Thank You for a Great Conference! 2019 Registration Now Open!
Join the Willamette Writers Conference - August 2-4, 2019
Our 50th annual conference (50!!!) will be a BLAST! Three full days of classes, workshops, keynotes, critiques, and events. We invite you to join us for a weekend of community as you develop your craft and expand your career on August 2nd-4th, 2019 in Portland, Oregon at the Airport Sheraton Hotel.
After a successful launch of Master Classes Day with industry professionals at our 2018 conference, we are doing it again in 2019. So stay tuned for details about opportunities to learn from top instructors in a small group setting.
We'll also be offering many options for one on one critique, including On the Spot Critiques and Advance Manuscript Critique. As always, we'll have a roster of agents, editors and film executives ready to hear about your project. Plus, we'll have our amazing community of PNW writers that you just can't find anywhere else. Join us!
2018 Award Winners
Congratulations Willamette Writers 2018 Annual Award Winners! We Loved Hearing from You at the 2018 Conference!
We are pleased to congratulate our esteemed Willamette Writers 2018 Award winners:
Chelsea Cain: Distinguished Northwest Writer
Gayle Brandeis: Multi-Genre Maverick
Ellen Urbani: New and Notable
Congratulations, Chelsea Cain, Gayle Brandeis, and Ellen Urbani! Please join us at the 2018 Willamette Writers Conference to celebrate these amazing writers -- for their work, their wisdom, and their contributions to the craft.
Member News
Member News: Cai Emmons’s WEATHER WOMAN (novel) out now
Cai Emmons’s new novel WEATHER WOMAN is now out. A realistic story with a touch of fantasy, it narrates the story of a meteorologist who discovers she has the power to change the weather. Once she accepts she has this power, she must decide what to do with it. The book poses questions about science…
Member News: Call for Local Authors & Illustrators
If you are a local author or illustrator interested in securing a table for an Icelandic-themed book fair, check out PDX Jolabokaflod! Applications accepted until November 15, 2018. After an expansion of venue, we’ve got a bit more room for a few more vendors! Please visit page and send your name, book details, contact info,…
Member News: Critique Group Members Invited
Central Portland Critique Group Opportunity: Our Literary Fiction Critique Group seeks 2-3 additional members. We meet monthly; day/time floats according to a best time for all of us, but generally meet mid-week, early evening, take turns hosting in each others’ homes. Prefer members live within 3-4 miles of Downtown Portland. We are serious about writing…
Member News: Call For Submissions-Majestic Eight Ten-Minute Play Festival
The Majestic Playwright’s Lab is now accepting submissions for its second statewide 10-Minute Play Competition: THE MAJESTIC EIGHT. Submission Start Date: November 1, 2018 Submission Deadline: December 15, 2018 No submissions will be accepted before November 1, 2018. Open only to Oregon residents and students registered at Oregon colleges and universities. Only the first 100…
Member News: PERPETUA’S KIN Named One of the Most Anticipated Books of the Season by New York Magazine
Now out from Atelier26 Books, PERPETUA’S KIN is M. Allen Cunningham’s masterful new novel, 11 years in the making, about a family shaped as much by tumultuous world events as by each of its members’ long-kept secrets. Benjamin Lorn, sensitive son of an embittered Civil War veteran, comes of age in the tiny Iowa town…
Member News: Reading at Annie Bloom’s
Annie Bloom’s welcomes local feminist horror author Gretchen Van Lente to read from her story collection, She-Thing and Other Righteous Tales. Wear your Halloween costume to the reading! She-Thing offers fanciful storytelling proof that there is justice for every slight you ever endured, in an assortment of stories set in the parallel universe that resides within and…
Member News: Novel Release
I am excited to announce the release of my novel, Lily’s Home Front, (Moonshine Cove Publishing, LLC) on October 4. The story takes place during World War II and is about a young woman welder on Liberty Ships in Kaiser’s Portland shipyard. About Lily’s Home Front: During World War II, Lily Gordon, a twenty-year-old welder…
Member News: The book launch of “Dangerous Medicine”
Here ends this engaging gay love story, which begins in 1923 Portland when Dr. Carl Holman meets jazz musician Jimmy Harper in Acquaintance, Book 1. As a young surgeon, Carl Holman experienced the horrors of World War I and the loss of his lover, a fellow officer. Back home after the war, he befriends an…
Member News: Books for Hispanic Heritage Month
In recognition of National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct.15) please consider these titles by award-winning writer Patricia Santos Marcantonio featuring Hispanic stories, culture and characters. VERDICT IN THE DESERT – Murder and prejudice in an Arizona town. RED RIDIN’ IN THE HOOD – Familiar fairy tales retold with Latino flavor. An award-winner. THE WEEPING WOMAN…
Member News: Patricia L. Brooks Pens Third Memoir
