Mission Statement
The mission of the C.D. Wright Women Writers Conference is to recognize, promote, and encourage women writers with special emphasis given to writing inspired by or written in the south. Keynote presentations, panel discussions, craft talks, publishing advice, readings, a book fair, and workshops led by contemporary authors provide a venue for participants to explore opportunities, challenges, and trends specific to women writers. The conference seeks to offer writers a space to gather for inspiration, further education, support, and networking.
Vision Statement
There is strong evidence that the publishing world is still an unequal world. The C.D. Wright Women Writers Conference seeks to be one attempt among many to right that balance.
With the dissolution of the groundbreaking Southern Women Writers conference hosted at Berry College, the University of Central Arkansas sees a need to further the cause of women writers from Arkansas, the south, and America, in general. Led in our founding by UCA Foundation Board member and writer, Nan Snow, we support a lively conference that draws women writers from all levels and all genres to our campus. However, while this conference features only the work of women writers, we welcome everyone in our audiences. We also believe that an emphasis on southern women writers should provide valuable conversations about national and international issues for women writers.
The conference demonstrates its commitment to promising new women writers by sponsoring the Nan Snow Emerging Writer Award. Winners are invited to attend and read from their work. In addition, with sponsorship from the University of Central Arkansas, the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, and the Department of Film, Theatre, and Creative Writing, registration fees are waived for UCA students.
The conference is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of women writers and women supporters of the art of writing in all of its myriad forms. Board members fulfill several different functions by assisting with the annual conference, promoting the conference, working with volunteers and sponsors, and/or contributing and raising funds for conference activities. Anyone interested in learning more about serving on the board should contact conference director Sandy Longhorn at [email protected].
With the dissolution of the groundbreaking Southern Women Writers conference hosted at Berry College, the University of Central Arkansas sees a need to further the cause of women writers from Arkansas, the south, and America, in general. Led in our founding by UCA Foundation Board member and writer, Nan Snow, we support a lively conference that draws women writers from all levels and all genres to our campus. However, while this conference features only the work of women writers, we welcome everyone in our audiences. We also believe that an emphasis on southern women writers should provide valuable conversations about national and international issues for women writers.
The conference demonstrates its commitment to promising new women writers by sponsoring the Nan Snow Emerging Writer Award. Winners are invited to attend and read from their work. In addition, with sponsorship from the University of Central Arkansas, the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, and the Department of Film, Theatre, and Creative Writing, registration fees are waived for UCA students.
The conference is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of women writers and women supporters of the art of writing in all of its myriad forms. Board members fulfill several different functions by assisting with the annual conference, promoting the conference, working with volunteers and sponsors, and/or contributing and raising funds for conference activities. Anyone interested in learning more about serving on the board should contact conference director Sandy Longhorn at [email protected].
Why this Conference? Why Now?
Perhaps you once learned of past women writers forced to publish their work anonymously, under male pen names, or by initials only. Perhaps you see these women in black and white, pre-1960s, pre-Women’s Rights Movement, pre-bra-burnings, etc. So, why do we need a women's writers conference today, especially in an age when technology has opened so many doors for all writers?
To answer that question, here's a story about one woman writing today, live and in color, a woman who, while waiting weeks and months to hear back from agents about representation for her novel, had been reading the results of studies that exposed gender bias in job applications and job promotion rates. This woman, Catherine Nichols, decided to run a study of her own in 2015 in which she created a male pseudonym and a false email account. In her essay “Homme de Plume” published on the blog Jezebel, Nichols describes sending the exact same query email and sample chapters under her own name and under her male pseudonym. Not surprisingly, the queries sent under a male name received markedly more attention. Nichols writes:
"Total data: George sent out 50 queries, and had his manuscript requested 17 times. He is eight and a half times better than me at writing the same book. Fully a third of the agents who saw his query wanted to see more, where my numbers never did shift from one in 25."
Nichols’ essay drives home the facts, the facts about inequity in gender and publishing. Several groups have begun drawing national attention to this issue, especially VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, an organization that provides an annual count of publications, and books reviewed, by gender in leading general interest magazines and literary journals in America. For most of those national publications, VIDA numbers are as disproportionate as Nichols’ personal account, and the numbers are just as dispiriting for journalism, women writing in the sciences and business, women writing in higher education, and across nearly every field.
These facts could discourage a woman to the point of quitting what for most is not a job, not a hobby, not a pastime, but a calling. In fact, we probably all know a woman or two who has given up, and sadly, those lost voices are numbers it would be very difficult to quantify.
These numbers are the reason we ask for your support of The C.D. Wright Women Writers Conference. If you would like to join us in our endeavor, please consider a financial contribution. Even a small donation will make a difference.
We are so excited to begin this journey with our writing community, and we look forward to getting to work.
To answer that question, here's a story about one woman writing today, live and in color, a woman who, while waiting weeks and months to hear back from agents about representation for her novel, had been reading the results of studies that exposed gender bias in job applications and job promotion rates. This woman, Catherine Nichols, decided to run a study of her own in 2015 in which she created a male pseudonym and a false email account. In her essay “Homme de Plume” published on the blog Jezebel, Nichols describes sending the exact same query email and sample chapters under her own name and under her male pseudonym. Not surprisingly, the queries sent under a male name received markedly more attention. Nichols writes:
"Total data: George sent out 50 queries, and had his manuscript requested 17 times. He is eight and a half times better than me at writing the same book. Fully a third of the agents who saw his query wanted to see more, where my numbers never did shift from one in 25."
Nichols’ essay drives home the facts, the facts about inequity in gender and publishing. Several groups have begun drawing national attention to this issue, especially VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, an organization that provides an annual count of publications, and books reviewed, by gender in leading general interest magazines and literary journals in America. For most of those national publications, VIDA numbers are as disproportionate as Nichols’ personal account, and the numbers are just as dispiriting for journalism, women writing in the sciences and business, women writing in higher education, and across nearly every field.
These facts could discourage a woman to the point of quitting what for most is not a job, not a hobby, not a pastime, but a calling. In fact, we probably all know a woman or two who has given up, and sadly, those lost voices are numbers it would be very difficult to quantify.
These numbers are the reason we ask for your support of The C.D. Wright Women Writers Conference. If you would like to join us in our endeavor, please consider a financial contribution. Even a small donation will make a difference.
We are so excited to begin this journey with our writing community, and we look forward to getting to work.
