The 2012 Conference

July 24 - August 5, 2012

From July 24 through August 5, 2012, The University of the South will host the 23rd session of the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Supported by the Walter E. Dakin Memorial Fund established thanks to the estate of the late Tennessee Williams, the Conference will gather a distinguished faculty to provide instruction and criticism through workshops and craft lectures in poetry, fiction, and playwriting.

This year’s faculty includes fiction writers Richard Bausch, John Casey, Tony Earley, Randall Kenan, Margot Livesey, Jill McCorkle, Alice McDermott, Erin McGraw, Christine Schutt, and Steve Yarbrough; and poets Daniel Anderson, Claudia Emerson, Andrew Hudgins, Maurice Manning, Mary Jo Salter, Dave Smith, A.E. Stallings, and Mark Strand. Daisy Foote and Dan O’Brien will lead the playwriting workshop.

In addition, a group of distinguished writers, critics, agents, and visitors will take part. Those who will discuss writing from the point of view of editing or publishing are David Barber (The Atlantic), Paul Bone (Measure), Georges and Anne Borchardt (Georges Borchardt Literary Agency), Richard Burgin (Boulevard Magazine), Barbara Epler (New Directions), Gary Fisketjon (Alfred A. Knopf), Mary Flinn (Blackbird), Rob Griffith (Measure), Gail Hochman (Brandt & Hochman Literary Agency), John Irwin (The Hopkins Review), David Lynn (The Kenyon Review), Kathy Pories (Algonquin Press), Elisabeth Schmitz (Grove/Atlantic), Don Share (Poetry), Willard Spiegelman (Southwest Review), Philip Terzian (The Weekly Standard), Liz Van Hoose (Penguin/Viking), and Robert Wilson (The American Scholar).

Other prominent visitors will include William Baer (University of Evansville Press), Michelle Brower (Folio Literary Management), Leigh Feldman (Writers House), Mike Levine (Northwestern University Press), and Renée Zuckerbrot (Renée Zuckerbrot Literary Agency). Emily Morse, director of artistic development with New Dramatists, will visit to meet with playwrights, as will Gary Garrison, executive director of creative affairs with the Dramatists Guild of America. Fiction writers Allen Wier and Kevin Wilson will read from their work. Laura Maria Censabella, Daisy Foote, Gary Garrison, and Emily Morse will serve on a panel discussing the life and work of Romulus Linney.

The Conference will offer its customary Walter E. Dakin Fellowships and Tennessee Williams Scholarships as well as awards in memory of Stanley Elkin, Donald Justice, Howard Nemerov, Father William Ralston, Peter Taylor, Mona Van Duyn, and John N. Wall. Additional scholarships have been made possible by Georges and Anne Borchardt and Gail Hochman. Each participant—whether contributor, scholar, or fellow—receives financial support.

If you have further questions about the conference, please contact Caki Wilkinson at cswilkin@sewanee.edu or 931-598-1141.