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If you’re passionate about writing, you may have already considered attending a writing conference or workshop to gain valuable feedback about your craft. And with 2020 gearing up to be a great year for literary celebrations and get-togethers, now might just be a great time to find the right event for you. Here are some conferences and workshops to look forward to in 2020, and why attending them can help you take your writing career to the next level.

 

San Francisco Writers Conference, February 13 – 16, 2020

For many readers, key developments in 20th Century American literature are deeply tied to the city of San Francisco and its history. As a place where writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg once honed their craft, the city has also acted as a home base for Dave Eggers, Michael Chabon, Alice Walker, and other luminaries in recent years.

 

At the San Francisco Writers Conference, you’ll get the chance to have established authors, editors, and agents teach you about the steps necessary to achieve success as a writer. Author of over 30 books and winner of PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Walter Mosley’s keynote speech at the conference will also likely be one of the must-see literary talks of 2020.

 

AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) 2020 Annual Conference & Bookfair, San Antonio, Texas, March 4 – 7, 2020

Featuring close to 600 events, the AWP Conference is a must-attend for anyone who is passionate about developing a career as a writer, editor, or literary agent. Not only will you get to experience great offerings from today’s most interesting publishing houses via the event’s celebrated book fair, but you’ll also have the chance to learn the tools of the publishing trade from masters at all levels of the industry. Past AWP conferences have included seminars from great writers like Ralph Ellison and Wallace Stegner, so be prepared for surprise guests at next year’s event.

 

Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, Dates for Summer 2020 TBA

Home to one of the world’s great literary journals, Kenyon College also counts outstanding writers like E.L. Doctorow, William Gass, and Robert Lowell among its graduates. The school’s yearly writers workshop is famous in the publishing industry for the quality of its instruction; writers at any stage in their career can take classes here in poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction, and spiritual writing; additionally, the school provides a summer writing workshop for teachers. If you’re serious about your career as an author, it doesn’t get much better than a summer class at Kenyon.