Writing Scholarship to 2010 San Francisco Writers Conference for Survivors of Domestic Violence:  The Ellen Taliaferro, MD, Scholarship Dedicated to the Prevention and Intervention of Domestic Violence and Abuse

Survivors of domestic violence—and the advocates and professionals who support them—can all apply for a full scholarship to the 2010 San Francisco Writers Conference (February 12th-14th, 2010) where they will have their non-fiction writing recognized and reviewed by literary agents and publishing houses.

San Francisco, CA—10/25/09—The 2010 San Francisco Writers Conference has been endowed a remarkable scholarship that will shine a light on the lingering health consequences for victims of domestic violence. The Ellen Taliaferro, MD, Scholarship Dedicated to the Prevention and Intervention of Domestic Violence and Abuse will be awarded to a writer who is writing as a survivor of domestic violence or an advocate or professional who is working with them. The scholarship will pay for a full registration to the 2010 San Francisco Writers Conference to be held February 12-14, 2010 at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel. The scholarship will include a private appointment with a nonfiction editor and agent. There will be a small stipend to partially cover travel and accommodations.

Writers who wish to apply for the scholarship must submit a 250-word explanation of why they want the scholarship, four (4) pages of their work in progress, and a single-page proposal outline for their project. The story can be written as a personal story, memoir, nonfiction book or novel. Contact information, including an email address, must be included with the entry. The deadline for submissions is December 15, 2009. There is no entry fee required. Entries for The Ellen Taliaferro Scholarship for Survivors of Domestic Violence should be directed electronically to Ellen Taliaferro, MD via email at DrTSpeaks@gmail.com.

For questions about the scholarship, contact Dr. Taliaferro at 650-393-3660.

The 2010 San Francisco Writers Conference will take place February 12-14, 2010 at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel. Donations from individuals and companies (including John Wiley & Sons) also make scholarships available each year for Bay Area high school students and students studying for their MFA degrees. The Kevin Smokler Scholarships are awarded to talented and deserving adult writers. The San Francisco Writers Conference is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. For more information about the 2010 San Francisco Writers Conference program, writing contests and scholarships go to www.SFWriters.org.

The scholarship was created by Dr. Ellen Taliaferro, Project Director of the Health After Trauma Project, author of WellWriting For Health After Trauma and Abuse and co-author of The Physician's Guide to Intimate Partner Violence and Respond to Intimate Partner Violence – 10 Action Steps You Can Take to Help Your Patients and Your Practice (See bio below).

"My goal in funding this scholarship is to highlight awareness to the issue of domestic violence assault, and in particular the issue of manual strangulation as a form of domestic violence physical abuse, through a domestic violence survivor or advocate or professional writing their story in the form of a nonfiction book or novel," said Dr. Taliaferro. She adds, "I chose the San Francisco Writers Conference for this scholarship because it excels in offering opportunities for writers attending the conference to interact with the faculty—authors, editors, agents and publishers."

Individuals and companies can create scholarships in their own name or donate to existing San Francisco Writers Conference scholarship programs. Go to www.SFWriters.org and click 'Sponsorships' for more information.

# # #

Short Version of the Release:

Scholarship Name: The Ellen Taliaferro, MD, Scholarship Dedicated to the Prevention and Intervention of Domestic Violence and Abuse

Details: Submit a 250-word explanation of why you want the scholarship, four (4) pages of your work in progress, and a single-page proposal outline for the project. Work must be nonfiction. There is no entry fee required. Electronic submission is required.

Prize: Full scholarship to the 2010 San Francisco Writers Conference, private meeting with a nonfiction agent and editor, and a small stipend.

Contact: Dr. Taliaferro at 650-393-3660 or DrTspeaks@gmail.com

Deadline: December 15, 2009

BIO: Ellen H. Taliaferro, MD, FACEP, is the Project Director of the Health After Trauma Project of Creekside Communications. She is an author, speaker and expert witness in the area of the medical response to intimate partner violence. In 1998 she founded the Parkland Hospital Violence Intervention and Prevention (VIP) Center in Dallas, Texas and served as its Medical Director until returning home to California in 2001. She was the co-founder and former Executive Director of Physicians for a Violence-free Society (PVS). Dr. Taliaferro is the author of WellWriting For Health After Trauma and Abuse and co-author of The Physician's Guide to Intimate Partner Violence: How to Ask the Right Questions and Recognize Abuse—Another Way to Save a Life and Respond to Intimate Partner Violence – 10 Action Steps You Can Take to Help Your Patients and Your Practice.

She is the editor of The Journal of Emergency Medicine Section on Violence: Recognition, Management and Prevention which published a series of articles on manual strangulation in October 2001. For that series of articles, she wrote the lead article, Walking and Talking Victims of Strangulation. Is There a New Epidemic?  http://www.healthaftertrauma.com