Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tina Deschamps on May 18, 2011 at 8:39am

As a matter of fact I do. Lighthouse Writers in Denver has a yearly conference in June called Lit Fest. While there are a couple of genre writers among the staff, most are literary authors, and the agents who attend are all looking primarily for literary authors. For more information, go to www.lighthousewriters.org.

 

Permalink Reply by J.M. Lacey on May 18, 2011 at 11:02am

These are great! Thanks Tina and Sandra. I'll definitely look into these.

Permalink Reply by Dera R Williams on May 19, 2011 at 1:03am

I believe it was the March/April issue of Poets & Writers that featured summer conferences and workshops. You might want to look at their online zine. http://www.pw.org/

Permalink Reply by Dawn Spaulding on June 13, 2011 at 1:23pm

I've attended the Southampton Writers Conference, which is great for literary writing.  http://www.stonybrook.edu/writers/writers/

Permalink Reply by Robin Yaklin on August 15, 2011 at 9:37pm

I loved Donald Maass' Breakout Novel Intensive (BONI) and Gary Provost's Writer's Retreat Workshop (WRW).  Those can be found on Lorin Oberwerger's site http://free-expressions.com    She puts the workshop together for Maass and assists at WRW.  WRW was established 40 years ago by Gary Provost.  At either of those you can write whatever, including literary.  Their emphasis is on telling a good story and character development, especially BONI for character development.  These are not conferences where multiple speakers bark at you for an hour each.  These are one instructor--sometimes two--teaching, you practicing, and taking the result back to the classroom for review by peers and teachers.  It gets down and dirty at both places on the first day.  First week of this November, Maass, Chris Vogler and another man (whose name escapes me at the moment, sorry) are doing a long weekend intensive called "Story Masters'.  See free-expressions for that one as well.

Permalink Reply by Cristina Trapani-Scott on October 26, 2011 at 9:59am

I have been to Bear River three times and loved it every single year. The faculty is top notch. They definitely are geared toward literary fiction and poetry, as many of the faculty are connected with the University of Michigan MFA program. Camp Michigania, up in Petoskey, is quite inspiring. The years I went Charles Baxter and Anne Carson were the featured writers. The first year, there was no feature because it was the second year of Bear River. That year I worked with Betsy Cox, a great writer. She got me started on my novel, which is finally finished and being submitted here and there.

Permalink Reply by B. Lynn Goodwin on December 27, 2011 at 9:54pm

Inspiring list in these responses. To conference or not to conference / That is the question...along with what else will I be doing this summer?

Permalink Reply by Rachel Maizes on December 29, 2011 at 1:36pm

I was at the Tin House Workshop in Portland this past summer. The workshops and craft classes were excellent and there were brief meetings with agents and editors (not the focus of the workshop, if that's what you are primarily looking for). I recommend it for serious work on one's craft.

Permalink Reply by Christine Christman on January 3, 2012 at 2:02pm

I have been to the Summer Iowa Writer's Workshop 3 times and found some excellent workshops for literary fiction.  I also hope to get more involved with Lighthouse Writers in Denver, based on Tina's recommendation!