From July 14-25, 2026, the University of the South will host the 36th annual session of the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Supported by Tennessee Williams and the Walter E. Dakin Memorial Fund, the Conference provides promising writers instruction through workshops and craft lectures in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and playwriting.

Although workshops are limited to Conference participants, lectures and readings are open to the public and free to attend. These events will be held in Guerry Auditorium on the corner of University Avenue and Georgia Avenue.

Masking is required for the first five days of the Conference. If at the end of five days we have no COVID cases, masks will be optional. Otherwise, they will remain mandatory until further notice. Thank you in advance for helping keep our community safe and healthy.

The Conference will feature readings by fiction writers Chris Bachelder, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, Lydi Conklin, Amitava Kumar, Claire Messud, Margot Livesey, Jill McCorkle, Chinelo Okparanta, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, and Stephanie Powell Watts; poets Marianne Chan, Eduardo C. Corral, Danielle Cadena Deulen, Ananda Lima, Carl Phillips, and Caki Wilkinson; nonfiction writers Jaquira Díaz, Amy Leach, Alex Marzano-Leznevich, and Elena Passarello; and playwrights Brittany K. Allen, Nathan Alan Davis, Anne Washburn, and Lauren Yee.

A complete Conference schedule can be found online at <sewaneewriters.org> and on page 8. Authors’ books are available at the University Bookstore.