Conversations & Connections: Practical Advice on Writing

April 13, 2024, American University, Washington, DC

Conversations and Connections is a one-day in-person conference organized by Barrelhouse and held at American University in Washington, DC on April 13, 2024

  • What is Conversations and Connections?

    Conversations and Connections is a one-day writer's conference that brings together writers, editors, and publishers in a friendly, supportive environment. The conference is organized by Barrelhouse magazine, and has been held for the past 15 years in Washington DC, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. The April 2024 conference is our 25th Conversations and Connections. All proceeds go to participating small presses and literary magazines, and to Barrelhouse.

  • What do you get with your $75 registration fee?

    For your $75 registration fee, you get the full day conference, including the featured authors reading/QA, and 3 craft workshop/panel sessions, plus your choice of choice of 1 out of our 4 featured books. Through our “partner press program,” you’ll also be able to allocate $20 to one of our participating literary magazines or small presses, each of whom is offering a different incentive — a subscription, a book, a poster, something else— for your donation.

  • Who should attend?

    We strive to make Conversations and Connections truly practical and valuable for all writers. If you’re just getting started and trying to figure out how this all works and where your place might be in the literary community, we’re the conference for you. If you’ve published a fair amount of work and are l0oking to re-energize your writing practice, focus on specific elements of craft, and connect with editors, publishers, and other writers who are doing the same, we’re the conference for you. All are welcome and we really strive to focus on the second part of our title: practical advice on writing!

Sign up today just $75!

Sign up today just $75! ⋆

Great review of our 2023 DC conference at Write or Die!

“Thank you to all the organizers and presenters at Conversations and Connections. Your goal of hosting a comfortable and cozy conference was absolutely accomplished. It was an outstanding day. I learned new skills, met some great people, and heard some really incredible writing. I realized after the fact that my usual imposer syndrome had fallen away pretty quickly. These ARE my people. I am a writer. I’m a confused writer most days, but a writer nonetheless.” READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE.

Featured Books:
Your Choice of One Book is Included with Registration

  • All Things Edible, Random, and Odd, by Sheila Squillante

    "All Things Edible, Random and Odd is a marbled collection of beauties. Its essays give us recipes for meat ragu and mock turtle soup but also show us how to move through the pangs of adolescence, a variety of heartaches, marriage, motherhood and the dark truths of love. It is, in a word (I can’t help myself): delicious."

    —Randon Noble, Author of A Harp in the Stars

  • Behind You is the Sea, by Susan Muaddi-Darraj

    “Behind You Is the Sea fearlessly confronts stereotypes about Palestinian culture, weaving a remarkable portrait of life's intricate moments, from joyous weddings to heart-wrenching funerals, from shattered hearts to hidden truths—I wept and grew alongside this family. This is a story that challenges perceptions, offering a heartfelt glimpse into the interior lives of those who call this community home. A must read novel with unforgettable characters and an unwavering, fresh voice—I couldn’t put it down until the very last page! Darraj delivers an instant, necessary, and authentic classic to the cannon of Arab-American literature.”

    —Etaf Rum, author of Evil Eye and A Woman Is No Man

  • Already Gone: Forty Stories of Running Away, Edited by Hannah Grieco

    “The artistry on display within Already Gone is next level—these are not just stories, they’re offramps and exit routes for readers and writers looking to break free from the ho-hum mundanity of daily living. Here is an oasis. Grieco has curated a vibrant, pulsing mosaic of human experience. “
    — Chris Gonzalez, author of I’m Not Hungry but I Could Eat

  • Remedies for Disappearing, by Alexa Patrick

    “In an indelible collection that celebrates the mundane, the marvelous, and the harrowing reality of Blackness, of Black girlhood, Patrick wields the lyric form to create new doorways into houses we thought we knew well. She offers heartbreaking insights to the reader, but requires a great deal too; you can’t engage with these poems without facing the aches you bring with you.”

    —Elizabeth Acevedo, author of The Poet X

Featured Authors

  • Hannah Grieco

    Hannah Grieco is a writer, editor, and adjunct writing professor in Washington, DC. She edits novels and prose collections at the local independent press Alan Squire Publishing, where her recent anthology “Already Gone: 40 Stories of Running Away” was released in November of 2023. Her own writing can be found in The Washington Post, The Independent, Al Jazeera, Brevity, Craft Literary, Poet Lore, Shenandoah, Fairy Tale Review, and more. Find her online at www.hgrieco.com and on most social media @writesloud.

