Early Bird Registration for Writer's Conference in South Florida

Here's some information about a writer's conference, including a discount for early registration. I've heard good things about this conference, and the price seems reasonable to me, including a great deal on the hotel. The only possible drawback? It is during hurricane season. But it's late in hurricane season (the peak is in mid-September). Of course, the most damaging hurricane to hit Broward County in 50 years, hurricane Wilma, came in late October.

But your chances of avoiding a hurricane are pretty good--so, if you're one of the rare people who still has travel in your faculty budget, come on down. If you've been yearning for a tropical writer's retreat, come on down.

Early registration is now open for the 23rd annual FIU Hutchinson Island Writers’ Conference, set for October 22, 23, & 24 at the Marriot Hutchinson Island Beach Resort near Stuart, Florida.

The conference, co-sponsored by the Martin County Library System (MCLS patrons enjoy a $50 discount) features classes, readings, and manuscript consultations with faculty from FIU’s top-ten-rated MFA program as well as a number of visiting distinguished writers, poets, editors, and agents.

The visiting slate includes Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and memoirist Madeleine Blais, poet and WW Norton Editor Jill Bialosky, award winning fiction writer Matthew Sharpe (Jamestown), Inkwell Management founding partner Kim Witherspoon, Akashic Books Editor andPublisher Johnny Temple, and best-selling novelist Debra Dean (The Madonnas of Leningrad). FIU faculty include prose writers JohnDufresne, Lynne Barrett, and Dan Wakefield and poets Denise Duhamel and Campbell McGrath. Conference director is novelist and historian Les Standiford (LastTrain to Paradise), head of the FIU Creative Writing Program.

Registration is $300 until June 1st, with manuscript conferencesavailable for an additional $50. Call FIU at 305-919-5857 for details or go to http://w3.fiu.edu/crwriting.; Rooms at the Marriott are only$129 for participants. Call 1-800-775-5936 and use code FIUFIUA.