Our annual Writers Retreats Issue features inspiration, advice, and practical tips to turn your writers retreat dreams into reality; a profile of nonfiction writer Sloane Crosley; a conversation with Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Diane Seuss; an interview with agent Tanya McKinnon; a report on the changing economics of the author tour; a Q&A with Francisco Aragón on Letras Latinas and the landscape of Latinx literature; plus writing prompts, contest deadlines, conferences and residencies, and more.
March/April 2024
Features
Laughter, Then Loss: A Profile of Sloane Crosley
After publishing five books that have proved her to be one of the funniest writers of her generation, Sloane Crosley returns with something different: a grief memoir that can still make readers laugh.
Cobbled Genius: Diane Seuss and the Strange Education of Poetry
Wrestling with the power of poetry in form and conversation, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Diane Seuss’s new collection is a work that balances the weight of memory with the ability to come to song.
Agents & Editors: Tanya McKinnon
The principal agent of McKinnon Literary talks about how publishing can be a form of activism, the different ways agents and authors can use comp titles, and how the future of the book business still holds many wonderful possibilities.
Time to Write, Space to Dream: Inspiration, Advice, and Practical Tips to Turn Your Writers Retreat Fantasies Into Reality
Dream Big, Travel Far: International Retreats for Writers
A writers retreat abroad can loosen creativity, push work in new directions, or offer sanctuary to fully commit to a project. Our senior editor considers six venues that might inspire you to take an adventure with your writing.
Finding the Time (and Money): How Real Emerging Writers Make Retreats and Conferences Work
Devoting the time and securing the money to attend a retreat can feel especially challenging at the beginning of your literary career. Emerging and once-emerging writers share how they gathered resources to make it happen.
Yes You Can: Grants, Scholarships, and Other Support for Retreats
Often, the writers who could most use the support that retreats offer are the ones least able to access them. But thanks to financial aid, childcare, accessibility accommodations, and more, a retreat might be more possible than you think.
What to Pack for a Writers Retreat
Bringing touches of comfort can help you write wherever you are. The author of The Stolen Child unpacks some of her on-the-go essentials to create a room of her own when attending retreats and conferences.
News and Trends
Book Sanctuary Movement Grows
In response to the nationwide book-banning movement, libraries and other literary institutions are adopting the “sanctuary” label to show their commitment to protecting book access for readers.
Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin
The first lines of a dozen noteworthy books, including There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib and Glitter Road by January Gill O’Neil.
Writers Collaborate for Authors Guild
At a time when the writing world faces serious challenges, the coauthored novel Fourteen Days brings together thirty-six noted writers to raise money for the Authors Guild and its battle against book bans and copyright infringement.
The Anthologist: A Compendium of Uncommon Collections
An introduction to four new anthologies, including The Weird Sister Collection: Writing at the Intersections of Feminism, Literature, and Pop Culture and You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World.
Small Press Points: Bull City Press
With an all-volunteer staff and a “pay what you want” policy for select titles, Bull City Press is dedicated to concise expression and making great books available to anyone who wants to read them.
Literary MagNet: Nicole Haroutunian
The writer behind Choose This Now, a novel-in-stories, introduces some of the journals that first published her work, including Pigeon Pages and Joyland.
The Written Image: The Backyard Bird Chronicles
A testament to best-selling novelist Amy Tan’s obsession with birds, The Backyard Bird Chronicles spotlights hundreds of excerpts of illustrations and prose from Tan’s observations over the years.
Q&A: Francisco Aragón of Letras Latinas
The founder and director of Letras Latinas, the literary arm of the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame, reflects on twenty years of groundbreaking work and what’s next for the organization.
The Practical Writer
Publishing Myths: “Editors Don’t Edit Anymore”
In our column debunking the myths of the publishing industry, a veteran agent explains how editors are doing more with less, shining a light on the rapidly expanding workload typical of publishing houses these days.
Making Sense of Book Events: The Changing Economics of the Book Tour
Although in-person book events have nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels, publishers’ post-lockdown strategies are more reserved. Authors must figure out how to best use events to build an audience in a changing literary marketplace.
The Literary Life
The Time Is Now: Writing Prompts and Exercises
Write a poem reimagining a unique animal attribute, a short story driven by luck and coincidence, or an essay examining the environment around you.
Ghosted: How an Agent Helped Me Write About My Disability—Then Disappeared
Rejection of your work can be crushing, especially when the subject of your writing is personal. A writing teacher and book coach recounts her experience being guided and then stood up by an agent who expressed interest in her book.