Sick as My Secrets, the third memoir, of award-winning author Patricia L. Brooks, is a powerful, compassionate, moving memoir told by a strong and honest woman who overcame a desperate need for alcohol to handle stress in her young life. Patricia, immensely proud of her thirty-five years of sobriety, openly and lovingly reveals her compelling…
On Writing from Willamette Writers
How To Happily Write A Query Letter
We’re excited that Bill Kenower is a member of the faculty at the upcoming Willamette Writers Conference. Bill is the author of Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write With Confidence and Write Within Yourself: An Author’s Companion. In…
HOW TO WIN THE SUBMISSION WAITING GAME
We’re excited that Erick Mertz is a member of the faculty at the upcoming Willamette Writers Conference. Erick is a Portland-based ghostwriter and fiction/memoir manuscript consultant. Over the last five years as a full-time freelancer he has written manuscripts for…
Experts Weigh In: 10 Crucial Screenwriting Mistakes
Experts Weigh In: 10 Crucial Screenwriting Mistakes Lee Jessup, a member of our screenwriting faculty at the upcoming Willamette Writer’s Conference and the author of Breaking In: Tales from the Screenwriting Trenches and Getting It Write: An Insider’s Guide To A…
The 7 Things Writers Need to Make a Living by Sonia Simone
Written by SONIA SIMONE Reprinted with permission from Copyblogger. If you’re a writer, you might have heard this most of your life: People don’t make a living writing. You should find something practical to do with your life. Smart, capable writers grimly…
Ten Tips for Writing an Effective Pitch
By Alyssa Schaffer and Joanna Szabo Pitching your manuscript can be one of the more intimidating aspects of the writing process, so we’ve collected a few essential tips to help you prepare your next pitch. Start with a hook. This…
What Agents Want – Tips from Meeting with Literary Agent Laura Bradford
At the April 4 Willamette Writers meeting, attendees got to hear from Laura Bradford, founder of Bradford Literary Agency, about what agents look for in writers. Here are some key takeaways from the presentation. Are You Someone Agents Want to…
Join a Meeting or a Workshop Near You
All Writers Welcome! Members & Full-Time Students Attend for Free!
Fall Screenwriting Class with Cynthia Whitcomb
Eugene: Maren Bradley Anderson
Eugene: Nanowrimo: What is National Novel Writing Month and How to Get Involved? With Maren Bradley Anderson
Southern Oregon: Anna Elkins
YWW Southern Oregon: Secrets from the Gutter – The Storytelling Advantages of Comics
Online Workshop: FiLMLaBtv with Alyssa Roehrenbeck
Portland: Monthly Meeting
YWW Portland: David D. Levine
The Willamette Writers Conference
Julie Whipple Book Signing at Powells
Julie Whipple will be reading and signing copies of her new book, Crash Course Join Julie Whipple at Powell’s downtown flagship store on West Burnside on Monday, August 20 at 7:30 (http://www.powells.com/book/-9780692070406#product_details) and award-winning audiobook narrator Heather Henderson for a special performance of excerpts from the book. Long-time Portland residents vividly recall the crash of…
HOW TO WIN THE SUBMISSION WAITING GAME
We’re excited that Erick Mertz is a member of the faculty at the upcoming Willamette Writers Conference. Erick is a Portland-based ghostwriter and fiction/memoir manuscript consultant. Over the last five years as a full-time freelancer he has written manuscripts for a variety of clients. In a blog he posted this past December, he shares advice…
The 7 Things Writers Need to Make a Living by Sonia Simone
Written by SONIA SIMONE Reprinted with permission from Copyblogger. If you’re a writer, you might have heard this most of your life: People don’t make a living writing. You should find something practical to do with your life. Smart, capable writers grimly pass around war stories on Facebook. Penny-a-word assignments, clients who don’t pay, disdain for our…
Open Mic Night at the Willamette Writers Conference
Open Mic night started at the Willamette Writers Conference in 2013, when I mentioned to the conference chair that I attended a really fun Open Mic Night at another writing conference. This launched us into a talk about how we could make one for Willamette Writers and how we could make it even better than…
What’s New at the Willamette Writers Conference
Welcome to our 2018 Conference! This year, our theme for The Best Three Days in Writing is “Celebrating Diverse Voices in Writing.” The whole team is really looking forward to what we’ve got in store for you all this August 3rd -5th. As you know, the conference has grown and changed much over its 49-year…
Experiences at The Willamette Writers Conference
“A writers conference can be an empowering and uplifting experience,” according to Scott Myers, a producer, writer, and assistant director. Myers presented at the Willamette Writers Conference this year, and said it was a “special experience.” He explains on his website about his conference experience that he met so many writers and old friends, and his classes were packed. His…
Writing Through the Tough Times by Julie Fast
