12 Fabulous Writing Conferences in February 2023

February is a short, dark month, but you can liven it up with writing workshops and conferences. This February there are a dozen writing conferences and workshops covering every aspect of writing, from poetry, to memoir, to how to get published. There is something for everyone.

For a full list of conferences held throughout the year see Writing Conferences. During the pandemic most of these are being held virtually at reduced rates. 

Quite a few offer scholarships, so apply early.

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The 2023 Boston Writing Workshop. February 3-4, 2023. Online. "This writing event is a wonderful opportunity to get intense instruction over the course of one day, pitch a literary agent or editor (optional), get your questions answered, and more. Note that there are limited online “seats” at the event (200 total). This is a special two-day “How to Get Published” writing workshop on February 3-4, 2023. In other words, it’s two days full of classes and advice designed to give you the best instruction concerning how to get your writing & books published. We’ll discuss your publishing opportunities today, how to write queries & pitches, how to market yourself and your books, what makes an agent/editor stop reading your manuscript, and more. No matter what you’re writing — fiction or nonfiction — the day’s classes will help point you in the right direction. Writers of all genres are welcome."

If "Ifs" and "Buts": Reimaging True Stories. February 6, 2023. Online. "This two-hour workshop will explore combining imagination and history in creative writing. In this workshop we consider techniques for combining imagination (the if’s and but’s) and history (the undeniable facts), using curiosity, imagination, and characterization. Our objective will be to send you home with the tools and the confidence you’ll need to begin writing." Tuition: $50.

Breakout Novel Intensive. February 13 - 19, 2023: Online. Included are new or revised units on story discovery, strong voice, standout characters, the inner journey, compelling story worlds, beautiful writing, creating resonance and finding meaning in both story and process. Breakout fundamentals are also covered: strong characters, inner conflict, personal stakes, plot layers, powerful scenes, micro-tension, practical theme techniques and much more. Instructor: Donald Maass. 

Hedgebrook’s Writer-in-Residence Program supports writers from all over the world for residencies of two to four weeks. The cottage, all meals, and the entire residency experience at Hedgebrook is free to selected writers. Travel is not included and is the responsibility of the writer to arrange and pay for. Up to 6 writers can be in residence at a time, each housed in their own handcrafted cottage. They spend their days in solitude – writing, reading, taking walks in the woods on the property or on nearby Double Bluff beach. In the evenings, “The Gathering” is a social time for residents to connect and share over their freshly prepared meals.  Writers must be women, which is inclusive of transgender women and female-identified individuals. Because gender inequity still occurs in all spaces including literary ones, it is part of our explicit mission to support and promote women’s voices. Applications open Feb 15 - March 15, 2023 for 2024 Residency at Whidbey Island, Washington.

Make Your Sentences Sing: A Workshop in Style. February 16, 2023. Online. "Composing excellent sentences isn’t about rules, it’s about rhetoric: what do you want your sentences to do? This workshop will help you revise poetry or prose with attention to types of sentences (simple, compound, etc.) and cover reasons for revising one sentence into another type. Bring a draft you’re willing to dissect and transform. Participants will leave the workshop with a strategy for revising for style and a list of resources to aid their endeavors." Tuition: $50.

San Francisco Writers Conference, February 16 - 19, 2023: San Francisco, CA. Attendees will join with 100+ presenters and fellow writers from across the country and around the world at this year’s event. The SFWC events are consistently rated among the top writer’s conferences anywhere. "Our goal is to help writers become published authors as we help them become better at the craft and business of writing. The SFWC is also one of the friendliest conferences. Presenters this year will include bestselling authors, literary agents, editors, and publishers from major publishing houses. There will be experts on self-publishing, book promotion, platform building, social media, and author websites. The San Francisco Writers Conference has one of the largest faculties of any writer’s conference to ensure the best networking with the people who can help you get published." 

Second Wind: An Online Poetry Workshop. Thursday, February 16 – Thursday, March 16, 2023. Online. "Each Thursday, 7:00-9:00pm EST/EDT. Are you looking for fresh ways to write new poems or resuscitate old poems you have abandoned? Wherever you are in the writing process, this supportive, generative workshop will energize you as it shows you how to breathe new life into your work. Using The Best American Poetry 2022 as a text, we will discuss why editors might have made their selections as we mine them for ideas and techniques. Sessions will include a mix of craft discussion, varied prompts, publishing suggestions and communal writing time before we share our new drafts with each other. You will leave with the wind at your back and five new poems in your pocket." Led by Lois Marie Harrod. Limited to 12 participants.

Designing Creative Nonfiction: An Online Workshop. Thursday, February 16 – Thursday, March 16, 2023. "How might design theory, including principles of form and function, help us become better creative writers? In this workshop, we will apply methods of design thinking to our personal essays, memoir and cross-genre projects. Discussions about the construction of works by Joan Didion, Akwaeke Emezi, Terrance Hayes, Brian Doyle, Diane Khoi Nguyen, Victoria Chang and others will help frame weekly generative writing prompts. This workshop welcomes beginning and more experienced writers, and can benefit those hoping to start a new project or those with a work in progress. By the end of this experience, participants will learn to craft their creative nonfiction with more style and intentionality." Led by Donald Quist. Limited to 12 participants.

Southern California Writers’ Conference (and Retreat). February 17 - 19, 2023: San Diego, CA. Faculty: 60+ working, professional authors of fiction, nonfiction & screen, editors & agents. "Founded and run by professional writers the SCWC provides veteran and emerging talent with authoritative guidance to help distinguish those manuscripts that are ready for market consideration." Cost: $350-$425. Manuscript critique & one-on-one consultation additional. Limited to 175 conferees.

Publishing Workshop. February 18, 2023: Atlantic City, NJ. "Do you want to publish your writing but struggle with a lack of know-how and fear of rejection? Join us for this hands-on workshop where we will guide you through the process from blank page to published piece. If you are an aspiring author you will learn how and where to submit your work. If you are experienced you will discover new markets and resources to expand your readership. Whether you are working on a novel, memoir, short stories, personal essays or poetry, you will go home with an action plan and the tools to carry it out."

The Writers Studio, sponsored by the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, February 23 - 26, 2023, Los Angeles, CA. The conference offers workshops in fiction and creative nonfiction, as well as writing for television and film. Offered by the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, the Writers Studio brings together a community of writing students to workshop with some of Southern California’s most accomplished writers and teachers. From among the 10 offered, participants choose one workshop in which they work closely with a professional writer in classes limited to no more than 15 people. 

Wild Seeds Writers Retreat. February 23 - 26, 2023. The Wild Seeds Writers Retreat (formerly the North Country Institute & Retreat for Writers of Color), a collaboration with the Center for Black Literature, the English Department at SUNY, Plattsburgh, and the Paden Institute and Retreat for Writers, provides a writing community where established and newly discovered writers of color can focus on the craft of writing and create cross-cultural conversations around the literature created by writers of the African diaspora. The cost of the Retreat is $500 and there is a one-time nonrefundable $25 application fee.

Indie Author Forum. February 25, 2023. Online. This full-day, virtual conference taps the editorial expertise of Publishers Weekly and BookLife to give attendees an up-to-the-minute, insider's look at the rapidly evolving world of self-publishing. The Forum will cover a wide range of topics from examining the audiobook option and mastering marketing strategies to discussions on craft and putting together a distribution tool kit. New this year are genre-specific breakouts while popular sessions on cover design and book pitches return.