The Florida Authors and Publishers Association 2022 conference kicks off on Friday, July 29 at the Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace in Orlando and continues through Saturday, ending with the Presidents Book Awards celebration and awarding of gold, silver, and bronze medals in some 30 categories.
The event will include six 75-minute workshops on Friday afternoon—some for beginners to the publishing industry and some for those who are more experienced. Friday’s workshops will deal with podcasting, cover design and social media.
Saturday’s sessions will feature four topics: Getting into Bookstores, Writing Query letters and synopses, Print on Demand, and Illustrations. Sponsors and vendors will be available to answer questions about their products and services.
There will be an exhibitor’s hall, plenty of time for networking, and organized events including a reception on the pool Verandah, and a mix and mingle event prior to the Presidents Book Award ceremonies.
Among the standout speakers will be author and environmental journalist Craig Pittman, who will deliver the Keynote on Saturday at 11:45 am.
Pittman is a native Floridian. Born in Pensacola, he graduated from Troy State University in Alabama, where his muckraking work for the student paper prompted an agitated dean to label him “the most destructive force on campus.” Since then, he has covered a variety of newspaper beats and quite a few natural disasters, including hurricanes, wildfires and the Florida Legislature. Since 1998, he has covered environmental issues for Florida’s largest newspaper, the Tampa Bay Times. He has won the Waldo Proffitt Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism in Florida four times, and twice won the top investigative reporting award from the Society of Environmental Journalists.
His books include:
- Paving Paradise: Florida’s Vanishing Wetlands and the Failure of No Net Loss, (2009), which won the Stetson Kennedy Award from the Florida Historical Society.
- Manatee Insanity: Inside the War Over Florida’s Most Famous Endangered Species (2010), which the Florida Humanities Council named one of 21 “essential” books for Floridians.
- The Scent of Scandal: Greed, Betrayal, and the World’s Most Beautiful Orchid,
- Oh, Florida! How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country,
- Cat Tale: The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther (2020)
For additional information, visit his website at www.CraigPittman.com.
For full information on FAPAcon 2022, speaker bios, schedule of events, and hotel booking information go to https://myfapa.org/fapacon/
