2019 Conference Information
NOVEMBER 8-9, 2019
Photo by Marley Cash-Powell
Preliminary Schedule
Read our most up-to-date schedule here, including details on our pre-conference workshops, keynote speakers, and accepted proposals.
Read our most up-to-date schedule here, including details on our pre-conference workshops, keynote speakers, and accepted proposals.
Registration
We are undergoing a change in registration software and expect registration to open at the end of July 2019. Please read all provided information in preparation for registration. (In particular, UCA students require special instructions.) We will update this site as soon as a registration link is available.
The 2019 C.D. Wright Women Writers Conference, taking place November 8–9, 2019, will include an optional, limited-seating pre-conference writing workshop, an optional opportunity for a 20-minute editorial consultation, a Friday night keynote presentation with reception, a book fair, a continental breakfast, choices from 16 individual breakout sessions of either panels or creative readings, a keynote lunch, and a closing reception.
Registration fees include access to events, on-site catering, and parking passes. Conference organizers seek to ensure that all events are accessible and inclusive. When registering, participants will be given the opportunity to list specific disability accommodation needs as well as dietary accommodation needs.
Participants in this year’s conference will have the option to register for the Conference Only for $100, the Conference plus Pre-Conference Workshop: Place Based Writing for $135 (limit 18 participants), the Conference plus Editorial Consultation for $135 (do not register & pay for an editorial consultation without contacting us first, see information below), or the Conference plus Pre-Conference Workshop and Editorial Consultation for $170. Late registration fees begin November 1, 2019, with the price for conference registration becoming $135. If there is space for the pre-conference workshop or editorial consultations after November 1, 2019, those prices would go up to $170 individually or $185 to schedule both.
Pre-Conference Workshop: Led by Alison Pelegrin, an award-winning poet and veteran creative writing professor from Covington, LA, this generative workshop on writing about place is for writers of any genre or skill-level. Held at the historic Cadron Settlement Park on the Arkansas River about 15 minutes from the University of Central Arkansas by car*, participants will receive multiple prompts and plenty of time for generating new writing. While some prompts may ask participants to respond to the park itself, others will allow more open-ended writing about any place with which a participant may be familiar. There will also be time for sharing work with others in the group. Light refreshments will be served. Seats for the workshop are limited.
Editorial Consultations: In order to help our attendees better understand the publishing industry and gain access to publishing opportunities, conference participants can register for twenty-minute editorial consultations with visiting editors. Participants will submit 3-5 pages of poetry, 10-15 pages of prose (novel/memoir excerpts, essays, or stories), or a query letter or book proposal prior to the conference, and then meet with an editor and receive astute feedback during a one-on-one conversation on Friday afternoon (a few slots will also be available on Saturday). To see a list of participating editors and the genres they will review, visit the Preliminary Schedule, linked above.
If you are interested in participating in a consultation, please email Dr. Jennie Case at jcase@uca.edu prior to registering with your genre and time preferences. Once Dr. Case has responded to you and confirmed a consultation slot, register for the conference by selecting the "conference + editorial consultation" or the "conference + pre-conference workshop and editorial consultation" option. Please do not pay for a consultation before confirming your slot with Dr. Case.
Travel and Lodging
For participants traveling by air: Aside from our pre-conference workshop, all conference events will take place at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, and the closest airport is the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, which is 37 miles away. Taxi and Uber trips are quite expensive because they must be charged as round trips to/from Little Rock & Conway. Conway is not large and drivers cannot be guaranteed of a return fare.
Volunteer carpools will be arranged to transport attendees from the airport at set times on Friday (12:30pm and 3:30pm) at no charge. *Arrivals after 3:30pm on Friday or anytime on Saturday cannot be accommodated. If these arrangements are unavoidable, we recommend renting a car as the cheapest option.
We will provide a carpool to airport hotels Saturday evening*, leaving UCA at 6:00pm, and to the airport Sunday morning at 6:30am at no charge. *If you plan a flight that departs before 9:00am on Sunday, please make arrangements to stay at the Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express at the Little Rock Airport for Saturday night. We can assure you a ride to those airport hotels on Saturday night, but we cannot provide a ride prior to 6:30am on Sunday morning, and it takes about an hour to get from Conway to the airport. Access to these arrangements will be offered via email once a participant has paid for registration. Registration will open in late-July.
For participants requiring lodging: There are no hotels within walking distance of the UCA campus; therefore, we also provide carpooling to/from the conference hotel. The conference hotel is the Home2 Suites by Hilton (on Bill Dean Dr.) Conway Arkansas. Our rate is $99 per night for a king suite. This includes one king bed and one queen sofa bed, in case you’d like to share. To receive the room rate, follow the link below. On that page, change the dates and number of people/number of rooms, then click on "Special Rates" and use the Group Code box, inputting WWC. Then, click "Check Rooms & Rates" and you should see our conference rate pop up. If it does not, you may call the hotel directly at 501-504-2602 or use the toll-free line 1-888-866-1193. You will need to tell the registration agent that our group code is WWC.
