In March, after being fully virtual for 2021, the annual Association of Writers and Writing Programs convention returned to in-person at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in downtown Philadelphia. As an AWP first-timer, I can personally vouch for how approachable the conference is to anyone with a passion for writing. The wide variety of bookfair vendors, panel topics, and readings ensured that there was something for everyone. At any given time, only three of the twenty or so rows of the bookfair lacked a gathering of some kind at a vendor stand. The panels I attended with little-to-no formal knowledge of their topics gave me enough information that I felt like I came away understanding most of the overarching points. Coupled with the Convention Center’s close proximity to Reading Terminal Market, where just about anyone can find a meal they will love, complete with dessert, I think anyone in attendance would be hard-pressed to call the conference anything but a success.
The diversity present at all levels of the conference was undoubtedly its greatest strength. Screenwriters, poets, flash fiction authors, and everyone in between all had panels they could attend and vendors they could engage with at the bookfair. Panel topics ranged from as broad as the history of a medium and where it can go in the future, as in, “Flash Fiction: Forward to the Future,” or as specialized as answering the question, “Who Are Adoptees and Who Has the Right to Write About Them?” There were several events that explicitly dealt with different facets of neurodiverse, indigenous, and LGBTQ writing, as well as more specialized ones for women and different people of color. “When Women Break Bad,” “Being Black and Muslim in Literature,” “Poetry of Iran and Its Diaspora,” and “Faith, Family, and Fanaticism: Women Writing Religion” are just a few of these. Readings boasted similar amounts of variety, and in some cases, they were presented within an event. K-Ming Chang’s reading during “Beyond Genres” was familiar and childishly matter-of-fact in order to put the audience in her narrator’s shoes, while fellow presenters T Kira Mahealani Madden and Patrick Rosal respectively spoke with veiled frustration and passionate resolve mixed with fury.
A number of the bookfair vendors advertised their membership in the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses, which held a membership meeting on the first day of the conference. Before the customary Q-and-A section, there was an extensive breakdown of Bookshop.org, an “independent Amazon alternative” and publishing platform dedicated to making the lives of independent booksellers easier. It is equipped with tools to point magazine and periodical readers to merchandise that benefits indie publishers, and ebooks are not handled through Amazon. These kinds of exclusivity were said to bring a number of benefits to publishers on the platform in particular. Not only can customers create booklists to illuminate subgenres and aid in networking, but publishers can, as well.
There were a number of unique vendors at the bookfair that did not represent small publishers, writing programs, or literary magazines, and the standout among them was Simily. Simily.co is a browser-based social media network where writers can share their stories, connect with each other, and make money from their works. The platform was promoted by handing pairs of writing prompt cards and a sheet of paper to passers-by, and talking them into making a short, one-page story from the prompts to post on the site. The pay rate is two cents per unique view, with unique views resetting each month. The community regularly comes together to highlight select users with the “Story of the Month,” vote.
On-lookers and AWP first-timers like myself may see the conference as a general gathering of writers, publishers, and others with a passion for writing. On the surface, that may be true, but with almost every panel I attended, and each reading I listened to, I was made aware of a new writing or publishing subcommunity. During the panel’s discussion about the current state of flash fiction in, “Flash Fiction: Forward to the Future,” a highly-rated recent story was name-dropped, evoking a positive vocal response from much of the crowd as well as the panel. I was in the minority of people in the room who didn’t seem to know the story by name. The moment was a reinforcement of what had been said about flash fiction coming into its own as a publishing and writing community and was further reinforced by the fact that one of the panelists was Tommy Dean, Editor-in-Chief of Fractured Lit, an online publisher specializing in flash and micro fiction that was present at the bookfair. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how much of a community had been built around a medium this specific, and afterward, I noticed other flash-only publications, like hex, which is speculative fiction-specialized. As the conference went on, I saw just how many of these unique communities existed. I had never heard the term, “chapbook” before touring the bookfair and seeing them advertised at more than a half-dozen stands. Some publishers were even holding contests for the small collections of short fiction or poems. Evidently, an International 3-Day Novel Contest has been held every Labor Day weekend for more than forty years, and author Doug Diaczuk has not only won it twice, but published both novels, Chalk and Just Like a Real Person.
Large-scale conferences like AWP can seem daunting for new attendees. That said, if you take the time to look over the full list of events even once, I’m certain something will jump out at you. Maybe it will be a one-time look into a genre you never gave much thought to, but maybe it will ignite a new writing passion. I hope I’ve convinced you to check out AWP if it ever comes back to Philly, or at least gave you a reason to head to the Reading Terminal Market for dinner.
Patrick Crane is a senior majoring in physics and pursuing a certificate in writing and publishing. He is the president of the Drexel Karate Club, and in his free time enjoys cooking, writing, and playing Japanese mahjong. His favorite genres are horror and urban fantasy, and his favorite book is No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai.