Writing & Publishing Fiction - In-person

with the Olney Writer's Group

Interested in publishing a book of fiction? Learn from Olney Writer's Group members Bryan M. Byrd and Andrew Hiller, who recently published theirs!

OLNEY WRITER'S GROUP MEMBERS BRYAN M. BYRD AND ANDREW HILLER recently published their books and are happy to share their stories and experiences. Learn about their writing processes (how to stay motivated!), and tips and strategies on publishing your own work. Q&A and light refreshments to follow. Copies of their books will be available for purchase/signing.

The event will be moderated by Audrey Partington, writer/editor with a 36-year career at the Library of Congress. She's also an Olney Library Advisory Committee member and volunteer book discussion facilitator. 

BRYAN M. BYRD is a native of Washington, D.C., an early retiree, and an avid world traveler with a passion for bold adventures. From completing two tours of the Tour de Thailand and cycling through much of Western Europe to wintering across New Zealand and Australia in B&B's, Bryan embraces life on the edge. After a successful corporate career centered on writing, he has shifted his focus to storytelling. Bryan will read from his auto-fiction novel, Surviving Paradise: the Perils and Pleasures of the Caribbean, inviting readers to experience, like a fly on the wall, his romantic, adrenaline-filled, death-defying sailing journey from Florida to the Virgin Islands, part of his longer adventure through the Lesser Antilles and back to the U.S. Learn more about Bryan by visiting his website: http://www.bryanmbyrd.com.

Award winning, bestselling humorist ANDREW HILLER is a graduate of Viable Paradise who was thrilled to see his first picture book, Pitter Patty Finds Another Day (Dreampunk Press) make its debut in 2023. It joins his indie novel, 2019 BFF Novel of the Year, A Halo of Mushrooms, and the fractured fairytale, A Climbing Stock (Daily Swan 2017) on the shelf. When A Climbing Stock came out, for three months it was listed in Amazon's best selling humor list. In 2022, Andrew won Escape Pod's Flash Fiction Contest. This year, his story "Half-Lives" won second place in Amazing Stories' Readers Choice Awards and was included in their 2023 Best of the Year anthology. He calls his 'geek heaven period' his stint writing and voicing skits alongside the original Jim Henson gang for two documentaries that aired nationally on public radio. Outside of print, Andrew was a regular commentator and reporter for WAMU 88.5 FM's Metro Connection and was the host of the PRISM for VOR which aired in eighty-three countries.

No registration is required but seating is limited.

Questions about this program? Contact the Olney branch at 240-773-9545.

Take a look at MCPL's online resources. Don't have a card right now?  No worries!  Find out how to Get a Library Card.

Accommodation Requests

People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing should request English-language captioning or sign-language interpretation at least five days before the library-sponsored program they plan to attend. Contact the Assistant Facilities and Accessibility Program Manager at 240-777-0002 with all other accommodation requests.

cm 1.1 01/03/2023

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