The Wesleyan Writers Conference celebrated its 60th year with discussions on poetry, fiction and non fiction writing, the short story, novel and publishing. The conference, held June 16-19, welcomes new writers, established writers, and everyone interested in the writer’s craft.Anne Greene, director of the Wesleyan Writers Conference, welcomed the participants to the conference on June 16.The program included seminars, craft sessions, workshops, master classes, guest speakers, readings, panel discussions and manuscript consultations.Amy Bloom, the Distinguished University Writer-in-Residence at Wesleyan, made remarks at the Writing Conference. Bloom is the author of three novels, three collections of short stories, a children’s book, and an essay collection. She has been a nominee for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.Guest faculty member Salvatore Scibona spoke about novel and short story writing. His short stories have been published in Threepenny Review, Best New American Voices 2004, The Pushcart Book of Short Stories: The Best Stories from a Quarter-Century of the Pushcart Prize, A Public Space, D di la Repubblica, Satisfaction, The New York Times and The New Yorker.Guest faculty member Lis Harris, a journalist and author, spoke about literary journalism and memoir. Harris was a staff worker on The New Yorker for 25 years, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The World Policy Journal, and the Wilson Quarterly.Participants are welcome to ask questions throughout the Writers Conference.Guest faculty member and poet Honor Moore is the author of three poetry collections: Red Shoes, Darling, and Memoir and two memoirs: The White Blackbird: A Life of the Painter Margaret Sargent by Her Granddaughter and The Bishop’s Daughter, named an Editor’s Choice by The New York Times, a “Favorite Book of 2008” by the Los Angeles Times, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.On June 18, William Finnegan spoke to conference participants about writing about social and political issues. Finnegan’s new book Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.Finnegan has been a contributor to The New Yorker since 1984 and a staff writer since 1987. Reporting from Africa, Central America, South America, Europe, the Balkans, and Australia, as well as from the United States, he has twice received the John Bartlow MArtin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism and twice been a National Magazine Award finalist.Finnegan spoke to Wesleyan Writers Conference participants and signed copies of his book.
Additional photos of the Wesleyan Writers Conference are below: (Photos by Olivia Drake and Tom Dzimian)
Olivia Drake
James Sims
Editorial Staff
Ziba Kashef