Cuesta College Writers’ Conference
Features Hollywood Writer-Director and Author on September 10 & 11

 

  
 

Nicholas Meyer		  Words can live and breathe. If you can make them do that, the real challenge is getting them published and read. If you’re interested in the world of writing and publishing, mark your calendars for the Cuesta College Writers’ Conference XX, scheduled Friday night and all day Saturday, September 10 and 11. Writers, editors, agents and publishers will attend the event, held at the Cuesta College San Luis Obispo Campus Conference Center. Registration deadline is Tuesday, September 7.

The conference offers writers, both novice and veteran, a creative and inspirational setting to come together and focus on writing. The conference registration fee includes four workshop sessions, a Friday evening reception, continental breakfast and lunch on Saturday, and a keynote address.

For its 20th anniversary, the conference will feature a master storyteller who has put his creative stamp on popular culture from Sherlock Holmes to Captain Kirk, enthralling book lovers and movie audiences time after time for more than 30 years. Nicholas Meyer, a veteran Hollywood writer-director, author, and Academy Award nominee, will deliver the opening Friday night keynote address and teach screenwriting workshops on Saturday.

His first novel, Target Practice, was nominated for an Edgar Award. His second novel, The Seven Percent Solution, teaming up Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund Freud, became an instant classic and remained on the New York Times Bestseller list for 40 weeks. Meyer was later nominated for an Academy Award for his screen adaptation, which starred Robert Duvall and Sir Laurence Olivier.

Subsequent Meyer novels include two other Sherlock Holmes adventures, The West End Horror and The Canary Trainer, plus Confessions of a Homing Pigeon and Black Orchid (co-author).

Meyer debuted as a movie director with "Time After Time" in 1979. His ABC-TV movie, the nuclear-themed "The Day After" remains the single most watched television film ever made, drawing an audience of more than one hundred million viewers. Other directing credits include "Volunteers" with Tom Hanks, "Company Business" with Gene Hackman, and the HBO film "Vendetta" with Christopher Walken.

Star Trek fans know that Meyer infused new life into the popular movie franchise with his critically acclaimed work on "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" and "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country." Other produced screenplays include "Sommersby," "The Deceivers," and "The Human Stain."

A graduate of the University of Iowa and a former movie publicist, Meyer is currently adapting Michel Faber’s epic novel, "The Crimson Petal & The White" for Curtis Hanson and Laura Ziskin at Columbia Pictures.

Myers will present two workshops on "Writing a Screenplay for the Feature Film." Additional workshops will be offered by the other authors and publishers in attendance, which include Catherine Ryan Hyde, the bestselling author of "Pay It Forward"; Earlene Fowler, the Agatha-Award winning mystery writer and creator of the popular Benni Harper series; and David Poindexter, the founder of MacAdam/Cage Publishing.

For more information about the Cuesta College Writers’ Conference XX, contact Community Programs at ext. 3132.