"Building Bridges: The 2008 San Francisco Writers Conference Anthology" is a wonderful, wide-ranging collection of fiction, nonfiction and poetry by the talented speakers and attendees at the conference. Some are being published for the first time, and the anthology is an opportunity for them to start building a network of readers for their work.

Dip into the anthology anywhere, and you will find fresh writing and fresh ideas. Although most of the writers are from the San Francisco Bay Area, the anthology includes work by writers around the country. It's also an opportunity for you to meet them by reading their work, to see how attuned you are to their craft and sensibility. The anthology gives them the chance to create fans of their work and to start a conversation with readers around the country.

Whether it's poetry, fiction or nonfiction, the writing comes out of contributors' lives and captures their lives, their need to communicate, and their artistry with words. And as members of the human family, their needs and concerns are also ours. So in a way they are writing about all of us. So start reading and let the conversation begin