I go. But: For introverts and malcontents, like myself, competitive and conspiratorial introverts, conferences are a test of wills. I find the entire enterprise to be exhausting on so many levels I often chide a higher-ranking myself in mid-conference stream for having fooled a lower-ranking myself once again in attending.   Read More ...

Awaiting a flight to take me to the AWP conference in DC, I can’t help but think about the place of airports in my writing life. To me, airports present one ginormous prompt or at the very least a bunch of micro-prompts. Arrival and departures. All the people and their   Read More ...

Wi-Fi on a plane is the greatest thing since sliced bread…bread that communicates to other loaves of sliced bread via a wireless internet connection. So, after worrying the night away watching newscasts spike ratings with tales of snow-mageddon, the ride to the airport this morning (and the current flight) has   Read More ...

..can keep us from AWP. One look out the window and it’s difficult to imagine spring will ever arrive, despite what the Groundhog predicts. I am in upstate New York and will leave soon with a fellow writer to drive south to DC. The weather here isn’t nearly as bad   Read More ...

Poet Honorée Fanonne Jeffers examines the poet as critic on her panel called Changing Chords: The African American Poet as Critic at this year's conference.

Amy King is passionate about promoting and expanding the opportunities for women poets. See what she’ll be up to at this year’s AWP Conference.

I’m about to turn 41 and being any kind of “virgin” doesn’t happen much anymore. But yes, I am an AWP virgin. As of right now, 6,605 people have pre-registered for the conference. That makes me a bit nervous as I don’t like crowds. So besides scanning the bookfair layout   Read More ...