Past attendee Edie Dietzen of Vancouver, WA had this to say about the 2012 [Chuckanut Writers] Conference: “So inspirational, so supportive. I will definitely be back!” The 2013 Conference promises to be even better! Our conference team has been hard at work on creating a diverse and exciting program suitable for writers of all experience levels featuring seventeen Northwest writers and publishers. Now in its third year, we are looking forward to seeing some familiar returning faces, and hoping to see some new ones, too.
About the Conference:
The Chuckanut Writers Conference [held at Whatcom College in Bellingham, WA] will spotlight both authors and agents, and enthusiastically invites writers of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction to join us for a varied program suitable for writers at every stage of their careers. A joint effort of Village Books and Whatcom Community College, the conference emphasizes craft presentations, discussion, and author interaction. The two-day conference will launch at 9:00 AM on Friday, June 21, with featured speakers, panels, breakout craft sessions, signings, and a faculty reading. The conference will conclude Saturday evening, June 22 with concurrent open-mics for the participants at venues in Bellingham’s historic Fairhaven District.
This year’s faculty are: Alice Acheson, Bruce Beasley, Jeff Bender, Wendy Call, Karen Finneyfrock, Waverly Fitzgerald, Kathleen Flenniken, Mary Hammerbeck, Thor Hanson, Gary Luke, Frances McCue, Suzanne Paola, Brenda Peterson, Naseem Rakha, Natalie Serber, Jennie Shortridge, and Garth Stein. Agents Elizabeth Kracht of Kimberly Cameron and Associates and Felicia Eth of Felicia Eth Literary Representation round-out our roster and will be hearing pitches throughout the conference.
Along with continuing our tradition of offering a variety of engaging craft-centered breakout sessions, readings, and talks from talented authors and teachers, we’ve added a few extra touches to this year’s conference that I think will help capture a very Bellingham experience for all of our attendees, whether they are from out of town or our backyard. We will be hosting a few of Bellingham’s fine and growing food truck fleet to offer lunch on both days of the conference, and Bellingham’s own Good Time Girls will be offering a special historical walking tour to our attendees. A little birdie told me that there is a special pre-conference event that will also be open to the public. I can’t tell you all the details yet, but did you know that some of our conference faculty are in a band??
For more information, including conference program, registration, and the forthcoming announcement of our pre-conference event, please visit our website: www.chuckanutwritersconference.com
–Anna
Anna Wolff is a poet and teacher of writing at Whatcom Community College. This is a repost of part of her April 11, 2013 post for the Village Books Blog.