If you’re looking to have a working vacation this summer (or thinking ahead to fall), here’s a handy site to search for a writer’s conference. From the home page:
“The Writers’ Conferences & Centers (WC&C) website is designed to be a valuable resource for writers and students looking for information about attending a particular writing conference, center, festival, or retreat. WC&C represents the most established and respected writing conferences and centers in North America and abroad. Please feel free to use our Member Directory or Event Calendar to find helpful information regarding application deadlines and procedures, conference faculty, tuition, scholarships, complete program descriptions, and much more.”
If you plan ahead, next year you can apply for a $500 scholarship to be used at a member conference of your choice. The deadline is in the spring.
I’ve been to both Bread Loaf and Sewanee and would highly recommend either. I returned home exhausted, exhilarated, and ready to write…after I slept for about three days. I made friends and contacts. I encountered brilliant teachers who transformed my writing and taught me more in ten days than others taught me over a year, and listened to amazing readings that stilled a sweaty group of 200 people packed in stiff wooden chairs. Whatever you expect, the experience won’t quite be exactly like that, but I would bet real money that it will be memorable and worthwhile nonetheless. Where else can you explain to a bunch of sophisticated New York writers what a Rice Krispies treat is and why one showing up at the lunch table is a Very Good Thing?
