Submissions are now open! Willamette Writers invites you to submit to our two programs, the Timberline Review and Kay Snow Awards. The theme this year is DREAM. We are looking for poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, screenplays and more. New this year, if you submit to the Timberline Review, your piece is automatically entered into the Kay Snow Awards! Find out more.
Join Willamette Writers for an afternoon of chocolate on November 20th from 2-4PM at 1336 NW Flanders Street, Portland. Get your tickets here. From deep, dark chocolate to sweet, fresh white, you'll taste your way through our favorite confection, all while supporting Willamette Writers programming. Space is limited. Get your ticket for a delicious afternoon.
Note: Any donation over $25 is tax-deductible and supports writers across Oregon and Southwest Washington.
What did you think of #wilwrite22?
"Had such an amazing time talking about being a debut author, kidlit, and moving through writers block at the #wilwrite22 conference. What a wonderful place to get inspired and build your writing community! Already looking forward to next year!"
- Sonja Thomas, author & presenter
"The Willamette Writers Conference is one of the best I've had the pleasure of speaking at. The sense of community and support among the attendees and staff made the experience enjoyable from beginning to end."
- Vinnie Kinsella; publisher, author & presenter
"This is the friendliest, more supportive conference I know."
- Melissa Hart, author & presenter
"Willamette Writers is such a terrific resource for writers at all levels of their career. From the big summer conference to the regular meetings, the organization provides such a safe and welcoming community. We all need a place to belong that will encourage us to grow and thrive as creators -- I'm so glad Willamette Writers is here to be that place!"
- Wendy N. Wagner, author & presenter
Want to be more involved? Become a member!
A community of writers supporting and learning from each other. We strive to provide members with everything they need to thrive—community support, networking opportunities, continuing education, inspiration, publicity, and much more.
Here’s all you get for just $57 a year:
Willamette Writers Membership benefits:
Weekly Chapter Meetings: with talks and inspirational, educational presentations on the craft and business of writing from leaders in the writing world
Online Coffee Hours: socialize with other writers twice a week
The Write Place: weekly productivity meeting, an opportunity for mutual support and accountability towards achieving your writing goals
The Timberline Review literary journal: free submissions and discounted subscriptions or copies
WilWrite Conference: early registration and discount on our acclaimed yearly writers conference
Kay Snow Writing Awards: Discounted submissions to our writing contest
FilmLab Contest: discounted submissions to our filmmaking contest
Critique groups: We help connect members to critique groups for various genres.
Post your writing news free: on our website, in our weekly Dispatch email, in our quarterly Newsletter, and on our social media. We want to celebrate YOU!
Join today!
We’d love for you to be part of the community.
WW Events
Online: Kicking off 2022 with Russell Nohelty
Online: The Write Place Productivity Meeting
Young Willamette Writers – Katie Bennett
Online: Writing Sex Scenes with Karelia Stetz-Waters
Online: Screenwriters Happy Hour
Online: The Write Place Productivity Meeting
Online: Finding The Mystery In The Heart Of Your Novel with Kelly Garrett
Online: The Write Place Productivity Meeting
Your writing community NEWS
Member News: New Release — Phantom Cove
Kay Jennings announces that Phantom Cove, book 5 in her mystery/thriller series, released on November 17, 2022. Phantom Cove is part of the Port Stirling Mystery series set on the rugged southern Oregon coast, and follows Police Chief Matt Horning and his colleagues. While the local cast of characters continue and their relationships evolve, each…
Member News: Critique Group — Deni Starr
Member News: New Release — Doc Talk
From the author of the Writer’s Guide to Medicine series comes Doc Talk: Medical Slang & Terminology for Writers, a reference guide to medical phrases, terminology, and slang. Need to incorporate medical terminology into your story? Want to write the authentic voice of a doctor or nurse? Look no further. In Doc Talk, physician and…
Member News: Editing Service — Caviar
A message from David MacNamera, the founder of Caviar Reviews and Editing: Are you tired of seeing some of your books receive one-star reviews with no written justification? Sick of shallow reviews from ‘review exchanges’ that just seem to be written with info off of your book cover and one or two pages of your…
Member News: New Release — Hide Your Light
Member News: New Release — Deep Canyons
Deep Canyons, Book 2 in Nan C Ballard’s science fiction western series, is available for pre-order and will launch on November 22. In Deep Canyons, Lee Vawn-Cory still hasn’t come to terms with her ordeal three years earlier. She has split from Seth Reilly. Now she joins a trek on horseback to explore an unsettled…
Member News: New Release — Where We Call Home
Reconnect with the natural world through essays that blend science and prose. In her debut work, Where We Call Home: Lands, Seas, and Skies of Pacific Northwest, Portland-based journalist and Willamette Writers member Josephine Woolington sheds light on diverse flora and fauna of the Pacific Northwest, from the coastal tailed frog to yellow-cedar. Through interviews…
Member News: Author Event — Suzanne Parry at Powell’s
Local author Suzanne Parry will discuss her debut historical novel, Lost Souls of Leningrad, in conversation with Laura Stanfill and Suzy Vitello, at Powell’s City of Books on Thursday, November 10 at 7 pm. Equal parts World War II epic, family saga, and love story, this compelling tale is both a testament to human resilience…
Member News: New Release – Found
This Fall 2022, what was lost is Found: Ten years after the drowning death of her daughter in the Colorado, Eleanor Clay subsists finding corpses for Bristlecone Springs PD, until the day she finds three-year-old Lizzie, living but left-for-dead in a culvert under the railroad tracks. This crime unspools to a series of brutal kidnappings…
Member News: New Release – Only This Step
Philip Kenney’s book of haiku poems, Only This Step, will release in February 2023. Readers of Only This Step will find that these poems open the mind to new ways of seeing and experiencing. In an introductory essay to haiku, former United States Poet Laureate Billy Collins wrote this about the nature of this form:…
Writing Resources from Willamette Writers
In Her Cultish YA Novels, Kelly McWilliams Blends the Personal and the Historical
To author Kelly McWilliams, writing is about asserting valuable truths. With her 2020 novel, AGNES AT THE END OF THE WORLD, she “felt [she] needed to send a message into this world: a message about feminism and patriarchy and how…
Writing Advice from Willamette Writers
By Rebekah Postupak In June, the Vancouver Willamette Writers chapter met online to share favorite writing books, conference tips, and goals for the summer. We’ve compiled those terrific ideas to share with the rest of Willamette Writers. Some of these…
Writing Advice from Zoraida Córdova
by Mari Hotchkiss An unusual career path. As a young child in Ecuador, Zoraida Córdova grew up listening to her grandmother’s stories that were filled with magic and wonder. At six years old, she immigrated to the United States with…
Creating Characters
Happy Fall! Have you got your sweater? Your scarf? Your pumpkin-spiced whatever?Then sit down and talk with us about character. Hemingway said, “When writing a novel, a writer should create living people; people, not characters. A character is a caricature.”…
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…