by Francesca Rusackas, Regional Advisor

Happy Spring! Here in the SoCalRegion we are all looking forward to our annual Spring Retreat at the South Coast Winery Resort and Spa in Temecula. It will be held May 20 – 22. The winery gardens should be in full bloom by then. Our guest list includes: Stacy Cantor Abrams, Executive Editorial Director of Entangled Teen; Jenne Abramawitz, Senior Editor at Scholastic; Deirdre Jones, Associate Editor, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, and Deborah Warren, Co-Founder of East West Literary Agency.

We’re planning to start on Friday evening with a VIP Roundtable that will give everyone a chance to chat with each other and our wonderful speakers. Saturday will include Roundtable Editor/Agent Critiques, guest presentations, and workshops. The evening will end with an after dinner VIP Mixer. Sunday includes more presentations and workshops. Check the link below for more info and registration! http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=nukh7cjab&oeidk=a07ec8m8amiebbb6a69

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We are also thrilled to welcome our wonderful new SoCal volunteers.

Kathleen Pinckard is a professor at both Cypress College and University of Redlands. Even with her very busy schedule she has agreed to serve as the SoCal New Member Liaison.

John Dadlez is a website and Internet solutions wizard! He has taken the helm as our IT expert and website coordinator.

Cliff Cramp, illustrator extraordinaire and professor at California State University, Fullerton is our newest meetup coordinator.

Thanks so much to each of them for helping us to provide so many opportunities to our members!