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Brooke Warner
Opening Keynote Speaker

Brooke Warner is publisher of She Writes Press, a memoir coach, and author of Write On, Sisters!, Green-light Your Book, What's Your Book?, and three books on memoir. She’s a TEDx speaker, weekly podcaster (of “Write-minded” with co-host Grant Faulkner of NaNoWriMo), and publishes a weekly newsletter, Writerly Things, on Substack at

Rob Edwards
Closing Keynote Speaker

Rob Edwards has written two classic animated films for Walt Disney Feature Animation – the Academy Award, and Golden Globe-nominated The Princess and the Frog, and the Academy Award-nominated Treasure Planet. In 2025, he has three films being released – Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World, Sneaks, and The King of Kings. Rob also consulted on Tangled, Wreck-it Ralph, and Frozen and wrote and directed the award-winning animated short film The Park Bench. He is currently writing projects for Universal, Showtime, and Sony. 

Rob is a 20-year veteran of television, where he wrote and produced several television shows, including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Full House, A Different World, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Roc, and In Living Color. His graphic novel, Defiant, a best seller in three categories on Amazon, is currently being made into a motion picture by Legion M. Rob is an adjunct professor of screenwriting at the School of Cinematic Arts at USC and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, where he also serves on the SUMA Advisory Council. 

Editor and award-winning author, Patricia Alexander calls her 49-year career fulfilling and “eclectic.” Her experience includes being an inspirational speaker, a humorist, a newspaper columnist, a freelance writer, a movie and TV reviewer, and a journalist. 

Patricia says she even “finally” wrote a book: The Book of Comforts: Simple, Powerful Ways to Comfort Your Spirit, Body & Soul, with her late husband, Michael Burgos. An inspirational self-help, it went on to win the Benjamin Franklin Finalist Award for Best Spiritual Book (available for free to non-profits). 

Semi-retired, Patricia is now a freelance book editor, and also leader of her Writing Support Group on Zoom, where she guides writers to improve their projects as well as understand the marketing and business of writing.

She adds, however, that her mate, Robert, would dispute the semi-retired part. But, hey! Does a writer/editor ever really retire? 

Patricia says, “Nah! But don’t tell Robert.”

Debbie Black

Debbie Black writes historical grounded fantasy novels for her favorite readers—that “sweet spot”—middle grade, ages 8-12. Deetjen’s Closet (Coalesce Press) is a finalist in the prestigious Gertrude Warner International Middle Grade Fiction Awards. The Old Secret at Hotel Oregon received the 5-star seal from Readers’ Favorite. Debbie is also a columnist for Estero Bay News and author of the popular blog RV Camping in Your Own Backyard. She is an active member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, SLO NightWriters, and The BookShelf Writers. She has been a presenter at the Central Coast Writers Conference and SLO NightWriters, as well as numerous service groups, book clubs, and classrooms. She lives on the Central Coast.  

Carol Chenot

Carol Chenot is a multifaceted professional from Arroyo Grande, California. She is known for her diverse roles as an entrepreneur, book designer, and community leader. She retired from a 35-year corporate career in Learning & Development where she held senior roles in Executive Development. She has a B.S. from Taylor University and an M.S. in Health Care Administration.

Carol values lifelong learning, and artificial intelligence is now the focus of her business, She designs workshops and offers consulting to make learning new tools (like AI) accessible, understandable and useful for small businesses and solopreneurs. Since 2006, Carol has been deeply committed to her community in the Five Cities where she lives with her husband Ross. She volunteers with Womenade, supporting women and families in need, and she also serves as President of the 5 Cities Women’s Network.

Kayla Cichello

la Cichello is an agent at Upstart Crow Literary specializing in children’s literature from picture books through young adult. She is searching for those voices that make her laugh and keep the page turning. 

Some of her clients include Lupe Ruiz-Flores, author of The Pecan Sheller (Lerner) and Kirbi Fagan, author/illustrator of The Big Empty (Lerner) and illustrator of the New York Times Bestselling A Horse Named Sky (Greenwillow/HarperCollins, 2023).

