Pulitzer Prize Winner Keynote Speaker at Writers’ Conference

The Writers Conference welcomes experienced writers, new writers and anyone interested in the writer’s craft. One of the leading writers conferences in the nation, it has launched many writers’ publishing careers, notes Anne Greene, director.

“All of the programs are designed to offer you new perspectives on your work and the company of other writers who share your interests,” Greene says.

This summer’s program include seminars, informal workshops, guest speakers, manuscript consultations and publishing advice, as well as quiet time for writing. Topics include the novel, short story, graphic novels, poetry, memoir, journalism, long-form nonfiction, writing about social issues, mixed-media work, and new forms of publishing.

The conference faculty includes some of the nation’s most distinguished writers and promising new voices: fiction writers Robert Stone, Roxana Robinson, Alexander Chee, Richard Bausch, Paul LaFarge, and Josip Novakovich; poets Honor Moore, Laura Cronk, and Sherwin Bitsui; journalists Lis Harris, Jonathan Schell, Gayle Pemberton, Jennifer Gonnerman, Katha Pollitt and George Packer; and several panels of editors and agents. Also musician and small-press founder Johnny Temple, Allison Lorentzen of the award-winning journal N+1, and Ravi Shankar, founder of the Internet poetry magazine, Drunken Boat.

Three readings are open to the community free of charge:

Author George Packer will speak at 3 p.m. June 20 in the Center for the Arts Cinema. Packer is the author of The Assasin’s Gate: America in Iraq and is a New Yorker staff writer.

Novelist Robert Stone, winner of the National Book Award, will read from his best-selling new book, Prime Green: A Memoir of the Sixties, at 4:30 p.m. June 20 in the Center for the Arts Old Cinema.

Edward P. Jones will read from his recent work and answer questions. He received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award for his novel, The Known World. He has also published two award-winning short story collections, most recently All Aunt Hagar’s Children. In 2004 he received a MacArthur Fellowship. Jones will speak at 8 p.m. June 21 in the Center for the Arts, Old Cinema.