Dear Writers,
Welcome to the spring installment of my annual regional conferences and workshops list! The permanent (date-less) list lives over at my Resources page, so do bookmark that, as well as use it to mark your calendar for items to check back on, as it contains events not listed here because their 2019 information is not yet available.
I’d like especially to highlight the Sacramento Poetry Center Annual Spring Conference, for which I have the great honor of serving as the presenter coordinator for the second year now. I hope to see you there–and beyond!
Happy writing,
Kate
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Sacramento Poetry Center Annual Spring Conference
April 6
9:00 a.m. Registration; 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Conference
This year’s conference includes a fantastic lineup of poets from across Northern California! With a special lunchtime Q&A about the *new* MFA program at UC Davis, with program director Katie Peterson, **AND** a new midday reading presenting local authors, presses and magazines with new work out!
Register today at Brown Paper Tickets, and find general info soonish at sacramentopoetrycenter.org.
Sacramento Poetry Center at 1719 25th Street
Registration Fee of $40 includes access to all three sessions for talks, all readings and lunch.
Pay at the door or send check to: SPC 1719 25th Street Sacramento, CA 95816.
Here are the highlights:
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April 13
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
The excellent long-standing cross-generational writers conference sponsored by Hart Senior Center and Cosumnes River College. Visit ourlifestories.org to view speaker bios and workshop sessions.
Cosumnes River College
8401 Center Parkway, Sacramento, CA
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April 27
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Nevada County Arts Council presents the Sierra Poetry Festival, which the Council describes on the website: “Sierra Poetry Festival encourages both a strong local presence and international and universal themes. Each year we choose a special anchor for these themes. For 2019 our anchor point is Breath and Shadow, breath indicating the ebb and flow of nature and the seasons, and shadow being symbolic of our ephemeral existence and self-reflection.” See the website for more info.
Cost: $25-$40, free for students with valid ID
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April 27
8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
WordSpring is a creative writing conference put on by a small team of teachers and students who are passionate about writing. Our conference mission is to invigorate and empower our diverse local community of new and experienced writers by creating an event where they can come together while also bringing in professionals from near and far to share their expertise. This conference is an inspiring experience that leaves attendees refreshed, excited, and ready to write.
Each year the conference features a unique and engaging contest special to that conference–check out the website for more information.
The conference includes a light breakfast and buffet lunch in registration costs. WordSpring is sponsored by the English Department at Butte College and is in part supported by donations from the community and state equity grants. For more information on registration and our sonnet-writing contest email us at wordspring@butte.edu or call Professor Molly Emmons at (530) 895-2935.
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May 3-5
View program information and register here.
Come join the Gold Rush Writers Conference at the historic Leger Hotel in picturesque Mokelumne Hill where writing professionals will guide you to a publishing bonanza through a series of panels, specialty talks, workshops and celebrity lectures. Go one-on-one with successful poets, novelists, biographers, memoirists and short story writers. The conference includes a picnic supper in a Victorian garden Friday evening, as well as Saturday dinner and Sunday brunch.
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Surprise Valley Writers Conference
May 31 – June 4
2018’s program feature faculty members Greg Glazner (poetry), Judy Halebsky (poetry), Anna Marie Spagna (creative nonfiction) and Joshua Mohr (fiction)
Four days of writers’ workshops; Friday afternoon, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday mornings with ample time for lunch, craft lectures, writing and exploring. Evening events include a Welcome Reception, Staff Readings, Keynote Speech, Campfire Open Mic, shared meals and community building. We also encourage attendees to write and discover Surprise Valley on your own. Our staff is available to offer suggestions on local sights, drives and adventures.
All workshops and lectures are held in downtown Cedarville.
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Squaw Valley Community of Writers
Two different sessions, by genre, throughout June, July and August
Portions of the program are open to the public.
The Community of Writers was established in 1969 by novelists Blair Fuller and Oakley Hall, who were both residents of the valley. It was originally staffed by a band of San Francisco writers including David Perlman, Walter Ballenger, Barnaby Conrad and John Leggett, the latter two of whom went on to found, respectively, the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and the Napa Valley Writers Conference. The Community of Writers continues to be directed by Brett Jones.
Over the years the community has mounted workshops in Fiction, Nonfiction, Screenwriting, Playwriting, Poetry, and Nature Writing (the Art of the Wild, co-produced by Jack Hicks and University of California at Davis), and Writing the Medical Experience directed by David Watts. Lisa Alvarez and Louis B. Jones now co-direct the Fiction Program and Michael Carlisle directs the nonfiction Program of the Writers Workshop, which were for twenty years directed by Carolyn Doty. Galway Kinnell directed the Poetry Program for 17 years and Robert Hass has directed it since 2004. Diana Fuller directs the Screenwriters Workshop, founded in 1974 by screenwriters Tom Rickman and Gill Dennis.
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Napa Valley Writers’ Conference
July 28 – August 2
2019 Faculty:
- In poetry – Eavan Boland, Forrest Gander, Jane Hirshfield, Major Jackson
- In fiction – Lan Samantha Chang, Ryan Harty, Mitchell S. Jackson, Julie Orringer
- NEW! In translation – Howard Norman
Since 1981, the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference has provided an opportunity for fellowship and serious work with a focus on craft amidst the hills and vineyards that have made the region famous. The conference is a project of Napa Valley College.
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Mendocino Coast Writers Conference
August 1-3
2019 faculty lineup is fantastic!!
Features nationally-recognized authors and publishing professionals who are outstanding teachers. The conference is limited to 100 participants who will discover: how to develop their literary craft in a supportive community, surrounded by the spectacular scenery and temperate climate of California’s North Coast; a place to exchange ideas with authors, editors, literary agents, and other writers of many talents, ages and backgrounds. Learning happens in workshops, seminars, panels, and during informal social gatherings; inspiration to explore how writing can shape the world. Whatever the genre, whether fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, words are a powerful instrument of change; a place where you can take creative risks, whether on the page or on the stage, and where you will be inspired to explore new ways to shape your writing. An opportunity for teachers to earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) through Dominican University.
General registration opens March 1.
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Writing By Writers Workshop @ Tomales Bay
October 17-21
201 Faculty: Carolyn Forché, Pam Houston, Rebecca Makkai, Tommy Orange, Carl Phillips, Lidia Yuknavitch
The Writing By Writers Workshop @ Tomales Bay brings aspiring writers into close community with nationally known poets and writers. Manuscript and poetry workshops are limited to 12 participants and generative workshops are limited to 15 to ensure an intimate setting. For information on how to apply, please click here. Conference is held at at Marconi Conference Center, Marshall, California, just north of San Francisco in Marin County.
Scholarships are available and applications for these are due on May 1.