The 2010 Conference

July 13 - 25, 2010

From July 13 through 25, 2010, the University of the South will host the twenty-first session of the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Supported by the Walter E. Dakin Memorial Fund established through 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 fiction, poetry, and playwriting. The faculty will include fiction writers Richard Bausch, Tony Earley, Diane Johnson, Randall Kenan, Jill McCorkle, Padgett Powell, Christine Schutt, and Steve Yarbrough; and poets Claudia Emerson, Robert Hass, Charles Martin, Mary Jo Salter, Alan Shapiro, and Mark Strand. Beth Henley and Dan O’Brien will lead the playwriting workshop. In addition, a group of accomplished writers, critics, agents, and other visitors will take part.

Those who will discuss writing from the point of view of editing or publishing are David Barber (Atlantic Monthly), Paul Bone (Measure), Georges and Anne Borchardt (Georges Borchardt Literary Agency), Todd Bottorff (Turner Publishing Company), Michelle Brower (Folio Literary Management), Paul Cirone (Friedrich Agency), George Core (Sewanee Review), Gary Fisketjon (Alfred A. Knopf), Mary Flinn (Blackbird, New Virginia Review), Rob Griffith (Measure), Gail Hochman (Brandt & Hochman Literary Agency), John Irwin (Johns Hopkins Review), Mike Levine (Northwestern University Press), David Lynn (Kenyon Review), Speer Morgan (Missouri Review), Kathy Pories (Algonquin Books), Elisabeth Schmitz (Grove/Atlantic, Inc.), Don Share (Poetry), Philip Terzian (Weekly Standard), Liz Van Hoose (Viking/Penguin), Robert Wilson (American Scholar), and David Yezzi (New Criterion). Gary Garrison, executive director of creative affairs with the Dramatists Guild, will visit to meet with playwrights, as will Emily Morse, director of artistic development with New Dramatists. Fiction writers Elizabeth Spencer, and Kevin Wilson will give readings; poets Daniel Anderson, Rachel Hadas, Ben Howard, Wyatt Prunty, and Greg Williamson will also read.

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 feel free to contact Cheri Peters at cpeters[at]sewanee.edu or call at 931-598-1141.