Master Class: Developing an Effective Book Pitch with Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Master Class: Developing an Effective Book Pitch with Maurice Carlos Ruffin
1 Session: Monday, June 9
7:00-9:00pm ET
Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Maurice Carlos Ruffin is a professor of Creative Writing at Louisiana State University and has optioned work to Hollywood. His most recent book is the novel is The American Daughters (One World, 2024). Other books include the story collection, The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You (One World, 2021), a New York Times Editor’s Choice, a finalist for the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and longlisted for the Story Prize, and We Cast a Shadow (One World, 2019), which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the PEN America Open Book Prize.
There's only one chance to leave a first impression. It's important for an author to know how to talk about their work to agents, editors, and producers. This class will offer generative exercises and pointed examples all designed to provide these tools. This class is for writers at the intermediate and advanced level who have already done considerable work on a book project.
Workshop Highlights:
Learn how to make an effective elevator pitch.
Learn how to draft a written proposal.
Gain insight into editor and agent expectations.
This course has 1 full scholarship available. To apply, please fill out this form by Friday, May 30.
Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s most recent book is The American Daughters (One World, 2024), which Publishers Weekly, in a starred review, called "a vibrant picture of antebellum New Orleans." He is also the author of the story collection The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You (One World, 2021), which was a New York Times Editors' Choice, a finalist for the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and longlisted for the Story Prize. His first book, We Cast a Shadow (One World, 2019), was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the PEN America Open Book Prize. It was a New York Times Editors' Choice and was longlisted for the 2021 DUBLIN Literary Award, the Center for Fiction Prize, and the Aspen Words Literary Prize. Ruffin is the winner of several literary prizes, including the Iowa Review Award in fiction and the William Faulkner–William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition Award for Novel-in-Progress. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the LA Times, the Oxford American, Garden & Gun, Kenyon Review, and Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America.
