Wyoming Arts Council

Call for submissions: Jackson Hole Writers Conference


From the Jackson Hole Writers Conference:

We are only a week past the fall equinox, but the Jackson Hole Writers Conference is looking ahead to the 25th conference, June 23-25, 2016. We are excited to have lined up most of our faculty, which will include Gretel Ehrlich,  Lynne Sharon Schwartz, poets Paisley Rekdal and Maria Melendez Kelson, and a roster of established editors and agents.

In the meantime, we are seeking submissions for a trade-size paperback about the conference: why people come, why people come back. Poet Naomi Shihab Nye and past success novelist David Abrams have sent in their offerings. It’s a good start, but we want anyone who attended our conference to get a shot at sharing their experience.

We hope to raise money with this book by sharing our commitment to and enthusiasm for what has become an important part of the writing community.  Tim Sandlin started the conference 25 years ago and it has blossomed under his continued leadership. We want to celebrate that.

Writing It Right, the working title for this collection, will focus on the experiences of those who have attended the conference: registrant, faculty member, volunteer or staff. We are looking for short pieces, no longer than 1200 words. While it is not intended as a literary anthology, we are open to literary musings, notes and observations. Perhaps a piece you brought to the conference and had critiqued: fiction, nonfiction or a poem. Even a haibun or journal entries can find their way into this collection.

Here are some topics or approaches:

  • A “how to” or “how not to”
  • A vignette
  • Here’s what happens at the conference, full of surprises and quirks
  • Poem that came out of a workshop prompt, with discussion of the process
  • Found poem from the conference
  • Why you come back year after year
  • Expectations you came with, how those may have changed
  • The critique process: who reads what and why
  • Submissions: the joys and the terrors
  • Volunteers and what can happen
  • Ten books recommended by folks at the conference
  • I was there when such and such happened
  • Faculty writer, editor or agent who changed your life
  • A black and white photograph that says it all
  • Black and white illustrations
  • A graphic poem
  • A collection title that says it all
  • Something we haven’t thought of

The guidelines for content are fairly loose, but the editors will be looking for entertaining, enlightening and educational pieces. Just because you send something to us doesn’t mean we will accept it. We are looking for quality. This is for writers and we see it as a resource. We also see it as something to hand out to friends and family, so that they have an inkling about why we come to Jackson Hole in June and sit inside and write and talk about writing and getting published. We feel that the conference is about more than “just” getting published: it’s about meeting other writers, learning the craft, and spreading our wings with words.

Rather than query us about a possible topic, send it in. Surprise us. Surprise yourself with your observations.

The deadline is Dec. 6, 2015. Submissions must be in 12 point type, double-spaced, Word-compatible format, and in electronic form. 1200 word maximum. Poems no longer than 30 lines. Please preface the submission with a title page, listing the year(s) you attended the conference. Please include your name on each page, plus page number, so we get your offering in proper order. No paper submissions will be accepted. Please no PDFs or links to websites. Email questions to us through Contact on our website. Send manuscripts to us at: manuscripts@jacksonholewritersconference.com


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