Henry Rollins, who earned a Grammy Award in 1994 for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album, will host "A Night Of Spoken Word" at the 2011 Sanibel Island Writers Conference.

Last week, organizers of the Sanibel Island Writers Conference — sponsored by Florida Gulf Coast University — announced that this year’s event will be held Nov. 3-6 at both BIG Arts and the Sanibel Public Library.

Participants at all stages of development – from notebook scribblers to published novelists – are invited to attend a variety of three-day morning workshops in fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and creative non-fiction; afternoon panels on publishing, collaborative writing, and humor writing; and nightly readings – all presented by celebrated and experienced writers and teachers.

In addition to the conference’s keynote speaker, noted screenwriter, director, novelist and actor John Sayles, as well as “A Night Of Spoken Word” host, singer-songwriter, actor and spoken word artist Henry Rollins, attendees will include:

Steve Almond (creative non-fiction)

Julianna Baggott (fiction panelist/editor)

Screenwriter, director, actor and novelist John Sayles will be the keynote speaker at this year's Sanibel Island Writers Conference, returning to BIG Arts and the Sanibel Public Library Nov. 3-6.

Lynne Barrett (fiction)

Dan Bern (songwriting)

Nickole Brown (poetry/editor/publicist)

Kevin Canty (fiction)

Ron Currie Jr. (fiction)

John Dufresne (fiction)

Carmen Edington (editor)

William Giraldi (fiction/editor)

Barbara Hamby (poetry)

John Hoppenthaler (poetry)

Christopher Joyce (journalism/science writing)

David Kirby (poetry)

Christopher Phillips (Socrates Cafe)

Robert Root (creative non-fiction/editor)

John K. Samson (songwriting)

Christopher Schelling (literary agent)

Laurel Snyder (YA lit)

Darin Strauss (memoir)

Jay Wexler (creative non-fiction)

Thomas Williams (novella/editor)

Tom Zoellner (investigative journalism)

“We hope you’re as excited about the Sanibel Writers Conference as we are,” said event director Tom DeMarchi. “We’ve done everything we can to bring in the best writers available for a variety of workshops, panels and consultations.

Sayles, whose most recent novel is the critically acclaimed “A Moment in the Sun,” has also written “Pride of the Bimbos,” “Los Gusanos” and the National Book Award-nominated “Union Dues.” He has directed 17 feature films, including “Matewan,” “Passion Fish,” “Lone Star” and “Eight Men Out.”

During his illustrious career, Sayles has received a John Steinbeck Award, a John Cassavetes Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Writer’s Guild of America, and two Academy Award nominations.

For better than a quarter century, Rollins has toured the world as a spoken word artist, as frontman for both Rollins Band and Black Flag. He earned a Grammy Award in 1994 for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album for his reading of his classic punk-rock travelogue “Get In The Van.”

When he’s not living out of a suitcase, Rollins is constantly at work as an actor, radio DJ, author of more than 20 books, and running his own publishing company and record label.

The cost to attend the 2011 Sanibel Island Writers Conference is:

• $300 for non-student registration if postmarked before July 31

• $350 for non-student registration if postmarked after Aug. 1

• $280 for Big Arts members

• $250 for students (with current ID)

• $50 for optional individual manuscript consultation (10 pages maximum)

Refunds (less a $50 processing fee) are available until Sept. 30.

Now through Sunday, July 31, organizers are promoting an “early bird special” –$50 off the regular price of admission.

“Please note that despite an ever-expanding lineup and increased operational costs, we’ve kept the registration price the same since our first conference in 2006,” added DeMarchi. “The conference is open to any aspiring writer who wants to create new work or refine a project already in progress. We have 150 openings for the conference itself; however, space for individual manuscript consultations is very limited.“

For additional information about the Sanibel Island Writers Conference, visit www.fgcu.edu/SIWC or call 239-590-7421.