Just came out in the Spring 2020 issue of the bi-monthly California Writers Club Bulletin: my article “A Writers’ Convention That Almost Didn’t Happen” (excerpted on this site), a firsthand account of the #AWP20 congress that barely made it under the wire of the pandemic.

Every year, thousands of writers travel to the annual Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference, the largest literary convention in North America with an upwards of 10,000 attendees, 700 exhibitors, and 500 programmed events. This year, however, was special. The coronavirus pandemic cast doubt on this giant event until March 2, just two days before its start, when the organizers and the host city of San Antonio, TX, confirmed it was going forward . . .

A venerable California institution, California Writers Club, founded in 1909, is one of the nation’s oldest professional clubs for writers. The Bulletin itself was launched in 1913. With 22 branches throughout the state offering workshops, contests, and conferences, CWC “is dedicated to educating writers of all levels and disciplines in the craft of writing and in the marketing of their work.” Glad to be part of it.

#awp20 #awp2020 #AWPocalypse #CaliforniaWritersClub