Women Writers Conference

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The Kentucky Women Writers Conference is an annual gathering of writers and readers in Lexington. Founded in 1979 by the University of Kentucky, it is the longest running event of its kind in the United States and the only yearly conference featuring contemporary writers, exclusively women, in a series of workshops, discussions, and readings.

The next Kentucky Women Writers Conference will be held September 11–13, 2008, and will feature Joyce Carol Oates, Natasha Trethewey, Malin Alegria, Laura Benedict, Debra Marquart, Jennifer Sahn, Ginger Strand, Samantha Thornhill, and Lisa Williams. Fees are $150 for two days, $75 for one day, $60 for students. Visit our website by clicking on the reference here ( [1] )or by clicking on "Official Site" at the bottom of this page.

Workshops are offered in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and children’s literature, with a rotating selection of topics including memoir, environmental writing, sportswriting, travel writing, screenwriting, and playwriting. The Invitational Gypsy Slam features a competition for spoken word artists. The Betty Gabehart Prize is awarded in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Lexington features a vibrant historic downtown surrounded by horse farms, bluegrass music, and bourbon distilleries ([2]). Classrooms are at the Carnegie Center for Literary and Learning, the Lexington Public Library, and the campuses of the University of Kentucky and Transylvania University.

Authors featured over the past three decades include U.S. Poet Laureates Gwendolyn Brooks, Rita Dove, and Louise Glück, along with other such luminaries as Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, Marge Piercy, Adrienne Rich, Margaret Atwood, Ntozake Shange, Nikki Giovanni, Bobbie Ann Mason, Rita Mae Brown, Lee Smith, Barbara Kingsolver, Sonia Sanchez, Grace Paley, Jane Anne Phillips, Dorothy Allison, bell hooks, Isabel Allende, Julia Alvarez, Kim Edwards, Elizabeth Nunez, Vandana Shiva, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Patricia Smith, Sarah Vowell, and Naomi Shihab Nye.

Gloria Steinem taught there in 1987 and commented: “I send my congratulations to the Women Writers Conference for helping women to find voice, confidence, and skill. Thanks to you, common dreams and unique talents are being heard in the world. I remember my time there as one of warmth, encouragement, and strong local voices. I only wish something like this had been part of my earlier life.”