  • Susan Muaddi Darraj

    Susan Muaddi Darraj is an award-winning writer of books for adults and children. She won an American Book Award, two Arab American Book Awards, and a Maryland State Arts Council Independent Artists Award. In 2018, she was named a USA Artists Ford Fellow. Her books include her linked short story collection, A Curious Land, as well as the Farah Rocks children’s book series. She lives in Baltimore, where she teaches creative writing at Harford Community College and the Johns Hopkins University. Her new novel, BEHIND YOU IS THE SEA, was published in January 2024 by HarperVia. It received praise from The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Ms Magazine, and it was named a Best Book of 2024 by The New Yorker and Apple Books.

  • Alexa Patrick

    Alexa Patrick (she/her) is a vocalist and poet from Connecticut. She is the author of Remedies for Disappearing (Haymarket Books, 2023) and holds fellowships from Cave Canem, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and more. Previous artistic partnerships of Alexa’s include Meta, Microsoft, the National Museum of Women in the Arts. In spring 2023, Alexa made her stage production debut as Un/Sung in the opera We Shall Not Be Moved, (dire. Bill T. Jones). You may find her work in publications including Adroit, CRWN Magazine, and The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2: Black Girl Magic. Visit alexapatrick.com for more.

  • Sheila Squillante

    is a writer and visual artist living in Pittsburgh. She is the author of the poetry collections, Mostly Human, winner of the 2020 Wicked Woman Book Prize from Brick House Books, and Beautiful Nerve, as well as four chapbooks of poetry: Dear Sunder, In This Dream of My Father, Women Who Pawn Their Jewelry and A Woman Traces the Shoreline. Her New and Selected is forthcoming from Braddock Avenue Books in 2025. Her debut essay collection, All Things Edible, Random and Odd: Essays on Grief, Love and Food, was published by CLASH Books in November, 2023. She is also co-author, along with Sandra L. Faulkner, of the writing craft book, Writing the Personal: Getting Your Stories Onto the Page.

Program Schedule

Note: We are currently in the process of forming the conference schedule, and specific sessions will be posted here as details are finalized.

General Schedule (all times are U.S. eastern standard time):

9:00: Welcome

9:30 — 10:30: Session 1 panel discussions and craft workshops

10:45 — 11:45: Session 2 panel discussions and craft workshops

12:00 — 2:00: Speed dating with editors; online Write-In; Lunch

2:15 — 3:45: Featured author readings and QA

4:00 — 5:00 Session 3 panel discussions and craft workshops

5:00: Post conference reception

Craft Workshops and Panel Discussions

  • 9:30 to 10:30 AM sessions below (sorry this website won’t let us just have a header)

  • Duke Ellington once said, "there's only two kinds of music--good writing and the other kind." The same is true of writing, even though most of the awards go to "literary writing." This craft workshop will look at what good genre does right and what bad literary fiction does wrong and vice versa. We will investigate examples from Dan Brown, J.K. Rowling, Octavia Butler, Ted Chiang, George R.R. Martin and then pivot to exercises that can help push the limits of both genre and literary writing.

    Workshop Leader: Patrick Crerand

    Patrick Crerand is the author of the mini-story collection, The Paper Life They Lead. He teaches writing at DeSales University in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania and directs their MFA Program in Creative Writing. His fiction has appeared in McSweeney’s, Conjunctions, North American Review, and other magazines.

  • What is the value of genre labels? Some say they provide clarity and context for writers and readers, while others say they are marketing tools that act as cattle chutes to the creative process. What do you say?

    A panel of nonfiction writers considers the ways that they have pushed back against the sometimes restrictive labels and the implications this had for them while writing, pitching and marketing their work.

    Panelists: Danielle Ariano, Tyrese Coleman, Judith Krummeck

    Danielle Ariano was born and raised in the Philadelphia suburbs, but became a Baltimorean when she moved to the city for college. She was indeed charmed by Baltimore’s quirky, artsy vibe. Ariano’s forthcoming memoir, A Requirement of Grief, is a meditation on the complexities of the sister bond and the grief that comes when that bond is broken by a sibling’s suicide. Ariano received her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Baltimore. As part of her thesis, she wrote, designed and published her first book, Getting Over the Rainbow, a memoir recounting her humorous and sometimes painful experiences coming out as a lesbian.

