Pitt to Host "Editors To Writers" Panel Nov. 6

November 1, 2002

Editors from Esquire, Real Simple, and Popular Science on panel

PITTSBURGH—The University of Pittsburgh's Writing Program will feature, as part of the Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series, a panel discussion, "Editors to Writers: A Dialogue About Creative Nonfiction," from 3 to 5 p.m. Nov. 6, in Room 501 of the Cathedral of Learning in Oakland.

Panelists include Brenda Copeland, editor at Simon and Schuster; Frances Kuffel, executive vice president of the Maria Carvainis Agency, Inc.; Jenny Rosenstrach, senior editor of Real Simple magazine; Rebecca Skloot, associate editor for biotechnology and life sciences at Popular Science; and Andy Ward, articles editor of Esquire magazine. Lee Gutkind, Pitt professor of creative nonfiction, will moderate the discussion.

Copeland is an editor at Atria Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, where she acquires literary and commercial fiction; narrative fiction, especially accessible science and history; and nonfiction in the areas of psychology, practical self-help, and personal development.

Kuffel, a literary agent for more than 10 years, was with the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency before joining the Carvainis Agency. Her list of specialties includes literary, historical, mystery fiction, and nonfiction comprising memoirs, biography, accessible science, outdoor adventure, and history.

Rosenstrach edits features, such as work-life balance stories, food stories, and first-person essays. Before joining Real Simple, she wrote a monthly column for Cooking Light and was a senior editor at Biography magazine. Rosenstrach has written for several other national publications, including In Style, Mademoiselle, New Woman, and Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel.

Skloot, an award-winning freelance science and medical writer, integrates storytelling with scientific and medical information to create nonfiction pieces for newspapers and magazines nationwide. Her background is in basic and clinical science, and she writes for both scientific and general audiences. Skloot is a former associate editor of Pitt Med magazine. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times and Pitt Magazine.

Andy Ward is the articles editor at Esquire magazine, where he started working as a freelance researcher in 1996. The writers he works with on a regular basis are David Sedaris, Scott Raab, Wil Hylton, Chris Jones, Charles Pierce, and Jeanne Marie Laskas, an assistant professor of creative nonfiction at Pitt. "The Perfect Fire", a story about the tragic Worcester Warehouse fire of 1999 that was written by Sean Flynn and edited by Ward, won the 2001 National Magazine Award for Reporting from the American Society of Magazine Editors.

For more information, call 412/624-6506. The free event is cosponsored by Pitt's East Asian Studies Program, the Book Center, and the Wyndham Garden Hotel-University Place.

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