Join us for stories and how-to advice from book writers. What makes a story book-worthy? What is a book pitch and how do you make one? Do you need an agent to write a book? What are publishers looking for in first books? Drinks and hors d’oeuvres provided.

THE PANEL:

Russ Rymer (moderator) is a Visiting Professor at the school. Formerly, Rymer was editor-in-chief of Mother Jones magazine, and executive editor of Portland (Oregon) Monthly. He has served as senior editor or staff writer for other national magazines and daily newspapers including Science ’86 and The Sciences. Rymer has contributed articles to major magazines and newspapers, including The New Yorker, Harper’s, Atlantic, Smithsonian, Mother Jones, Vogue, Los Angeles Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, and The Strad. He has written two books. “GenieÌ¢‰â”A Scientific Tragedy” (HarperCollins, 1993) and “American BeachÌ¢‰â”A Saga of Race, Wealth, and Memory” (HarperCollins, 1998) which was named a New York Times Notable Book. He is currently at work on his third book, “Out of Pernambuco,” a history of the violin bow and the imperiled Brazilian wood from which it is made.

Novella Carpenter graduated from the jschool last year. She studied radio and print and was Michael Pollan’s harried assistant during the Omnivore days. After graduating, on the advice of Pollan and Gorney, she traveled to New York City where she met book and magazine editors, and sold her memoir to Penguin Press. The memoir (yet-to-be titled) is about her adventures in urban farming in Oakland.

Matt Richtel co-teaches the business reporting class at the jschool. He is a journalist, novelist and, we kid you not, cartoonist. Since 2000, he’s worked in the San Francisco bureau of the New York Times, covering business and technology. Prior to that, he worked as a freelancer, and as a reporter for several other papers, including the Oakland Tribune. Under the pen name, Theron Heir, he writes the daily syndicated comic strip “Rudy Park.” He also is the author of “Hooked,” a thriller about love and other addictions,” which was published in June, 2007.

John Gorenfeld (’01) is an author, journalist and Web designer living in San Francisco. He has written for Salon, Radar, Wired. He made international headlines by exposing the use of the U.S. Senate offices for a bizarre ritual, and wrote a book, “Bad Moon Rising: How Rev. Moon Created the Washington Times, Seduced the Religious Right and Built an American Kingdom” (www.thekingofamerica.com), about the story.

Spencer E. Ante (’95) is a writer and editor at BusinessWeek. His new book, “Creative Capital: George Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital,” is just out. (See his Creative Capital blog at http://creativecapital.wordpress.com. His 2006 investigative story “Meet the Hackers” won the 2007 Deadline Club award for Best Science, Technology, Medical and Environmental Reporting.

Kimberly Lisagor (’99) is co-author of “Disappearing Destinations: 37 Places in Peril and What Can Be Done to Help Save Them,” which was published in April. Her first book, “Outside’s Wilderness Lodge Vacations,” won the Lowell Thomas Award for best guidebook. She writes about travel and the environment for Outside magazine, Mother Jones and USA Weekend.