    Ariano’s work has been published in Salon, Huff Post, Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore Fishbowl, North Dakota Quarterly, Cobalt Review, and Welter. She is a former columnist for Baltimore Gay Life, and she has been featured on WYPR’s radio show, The Signal.When she is not writing, Ariano works as a cabinetmaker. She has great reverence for the hallowed, dusty smell of a woodshop. She finds it thrilling to see a thing take shape from scratch. She loves trees and all the beautiful patterns that can result in woodgrain from stress, insect damage, or even the loss of a limb. She believes that people are very similar to trees in this respect. She lives in Lutherville, Maryland with her wife, son, and dog.

    Tyrese L. Coleman is a writer, wife, mother, and attorney. Her debut collection of stories and essays, How to Sit, was published by Mason Jar Press in 2018 and nominated for a 2019 PEN Open Book Award. Her work has appeared as a notable in Best American Essays 2018 and 2016 and nominated for a Pushcart Prize.Tyrese often writes about issues relating to motherhood, family, and pregnancy. Her essays have appeared in Buzzfeed, Brain, Child Magazine and is an occasional contributor for Rewire News. She also writes memoir and personal essays. Her work has appeared in Black Warrior Review, The Kenyon Review, Literary Hub, Washingtonian Magazine, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She also conducts interview for Electric Literature and writes reviews for Atticus Review.

    A 2016 Kimbilio Fiction Fellow, Tyrese’s passion is writing fiction. Her stories have appeared in numerous journals, including, The Offing, [PANK], Queen Mob’s Tea House, the Tahoma Literary Review, Hobart, and recognized in Wigleaf’s Top 50 (very) short fictions 2016. Tyrese grew up on a dirt road in Ashland, Virginia, the self-proclaimed “center of the universe.” She received her masters in writing from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Maryland in College Park. A member of the Maryland State Bar, she received her J.D. from the University of Baltimore. She lives in the Washington D.C. metro area but is a country girl at heart.

    JUDITH KRUMMECK is a writer and broadcaster living in Baltimore. She has been the evening drive-time host for the classical radio station, WBJC 91.5 FM, for over twenty years, and she is the author of two books. Her memoir in essays, Beyond the Baobab, is about her experience of immigrating from Africa to America. Her biographical memoir, Old New Worlds, intertwines the emigrations of her great-great-grandmother and her own. Judith’s debut novel, The Deceived Ones, is forthcoming from Apprentice House, and her screenplay, Philida, based on the Booker-nominated novel by André Brink, is in development in South Africa. Judith holds an MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore.

  • You have a first draft of an essay or story. What now? In this session, we'll go through a series of fast and easy exercises to help your work evolve. Leave with tangible editing tools for the future. Bring a flash draft (or excerpt) and get ready to play!

    Workshop leader: Hannah Grieco

    Hannah Grieco is a writer and editor in Washington, DC. She edits novels and prose collections at the local independent press Alan Squire Publishing, where her recent anthology “Already Gone: 40 Stories of Running Away” was released in November of 2023. Her own writing can be found in The Washington Post, The Independent, Al Jazeera, Brevity, Craft Literary, Poet Lore, Shenandoah, Fairy Tale Review, and more. She is the EIC of two literary journals: The ASP Bulletin and Porcupine Literary. Find her online at www.hgrieco.com and on most social media @writesloud.

  • Writing in the mode of personal lyric dominates American contemporary poetry. But sometimes we need a break from drawing on the well of the self—so we choose to write as characters from mythology or history, or in voices that belong to inanimate objects and ideas. How do we structure our process so that these persona poems have compelling detail, humor, and heft? What do we do when (gasp) our individual, private concerns surface through these channels anyway? This generative workshop session will include close reading, craft discussion, and prompted writing.

    Sandra Beasley is the author of four poetry collections—including most recently Made to Explode, which won the Housatonic Book Award in poetry—as well as Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life, a disability memoir and cultural history of food allergies. Honors for her work include the 2019 John Montague International Poetry Fellowship, a 2015 NEA fellowship, and six DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities fellowships. She lives in Washington, D.C.

