You Should’ve Been at Books Alive!
- April 28, 2015
A recap of this year’s Washington Writers Conference
"Good advice for aspiring writers."
"Great networking with great people!"
"A valuable experience, and I got some very good leads. I met a lot of interesting writers."
"You brought a lot of agents together! I can't wait to share with my writer's group, as the conference provides good experience on pitching and advice from agents and on publishing."
"Any writer looking for an agent should be here."
These are just a few of the comments made by some of the 140+ satisfied attendees at this year’s Washington Writers Conference, which took place this past weekend in Bethesda, MD.
During the all-day event, participants learned how to effectively pitch to agents; what publishers really want; how to transition from writing articles to authoring books; the secrets to succeeding in the YA market; and much, much more. (How much more? Attendees were each given three one-on-one pitch sessions with agents, too. Gulp.)
Keynote speaker John Feinstein had the crowd laughing with anecdotes about his early days at the Washington Post and work as a sports writer. And a stellar lineup of speakers and panelists — including Kitty Kelley, Linda Lear, Michel Martin, Michael Isikoff, Kirstin Downey, Ruben Castaneda, Monica Bhide, Adele Levine, and many others — kept everyone engaged and entertained.
“It was a great day of learning about writing and publishing from each other,” said David O. Stewart, president of the Independent. “And it was particularly special to celebrate the extraordinary talents of poet Grace Cavalieri as the first recipient of our lifetime achievement award.”
During her acceptance speech, Cavalieri explained why poetry matters.
“Poets rinse off the language for the rest of you guys,” she said. “You’re welcome.”
Did you attend this year’s conference? Tell us what you thought of it in the comments section below. And stay tuned for details about next year’s event!
