Invigorate Yourself and Your Writing at Tidewater Area Conferences this Year
As writers, we are often alone when we create. Characters and turns of phrase leap inside our imagination, and we pour them onto the page or the screen. At The Muse Writers Center, we offer workshops and open mics along with clubs and networking events that many rely on for that spark of connection that comes when you are in the presence of other like-minded people, no matter where they are. People who believe that language can affect our very existence.
That’s why The Muse sponsors two Virginia-based writers conferences each year and helps make them a place where we can all come together to learn as well as connect and play.
We invite you to join us this fall at the Christopher Newport University Writers Conference in September and the Hampton Roads Writers Conference in November. We’ll have a big presence at both, and this year we’ll be taking our Teen Writers Fellowship students to CNU’s conference to meet other local writers and pitch to agents.
At the 42nd Annual CNU Writers Conference on Saturday, September 14 at CNU’s Freeman Center, keynoter Leslye Penelope will headline an event with nearly a dozen other breakout sessions, agent and publisher pitch sessions, an open mic, and an opportunity to network with fellow writers. Other featured speakers include Coastal Virginia Magazine’s Leona Baker; literary agent, Kerry D’Agostino; John Hartness, the publisher of Fallstaff Books; and award-winning novelists Lydia Netzer and Diane Zinna. Discounts available for Muse Students, members of military, seniors, and full time students. Register now!
The 16th Annual Hampton Roads Writers Conference meets Thursday evening, November 7-Saturday evening, November 9 at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Conference Center in Virginia Beach. Voted the best writers conference in Virginia several years in a row, the event features 1 evening plus 2 full days of workshops, 2 best-selling keynoters (Yasmin Angoe & Jack Campbell), 2 first-ten-lines critique sessions, 50+ workshops during 10 breakout sessions (including those offered by former Virginia Poet Laureate, Henry Hart and best-selling author, Preslaysa Williams), free ten-minute agent pitches, a complimentary 90-minute cocktail social, and a 2-hour open mic. Registration includes 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, refreshments throughout the day, a meet and greet with complimentary hors d’oeuvres, heavy hors d’oeuvres at the social, the opportunity to present at an open mic, entrance to all the sessions, and the opportunity to pitch to 2 literary agents. The hotel stay is extra, if you are coming from outside the region, but they are also very generous and offer anyone a scholarship who needs it. Register now!
We hope you will join us at one or both of the conferences, and if you currently reside outside Virginia, consider visiting us and one of these conferences. When you do, stop by The Muse’s table, say Hi, and let us know what’s inspiring you.