Speaking to students at a day-long workshop in Ireland in 2012.
An experienced speaker and instructor, I teach classes, workshops and appear on panels. I love to travel and speak around the world and conduct my own workshops for small groups.
Some of my classes and speaking engagements include:
- Two hour class: Your Voice Matters: The Art of Storytelling to Make Your Blog Writing Stand Out from the Crowd, for Tastemaker Conference in 2019 (full; attendees turned away)
- Workshop leader at The Everything Conference 2018 on How to write what readers want to eat (sold out)
- Featured speaker at the International Association of Culinary Professionals annual conference for several years on writing cookbook proposals, first person essays, and recipes
- Featured workshop leader and panelist at the Association of Food Journalists, most recently in 2018 on Finding Your Voice
- Panelist at TechMunch in 2018 on writing recipes, in 2017 on food writing.
- Three-hour class on writing cookbooks at Civic Kitchen and Litquake, San Francisco
- Presentation about voice in writing at the Association of Food Journalists annual conference, 2018
- 1-day workshop on food writing for the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC
- Weekend workshop leader, UCLA Journalism department, on food writing, Los Angeles, CA
- Featured speaker and panelist at the International Food Blogger Conference, Seattle/Santa Monica/New Orleans
- Featured speaker at the Food Bloggers of Canada annual conference (twice)
- Featured speaker at photography and food-writing workshops in Turkey and Cambodia
- Keynote speaker and workshop leader, Eat.Drink.Blog, Australia
- Workshop leader and panelist, Food Blogger Connect, London
- Speaker, New Zealand Food Blogger Association
- Two-day workshop on food writing in Ireland
- One-day workshops on food writing in Atlanta, Honolulu, San Diego,Tustin, CA and St.Louis
- Five years leading a conference on food writing for Book Passage bookstore, Corte Madera, CA
- Several years teaching food writing classes at Book Passage bookstore, Corte Madera, CA
- Several years as a writing instructor at the Writing Salon, San Francisco, on food writing and book proposal writing
- Instructor at a class on writing book proposals at LitCraft, San Francisco
- Panel moderator and speaker, San Francisco Professional Food Society
A breakout talk I did on writing skills at the International Food Blogger Conference (IFBC). That’s me to the right of the screen. (Photo courtesy of Kathleen Flinn).
Speaking at the San Francisco TechMunch conference with blogger Amy Sherman. (Photo courtesy of Christine Leong.)
Recorded Speaking Events
- Keynote speaker, Food Writing Forum: Opportunities and Challenges in a Digital Age | The New School
- Dianne Jacob at Book Passage
Write-ups
- This student wrote about my cookbook class at Civic Kitchen in 2019.
- Three bloggers posted on my session at IFBC 2014: 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Food Writer, The Right Words are as Important in Food Writing as Ingredients in a Recipe, and Food Writing at IFBC
- An attendee wrote about a class I taught at EatDrinkBlog, Australia.
- An attendee wrote this for Food Bloggers of Canada about what she learned in class
- See this write-up of my food-writing class at Food Blogger Camp in Ixtapa, Mexico
- Here’s a blog post based on my talk at WordPress 2011 on How to Have a Killer Food Blog
- A report of a panel session on recipe writing appeared on KQED Bites
Please contact me about speaking opportunities. I am available for private workshops as well as speaking at conferences.
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I also speak on my family’s unusual history as Iraqi Jews from China. (See Personal Essays to read articles on this topic.) I appeared on this panel about The Foods of Shanghai’s Jewish Communities for the Asian Culinary Forum at the Berkeley, CA Jewish Community Center. The Culinary Historians of Northern California hosted me for a talk and slide show.