  • 10:45 to 11:45 sessions below (sorry this website won’t let us just have a header)

  • This generative session will be lead by Lynne Schmidt, a mental health professional who has a focus in trauma informed care and emotion focused therapy. Memoirists and creative non fiction writers should develop skills around grounding when faced with traumatic memories, and how to write through it. Three to four prompts will be offered, as well as space for sharing small segments as comfortable.

    Workshop leader: Lynne Schmidt

    Lynne is the queer, neurodivergent grandchild of a Holocaust survivor, and a therapist with a focus in trauma and healing. They are the winner of the 2021 The Poetry Question Chapbook Contest, 2020 New Women's Voices Contest, a 2020 Pushcart nominee, and an eleven time Best of the Net nominee. Their chapbooks include, The Unaccounted For Circles Of Hell, Dead Dog Poems, and Gravity, When given the choice, Lynne prefers the company of her pack of dogs and one cat to humans.

  • Finding friends, mentors, partners and colleagues is hard enough, but when you're a writer, pounding away at the keyboard for hours at a time in the solitude of your room, it can seem impossible. Plus: most of us are introverted and frankly kind of strange. How do we find our fellow freaks and join a community that will support us and help us "break in?" We have several very good options for you! The bad news is they all require effort, but the good news is that none of them require selling out.

    Panel: MM Carrigan, celeste doaks, Aditya Desai, Eve Ettinger, Michael Tager

  • Steven Leyva, an award-winning poet and professor, will offer a writing workshop and craft talk, The Poetics of Anime and Transformation.

    Like the way Goku reinvents himself to save the day in Dragon Ball Z? Do you never run from a real fight [with a draft] like Sailor Moon? Learn to add invention, creativity, and transformation to your writer's imagination by studying the techniques of anime as a lyric form. This generative workshop will not only give you a model for drawing inspiration from unexpected places, but help you to turn that inspiration into surprising drafts of poems, using anime as the starting place. Part experimental ekphrasis, part nostalgia bomb, this workshop is a fun way to flex the muscle of your imagination.

    Workshop Leader: Steven Leyva

    Steven Leyva was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and raised in Houston, Texas. His poems have appeared in Smartish Pace, Scalawag, Nashville Review, jubilat, The Hopkins Review, Prairie Schooner, and Best American Poetry 2020. He is a Cave Canem fellow and author of the chapbook Low Parish and author of The Understudy’s Handbook which won the Jean Feldman Poetry Prize from Washington Writers Publishing House. His second book of poems, The Opposite of Cruelty, is forthcoming from Blair Publishing in Spring 2025 Steven holds an MFA from the University of Baltimore, where he is an associate professor in the Klein Family School of Communications Design.

  • Mark Twain once said, "All ideas are second hand” and it was the writer’s “superstition that he originated them." The literary critic and writer Viktor Shklovsky said in his essay “Art as Technique” that it was literature's purpose “to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and not as they are known. The technique of art is to make objects 'unfamiliar.'" This class looks to put Shklovsky's theory into practice by creating new pieces in class, using defamiliarization as an essential tool whether they are writing poetry, fiction, or nonfiction, borrowing elements of art pedagogy. This class will orientate participants with the concepts of defamiliarization and estrangement while also refining participants' ability to write descriptively. Anticipate visual writing prompts.

    Workshop leader: Ashley Bach

    Ashley Bach's childhood was split between rural Pennsylvania and Alexandria, VA. She is a graduate of Temple University's MFA program. Her work has been featured in HAD, Drunk Monkeys, Feels Blind Literary, and elsewhere. She currently works in Philadelphia as an editorial assistant. She still calls it Twitter, and you can follow her there at @al_chem_i_cal. She sometimes updates her WordPress, Alchemical Imbalance.

  • We'll discuss the pros and cons of enrolling in an MFA program, and we'll talk honestly about what earning an MFA can and can't do for your writing career. You may not need an MFA, but if you really want one, we'll offer candid advice.

