Chris Hedges, who was on the team of The New York Times writers that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for coverage of global terrorism, is among the guests at the 18th annual Writer’s Symposium by the Sea. Point Loma Nazarene University, which sponsors the event from Feb. 27-29, is expecting about 1,000 students and community members at the Crill Performance Hall. The symposium should answer the question: “Why writing matters and why your writing matters?” according to Dean Nelson, director of the university’s journalism program. “Storytelling has always mattered to people,” he said. Yes, blogging and tweeting count. Nelson said society has simply moved away from etching hieroglyphics in caves to writing books, blogging and tweeting. “Whether you tell a story in 140 characters or 140 pages, storytelling still matters — and it always will matter,” Nelson said. “The symposium recognizes and celebrates that fact.” The event includes afternoon workshops and evening interviews conducted by Nelson. The interviews feature Hedges and award-winning author and popular blogger Rachel Held Evans. Workshops will be headed by investigative journalist and crime writer Caitlin Rother and literary agents Elise Capron and Andrea Cavallaro. Special guest, author and screenwriter Dave Eggers, concludes the event. Held Evans is the focus of the first interview at 7 p.m. Monday. Feb. 27. From Dayton, Tenn., site of the famous Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, Held Evans’ first book was “Evolving in Monkey Town.” It explores the relationship between faith and doubt and recounts the challenges of asking tough questions about Bible Belt Christianity. Held Evans recently finished a yearlong experiment in “biblical womanhood,” in which she attempted to follow all of the Bible’s instructions for women as literally as possible. That experiment will be documented in a book published this year by Thomas Nelson. Rother will conduct the first workshop, “When the Truth Hurts,” from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Tuesday. Feb. 28. The former investigative reporter for The San Diego Union-Tribune and author of The New York Times bestseller “My Life, Deleted,” has written a host of books, including “Poisoned Love,” about the Kristin Rossum murder case in San Diego. Rother currently is working on one about John Gardner, the San Diego man convicted of the rape and murder of two local high school girls. Hedges will be interviewed at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28. Active in the Occupy Wall Street movement, he has written for more than two decades about wars around the world, including Somalia, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. His books include “War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning,” “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America,” “I Don’t Believe in Atheists,” “Losing Moses on the Freeway” and “The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress.” His most recent book is “The Death of the Liberal Class.” The “Future of Publishing” is the topic of the workshop by Capron and Cavallaro from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 29. The two literary agents from the Dijkstra Agency in Del Mar will discuss where they believe the publishing world is headed and how to prepare to participate in it. Eggers will round out the event at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 29. The New York Times recently called him “the magnetic center of a literary counter-establishment.” His books include “Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” and “How We Are Hungry” and, his most recent work, “Zeitoun.” Among his screenplays are “Away We Go” and “Where the Wild Things Are.” Eggers is also the founder and editor of McSweeney’s, a literary journal, and a small publishing house committed to finding new voices. Enthusiasm for the event has grown since the first year, when only 80 people attended, according to Nelson. Point Loma crime writer Joseph Wambaugh was the first guest and the one to request the interview format that caught on and has continued. Other guests have included authors Bill Moyers, Ray Bradbury, Amy Tan, Gay Talese and George Plimpton. The symposium emphasizes “the importance of our story to humanity,” Nelson said. “I don’t want us to ever to lose sight of its importance. This is how people connect.” Sure, he said, they connect around food. “But when the meal is over, the connection is gone,” Nelson said. “If you connect over a story, that is forever. ” Tickets for the event at Point Loma Nazarene University, located at 3900 Lomaland Drive, are sold separately. Ranging from $10 to $15, they may be purchased online at www.pointloma.edu/writers or by calling (619) 849-2297.
