Highlights, Past and Future

Community is my number one reason for attending writing conferences. To meet up with local writer friends and make new ones. To be around people who get what being a writer is all about. To share in the struggles and the flow, to support and inspire one another, to be reminded that even though writing is a solitary endeavor, we are not alone in our art-making.

If you’re seeking creative community and inspiration, if you want to improve your craft and learn from master storytellers, please join me this June 25-27 at the Chuckanut Writers Conference in beautiful Bellingham, Washington!

I first attended the local Chuckanut Writers Conference in 2019 and was so enamored I wrote a blog about that experience here.

Since the Chuckanut Writers Conference returned in 2024 after a Covid hiatus, each year has surpassed the last with fun events (Poetry gumball machine!), with the growing roster of talented faculty and the variety of classes and panels offered. 

Highlights from last year’s conference:

1. Chuckanut Radio Hour, a monthly radio variety show which last June featured a lively discussion between writers Rena Priest, Robert Lashley, and Ryler Dustin. 
2. Pitchapalooza, an opportunity to submit an anonymous one-paragraph pitch, some of which are read onstage and critiqued by two agents. It’s instructive to hear the discussions of others’ pitches and a little nerve-wracking if yours gets picked, as mine did last year. 
3. The plenary talks in the theater including Juan Carlos Reyes on “GenAi and the Reclamation of a Human Story,” and Thor Hanson on “Storytelling, Story-Spotting, and Story-Saving.”
4. The night of the faculty reading, an inspiration in itself, the yummy Filipino cuisine and delicious desserts provided by Next Chapter Cafe, which is located on the third floor of Village Books, Bellingham’s independent bookstore and one of the driving forces behind the conference.
5. Speaking of Village Books, they have a pop-up bookstore at the conference with all the faculty’s books. Asking to get your book signed is a great conversation starter!

Highlights from this year’s conference, Reconnect, Rejuvenate, Rediscover Your Craft:

1. I was inspired by Sonora Jha and Anastacia-Reneé in 2019 and I’m glad they will be back this year. Jha’s sessions: “Wounded Little Liars: Learning More About Your Characters,” and the panel on “Developing Your Writer Voice.” Anastacia-Reneé: “The Poet’s Mixed Tape” and “Archiving Lives Through Poetry as Memoir.”
2. I’m excited to reconnect with two of my Rainier Writing Workshop MFA faculty members, Brenda Miller and Kelli Russell Agodon. Both have new books out. Miller’s sessions: “Fault Lines of Memory in CNF” and the panel on “Developing Your Writer Voice.” Russell Agodon: “Strange Magic: Writing Surreal Poems” and “Accidental Devotions: Finding Poetry in the Everyday.”
3. The 2024 Whatcom Reads author Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe will also be on the faculty this year: “The Landscape of Memory” and “Hybrid Moments: the Art of the Lyric Essay,” as well as the current Washington State poet laureate Derek Sheffield: “Lightning Bug and Lightning: Toward a Better Revision.” 
4. A few of the other sessions that sound interesting: Lucy Tan’s “The Writer as Multitasker,” Katie Reed’s “Polish Your Live Pitch,” José Orduña’s “Literary Art in a Time of Crisis,” and Peter Mountford’s “Making Meaning in the Personal Essay.”
5. While the bulk of the conference is on Friday 26 and Saturday 27, there are two master classes on Thursday 25. The content of those classes is not yet announced.

You can read the bios of all twenty-one faculty members, including three agents here.

You can check out the tentative schedule here.

To save 15% use code YCWC1526 when you register here.

Let me know if you’re coming to the conference—it’s always nice to connect in person.

Do you have a favorite writing conference or two? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

Thank you for reading! Writing is a lonely endeavor and your presence here brightens my day!