Direct link to Home2 Suites by Hilton, Little Rock: https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/litcoht-home2-suites-conway/
You may book a room at another hotel, of course, but all carpooling comes and goes from the Home2 Suites. There are other hotels near our conference hotel, and if you need carpooling and are willing to walk over, you are free to stay at one of these.
*UCA students enrolled in Fall 2019. With sponsorship from the University of Central Arkansas, the University of Central Arkansas Foundation, the College of Fine Arts and Communication, and the Department of Film, Theatre, and Creative Writing registration fees are waived for UCA students enrolled in courses for Fall 2019. Interested students should not use the registration link below. They should email the director at cdwrightconference@gmail.com.
We are undergoing a change in registration software and expect registration to open at the end of July 2019. Please read all provided information in preparation for registration. (In particular, UCA students require special instructions.) We will update this site as soon as a registration link is available.
The 2019 C.D. Wright Women Writers Conference, taking place November 8–9, 2019, will include an optional, limited-seating pre-conference writing workshop, an optional opportunity for a 20-minute editorial consultation, a Friday night keynote presentation with reception, a book fair, a continental breakfast, choices from 16 individual breakout sessions of either panels or creative readings, a keynote lunch, and a closing reception.
Registration fees include access to events, on-site catering, and parking passes. Conference organizers seek to ensure that all events are accessible and inclusive. When registering, participants will be given the opportunity to list specific disability accommodation needs as well as dietary accommodation needs.
Participants in this year’s conference will have the option to register for the Conference Only for $100, the Conference plus Pre-Conference Workshop: Place Based Writing for $135 (limit 18 participants), the Conference plus Editorial Consultation for $135 (do not register & pay for an editorial consultation without contacting us first, see information below), or the Conference plus Pre-Conference Workshop and Editorial Consultation for $170. Late registration fees begin November 1, 2019, with the price for conference registration becoming $135. If there is space for the pre-conference workshop or editorial consultations after November 1, 2019, those prices would go up to $170 individually or $185 to schedule both.
Pre-Conference Workshop: Led by Alison Pelegrin, an award-winning poet and veteran creative writing professor from Covington, LA, this generative workshop on writing about place is for writers of any genre or skill-level. Held at the historic Cadron Settlement Park on the Arkansas River about 15 minutes from the University of Central Arkansas by car*, participants will receive multiple prompts and plenty of time for generating new writing. While some prompts may ask participants to respond to the park itself, others will allow more open-ended writing about any place with which a participant may be familiar. There will also be time for sharing work with others in the group. Light refreshments will be served. Seats for the workshop are limited.
Editorial Consultations: In order to help our attendees better understand the publishing industry and gain access to publishing opportunities, conference participants can register for twenty-minute editorial consultations with visiting editors. Participants will submit 3-5 pages of poetry, 10-15 pages of prose (novel/memoir excerpts, essays, or stories), or a query letter or book proposal prior to the conference, and then meet with an editor and receive astute feedback during a one-on-one conversation on Friday afternoon (a few slots will also be available on Saturday). To see a list of participating editors and the genres they will review, visit the Preliminary Schedule, linked above.
If you are interested in participating in a consultation, please email Dr. Jennie Case at jcase@uca.edu prior to registering with your genre and time preferences. Once Dr. Case has responded to you and confirmed a consultation slot, register for the conference by selecting the "conference + editorial consultation" or the "conference + pre-conference workshop and editorial consultation" option. Please do not pay for a consultation before confirming your slot with Dr. Case.
Travel and Lodging
For participants traveling by air: Aside from our pre-conference workshop, all conference events will take place at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, and the closest airport is the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, which is 37 miles away. Taxi and Uber trips are quite expensive because they must be charged as round trips to/from Little Rock & Conway. Conway is not large and drivers cannot be guaranteed of a return fare.
Volunteer carpools will be arranged to transport attendees from the airport at set times on Friday (12:30pm and 3:30pm) at no charge. *Arrivals after 3:30pm on Friday or anytime on Saturday cannot be accommodated. If these arrangements are unavoidable, we recommend renting a car as the cheapest option.
We will provide a carpool to airport hotels Saturday evening*, leaving UCA at 6:00pm, and to the airport Sunday morning at 6:30am at no charge. *If you plan a flight that departs before 9:00am on Sunday, please make arrangements to stay at the Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express at the Little Rock Airport for Saturday night. We can assure you a ride to those airport hotels on Saturday night, but we cannot provide a ride prior to 6:30am on Sunday morning, and it takes about an hour to get from Conway to the airport. Access to these arrangements will be offered via email once a participant has paid for registration. Registration will open in late-July.