Eldonna Edwards

Author Eldonna Edwards is a beloved alumni presenter at CCWC. A born communicator, her engaging personality and warm encouragement consistently win over the hearts and minds of attendees. Whether it’s writing, editing, finding an agent, negotiating a deal, or marketing your book, Eldonna’s lively workshops are designed to engage participants in all aspects of the writing process. As both a traditionally-published and indie author of memoir and fiction and an independent editor, she’s dedicated to helping others learn from her experience and benefit from her successes.

Eldonna’s memoir Lost in Transplantation chronicles a life-changing decision to donate a kidney to an ailing stranger. Her best-selling novels This I Know and Clover Blue both released to rave reviews. Eldonna is also the subject of the award-winning documentary "Perfect Strangers" that follows one kidney patient and one potential kidney donor in their search for a possible match.

Brenna Humphreys

Brenna Humphreys owns Concentric 360, a marketing strategy agency dedicated to working with architects and nonprofits. She's an NYU Tisch grad with an MFA in Creative Fiction from Antioch Los Angeles, and has earned advertising awards for creative direction. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have been published in the LA Times, Inman News, Kelp Journal, Southern Missouri Press Proud to Be, and others. 

Brenna has been an active member of the UCLA Word Commandos and SLO NightWriters. Being a good literary citizen is important to her, so she also serves as President of Central Coast Passport Rotary. She has a blog with her husband about prostate cancer on Substack. When not writing, Brenna spends endless hours walking her enormous dog Odin and trying to master her tennis serve. Find more info at  

Luke Johnson

Luke Johnson is the author of Quiver (Texas Review Press), a finalist for the Jake Adam York Award, The Vassar Miller Prize, and The Levis Award; A Slow Indwelling (Harbor Editions); and Distributary (Texas Review Press 2025). Quiver was named one of four finalists for the 2024 California Book Award. Johnson was selected by Patricia Smith as a finalist for the 2024 Robert Frost Residency through Dartmouth College. You can find more of his work at Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner and elsewhere.

Lisa Diane Kastner 

Lisa Diane Kastner is the Founder of Running Wild, LLC, a content creation, distribution, and licensing company. Featured in FORBES and several other publications, she’s been named to multiple “Best of”s. A writer and editor for more than twenty years, she has identified talent including Jamie Ford’s Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Shay Galloway’s The Valley of Sage and Juniper, and many other authors whose works have been named groundbreaking in their respective genres.

Lisa began Running Wild with the belief that we can change the world through storytelling. 

Juan Luzuriaga

Juan Luzuriaga was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and immigrated to the U.S. in 2000. He studied Neuroscience at Rutgers University and English at UC Merced. He teaches poetry in prisons (currently California Men’s Colony), 188bet.com, and California Poets in the Schools. He has been a featured panelist at UC Merced, 188bet.com Central Coast Writers’ Conference, San Francisco Writers Conference, Litfest, and more. He has been published in Acentos Review, To Be Completely Honest anthology, Method Writers Speak anthology, San Diego Poetry Annual, Monterey Poetry Review, Cholla Needles, Poetry Breakfast, Matchbox Magazine, and more. Find more information on and on Instagram

Becky Mosgofian is a seasoned communications professional with 30 years of experience in public relations, marketing, and event planning. As the founder of YOBECKO, Brand Cheerleaders & Storytellers, and a consultant with the Small Business Development Center at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, she empowers entrepreneurs to develop compelling narratives.

Becky holds a degree in Journalism/PR with minors in Business Administration and Studio Art from Cal Poly Humboldt. Her extensive career includes work in television, print, and radio, as well as directing a university alumni relations program and serving as editor-in-chief of its publication before establishing her marketing and PR consulting practice in 2002. She served on the CCWC advisory board for five years and has been a past panelist. Becky is eager to return to CCWC this year to share her proven PR strategies for achieving media success.

