The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc., or SFWA is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. While SFWA is based in the United States, its membership is open to writers worldwide. The organization was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight under the name Science Fiction Writers of America, Inc. The president of SFWA as of July 1, 2021 is Jeffe Kennedy.
Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary tropes or with various traditions of poetry and poetics. Due to the looseness of the definition, it is possible for writing such as feature stories to be considered creative writing, even though they fall under journalism, because the content of features is specifically focused on narrative and character development. Both fictional and non-fictional works fall into this category, including such forms as novels, biographies, short stories, and poems. In the academic setting, creative writing is typically separated into fiction and poetry classes, with a focus on writing in an original style, as opposed to imitating pre-existing genres such as crime or horror. Writing for the screen and stage—screenwriting and playwriting—are often taught separately, but fit under the creative writing category as well.
The Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is a writers' conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1926, it has been called by The New Yorker "the oldest and most prestigious writers' conference in the country." Bread Loaf is a program of Middlebury College and at its inception was closely associated with Robert Frost, who attended a total of 29 sessions.
PEN America, founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of literature and human rights. With more than 7,200 members—including novelists, journalists, nonfiction writers, editors, poets, essayists, playwrights, publishers, translators, agents, and other writing professionals—PEN America is the largest of the more than 100 PEN centers worldwide that together compose PEN International. PEN America has offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.
Romance Writers of America (RWA) is an American non-profit writers' association founded in 1980. Its mission is to "advance the professional and common business interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy and by increasing public awareness of the romance genre." Relevant works must be themed around the development of a romantic relationship between two people, and there must be a happy ending. As well as published authors, those with complete but unpublished manuscripts are eligible for membership.
The California Writers Club traces its founding to the San Francisco Bay Area literary movement in the early part of the 20th century. The informal gatherings of Jack London, George Sterling, and Herman Whitaker, along with others, eventually became formalized as the Press Club of Alameda. In 1909, a break-off group from that club formed the California Writers Club with Austin Lewis serving as the club's first president. A quarterly bulletin under the guidance of Dr. William S. Morgan was established in 1912. The club finally incorporated in 1913, choosing the motto Sail On from the Joaquin Miller poem, "Columbus".
The Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) is a nonprofit literary organization that provides support, advocacy, resources, and community to nearly 50,000 writers, 500 college and university creative writing programs, and 125 writers' conferences and centers. It was founded in 1967 by R. V. Cassill and George Garrett.
Kevin John Brockmeier is an American writer of fantasy and literary fiction.
The Pikes Peak Writers Conference started in 1993 and during each April, brings the New York publishing industry to Colorado Springs, Colorado for a weekend packed with workshops, pitch meetings, read & critique sessions and much more. Writer's Digest Magazine voted Pikes Peak Writers Conference one of the top ten writing conferences in the United States. Guest speakers have included Nora Roberts, Stephen Coonts, Diane Mott Davidson, Robert Crais, Jennifer Crusie, Rupert Holmes, David Morrell, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Jim Butcher, and many more authors and publishing professionals.
Robert Bausch was an American fiction writer, the author of nine novels and one collection of short stories. He was a Professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College, and he had taught at the University of Virginia, The American University, Johns Hopkins University, George Mason University, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His fourth novel, A Hole in the Earth, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a Washington Post Favorite Book of the Year. He was awarded the Fellowship of Southern Writers' award for fiction for his fifth novel, The Gypsy Man. In 2005 Harcourt published his sixth novel, Out of Season, which was a Washington Post favorite book of the year. His novel Far as the Eye Can See was released by Bloomsbury Press in fall 2014, and in August 2016, Bloomsbury published his last novel, The Legend of Jesse Smoke. In 2009, he was awarded the Dos Passos Prize in Literature. He was the twin brother of the author Richard Bausch.
Litquake is San Francisco's annual literary festival. Originally named Litstock, the festival events took place in a single day in Golden Gate Park in the spring of 1999. It now has a two-week run in mid-October, as well as year-round programs and workshops.
The Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) is an American non-profit organization established in February 2004 as a literary and educational organization for the study, discussion, enjoyment, and enhancement of Lesbian literature. In 2020, in order to be inclusive, the GCLS changed the focus from "lesbian" works to reflect the study, discussion, enjoyment and enhancement of literature about "women loving women." Since 2005, the GCLS has presented Golden Crown Literary Awards ("Goldies") in various categories of fiction about lesbians and women loving women at its annual conference. The GCLS mission statement, reformulated in 2020, states that the mission is "to increase the visibility and quality of women loving women themed literature". Largely a volunteer effort, GCLS has one paid managing director, and the membership includes publishers, distributors, authors, editors, reviewers, and readers of fiction about lesbians and women loving women.
Clarion West Writers Workshop is an intensive six-week program for writers preparing for professional careers in science fiction and fantasy. It runs annually from late June through the end of July. The workshop is limited to 18 students per year. Each of the six weeks is instructed by a different professional writer or editor. The roster of guest instructors changes yearly. Founded in Seattle, Washington in 1971, the workshop has been held continuously since 1984. Clarion West celebrated its 25th anniversary of continuous instruction in 2008.
The Loft Literary Center is a nonprofit literary organization located in Minneapolis, Minnesota incorporated in 1975. The Loft is one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive independent literary centers, and offers a variety of writing classes, conferences, grants, readings, writers' studios and other services to both established and emerging writers.
Barbara J Zitwer is an American film producer, playwright and literary agent.
Charles Salzberg is an American novelist, journalist, editor, and teacher.
Chicago literature is writing, primarily by writers born or living in Chicago, that reflects the culture of the city.
The DFW Writers Conference, also known as DFWCon, is an American annual professional conference for writers in multiple genres. The letters DFW stand for Dallas–Fort Worth. It always takes place in a city within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, normally in the spring months.
The Historical Novel Society (HNS) is a nonprofit international literary society devoted to promotion of and advocacy for the genre of historical fiction.