The 28th annual Bay to Ocean Writers Conference takes place LIVE in-person at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills, Maryland on Saturday, March 8, 2025, featuring Keynote Speaker:
Brian Turner is the author of five collections of poetry (from Here, Bullet to The Wild Delight of Wild Things) and a memoir (My Life as a Foreign Country) and is the editor of The Kiss and co-editor of The Strangest of Theatres anthologies. A musician, he has also written and recorded several albums with The Interplanetary Acoustic Team, including 11 11 (Me Smiling) and The Retro Legion's American Undertow. His poems and essays have been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, National Geographic, Harper’s, among other fine journals, and he was featured in the documentary film Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, which was nominated for an Academy Award. A Guggenheim Fellow, he has received a USA Hillcrest Fellowship in Literature, the Amy Lowell Traveling Fellowship, the Poets’ Prize, and a Fellowship from the Lannan Foundation. He lives in Orlando, Florida, with his dog, Dene, the world’s sweetest golden retriever.
Brian Turner will also lead a special Craft Session from 3:40-4:30pm in Cadby Auditorium. Make sure to click the button to sign up for this session, when you register for the conference. Seating is limited!
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Early Bird Rates
(through January 15th)
Members $125*; Non-members: $160
Regular Rates
(January 16th – March 7th)
Members $135*; Non-members: $170
* ESWA members must be logged in to the website to receive the member discount.
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THIRTY-ONE SESSIONS TO CHOOSE FROM!
How to Avoid Creating Cardboard Characters – Weldon Burge
Concision and Precision in Flash Fiction – Barbara Westwood Diehl
Turn Your Novel into a Movie! – Michele Chynoweth
Beauty of Beats and Free indirect Speech – Katie Chambers
The Character Compass: Finding Narrative Direction Through Deep Characterization – Bridget Hodder & Laura Shovan
POETRY
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Fractures & Fragments: Layer, Distill, and Illuminate Your Poetry Using Everything You Were Taught Not To Do – Kari Ann Ebert
Writing the Sonnet: Poetry's Strict Mistress – Nancy Mitchell
Hello & Goodbye: Aubade, Praise, Elegy – Courtney Bambrick
All Over the Floor: Poems and the Quotidian Immanent – Catherine Carter
The Skinny Poetry Workshop Redux: Line/Breaks/Love – Truth Thomas
NONFICTION
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Better Listeners Make Better Storytellers: Interviews, Oral Histories, And Firsthand Accounts – Brent Lewis
Inspired by Pain – Faith Addair
Designing a Smart Research Plan for Your Nonfiction Book or Memoir – Amy L. Bernstein
Red String and Push Pins: So You Want to be a True Crime Writer? – Stephanie L. Fowler
Writing Business Non-Fiction – Paul Comfort
CRAFT
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Watch Out, It's a Trope!: Writing Disabled Characters – James Irwin
This is My Teddy Bear: Walking the Line between Show and Tell – Jesse Waters
Summoning Spells: Channeling the Voices of History – Jane Satterfield & Ned Balbo
Experimental Writing Workshop – Richard Peabody
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome for Writers – Dr. Evelyn Johnson-Taylor
PUBLISHING / MARKETING / PROMOTION
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How to Survive (and Thrive) During Your Rookie Season as a Published Author – Nan Carlton Mosteller
Book Marketing Without a Platform or Social Media – TJ Butler
Promote Your Own Book – Cherrie Woods
Covers: The Art of Marketing Your Book – Kenton Kilgore
You've Published Your Book, Now What? Creative & Practical Approaches to Direct Marketing – Jean Burgess
SPECIALTY
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Ghostwriting for Fun and Profit – John Riddle
100 Words: The Writing Practice that Works – Hildie Block & Christina Kapp
Things a Journal Editor Would Like to Say: From Nuts & Bolts to It's Not Your Fault – Jane Edna Mohler
How to Create a Voice Agents Love – Laura J. Oliver
Writing is Writing is Writing – Dylan Roche
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