    Panel discssion with Andrew Bertaina, Kyle Dargan, Lindsey Green-Simms, David Keplinger, Bethanne Patrick, Rachel Snyder

  • 4:00 to 5:00 sessions below (sorry this website won’t let us just have a header)

  • First pages are like blind dates — a good first impression is everything and can be the deciding factor if the relationship goes any further. But don’t let that stop you from writing that first page—honing a great first page is all in the editing. Author and full-time professional editor Wendy Wimmer will show you what she looks for when selecting work and the kinds of hooks that grab a reader from the first paragraph — or even the first sentence — and keep them invested in reading on. She’ll give you an easy barometer to “Editor/Agent test” your first page and also reveal some of the opening page moves that novice (and advanced) writers commonly make but are nearly impossible to pull off. She’ll share real life examples of first pages from the publishing, classic and literary world.

    Workshop leader: Wendy Wimmer

    Wendy Wimmer writes from Wisconsin, under the strict supervision of three dogs and a cat. She holds a Master of Arts and PhD in English from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, respectively. Her work has been published in Barrelhouse, Waxwing, Paper Darts, Believer, ANMLY, Per Contra, Blackbird, and more. Entry Level: Stories won the Autumn House Fiction Prize in 2021, was listed by Midland Authors, Kirkus Top 100 Indie Books of 2022, the Washington Post, People Magazine, and was chosen as a featured title for the 2022 Pittsburgh Conversations and Connections.

  • This panel will show you easy hacks for promoting your book. With small presses a popular choice for publishing, more writers are looking for ways to market their books when their publishers don’t have the resources. This panel is run by Courtney LeBlanc who has published three full length collections of poetry, runs an independent poetry press, and has experience with grassroots marketing. She has successfully gotten her books included in festivals, author events, into bookstores, and her 2023 book tour included 64 readings in 18 states. The tips she will offer are low/no-cost, which is beneficial for writers on a budget.

    Workshop leader: Courtney LeBlanc

    Courtney LeBlanc is the author of the full-length collections Her Whole Bright Life (winner of the Jack McCarthy Book Prize); Exquisite Bloody, Beating Heart; and Beautiful & Full of Monsters. She is the Arlington County Poet Laureate and the founder and editor-in-chief of Riot in Your Throat, an independent poetry press. She loves nail polish, tattoos, and a soy latte each morning. Find her online at www.courtneyleblanc.com.

  • How and when do you find time to write as parents? Four busy parents with kids aged 4 to 18 discuss when they write and what tools they use (calendars, residencies, patience, flexibility, workshop groups, classes, etc.), as well as what has changed as their kids grow. They will also address accepting when it isn't possible to write (snow days, illness, etc.) and how to face pauses in writing.

    Panel: ara Burnett, Hayes Davis, David Ebenbach and Chloe Yelena Miller

    Sara Burnett is the author of Seed Celestial (2022), winner of the Autumn House Press Poetry Prize. She holds an MFA from the University of Maryland, and a MA in English Literature from the University of Vermont. She has published in Barrow Street, Copper Nickel, PANK, RHINO and elsewhere. Previously, Sara worked as a public high school English teacher in nearby Columbia Heights, a canoe instructor for kindergarteners, a cocktail waitress, and a barista at a cafe which only sold decaf coffee, but didn't tell their customers! (She quit for ethical reasons). In addition to writing poetry, she also writes picture books. She lives in Maryland with her husband and two kids, ages 4 and 7. Her website: www.sararburnett.com

    Hayes Davis is the author of Let Our Eyes Linger (Poetry Mutual Press). He is currently serving as the Howard County (Md) Poetry and Literature Society Writer in Residence, and won a 2022 Maryland State Arts Council Independent Artists Award. His work has appeared in New England Review, Mom Egg Review, and several anthologies. He was a member of Cave Canem’s first cohort of fellows. An education administrator and English teacher, he lives in Silver Spring with his wife, poet Teri Ellen Cross Davis.

    David Ebenbach is the father of a lovely 17-year-old boy. Less importantly, he's also the author of nine books of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, winners of such awards as the Drue Heinz Literature Prize and the Juniper Prize, among others. (His son has also won awards, but his son gets the credit for those.) He lives with his family in Washington, DC, where he teaches and supports graduate student and faculty teaching at Georgetown University. You can find out more at davidebenbach.com.

