Whether it's poetry, novel, blog or MySpace page, the ability to write is what builds an audience. The opportunity to share best practices is why the Wildwood Writers Festival at HACC, Central Pennsylvania's Community College, has attracted accomplished authors and students interested in the written word for nearly 30 years.

This year the 28th annual festival will be held 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, April 4, in the C. Ted Lick Wildwood Conference Center on the Harrisburg Campus. The community is invited to the free festival - registration is not required.

Participants can choose from concurrent sessions led by published poets, award winning writers and local professors. There will be opportunity for open readings from participants and time for questions and answers.

"This festival is a grand opportunity for writers and readers of all sorts to come hear fine presentations and readings by accomplished authors - poets, novelists, non-fiction writers, and storytellers," said Jonathan DeYoung, assistant professor of English. "The event is free and open to the public. This year it is one day only and should not be missed by anyone with even a passing interest in writing."

In addition to local writers, the festival will feature the following authors:

• Jose Barreiro, Ph.D., assistant director of research for the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution. He wrote the novel "The Indian Chronicles" and many scholarly works, including "America Is Indian Country." Barreiro is one of the leading scholars of American Indian policy and the contemporary Native experience. He helped establish the American Indian Program at Cornell University, serving as associate director and editor-in-chief of Akwe:kon Press and the journal Native Americas. He is senior editor of Indian Country Today. Barreiro will read from "Panchito: Chief of the Mountain," his biography of a Taino elder from the mountains of Cuba.

• Judith Steinbergh, poet, scholar and teacher, has taught poetry for more than 30 years. She wrote "Marshmallow Worlds," a book of poems for children, "Lillian Bloom" and "Writing My Will," books of poems for adults. She has written three textbooks on teaching poetry writing to children. Steinbergh's articles have appeared in the Harvard Educational Review and Language Arts Journal. Steinbergh's poems on Moab, Utah, appeared in the March 2005 issue of National Geographic.

For more information, contact DeYoung at HACC, telephone 780-2484 or send an e-mail at the address below.