For a full list of conferences held throughout the year see Writing Conferences. If you miss an application deadline, put it on your calendar for next year. Quite a few conferences offer scholarships, so apply early. Plan ahead!
(Image: Lake Arrowhead)
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Kaz Conference Keep Writing Virtual Nonfiction Cohort. Sept - Oct, 2022. Workshops include developmental workshops as well as talks on the practical training of writers with input from editors, publicists, agents, social media experts and productivity coaches. Because reading and reviewing other work helps to strengthen ones own writing, peer review is a requirement of all sessions. Just 10 to 16 writers are accepted for each cohort. Will be held online. Apply by August 15, 2022.
DragonCon. September 1 - 5, 2022: Atlanta, Ga. HUGE sci-fi event, with parade, autograph sessions, live performances, readings, wrestling (!), workshops on belly dancing, writing (yes, there's even some writing), art show. (This conference sounds really wild.)
WriterCon. September 2 - 5, 2022: Waterford, Oklahoma. "Discover if self-publishing is the best option for your book–and how to self-publish easily. See what techniques and tools you need to be your own best editor. Find out how to pitch to an agent–by email and in person. Go over the 7 steps to creating your fiction novel, so it’s ROCK SOLID every time. Learn about ghostwriting, which can be a lucrative market for authors. Dive deeper into children’s writing, writing for computer games, poetry, screenplays, songs, cookbooks and more. Witness how to publish on Kindle step-by-step. Uncover the latest tips, tricks and tools for marketing your book–and yourself–effectively. Talk to top agents, editors, publishers and publicists, and MORE."
The Gathering. September 3 - 5, 2022. Workshops in poetry as well as readings. 2-hour Workshops & Readings Friday night, Saturday , and Sunday. Participant Open Mics Friday and Saturday night. Will be held on Zoom. Sold out. Sign up for waiting list.
Orion Online Poetry Workshop. September 5 - October 10, 2022. Online. The Course: Unbearable Beauty and the Romanticization of Place" After all, beauty has only three possible endings, and only one of them is bearable,” said the poet Larry Levis. A poet very much associated with place, Levis mythologized the beauty of the California Central Valley while also acknowledging the unbearable violence in the landscape. How can the beauty of landscape simultaneously exist with what is unbearable about it? This workshop will explore how poets have used place, landscape, and the environment to create the tenuous emotional textures, and nuanced complexities of the spaces they inhabit. Beyond the thematic discussions of place, this course will engage in critical discussions of craft, aesthetics, poetic traditions, and contemporary modes of writing in order to encourage experimentation and innovation in people’s work to extend their modes of expression into new territories. Through generative exercises, participants will have the opportunity to write and share new work for workshopping." The Instructor: Marcelo Hernandez Castillo is a poet, essayist, translator, and immigration advocate. Duration: This class meets once a week over six consecutive Monday evenings from 6-9 pm ET. Apply by August 5th.
Algonkian Writer Conference–New York City Pitch. September 8 - 11 (Virtual), September 22 - 25, 2022 (In person): Ripley-Grier Studios in New York City. The New York Pitch Conference and writers workshop is held four times a year and features publishing house editors from major houses such as Penguin, Random House, St. Martins, Harper Collins, Tor and Del Rey, Kensington Books and many more who are looking for new novels in a variety of genres, as well as narrative non-fiction. The event focuses on the art of the novel pitch as the best method not only for communicating your work, but for having you and your work taken seriously by industry professionals.
Building Narratives: Writing the Urban Pastoral. September 8 - October 6, 2022. Each Thursday, 7:00-9:00pm EDT. Virtual. Led by Dimitri Reyes. "If your body were a building, what experiences would make up your foundation? What might you discover while exploring the shadows you cast? In this supportive poetry workshop, we will construct urbanized spaces in our writing that reflect our motivations and individuality. By calling upon the works of Langston Hughes, William Carlos Williams, Allen Ginsberg, June Jordan and others, we will examine the synergy between our inner dialogue and how we occupy space on the page. Through generative prompts and exercises, we will pay close attention to how we navigate the world and the decisions that build our unique writing process." Limited to 12 participants.
Writing Conference of Los Angeles: September 9-10, 2022 (Virtual). This is an online “How to Get Published” writing event on September 9-10, 2022. (Writers are welcome to attend virtually from everywhere and anywhere.) This writing event is a wonderful opportunity to get intense instruction over the course of one day, pitch a literary agent or editor (optional), get your questions answered, and more. Note that there are limited online “seats” at the event (200 total).
Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold Conference. September 9 - 11, 2022: Denver, CO. Round Table Critiques, Pitch-Prep Coaching, and One-on-One Mentor appointments, as well as keeping the Saturday Publishing Professionals Panel Luncheon and the Sunday Gold Rush Winners Reading Brunch.
Poets on the Coast. September 9 - 11, 2022: La Conner, Washington. Workshop, one-on-one mentoring, craft classes, and yoga for women poets. The faculty includes poets Kelli Russell Agodon and Susan Rich. Tuition, which does not include lodging or meals, is $429. Closed.
Letters & Lines Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Conference. September 10 - 11, 2022: Golden, CO. This conference offers you opportunities to learn your craft, boost your career, and get feedback on your work. The schedule includes three keynotes; a industry professionals panel; 33 breakout sessions on writing, illustrating and professional development; intensives on picture books, novels and illustration; as well as critiques, portfolio reviews and showcase, a virtual bookstore of faculty titles hosted by BookBar, and more. We are offering both in-person and virtual registration. Early Bird Registration (through 7/31) is $280. Virtual (with access to keynotes, virtual manuscript critiques and portfolio reviews, and submissions to acquiring agents and editors) is $200. As a result of the dual (in-person and virtual) format, registration to receive a manuscript critique or portfolio review must be completed by the Early Bird deadline of 7/31. The additional cost is $75 (in person manuscript critique) or $50 (in person portfolio reviews, or virtual manuscript critiques or portfolio reviews).
The First Pages: An Online Creative Nonfiction Workshop. Monday, September 12 – Monday, October 17, 2022. Each Monday, 7:00-9:00pm EDT. Led by Camellia-Berry Grass. "From the first page, a writer can establish the emotional stakes and boundaries needed to foster that moment of deep connection and being seen, for which we turn to creative nonfiction. This workshop will explore strategies for achieving intimacy in personal essay and memoir right from the start. We will learn techniques to craft beginnings that invite readers into your story and voice on the terms most conducive to that relationship. Examining works by Hanif Abdurraqib, Jo Ann Beard, Joan Didion and others, we’ll consider numerous modalities—from fact to flashback, searching to speculation, mourning to myth—that will influence how we think about making first impressions. Each week we’ll generate new or alternate beginnings so you can take this workshop as purely generative or reimagine a work-in-progress." Limited to 12 participants.
Writing On The Door: Washington Island Literary Festival. September 15 - 17, 2022: Washington Island, Wisconsin. "The Washington Island Literary Festival is a moveable feast of writing, reading, discussion, and thought about the written word. Writers’ workshops, author panels and presentations, readings and parties are scheduled at various quaint, historic and beautiful venues around the Island. Participants have a unique opportunity to share time with prominent authors and dedicated readers in the intimate, friendly setting of Washington Island, a half-hour by ferry from the Door County mainland, in September’s color and warmth."
A Weekend For Words. Sept 16 - 18, 2022: Irvine, CA. 60+ working, professional authors of fiction, nonfiction & screen, editors & agents. Costs $325-$425. Manuscript critique & one-on-one consultation additional.
Mini Writing Getaway. September 17, 2021: Atlantic City, NJ. Need a brief break from your life? Need to rekindle your love affair with writing? Join us for a welcoming getaway designed for writers of fiction, memoir, creative nonfiction and poetry. This retreat will trigger your imagination, giving you the freedom to compose new and exciting work. Spend the day immersed in the literary life: writing, discussing craft and sharing new drafts. No distractions. Led by Peter E. Murphy. Will be held in person.
UCLA Extension Writing Retreat at Lake Arrowhead. Sept 18 - 23, 2022: Lake Arrowhead, CA. Join a small group of committed writers for four full days of uninterrupted writing time at UCLA’s beautiful conference center at Lake Arrowhead. Participants will enjoy private bedrooms, private baths, and three gourmet meals each day, along with complimentary beverages all day long. The Writers’ Program will coordinate some structured activities, including pre-dinner social hours and nightly open mic events, but your time will ultimately be yours to accomplish your writing goals at your own pace. Register by September 1.