    Chloe Yelena Miller is a writer and teacher living in Washington, D.C. She’s the author of Viable (Lily Poetry Review Books, 2021) and Unrest (Finishing Line Press, 2013). Along with Shasta Grant, she’s the co-founder of Brown Bag Lit, and organizes readings and teaches classes with them. Chloe is a three-time recipient of the DC Arts and Humanities Fellowship (Individuals) grant. chloeyelenamiller.com

  • What do editors hate? What do they love? Should you stress out about your cover letter? Is there really a "good rejection?" This panel features veteran editors answering these and other questions and generally pulling back the curtain to show you what really happens behind the scenes.

    Editors: MM Carrigan, Taco Bell Quarterly, Michael Tager, Mason Jar Press, Maria Picone, Chestnut Review, more to be named

What Our Attendees Say

 Literary Magazines and Small Presses

  • akinoga press is a Baltimore-based micropress that specializes in hand-bound chapbooks of a spacious/minimalist flavor, but is keen to publish anything that's small, quiet, odd, and/or easily-missed. You can find the full publication catalogue, as well as submission guidelines, at akinogapress.com

  • Alan Squire Publishing is an independent literary press founded in 2010. We publish books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry that are beautifully written and beautifully made, with the avid reader and book-lover in mind. We are committed to bringing to the public books of great merit that deserve a wide readership, and to forging a new model of collaboration with other independent presses here and abroad.

  • American Short Fiction is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit literary organization based in Austin, Texas that promotes the art form of the short story in a nationally-distributed triquarterly print magazine, via ASF Online, and through live events and literary programming.

  • Autofocus Literary is a publisher of artful autobiographical writing in any form: personal essay, memoir, confessional poetry, journals & diaries, letters & e-mails, bits & pieces of each of these, or some other thing that makes art from your life. Autofocus Books specializes in relatively brief books that fit, and occasionally stretch, the boundaries of our interest in literary autobiography.

  • The Baltimore Review, founded in 1996, is a literary journal publishing the poems, short stories, and creative nonfiction of writers from across the U.S. and beyond.

  • Barrelhouse is a literary organization that puts out a print magazine, runs a small press, organizes the writers conference Conversations & Connections, the retreat Writer Camp, and online Write-Ins, and publishes reviews, interviews, and issues online.

  • Bullshit Lit is a magazine & indie press based in Philadelphia, PA. We don't take things too seriously. Weekly online features, monthly book releases, readings, and more at BULLSHITLIT.COM or @BULLSHITLIT.

  • JAKE is the punkest little shit you know. He doesn’t want to eat his vegetables, he doesn’t want to wake up for school, he doesn’t want to follow the established trends of what makes good literary writing good and bad literary writing bad. JAKE wants to look deep into the heart of all entropy of the universe, and do a sick kickflip over the abyss between what we know is possible and what we dream can be. JAKE is the king of bad taste, of broken forms, and broken rules. JAKE wants all of the shade of the bigger, badder mags, and he wants your funniest, strangest, or boldest words. JAKE is here to play without rules.

  • Mason Jar Press is an independent press based out of beautiful Baltimore, MD. We specialize in full-length publications and handmade, limited edition chapbooks by established as well as emerging writers. If you enjoy strong, straight-forward poetry and prose that's just a little off, then we've got something for you.

  • Phoebe: A Journal of Literature and Art is a literary journal based at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia and first published in 1971. It publishes one print issue and one online issue each year in addition to running annual contests in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.

  • Poet Lore: America's oldest poetry magazine, publishing in print since 1889, Poet Lore is a biannual journal of poetry, featuring the finest in contemporary writing. Each issue features a curated folio of work from a select guest editor alongside poems from our general selections. We champion innovative and experimental poetic forms, from prose sequences to poems that utilize negative space on the page, and feature poems that broaden the spectrum of what poetry is and can be. (Partner Press incentive: one year print subscription)

  • Riot in Your Throat is an independent poetry press publishing fierce, feminist poetry.

  • Santa Fe Writer’s Project was founded in 1998 by Andrew Gifford and is dedicated to artistic preservation, recognizing exciting new authors, and bringing out of print work back to the shelves through an eclectic catalog of fiction and creative nonfiction, an online quarterly journal, and an annual Awards Program that has been judged by writers such as Benjamin Percy, Emily St. John Mandel, Jayne Anne Phillips, Robert Olen Butler, and many others. Find out more at www.sfwp.com.

