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New York Times food writer Kim Severson, culinary literary agent Lisa Ekus-Saffer to speak at New Southern food blogging conference

■FoodBlog South Conference
■January 22, 2011 @ 8 AM
■Woodrow Hall, 55401 1st Ave N [map]
■Individual Registration Cost – $135 [Register]  MOB members can save $20 by entering the discount code FBSMOB.

Food Blog South, a regional conference for Southern food bloggers, is set for January 22, 2011 in Birmingham, Ala.  Award-winning New York Times food writer Kim Severson, author of Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved My Life will talk about food writing; and culinary literary agent Lisa Ekus-Saffer of the Lisa Ekus Group will talk about how bloggers can become cookbook authors.

The day’s sessions also include:
• Food photography and styling taught by Southern Living senior photographer Jennifer Davick and Southern Living food stylist and test kitchen professional Marian Cooper-Cairns.
• Marketing your blog with Christy Jordan, blogger at Southern Plate (averaging 13 million page views a month) and author of Southern Plate: Classic Comfort Food That Makes Everyone Feel Like Family (currently #2 on Amazon.com’s Southern Cooking, Food & Wine category)
• Making the most of social media with two-time Shorty Award winner John-Bryan Hopkins, “The Foodimentary Guy”
• Recipe development with Virginia Willis, author of Bon Appétit, Y’all! and former Kitchen Director for Martha Stewart Living Television, and Alison Lewis, cookbook author and recipe developer for clients like Southern Living, Cooking Light, and Better Homes & Gardens
• A panel on writing and blogging about Southern seafood after the Deepwater Horizon explosion
• “Hungry for More: How Blogging Keeps Customers Coming Back for More,” a session on building food businesses with blogging, by Wade Kwon of Birmingham Blogging Academy.

The conference will be held at Woodrow Hall in the historic Woodlawn district of Birmingham. Discounted hotel rates are available at The Hotel Highland located in Five Points South, near a number of great restaurants including Frank Stitt’s Highlands Bar & Grill and Chris Hastings’ Hot & Hot Fish Club.

Sponsorships, which include workshop registration and display space, are available at several levels. “We’re especially interested in getting some up-and-coming food businesses as sponsors—the start-ups that are still in kitchen incubators that are doing great things that no one knows about,” Chavis said. “We’d like to connect bloggers with these new, great finds.” Sponsors will be able to attend the workshop, including a special session on blogging for small food businesses and restaurants.

Additional details and registration information is at foodblogsouth.com.

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