The second annual VQR Writers’ Conference takes place August 12–16, 2015, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Charlottesville, Virginia. Our conference is designed for serious writers at all stages of their careers looking for inspiration and camaraderie.
The workshop faculty for the 2015 conference are:
Bret Anthony Johnston is the author of the novel Remember Me Like This (Random House, 2014) and the short-story collection Corpus Christi (Random House, 2004) and the editor of Naming the World and Other Exercises for the Creative Writer (Random House, 2008). His work has also appeared in the Atlantic, the Paris Review, the New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Glimmer Train, and Tin House, as well as in the anthologies Best American Short Stories, Pushcart, Best American Sports Writing, and New Stories from the South. He is the director of creative writing at Harvard University.
Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah’s essays and criticism have appeared in the Believer, the Paris Review, VQR, Bookforum, Transition, and Rolling Stone. Her Believer essay, “If He Hollers Let Him Go,” was a 2014 National Magazine Award finalist. She has taught at Columbia University, Bard College, and Eugene Lang College at the New School.
Brian Turner served seven years in the US Army, including one year as an infantry team leader in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. His first book of poems, Here, Bullet, won the Beatrice Hawley Award, the Pen Center USA Best in the West award, the Poets Prize, and was named a New York Times Editor’s Choice. “My Life as a Foreign Country,” which appeared in VQR in 2011, is the title essay of his 2014 memoir, published by Norton.
In addition to these intimate workshops, there will be daily craft talks, career panels, and readings. In the evenings, students and faculty will enjoy the vibrant food culture and nightlife of Charlottesville. Click here for a schedule of public events.
FEES
Conference participants pay $950 (which includes breakfast and lunch and Saturday banquet). Auditors pay $800 (which includes breakfast and lunch and Saturday banquet).
Once admitted to the conference, a nonrefundable deposit of $200 is due by July 31. The balance is due at or before registration. Payment may be made by check or credit card.
A limited number of $350 scholarships will be made available based on the potential for literary excellence.
ACCOMMODATIONS
All conference activities will be held on the grounds of the Boar’s Head Inn. For nightly accommodations, there is a group rate of $129/night, plus tax, off-site at the Hyatt Place in Charlottesville, with shuttle service to the Boar’s Head from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (There is also free parking on site at both the Hyatt and the Boar’s Head.)
DEADLINE
The deadline for this year’s conference has passed.
Contact: conference@vqronline.org, or Allison Wright at 434-243-4995