisher, to PR strategist to publicist, she knows the book industry inside and out.
Kat Georges is a poet, playwright, editor, publisher, and graphic designer. She is co-director and an acquisitions editor for Three Rooms Press, an independent publisher inspired by diversity, dada, punk, and passion. Her most recent book is the poetry collection Awe and Other Words Like Wow, and she is co-editor of MAINTENANT, the annual journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art. She lives in New York City. Kat is currently looking for LGBTQ+ fiction and young adult fiction that deal directly with current anti-queer attitudes, mysteries that center on bold and daring diverse main characters, and riveting women of history who need to have more attention given to them. Kat welcomes voices that have something different to say, that inspire readers, and that shows the power of innovative, compelling writing. To see the latest Three Rooms Press releases, visit 
Natalie Obando is a graduate from California State University, Long Beach with a BA in journalism emphasizing public relations and a minor concentration in creative writing. For nearly two decades, she’s worked in the world of books as a book publicist. Natalie is the founder of Do Good Public Relations Group and the grassroots organization, Women of Color Writers Podcast and Programming. She is the current national president of the 105-year-old non-profit, the Women’s National Book Association (WNBA), overseeing all eleven chapters across the nation. As the first Latina president of the national organization, her goal has been promoting diversity in publishing via strategic grassroots efforts. Her dedication to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the book world led her to found and chair Authentic Voices—a four-month long program that immerses people from marginalized communities in a master class of writing, editing, marketing, and publishing.
Peter Carlaftes is a publisher, poet, playwright, author, and actor. The most recent of his seven published books is the poetry collection, Life in the Past Lane. He is co-director and acquisitions editor for Three Rooms Press, with a strong interest in memoirs, literary fiction, mystery, and fantasy by diverse authors.
Michael Larsen co-founded Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents in 1972. For over four decades, the agency sold hundreds of books to more than 100 publishers and imprints. The agency has stopped accepting new writers, but Mike loves helping all writers. He gives talks about writing and publishing and does author coaching.
Kate Farrell, author, storyteller, and educator founded the Word Weaving Storytelling Project and published numerous educational materials on storytelling. She has contributed to and edited award-winning anthologies of personal narrative. Her award-winning new book is a timely, how-to guide on the art of storytelling for adults, Story Power: Secrets to Creating, Crafting, and Telling Memorable Stories. She offers workshops on storytelling and the heroine’s journey for libraries and writing groups 
Julia Beauchamp Kraft is an authentic expression mentor and public speaking coach who specializes in helping introverted women overcome public speaking nerves. Through her signature program, “Fully Expressed”, Julia teaches quiet, shy 
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