The Missouri Writers Guild Conference will be in Chesterfield, Mo this year on April 16-18, 2010. I'm hoping to attend if I can get the funds together this year. You can download the registration form and even pay by paypal.
Lots of interesting speakers, agents, and editors to check out, including Wash U creative writing teacher, Catherine Rankovic, who writes Mental Health for Writers. I could use some of that, God knows.
The following literary agents will also be at the conference:
Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary Agency, Denver, Colorado (I love her blog, Pubrants)
Nelson Literary Agency represents fiction for adult, young adult and middle grade books. We work with literary and commercial fiction. For nonfiction, we are only interested in memoir.
We are currently seeking:
Literary (with a commercial bent)
Commercial mainstream
Women's fiction
Chick lit (all types including paranormal, mystery, young adult etc.)
Romance (all types for single title except inspirational)
Science Fiction
Fantasy
Young Adult
Middle Grade
Memoir
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joanna Stampfel-Volpe, Agent. Nancy Coffey Literary and Media Representation.
Joanna is looking for children's chapter books to upper YA (non-fiction, contemporary, humor, historical and fantasy *fantasy/sci-fi needs to really stand out, unique), adult romance (historical, paranormal, contemporary), fantasy (urban fantasy, steampunk, unique), up-market fiction (women's, commercial, dark, literary, horror, speculative fic), narrative non-fiction (pop culture, environmental, foodie).
She is NOT interested in mysteries, legal thrillers, corporate thrillers, cookbooks, academic nonfiction, epic fantasy for adults, hi-science fiction, poetry, collections/short stories, screenplays
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Suzie Townsend, Junior Agent; Peter Rubie Agency
Suzie Townsend is a Junior Agent and Peter Rubie's assistant and is just starting to take on clients. She will be actively building her list in April 2010 during the conference. She's a former high school English teacher who likes character-driven YA and adult fantasy, science fiction, paranormal and romance. She gravitates toward strong female protagonists, complex plot lines with underlying political, moral, or philosophical issues, and stories which break out of the typical tropes of their genre, like Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel series. For non-fiction, she is primarily interested in narrative non-fiction and true crime.