Time is running out to register for this year's Puerto Vallarta Writers Conference, to be held February 25-27th at Los Mangos Library. Among the stellar line-up of bestselling authors, agents and publishing experts, keynote speakers and featured presenters at the conference, Latino entertainment mega-talent, Rick Najera promises to be a highlight as keynote speaker and seminar presenter.

Najera is an award-winning actor-writer-director-producer with credits in film, television, theatre and Broadway. He is undeniably one of the most sought after comedic talents in the industry. Honored twice by Hispanic Business Magazine as one of the "100 Most Influential Latinos in America," Najera is also one of the most powerful voices in the Latino world today.

"Poet and producer, actor and comedian, award-winning TV writer, denizen of the Latin quarter, Hollywood Hills and Great White Way, Rick Najera is the embodiment of diversity."
- Writers Guild of America

Najera has enjoyed successes as a television actor, theater performer, producer and scriptwriter. Most recently, Najera penned the holiday feature film Nothing Like the Holidays, starring Debra Messing, Alfred Molina, John Leguizamo and Freddy Rodriguez.

His writing/acting credits also include the critically acclaimed award-winning stage works, LATINOLOGUES (Broadway), interactive musical comedy Sweet 15 Quinceañera and Diary of a Dad Man, a new one-man show. He has also written for groundbreaking television comedies such as MAD TV and In Living Color.

As one of the only three Latinos in history to write and star in his own show on Broadway, Najera made his Broadway debut in 2005 with his self-written and created, award-winning sketch comedy show, LATINOLOGUES. The show triumphed on Broadway at the historic Helen Hayes Theatre on W. 44th Street for a four-month run (137 performances with an extension,) a historical achievement for a Latino-oriented show.

Najera's show on Broadway was directed by comedy legend, Cheech Marin and paved the way for others shows to follow such as the Tony-award-winning musical, In the Heights. While on Broadway, Najera joined Broadway's brightest, most influential and well-loved personalities when his caricature was placed on Sardi's exclusive Wall of Fame in midtown Manhattan.

Nearly 100 different guest actors have performed in LATINOLOGUES throughout its 15 years of performances and touring the U.S., making it the longest running and only showcase in America for Latinos of its kind.

In addition to performing in his own stage productions, Najera has also appeared in many films and television shows such as How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer, The West Wing, HBO's Habla and recently CNN's Latino in America.

As a professional Writers Guild of America (WGA) scribe, Najera has been nominated for two WGA awards for Best Writing for a Comedy/Variety Television Series for his writing on Fox's MAD TV. Najera has written four pilots for the major industry networks and numerous animated pilots and series for Disney, Televisa and CBS.

Registration for the full PV Writers Conference is $120 USD. To register, contact Ted Druch or Maria Ruiz at (322) 123-9249 or langton64(at)hotmail.com. An added bonus is that a portion of the profits will be contributed to Los Mangos Library.

To read more about the conference schedule of speakers and to register online, visit Puerto-Vallarta-Writers-Group.com.

Roberta Rand is Owner/Creative Director of Palabras Mágicas Marketing and the author "Playing the Tuba at Midnight" (IVP, 1995), humor and encouragement for single women. Read more of Roberta's observations about life and Mexico on her blog, BirdgirlinParadise.blogspot.com. She lives in Puerto Vallarta with her dogs Bo and Rocky.

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