Claire Noland

As a children’s librarian, reading specialist, kindergarten teacher, and author, Claire Noland’s career has been built around her favorite things – children and books. She writes heart-filled stories for the magazine, educational, and trade markets. Her picture books have won many awards with her favorite being the Northern Lights Late Bloomer Award for an author first published over the age of fifty. When she’s not writing, Claire loves traveling and discovering new story ideas. She loves to connect with other kidlit creators through her volunteer work with the local region of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Claire lives in Central California with her husband and canine buddy, Mr. Ernie. 

Deborah Paredes

Deborah Pardes is a writer, producer, and facilitator with over 30 years of experience. As VP of Stories & Voices at Swell Audio, she fosters community through transformative audio storytelling, engaging in over 110K Swell conversations. She has designed professional development workshops for organizations like Kaiser Permanente, Warner Brothers, Sony, and Apple. As the founder of Artists for Literacy, she has championed adult literacy, collaborating with the California State Library and artists like Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie. 

Deborah has served as a teaching artist at institutions including Oxbow School of Art and Marlborough Prep. A music composer and producer, she has released five CDs and coauthored Climbing Out for Under: A Handbook for Heartbreak. Her latest work includes a children’s book and music video, Outer Space Balloon.

Mark Parsons has written primarily non-fiction for several years, penning over two hundred articles for national publications as well as a pair of non-fiction books before turning to book-length fiction. His first YA novel ROAD RASH (Knopf/Random House) was named to the ALA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults list, as well as Bank Street College’s Best Children’s Books of the Year list.

His newest novel, THE 9:09 PROJECT (Delacorte/Random House) explores the healing power of art. It was a Kirkus Reviews Best of The Year selection, and a Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year 2023 selection. It has received critical acclaim (Kirkus calls it “A brilliant literary portrait…wryly funny, extremely intelligent, and sweetly romantic” in a starred review) and is being translated into Russian, Polish, and Chinese. Find more info at @MarkHParsons (X), Mark.Parsons.733 (Facebook) and on YouTube.

Leanne Phillips

Leanne Phillips lives, reads, and writes on California’s Central Coast. She is an award-winning writer, a professional editor, and a certified book coach in fiction and in memoir. Her work has appeared in publications including the Los Angeles Times, The Rumpus, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. She has served as the editor of literary journals including Kelp Journal and The Coachella Review and has volunteered with nonprofit organizations including Lumina Alliance (formerly RISE), SLO NightWriters, and the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. 

Leanne earned an MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts from the University of California at Riverside, Palm Desert. She earned a BA in English, with an emphasis in creative writing and a minor in history, from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and a copyediting certificate from the University of California at San Diego.

Skye Pratt

Skye Pratt is a writer, editor, and artist with 15 years of experience in journalism, publishing, and travel writing. Through her company, , she offers freelance writing and editing services for a variety of clients, from publications to independent authors. She also created , a travel blog where she shares stories from the road.

In addition to her writing career, Skye teaches acrylic painting for all ages on her YouTube channel, , and will soon be teaching online art and English classes for teens and preteens. Passionate about creative independence, she enjoys the flexibility of being self-employed and working remotely, allowing her to live and work from anywhere.

Sara Roahen

Sara Roahen is a writer, editor, teacher, and publishing professional. Her memoir, Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table, was the chosen reading for the One Book One New Orleans reading initiative in 2009, and it received the Louisiana Library Association’s Louisiana Literary Award in 2010. Sara co-edited and contributed writing to The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook. Last year, she self-published a guide for life story writers, How to Begin Writing Your Life Stories: Putting Memories on the Page. A more extensive book of tips and prompts for memoir and life story writers is on its way. Sara holds a copyediting certificate from UCSD and teaches life story and memoir writing, both privately and through 188bet.com’s Emeritus program. 