New Conference Opportunity for Members: Sell Your Books at the Consignment Booth
Thanks for checking out this opportunity. We are finalizing the details and should have them for you this week. In the meantime, please let us know you’re interested by completing the short form below or via this link (same form, use whatever works better for you). We will let you know when we have more…
New Opportunity at Conference: Author Headshots
For the first time ever, the 2017 Willamette Writers Conference will have a professional photographer at the conference to take author headshots. A limited number of slots will be offered Friday and Saturday afternoon, so book your slot before they are all taken. Why Do Author’s Need Headshots? Last year’s conference keynote speaker Jane Friedman…
Hone Your Craft: The 2017 Conference Offers Opportunity for Advanced & Beginning Writers
As we’ve mentioned before, our schedule of educational programming includes 9 tracks of themed content from across the spectrum of what writers need to know and want to celebrate. Our Genre offerings for this year take up two of those tracks: one for beginners and novices, the other for intermediate and professional writers. And the…
Our News
Member News: Mary Andonian & David Poulshock launch ISA 3rd Thursdays
Mary Andonian & David Poulshock launch ISA 3rd Thursdays Members Mary and David are launching the local chapter of the International Screenwriters Association(ISA). It’s a monthly mixer for screenwriters on 3rd Thursdays, where you can mingle with fellow screenwriters, meet film and television industry professionals, and win door prizes — including a free Willamette Writer’s…
How To Happily Write A Query Letter
We’re excited that Bill Kenower is a member of the faculty at the upcoming Willamette Writers Conference. Bill is the author of Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write With Confidence and Write Within Yourself: An Author’s Companion. In a blog he posted this past June, he shares his perspective on how he learned…
HOW TO WIN THE SUBMISSION WAITING GAME
We’re excited that Erick Mertz is a member of the faculty at the upcoming Willamette Writers Conference. Erick is a Portland-based ghostwriter and fiction/memoir manuscript consultant. Over the last five years as a full-time freelancer he has written manuscripts for a variety of clients. In a blog he posted this past December, he shares advice…
Attend FiLMLaB.tv workshops and get all the value without even attending!
Attend FiLMLaB.tv workshops and get all the value without even attending! Well, not really. Eventually you’ll have to “attend.” But thanks to space-age technology, Willamette Writers is presenting two valuable workshops online that you will be able to access 24/7 AND multiple times right up until the conference. That means that even if you’re not…
Ten Tips for Writing an Effective Pitch
By Alyssa Schaffer and Joanna Szabo Pitching your manuscript can be one of the more intimidating aspects of the writing process, so we’ve collected a few essential tips to help you prepare your next pitch. Start with a hook. This should be one or two lines covering the most exciting thing about your book. However,…
Willamette Writers is Sponsoring Write to Publish
We are delighted to contribute to this year’s Write to Publish conference with Ooligan Press to help writers, agents, and publishers alike get more familiar the ins and outs of the industry! What: A one-day conference demystifying the publishing industry When: April 21, 2018 9:00 am – 6:00 pm Where: George C. Hoffmann Hall 1833…
Randall Jahnson and FiLMLaB Screenwriting Workshop
Screenwriting Workshop Willamette Writers and FiLMLaB invite you to join us for an online screenwriting workshop with Randall Jahnson. Details Date: Saturday, April 21st Time: 12-2PM Cost: Free Open to the public This is an online workshop Click here to register. About Randall Jahnson Randall Jahnson has written more than 20 feature-length screenplays. Not all…
Help Support Young Writers
What a wonderful year. We started out with our chapter meetings across the state, joined together at our annual conference, and finished the year with a closer — and much larger — community of support and friendship. Every day, Willamette Writers members are developing their craft and expanding their careers. Today, we ask you to…
Share your Thanksgiving stories with us!
Happy Thanksgiving, Willamette Writers! Every year, we gather around the dining room table to eat delicious food and share stories with our family and friends. These stories matter; they sustain us when we are apart and connect us to each other across the miles. Today, let’s share our stories of joy and thankfulness. Let’s move…
FiLMLaB Adds Showrunner for its Web Series Project: FiLMLaB.tv
Willamette Writers and FiLMLaB are thrilled to announce that veteran network television writer and producer F.J. Pratt has agreed to helm this year’s program, an Episodic Storytelling LaB: FiLMLaB.tv! About FiLMLaB.tv Showrunner F.J. Pratt F.J. Pratt has been a television comedy writer for twenty-five years, starting on the writing staff for network shows including “Frasier,”…