OCW is pleased to announce William P. Young, author of The Shack, as keynote speaker for winter 2009 one-day writers’ conference.

February 28, 2009
Red Lion Hotel
Salem, Oregon

What does it take to write a bestseller that not only touches the depths of the human soul but also captures the attention of film producers? This one-day conference promises to take writers to a deeper understanding of their craft.

William Paul Young, a graduate of Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon, calls himself a very simple guy—one wife, six kids, two daughters-in-law and two grandbabies—who lives in Gresham, Oregon, and whose time is spent loving the people who are a part of his life.

Born in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, the majority of his first decade was spent with his missionary parents in the highlands of Netherlands, New Guinea (West Papua), among the Dani, a technologically Stone Age tribal people. As the first white child and outsider who ever spoke their language, Young was granted unusual access into their culture and community.

Although he’s always written extensively for friends, family or business purposes, The Shack was a story Young wrote for his children, with no thought of publishing it. “The Shack will tell you much more about me than a few facts ever could,” he promises.

Young describes his journey as “both incredible and unbearable, a desperate grasping after grace and wholeness,” filled with “the potency of love and forgiveness, the arduous road of reconciliation, the surprises of grace and community, of transformational healing and the unexpected emergence of joy.”

He concludes, “For me, life is an adventure of faith lived one day at a time. I have finally figured out that I have nothing to lose by living a life of faith. I know more joy every minute of every day than seems appropriate, but I love the wastefulness of my Papa’s grace and presence. For me, everything in my life that matters is perfect!”

Praise for William P. Young's book, The Shack

“This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good!” – Eugene Peterson, Professor Emeritus, Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.

“The Shack is the most absorbing work of fiction I’ve read in many years. My wife and I laughed, cried and repented of our own lack of faith along the way. The Shack will leave you craving for the presence of God.” – Michael W. Smith, Recording Artist