Stephanie Roth Sisson

Stephanie Roth Sisson’s first author-illustrated book, Star Stuff: Carl Sagan and the Mysteries of the Cosmos, earned three starred reviews: an SLJ Book of the Year, a Bank Street Best Book, and an Orbis Pictus among other awards. Spring After Spring, a picture book about Rachel Carson, was an NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book, NSTA Best Stem, CBC Notable, and JLG Selection. 

Stephanie was born in Germany and moved often as a kid. Books were steady companions, teachers, and treasures. Now, she considers it an honor to create books for new generations of kids. In addition to her own books, she has illustrated well over 60 books including The Princess Posey Series written by Stephanie Greene. Her latest illustrated book is Orson and the World’s Loudest Library, written by Laura Gehl. Visit  

Sheila Roberts

USA Today and Publishers Weekly best-selling author Sheila Roberts has written over fifty books under various names, ranging from romance and relationship fiction to devotional and self-improvement. Over three million of her novels have been sold and that number continues to climb. Her humor and heart have won her a legion of fans and her novels have been turned into movies for the Lifetime, Hallmark, and Great American Family channels. Sheila is also a popular speaker, and has been featured at women’s retreats, writers’ conferences, and banquets. When she’s not out dancing with her husband or hanging out with friends, she can be found writing about those things near and dear to women’s hearts: family, friends and chocolate.

Jordan Rosenfeld

Jordan Rosenfeld is author of the novels Fallout, Women in Red, and Forged in Grace, and six books on the craft of writing, including the bestselling Make a Scene and How to Write a Page-Turner, Writing the Intimate Character, A Writer’s Guide to Persistence, Writing Deep Scenes and Write Free: Attracting the Creative Life. Her freelance essays and articles have been published in hundreds of publications, including The Atlantic, The Rumpus, LitHub, Publisher’s Weekly, The Cut, Scientific American, and many more.   

M. Golda Turner

M. Golda Turner grew up in Lompoc, California. After attending college at CSU Fresno and law school at Santa Clara University, she lawyered for years as a public defender in Northern California, and now lives and writes in San Luis Obispo County. 

Her short stories and poems have appeared in publications such as Kelp Journal, Transitions, and Vision and Verse. M. Golda won a first-place Golden Quill Award in 2023 for her poem “The Tomorrow.” She served as Poetry Editor for the The NightWriter Review: Winter 2024/2025. Her term as President of the Coastal Dunes Branch of the California Writers Club since January 2024 completes in June 2025. She volunteers as Sunshine Chair for the SLO NightWriters, and is a member of PEN America. Find more information at

Wendelin Van Draanen

Wendelin Van Draanen is an international award-winning, bestselling author of more than thirty traditionally-published titles that range from picture books to YA novels and are enjoyed by readers around the world. Two of her books have been produced as movies, including Flipped which became a Rob Reiner directed Warner Brothers feature film.  

Additionally, Wendelin’s non-fiction book on writing, Hope in the Mail, is an informational and inspirational guide for emerging adult writers, and her most recent novel, The Steps (Holiday House, Sept 2, 2025), is a YA thriller described as “Riverdale meets The Queen’s Gambit.” To learn more about Wendelin’s work, visit , find her on social platforms at , or visit Coffee With The Authors on YouTube.

Laurie Woodward

Laurie Woodward is a multi-award-winning author and screenwriter whose published works include Time Murmurations, Finding Joy, The Artania Chronicles series, Forest Secrets, and numerous short stories and poems. Across every project, Laurie champions hope, resilience, and empowerment, showing that true strength is found in staying authentic—whether facing bullies in the real world or dark forces in fantasy.

Her work has won awards from the Writers of the Future Contest, been featured in A Hudson View Poetry Digest, and reached the screen through projects like the anti-bullying DVD Resolutions. She also co-wrote the memoir Dean and JoJo: The Dolphin Legacy, featured in the IMAX film Dolphins, Robin Williams’ In the Wild, and Animal Planet. A former bilingual teacher and peace consultant, Laurie’s lifelong mission is to inspire others through art. She believes that when creativity is nurtured, it can birth incredible things.