The Gettysburg Review Conference for Writers

The Gettysburg Review Conference for Writers, which was launched in 2007 as part of the journal’s twentieth-anniversary celebration, is held the first week of June on the campus of Gettysburg College. Our goal is to create a multigenerational, multicultural community for adult writers of all levels, and to offer conference participants the opportunity to work with and learn from established, passionate, award-winning writers who are committed to innovative teaching and mentoring. We invite you to help us create this community in the bucolic, convivial, and historic setting of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

The conference itself primarily comprises four days of small (limited to ten participants), three-hour, single-genre workshops in fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Other activities include roundtable discussions on craft and editorial topics; private manuscript consultations with an editor from The Gettysburg Review; readings by conference faculty; an open-mic night for participants; and a closing social and barbeque.

Previous conference faculty include Lee K. Abbott, Joan Connor, Clint McCown, and G. K. Wuori in fiction; Robert Atwan, Suzannah Lessard, and Rebecca McClanahan in nonfiction; and Andrea Hollander Budy, Alice Friman, Terrance Hayes, Peggy Shumaker, and Dean Young in poetry. Evening readings by faculty are always free and open to the public. Check back here for more information on scheduling and this year’s faculty, as well as to print conference information and application packets.

Here’s what attendees have said about The Gettysburg Review Conference for Writers:

“At this early stage of my writing career, the conference provided the perfect groundwork to get me started and keep me moving in the right direction.”

“The conference was one of the most inspiring and enlightening and invigorating experiences I have ever had by far.”

“This is the best conference I have attended (and I have attended conferences in this country and abroad). The small classes and the opportunity for genuine interaction with the faculty set it apart.”

“All of the faculty are incredible individuals. They are pleasant, quirky, knowledgeable, friendly, capable, inspiring teachers, and seem genuinely glad to be here. I wish I could have taken a workshop with all of them.”