RIVERSIDE - Established authors, poets and creative writing professors will share insights regarding what it takes to get published during UC Riverside's 36th annual "Writers Week," which begins Feb. 4.

"We have an amazing line-up this year," said Tom Lutz, a UCR creative writing professor and editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Review of Books. "As Southern California's longest-running literary event, Writers Week provides extraordinary opportunities for LARB. For writers, the combination is great, especially writers who are launching new books."

Opening day will feature a lecture by Los Angeles Times Editor-in-Chief Davan Maharaj, who will assess contemporary journalism and spotlight where he believes the industry is going.

The reservation-only talk is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., Feb. 4, at the UCR University Theatre.

Several of the campus's resident authors, including Tod Goldberg, who teaches Writing for Advertisement

[ Carrington Home Loans ] the Performing Arts at UCR-Palm Desert, will be on hand, as well as others involved in the university's Master of Fine Arts Program.

Authors about to debut new works are slated to speak, including Reyna Grande, Ruben Martinez and David Shields.

Poets Jacqueline Berger, Wanda Coleman, Patricia Hampl and Sheila Sanderson will be giving talks, as will novelists Aimee Phan, Jayne Anne Phillips and Mariah Young.

The event will also feature interactive panel discussions and opportunities to engage Writers Week authors one-on-one, as well as purchase their books on-site.

All activities -- free and open to the public -- will be centered at the CHASS Interdisciplinary Building, except for the closing night keynote address, which Phillips is scheduled to deliver at the UCR Culver Center of the Arts on the downtown Riverside Main Street pedestrian mall.