Wordsmiths will get the chance to hone their skills next weekend, during the fourth annual Mississippi Writers Guild Writers Conference.

The conference will kick off Friday and continue Aug. 7 at Riverwalk Casino Hotel on Warrenton Road. Admission for all-day Aug. 7 sessions is $125 for MWG members and $145 for nonmembers. Half-day sessions are $65 for members and $75 for nonmembers. Discounts are available for groups, students and seniors.

The focus will be on writing nonfiction and children’s books, said Teresa Lynn, MWG chapter head of the Vicksburg area.

“We find that a lot of the market now is nonfiction, even though about 80 percent of what editors get in the mail is fiction,” she said.

Lynn said she expects around 50 to attend the conference.

The MWG was founded five years ago and is comprised of more than 150 members. In addition to sponsoring writer workshops, conferences and retreats, the organization partners with schools and communities to provide literary events.

Expected to lead workshops are:

• Regina Brooks, a literary agent and author. She will give the opening speech and lead the workshops Writing the Undeniable Brook Proposal and What You Need to Know About Literary Agents. Brooks is the founder and president of Brooklyn-based Serendipity Literary LLC, which has represented award-winning authors such as Marilyn Nelson and Sundee Frazier. Before starting her own agency, Brooks held senior positions at McGraw-Hill and John Wiley and Sons, where she was the youngest ever and first African-American editor. Brooks is the author of the children’s book “Never Finished! Never Done!” and “Writing Great Books for Young Adults.”

• Katie McHugh, executive editor of Da Capo Lifelong Books, an imprint of the Perseus Books Groups that specializes in nonfiction health and wellness titles. She will give the closing keynote speech and will lead the workshops Inside the Publishing House and What Makes a Book Marketable? Books put out by Da Capo include New York Times best-sellers “29 Gifts” by Cami Walker, “One Year to an Organized Life” by Regina Leeds and “The Metabolism Miracle” by Diane Kress.

• Hester Bass, author of “The Secret World of Walter Anderson,” which won the 2010 NCTE Orbis Picture Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children. She will teach the workshops I Think I Can: Writing for Children and Teens and Agents and Editors: Your Partners in Publishing for Children and Teens.

• Lauretta Hannon, author of “The Cracker Queen: A Memoir of a Jagged Joyful Life.” She will teach the workshops Don’t Wait for ’Em to Die: Why the Time to Write Your Life Story is Now and Marketing Mojo: How Marketing Can Catapult you to Success Before the Book Deal. Hannon has been a commentator on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” where her stories reach more than 25 million listeners.

• Alan Brown, an English professor at the University of West Alabama. He will teach the workshops How I Got Published: Navigating the World of Small and University Presses and Preserving Family History. Brown, author of “Haunted Vicksburg” and “Haunted Natchez” will also lead Friday night’s downtown ghost tour. He began collecting oral ghost stories in 1993, and has published several collections. His book “Haunted Georgia” was published in 2008 and “Haunted South Carolina” in 2010. His “Ghosts Along the Mississippi” will be published next year.