February 1, 2008
Blogging the AWP
Reports are beginning to trickle in from the Association of Writers and Writing Programs’ 40th annual conference, taking place now in New York City. It’s sold out this year, with 7,500 people expected to attend.
The AWP confab is the writing profession’s answer to the Modern Language Association, as Bradley explains over at Incertus: “The AWP conference is a big deal—lots of writers (famous and not-so-famous), an exhibitor room for publishers and literary magazines, lots of panels devoted to issues of concern to creative writers, and readings, readings, readings.”
Do writers have more fun at their annual conference than literary critics do?
“Even though I’m not in New York, news from the AWP is still reaching me,” Bradley writes. “For example, right now, as I type this, I know for a fact that three poets are throwing up, one fiction writer is saying goodbye to last night’s one-night-stand, and 1,322 writers of various genres are sitting at tables by themselves in a hotel restaurant or cafe, laptops open, conspicuously working on ‘the manuscript,’ hoping an agent or publisher will walk by and ask, ‘What’s that you’re working on?’ Also, perhaps more importantly, the AWP is putting the finishing touches on its new guidelines for teaching literature to creative writing students, to be presented to members next month.”
The Kenyon Review is also live-blogging the conference. So is Big Sky in the Big Apple (great swag report). We weren’t able to cover the event in person this year, but we’ll link to other reports as we see them.
Jennifer Howard | Posted on Friday February 1, 2008 | PermalinkComments
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— b Feb 10, 01:53 PM #