  • Taco Bell Quarterly is the literary magazine for the Taco Bell Arts and Letters. We’re a reaction against everything. The gatekeepers. The taste-makers. The hipsters. Health food. Artists Who Wear Cute Scarves. Bitch-ass Wendy’s. We seek to demystify what it means to be literary, artistic, important, and elite. We welcome writers and artists of all merit, whether you’re published in The Paris Review, rejected from The Paris Review, or DGAF what The Paris Review is. First and foremost, TBQ is about great writing. It’s about provoking and existing among the white noise of capitalism. We embrace the spectrum of trash to brilliance. Taco Bell Quarterly has tens of thousands of readers. We’ve been interviewed or mentioned in Vox, Salon, Food and Wine Magazine, Mental Floss, Yahoo, The Guardian, The New York Post, Publisher’s Weekly, Literary Hub, Bon Appetit and dozens more.

  • Troublemaker Firestarter is a biannual literary magazine and press specializing in LGBTQIA+ and feminist topics. Our goal is to excite readers. We welcome the uncomfortable and controversial. New, bold, and proud writers and artists should find their home here.

  • Washington Writers’ Publishing House is a non-profit, cooperative literary organization that has published over 100 volumes of poetry since 1975 as well as fiction and nonfiction. The press sponsors three annual competitions for writers living in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and the winners of each category (one each in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction) comprise our annual slate. In 2021, WWPH launched an online literary journal, WWPH WRITES to expand our mission to further the creative work of writers in our region. In 2024, WWPH launched our biennial works in translation series. More about the Washington Writers' Publishing House at www.washingtonwriters.org

American University’s MFA in Creative Writing program is our host for the conference.

For more than 30 years, writers have come to American University to develop their work and exchange ideas in the District’s only creative writing MFA program.

Our graduate workshops provide a rigorous yet supportive environment where students explore a range of approaches to the art and craft of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. As an MFA student at American University, you are free to pursue a single genre or explore several. You will acquire a deeper understanding of your own work and hone your skills in a collaborative setting. This two-year, 36-credit-hour MFA program integrates writing, literary journalism, translation, and the study of literature to prepare students for a range of career possibilities. Write, give feedback, and receive guidance from a close-knit community of respectful peers and faculty.

In the MFA program, you'll find lawyers, military veterans, musicians, teachers, and business executives who are passionate about the written word. In addition to our prestigious Visiting Writers Series, our MFA program publishes Folio, a nationally recognized literary journal sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences at American University in Washington, DC. Since 1984, we have published original creative work by both new and established authors. For more information, contact us at lit@american.edu.

Heard Enough? Sign up today!

Registration fee includes: full day conference including 3 workshop/panel sessions and featured author reading/QA, your choice of 1 out of our 4 featured books, your choice of “partner press” (and any literary goodies that come with that), speed dating with editors (1 ticket with registration, others available for $5/each).

Speed Dating With Editors is a 10 minute, 1-on-1 workshop with an editor

With your registration, you get one ticket to “Speed Dating with Editors,” a 10 minute, 1-on-1 meeting with a literary magazine or small press editor where you’ll receive direct feedback about your work.

What works best?

We’ve found that the following things work best: a flash story or essay, the first few pages of a longer story or essay, or a poem.

Paper!

It's easiest for the editors if they're reading paper, so please print out and bring along copies of whatever you intend to workshop

We’ll match you up.

The logistics and timing don’t allow for you to choose the editor you’d like to work with. We’ll make sure nonfiction work is read by nonfiction editors, poetry by poetry editors, etc, but the situation doesn't allow for everybody to choose their editor. You’ll be matched up with an editor by our volunteers.

Brought to you by Barrelhouse

Conversations and Connections is organized by Barrelhouse, an all-volunteer literary nonprofit. Barrelhouse produces a biannual print magazine and manages a small press that prints several books each year. Barrelhouse also manages a vibrant website constantly updated with new poetry, prose, and essays, as well as book reviews and literary ephemera. In addition to Conversations and Connections, Barrelhouse organizes the writer’s retreat Writer Camp, and weekly online Write-Ins, a generative “together alone” writing practice.