For Immediate Release — October 10, 2024

CHRIS FABRY TO BROADCAST LIVE RADIO SHOW AT ECPA ART OF WRITING CONFERENCE

**Show will explore Processing Pain through Writing and Reading Christian Fiction with two therapists turned novelists**

Chicago conference on November 14 precedes THE CHRISTY AWARD FICTION GALA featuring induction of SHARON HINCK into Christy Hall of Fame

OCTOBER 10, 2024, TEMPE, ARIZ – The upcoming ART OF WRITING CONFERENCE, hosted by ECPA and The Christy Award program will feature four sessions for writers, publishers, and fiction fans including a session that will double as a LIVE BROADCAST on Moody Radio. The event will be held the afternoon of November 14 in the Chicago area at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel & Conference Center, Chicago/Downers Grove.

In this conference session and episode of Chris Fabry Live, author and host Chris Fabry will lead a discussion of how pain helps writers process their lives and can help readers do the same. His guests will be therapist-turned-novelist Amanda Cox and psychologist-turned-novelist Dr. Kelly Flanagan. Conference attendees will be the studio audience.

The conference includes these four sessions:

The Balance of the Art of Writing and the Business of Publishing
with Tyndale Fiction publisher KAREN WATSON, and agents DANIELLE EGAN-MILLER and CYNTHIA RUCHTI

Processing Pain through Writing and Reading Christian Fiction
This LIVE Moody Radio Show with CHRIS FABRY will feature therapists turned authors AMANDA COX and DR. KELLY FLANAGAN

Authors as Marketers: How to Build a Thriving Ecosystem
with Tyndale Fiction’s Senior Marketing Manager ANDREA GARCIA

What Is Christian Fiction? Writing for a Broader Audience
with award winning novelists DANI PETTREY and ROBIN W. PEARSON, along with author/ singer/ songwriter CINDY L. MORGAN who is a two-time Grammy nominee and 13-time Dove winner

Following the conference that evening is THE CHRISTY AWARD GALA where the year’s best novels in Christian fiction will be honored and winners announced in nine categories, along with The Christy Book of the Year® and Amplify Award.

SHARON HINCK will be inducted into the Christy Hall of Fame in recognition of her impact on Christian fiction, specifically in the speculative genre, and her four Christy Award wins in the past four years. Published by Enclave Publishing, a division of Oasis Family Media, they are: Dream of Kings (2023), Windward Shore (2022), Forsaken Island (2021), and Hidden Current (2020).

The literary imagination of J.R.R. TOLKIEN will be honored throughout the evening by MALCOLM GUITE, poet, scholar, and Anglican priest; STEVE LAUBE, long time advocate of speculative fiction in Christian publishing; and JAMIE LAPEYROLERIE, editor for WaterBrook & Multnomah, imprints of Penguin Random House, and a writer who runs a site dedicated to C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.

Last year’s winning authors will be on hand to announce and congratulate this year’s winners: Sharon Hinck, Amanda Barratt, Sara Brunsvold, Laura Frantz, Elizabeth Goddard, Kristi Ann Hunter, Linda MacKillop, Katie Powner, and Sara Watterson – with 2023 Christy Book of the Year author AMANDA BARRATT (Within These Walls of Sorrow, Kregel) as featured speaker.

Bundle pricing for the Gala and the conference is $159. Attendees receive a discount for the next day’s JustRead Rendezvous author-reader event at the same location. For publishers attending ECPA PubU on November 13-14, the option to attend the Art of Writing conference is included on their registration form.

Promotional partners for The Christy Award program include JustRead Tours, Crazy4Fiction, Family Fiction, Baker Book House, Chris Fabry Live, Reading Is My Superpower, American Christian Fiction Writers, Christian Editors Association, Write to Publish, Publishing in Color, West Coast Christian Writers, and Life Is Story.

For program information: TheChristyAward.com
Registration and hotel information: ChristyAwards.com/registration.html

ECPA (the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) is an international non-profit trade organization comprised of member companies that are involved in the publishing and distribution of Christian content worldwide. Since 1974, ECPA has strengthened Christian publishing by building networking, information, and advocacy opportunities within the industry and throughout multiple channels so that our members can more effectively produce and deliver transformational Christian content. ECPA.org

The Christy Award® is the foremost award honoring and promoting excellence in Christian fiction since 1999, and is named for Catherine Marshall’s novel, Christy, which has sold over 10 million copies since its publication in 1967. ECPA assumed ownership and administration of the award in 2017 to focus and grow the unique opportunity of fiction in Christian publishing.
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Media contacts:
Jeff Crosby, ECPA President, jcrosby@ecpa.org, 630-989-0222
Cindy Carter, Awards & Recognition Manager, ccarter@ecpa.org, 480-966-3998 ext. 103

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