AWP Seattle 2014: A Preview

New this year at the conference of the Associated Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) is a full schedule of events on Saturday. In the past, Saturdays at AWP have mostly been for winding down, packing up, and saying goodbye to friends. No more. This year, Saturday is jammed with events, including readings in the evening by poets Sharon Olds and Jane Hirshfield, as well as by prose writers Sherman Alexie and Timothy Egan. If you haven’t already made your travel plans, try to stay at least till Sunday morning, so you can catch all the Saturday activity.

AWP is rightfully proud of this year’s line-up. According to AWP Director of Conferences Christian Teresi, “I’m really excited about the programming this year. I think this is arguably the best overall slate of events we’ve ever had.”

AWP has also added a number of services to make things easier for conference attendees. There are maps of the venues, bookfair, and downtown Seattle on the main conference webpage: https://www.awpwriter.org/awp_conference/overview

“Attendees are also now able to personalize the online schedule,” Teresi notes. Instructions can be found on the main schedule page: https://www.awpwriter.org/awp_conference/schedule_overview

This year, registration will not be closing between the end of preregistration and onsite registration. There is a new will-call registration system that hopefully will bypass the long lines. “As always, we encourage attendees who have not registered to do so now, as using the will-call system will be faster than registering onsite,” adds Teresi. 

Some of my favorite writers will be attending AWP. Each day of the conference I’ll be posting highlights that I find interesting. Look for events with these writers:

Kim Addonizio

Anita Amirrezvani

Richard Blanco

Catherine Brady

Mark Doty

Cornelius Eady

Nick Flynn

Thaisa Frank

Robert Hass

Ernestine Hayes

Tyehimba Jess

Charles Johnson

Phillip Lopate

Nancy Lord

Bobbie Ann Mason
C.M. Mayo

Robert Pinsky
Eva Saulitis

Patricia Smith

Gary Snyder

Carla Trujillo

David Wojahn

Sholeh Wolpe

Matthew Zapruder

“Seattle is a great city with great facilities, and we’re really looking forward to hosting the conference there,” Teresi sums up.

Other posts on the AWP conference:

Don't Avoid the Bookfair

Zack Rogow will be chairing two panels at the AWP conference in Seattle on Thursday, February 27: Is Poetry Ready for Prime Time? with Cornelius Eady, Kim Addonizio, and Toby Barlow, from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m.; and Homesteading on the Digital Frontier: Writers' Blogs, with Mark Doty, C.M. Mayo, and Charles Johnson, from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m.

Other recent posts about writing topics: 
How to Get Published: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 
Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
How Not to Become a Literary Dropout, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10
Putting Together a Book Manuscript, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
Working with a Writing Mentor: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
How to Deliver Your Message: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6
Why Write Poetry? Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Using Poetic Forms, Part 1: Introduction; Part 2: The Sonnet; Part 3, The Sestina;
Part 4, The Ghazal; Part 5, The Tanka