The Missouri Poet Laureate will give the keynote address at the Fifth Annual MCC-Longview Literary Festival today.</p><p>Poet William Trowbridge will speak at 1 p.m. Oct. 12 at the festival which will be held in the Mel Aytes Education Center at the college at 500 Longview Road.</p><p>The free event for fans and writers is intended to inspire and give hints to local authors, and also give students and area residents and a taste of what its like to attend sometimes very expensive writer&#x2019;s workshops, said organizer Susan Satterfield. It runs 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Oct. 12 and 13.</p><p>&#x201C;We have a bunch of writers and editors coming,&#x201D; Satterfield said. &#x201C;It will be a great place to network, especially if you&#x2019;re already a writer.&#x201D;</p><p>Participants will be able to get practical advice on the business side of writing, paying taxes, marketing, contracts and the changing world of &#x201C;e-rights.&#x201D;</p><p>She said there will be break out sessions with topics including self publishing and creating believable characters.</p><p>Published authors will have books available for autographing and they&#x2019;ll visit with fans and aspiring writers.</p><p>This year&#x2019;s guests include authors Lewis Diuguid, Alan Spencer, Steven F. Murphy, Lindsay Martin-Bowen, Carl Rhoden, Marti Verlander and many others. Literary groups including the Dead Horse Society, the Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society and Summit Scribes also will be at the festival.</p><p>There also will be games, like Short-Story Jeopardy, where participants will hear titles and try to guess authors, in the form of a question, of course.</p><p>Visitors will be invited to try a &#x201C;Story in a Bag&#x201D; where they&#x2019;re provided an opening line, a plot and weird characters and asked to complete a story in an hour. Or the might attempt the post-card story at the event, writing a tale which must fit on a post card, which will be read and awards given.</p><p>For a schedule go to: www.mcckc.edu/services/fe-</p><p>stivals/literaryfestival/sc-</p><p>hedule.asp.