Okoboji Writers' in-person Retreat. September 19 - 21, 2022: West Lake, IA. The Okoboji Writers' Retreat features 15 speakers, including a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer, editors of large daily newspapers, columnists, and a literary agent. Faculty: Rekha Basu, Art Cullen, Doug Burns, Rachelle Chase, Ty Rushing, John Dinges, Arnold Garson, Jane Dystal, Lyz Lenz, James O'Shea, Rachel Yoder, Paige Windsor, and Diane Glass. Cost: $795.
Writing on the Door: "Becoming a Master Writer," with John DeDakis September 19-23, 2022: Fish Creek, WI. "Take your writing to the next level in this series of topic-specific workshops designed to drill deeper into the finer points of story telling: memoir, journaling, characterization, dialogue, and research. In addition, you’ll learn how to overcome writer’s block whether you’re a planner, or if you write by the seat of your pants. By the end of the series, you’ll have the skills, confidence and strategies to take your writing to a professional level. Each session will include short writing assignments, plus the opportunity to have your work critiqued."
Breakout Novel Graduate Learning Retreat. September 19 - 25, 2022: Austin, TX. An intensive week of critiques, one-on-one sessions, query clinics, brainstorming and writing. Limited to 16 students.
49 Writers Tutka Bay Retreat. September 23 - 25, 2022: Tutka Bay, Alaska. Guest Instructor: Luis Alberto Urrea.
Hedgebrook Virtual Writers Conference 2022. September 22 - 25, 2022, "Hedgebrook is a community of visionary women writers whose stories and ideas have shaped our culture in the past, now, and for generations to come. We have tapped into this community to collectively build Hedgebrook’s first-ever Writers Conference – a three-day (virtual) intensive for writers across the globe. If you aspire to improve your craft, come learn from seasoned writers that are equipped to challenge, engage, and inform. Our illustrious alumnae instructors craft and guide participants through interconnected lessons over the course of three days, proving “No Writer Is An Island.” Will be held online.
LiTFUSE Poets’ Workshop. September 23 - 25, 2022: Tieton, WA. The workshop features readings, performances, and meditation for poets. The past faculty included poets included Ching-In Chen, Christopher Howell, Brooke Matson, Diana Khoi Nguyen, Dennis Nurkse, Kelly Schirmann, Chad Sweeney, Dujie Tahat, Alexandra Teague, and Tobias Wray. Virtual and in person.
PNWA Conference. September 23 - 25, 2022: Lake Washington, Washington, Sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. More than 50 seminars, editor/agent forums & appointments, practice pitching, keynote and featured speakers, reception, awards ceremony. Many agents and editors attending. Will be held in person.
Brooklyn Book Festival. September 25 - October 3, 2022: Brooklyn, NY. This year’s Festival Day and Literary Marketplace, a day-long celebration of authors and books, will take place in person in Downtown Brooklyn as well as virtually. At our live BKBF Children’s Day, families will enjoy a full day of readings, workshops, performances, book signings, yoga, and art projects with favorite authors and illustrators. All events are free and open to the public.
Orion Online Poetry Writers' Workshop with Felicia Zamora. September 29 - November 3, 2022. The Course: Hybridity, Risk, Wonder, and Research in Ecopoetry and Climate-Focused Poetics. "Humans have a deep and complex relationship with the Earth. We are natural beings living in a natural world. As a species, we have written about the environment throughout history out of wonder, awe, reverence, confusion, terror, appreciation—and now especially—necessity—due to forces threatening our environment through degradation, destruction, and change. Artists in this workshop will be asked to consider: What is your relationship to the Earth? How do you approach environmental concerns in your poetry? How might hybridity be a useful tool in your poetic world-building? Our work will center around experimentation, risks in form and expression, incorporation of data and statistics, adding images or graphics, and seeing our work in conversation with news articles, scientists, research articles, other art/artists, place, and social discourse. We’ll make wonder and curiosity foundations for innovation in our eco-writing." Duration: This class meets over six consecutive Thursdays from 5-8 pm ET. Application deadline: TBA.
Creatures, Crimes & Creativity. September 30 - October 2, 2022: Columbia, MD. A writer's and fan's conference for genre fiction covering mystery, suspense, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy, steampunk & horror.
Flathead River Writers Conference. September 30 - October 2, 2022: Kalispell, MT. Writers help writers in this two day conference packed with energizing speakers and workshops. Features: Workshops, MS preparation & submission, working with agents, movie deals, media use, & children's book publishing.