Houston-based lawyer Iona McAvoy will address the basics of copyright, infringement, trademark, licensing (what that means to authors) and book contracts, tying these in with the recent uptick in self-publishing and dealing in the digital world.

If you plan to attend and have questions, you may email them prior to the session to bspencerwrites@gmail.com.

A graduate of Florida State University (B.A., M.L.S., M.S.) IONA MCAVOY worked as a medical/ environmental analyst prior to going to law school, graduating in 1984 from South Texas College of Law. Following that, her career included many years as an environmental and corporate attorney for international waste disposal company, fondly calling this her Trash Lawyer days.

Over the years Iona helped author friends on legal issues, and that led her to pursue a specialization (LLM) in Intellectual Property & Internet Law from the University of Houston Law Center. Book contracts, internet takedowns, copyright issues, licensing material and the like all became part of her life. She’s trying to blend legal work with writing as she moves into a new stage of life, but its hard to resist tackling those IP issues!

Iona McAvoy is a writer, tarot reader, and attorney, proving you can indeed use both sides of the brain at the same time. Walking a straight line is a different story though. She has written a children’s story about her experience in New York during 9/11, told through the eyes of her beloved German Shepherds, as well as being published with her short story, “JADEAD” in the anthology A Box of Texas Chocolates) and “The Legends of the Guardian Wolves” in the 2021 anthology Released from Reality.

She lives in Houston with cats. Bossy, cranky cats.

The meeting will be held on Sunday, April 24, 2:30-4 p.m. CT ONLINE VIA ZOOM

Please RSVP below — by noon CT on April 24 to attend this Zoom event. The link will be emailed to you the day of the meeting.