For participants requiring lodging: There are no hotels within walking distance of the UCA campus; therefore, we also provide carpooling to/from the conference hotel. The conference hotel is the Home2 Suites by Hilton (on Bill Dean Dr.) Conway Arkansas. Our rate is $99 per night for a king suite. This includes one king bed and one queen sofa bed, in case you’d like to share. To receive the room rate, follow the link below. On that page, change the dates and number of people/number of rooms, then click on "Special Rates" and use the Group Code box, inputting WWC. Then, click "Check Rooms & Rates" and you should see our conference rate pop up. If it does not, you may call the hotel directly at 501-504-2602 or use the toll-free line 1-888-866-1193. You will need to tell the registration agent that our group code is WWC.
Direct link to Home2 Suites by Hilton, Little Rock: https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/litcoht-home2-suites-conway/
You may book a room at another hotel, of course, but all carpooling comes and goes from the Home2 Suites. There are other hotels near our conference hotel, and if you need carpooling and are willing to walk over, you are free to stay at one of these.
*UCA students enrolled in Fall 2019. With sponsorship from the University of Central Arkansas, the University of Central Arkansas Foundation, the College of Fine Arts and Communication, and the Department of Film, Theatre, and Creative Writing registration fees are waived for UCA students enrolled in courses for Fall 2019. Interested students should not use the registration link below. They should email the director at cdwrightconference@gmail.com.
Registration Link
When our new registration link is available, it will be listed here. Unfortunately, the C.D. Wright Women Writers Conference is unable to offer refunds. However, if unable to attend, a paid registration may be transferred to another person by contacting the director at cdwrightconference@gmail.com before November 5, 2019.
Anyone who wishes only to attend the Saturday keynote by Jami Attenberg, along with the buffet lunch, may do so for $25. Email the director for details as this option is not available through the registration site.
When our new registration link is available, it will be listed here. Unfortunately, the C.D. Wright Women Writers Conference is unable to offer refunds. However, if unable to attend, a paid registration may be transferred to another person by contacting the director at cdwrightconference@gmail.com before November 5, 2019.
Anyone who wishes only to attend the Saturday keynote by Jami Attenberg, along with the buffet lunch, may do so for $25. Email the director for details as this option is not available through the registration site.
Conference Stipends
In 2019, the conference will award a limited number of need-based stipends; the deadline to apply is August 30, 2019, and details can be found here.
In 2019, the conference will award a limited number of need-based stipends; the deadline to apply is August 30, 2019, and details can be found here.
Nan Snow Emerging Writer Award
As part of its mission to promote the work and careers of women-identifying writers, the conference sponsors the Nan Snow Emerging Writer Award, which celebrates conference attendees whose writing shows considerable promise. The deadline to submit is August 30, 2019, and information can be found here.
As part of its mission to promote the work and careers of women-identifying writers, the conference sponsors the Nan Snow Emerging Writer Award, which celebrates conference attendees whose writing shows considerable promise. The deadline to submit is August 30, 2019, and information can be found here.
Book Fair and Sponsorship Opportunities
The conference will include a small book fair, with limited tables available. Book fair fees do not include registration to attend events or receptions/meals. The conference also has sponsor packages for presses, authors, or businesses interested in supporting the conference at a higher level, with additional benefits, including registrations, book fair tables, and more. To inquire about fees and reservations for the book fair, or to receive information on our sponsor packages, please email the Director at cdwrightconference@gmail.com.
The conference will include a small book fair, with limited tables available. Book fair fees do not include registration to attend events or receptions/meals. The conference also has sponsor packages for presses, authors, or businesses interested in supporting the conference at a higher level, with additional benefits, including registrations, book fair tables, and more. To inquire about fees and reservations for the book fair, or to receive information on our sponsor packages, please email the Director at cdwrightconference@gmail.com.
Parking and Maps
The majority of our events take place in McCastlain Hall, including registration and check-in. Parking is available behind Wingo Hall and behind/between Schichtl Studio Arts and the College of Business. The complete campus map may be accessed here, with the excerpt below showing the main conference areas in more detail.
The majority of our events take place in McCastlain Hall, including registration and check-in. Parking is available behind Wingo Hall and behind/between Schichtl Studio Arts and the College of Business. The complete campus map may be accessed here, with the excerpt below showing the main conference areas in more detail.
The conference will be held on the UCA campus in the College of Business auditorium and McCastlain Hall on Friday, November 8, 2019 and Saturday, November 9, 2019.