A Note from the Directors
Granfalloon and Bloomington Handmade Market will take place at the same time as the conference with exciting events on campus and at venues around downtown Bloomington.
History
The Indiana University Writers’ Conference is the second oldest in the United States. 2024 marks the 84th anniversary of the conference which, since its inception, has stood for literary excellence. We are proud to boast a faculty that has included lauded writers of the post-WWII years, such as Katherine Anne Porter, Lillian Hellman and Stephen Spender, as well as 20th century icons Raymond Carver and Kurt Vonnegut.
Recent faculty have served as Poets Laureate and received some of the most prestigious literary prizes. We have 26 faculty members who have won Pulitzer Prizes, such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Héctor Tobar, Tyehimba Jess and Ursula K. Le Guin. We have also hosted 26 faculty members who were winners of the National Book Award, including Gerald Stern, Jean Valentine, Mark Doty and Terrance Hayes.
Beyond our tremendous faculty, we have been honored to reach and preserve relationships with writers at every stage of their development across the country. Our intention is to foster creativity and community through craft-based workshops and classes that facilitate learning and artistic friendships. We also emphasize a supportive environment for writers of color, LGBTQIA writers, and writers from outside the academy to feel seen and heard.
Format
Each summer, the conference invites gifted writers of fiction, poetry and nonfiction to teach workshops and craft classes over the course of four days. The workshops consist of three-hour sessions held each morning in which students exchange manuscripts and offer feedback on the work of their peers under the guidance of their instructor. At the end of each day’s workshop, students are invited to lunch talks where the faculty discuss their publishing experiences and answer questions from attendees.
The afternoons are comprised of three, one-hour classes led by additional faculty on topics ranging from story structure and the ethics of writing nonfiction to crafting compelling images in poems. Each evening is capped off by a reading and from conference faculty.
We hope you join us for all the great experiences we have planned!
COVID-19
IUWC is committed to creating a safe and comfortable environment for us to be together. To that end, we will continue to monitor COVID-19 developments and observe Indiana University protocol. We will post updates and communicate any changes to protocol as necessary.