Welcome writers to BWC 2009!

The bookcase, the writing desk, the clock--
chiseling out of this some beautiful and mournful ritual.

-- from the poem "Requiem" by Jane Satterfield, BWC 2009 featured poet.

The craft of poems and prose

Our featured poet and fiction writer have announced the subjects for their BWC 2009 craft lectures.

Elise Levine will speak about "Narrative Thrust, Lyric Suspense."

Levine is author of the novel Requests and Dedications and the short story collection Driving Men Mad. Writes Levine: "In this lecture we’ll first consider the fundamentals of story

structure and pacing in fiction writing. And then you’ll learn how —
by deploying a variety of techniques including a heightened use of
language to temporarily suspend the forward movement of your story —
you can enhance the dynamic tension in your fiction."

Poet Jane Satterfield will talk about "Epistles and Other Conversations: The Poem as Letter". Her poetry volumes include Assignations at Vanishing Point and Shepardess with an Automatic.

Not registered yet? Walk up ...

BWC 2009 is on pace to be one of our most popular yet with pre-registration numbers outpacing last year's. If you haven't registered yet but would still like to attend, we'll accept walk-up registrations starting at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. Registration is $95 for the general public and $50 for students with student identification. Those amounts include breakfast snacks, a buffet lunch, and a post-conference wine-and-cheese reception, in addition to access to writers, editors and publishing professionals. Join us!

Parking for the BWC

Folks attending the Baltimore Writers Conference will be able to park for free at the Towsontown garage off University Avenue on the Towson University campus. From there, the University Union, site of the conference, is a short jog south along Union Avenue.

The Union garage, which is closest to the conference site, will be closed. So don't try to park there. Click here for an interactive map.

Bowden's latest

Mark Bowden, keynote speaker for BWC 2009, writes in the October issue of the Atlantic about the ways political operatives feed news to the networks.