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| Formation | 1967 |
|---|---|
| Type | Professional/Academic literary organization |
| Location |
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| Website | www |
TheAssociation of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) is a nonprofit literary organization that provides support, advocacy, resources, and community to nearly 50,000 writers, 500 college and university creative writing programs, and 125 writers' conferences and centers. It was founded in 1967 byR. V. Cassill andGeorge Garrett.
AWP was founded in 1967 as a non-profit organization initially namedAssociated Writing Programs. Its founders were fifteen writers representing thirteen creative writing programs. The new association sought to support the growing presence of literary writers in higher education. It accepted both institutional and individual members, and it aimed to persuade the academic community that the creation of literature had a place in the academy as important as the study of literature did.
AWP has helpedNorth America to develop a literature as diverse as its peoples.[citation needed] Member programs have provided literary education to students and aspiring writers from all backgrounds, economic classes, races, and ethnic origins.[citation needed]
AWP has also supported the development of hundreds of educational programs, conferences, reading series, and literary magazines, as well as thousands of jobs for writers and new audiences for contemporary literature. AWP's membership fees have grown exponentially since their inception.[citation needed]
The AWP Conference & Bookfair is a large and inclusive[1] literary conference in North America. AWP hosts an annual conference in a different region of North America, featuring presentations, readings, lectures, panel discussions, book signings, receptions, and a largebookfair. The conference is held in the late winter or early spring of each year, and attracts thousands of attendees and bookfair exhibitors.[2]
AWP enters into partnerships with allied literary organizations like theAcademy of American Poets, theAuthors Guild,Cave Canem Foundation, theCenter for Fiction,Community of Literary Magazines & Presses,Kundiman,National Book Critics Circle,Poetry Society of America, and Writers in the Schools to serve our association's various constituencies and to provide programming at the conference. Two or three featured events, including the keynote address, are created by the Conference Steering Committee of the AWP Board of Trustees.[3]
AWP's first conference was held in 1973 at theLibrary of Congress, and it hosted six events and 16 presenters.George Garrett, one of AWP's founders, planned the first gathering with help from theNational Endowment for the Arts. Presenters includedElliott Coleman, founder of the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University,Paul Engle, founder of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, poetsJosephine Jacobsen andMiller Williams, and novelistsRalph Ellison andWallace Stegner, among others.
The AWP Conference & Bookfair has shown significant growth since the early 2000s, transforming from a small conference of only a couple thousand attendees, 300 exhibitors, and less than 200 events to over 12,000 attendees, 800 exhibitors, and 550 events today.
The 2023 conference, held inSeattle, had over 9,000 attendees and 563 on-site exhibitors at the bookfair.[4]
Every year, conference presenters include winners of literary prizes, including theMan Booker Prize, theNational Book Award, theNational Book Critics Circle Award, theNobel Prize, thePulitzer Prize, as well aMacArthur andGuggenheim fellows. Past lectures and readings have featuredChimamanda Ngozi Adichie,Margaret Atwood,Anne Carson,Michael Chabon,Sandra Cisneros,Don DeLillo,Rita Dove,Jennifer Egan,Louise Erdrich,Nikki Giovanni,Terrance Hayes,Seamus Heaney,John Irving,Ha Jin,Erik Larson,Carolyn Forché,Roxane Gay,Ursula K. Le Guin,Jonathan Lethem,Barry Lopez,Jhumpa Lahiri,Chang-rae Lee,Alice McDermott,Joyce Carol Oates,Sharon Olds,Robert Pinsky,Annie Proulx,Claudia Rankine,Marilynne Robinson,Karen Russell,Richard Russo,Cheryl Strayed,Amy Tan,Natasha Trethewey,Derek Walcott,Colson Whitehead,Jeanette Winterson, andTobias Wolff.[5]
| Frequency | 6 Issues per Year |
|---|---|
| Circulation | 40,000 |
| Publisher | AWP |
| Founded | 1967 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Writer's Chronicle is a source of articles, news, and information for writers, editors, students, and teachers of writing. Published six times a year, each issue features essays on the craft of writing, as well as interviews with authors.
AWP sponsors six contests, and also provides an extensive listing of literary grants, awards, and publication opportunities available from organizations and publishers throughout North America. Their contests include theAWP Award Series, the George Garrett Award, the Small Press Publisher Award, the Intro Journals Project, the Kurt Brown Prizes, and the National Program Directors' Prize.
Annual contests are held in four categories, with the winner receiving a cash honorarium and publication of their book-length collection.
Named for authorSue William Silverman, the prize is awarded to a book-length collection of creative nonfiction, with publication through theUniversity of Georgia Press.[9]
Formerly named the AWP Prize for the Novel, the prize was renamed for authorJames Alan McPherson in 2023.[10] The prize is awarded to a novel, with publication through theUniversity of Nebraska Press. Previous publishers of the award winners includeNew Issues Press.[11]
Named for poetDonald Hall, the prize is awarded to a book-length collection of poetry, with publication through theUniversity of Pittsburgh Press.[12]
The Grace Paley Prize is an Americanliterary award presented by the Association of Writers & Writing Programs. The award carries a prize of $5,000 and a publishing contract with theUniversity of Massachusetts Press.[13]
Vanessa Place was removed from the 2016 Los Angeles Subcommittee to satisfy concerns of the AWP membership after Place received criticism for a Twitter art project where she retyped the entire text from the 1936 novelGone with the Wind in an effort to call attention to the novel's inherent racism.[14] While some have argued the Twitter account was meant to scrutinize and call attention to stereotyping and racism inGone With the Wind, others accused it of being racist or insensitive itself, which resulted in not only the removal of Place from the subcommittee, but also a number ofother literary organizations canceling appearances by Place.
In anticipation of the 2016 AWP Conference & Bookfair in Los Angeles, some members of the organization objected to what they felt was a lack of programming specific to literature and disabilities. A petition was started that claimed thesubcommittee responsible for selecting the events rejected all proposals having to do with disability, while some sources responded this claim was erroneous, the Deaf & Disabled Writers Caucus is not a panel but a networking event.[15][16] AWP implemented changes for the 2016 conference to further efforts to provide increased accommodations for disabled attendees, which included an onsite location where attendees could report accessibility issues, improved signage, and reserved seating throughout the conference, as well as updates to the Accessibility Services throughout the event.[17]
For the 2017 AWP Conference & Bookfair inWashington, D.C., the number of proposals related to literature and disability increased, and the subcommittee accepted twenty of them for inclusion.[18] At each conference, AWP provides many accessibility services including ASL interpretation, cued speech transliteration, computer assisted real time captioning, assistive listening devices, braille programs, accommodations for those requiring an attendant or assistant, and much more to attendees who need these services.[19]
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