One minute intro–Kauai Writers Conference 2023
Takeaways from the 2022 Kauai Writers Conference
@DanFrischman is an actor/author/director. His novel, “Jackson & Jenks, Master Magicians” is available at all online outlets. Sun! Swimming! Luau! Mai Tai’s! What more could I want on my first trip to Hawaii? How about a 3-day writers conference, with literary...
The 2022 conference was our best yet.
The 2022 Kauai Writers Conference wrapped up November 13. People used words like "life-changing," "over-the-top wonderful" and "far more than I could have expected" to describe it. Here are some comments from attendees: "I’ve been to quite a few writers’ conferences....
KWC attendee Bruce Allyn to speak Weds at Harvard on negotiating with Putin
Kauai resident Bruce Allyn attended the last KWC and found an agent for his book on international conflict resolution. This Wednesday, May 19, he'll be leading a session titled Negotiating with Vladimir Putin, as part of the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation....
Téa Obreht coming to KWC
KWC faculty member Téa Obreht's new book Inland, arrived this week to tremendous acclaim from seemingly everyone, including none other than President Obama. He wrote on his Facebook page, "Inland by Téa Obreht just came out yesterday, so I won’t spoil anything. But...
Honolulu Star Advertiser article on Kauai Writers Conference
Top literary talents headline Kauai Writers Conference By Mindy Pennybacker Nov. 4, 2018. Their stories are set in places far and wide — Jane Smiley’s farms in medieval Greenland and contemporary Iowa; Scott Turow’s courtrooms and crime scenes in fictional Kindle...
Greg Shepherd, KWC attendee, publishes Sea of Fire with Simon and Schuster
Last year the Kauai Writers Conference provided scholarships for a number of students and faculty of Kauai Community College. Greg Shepherd, professor of Music and Drama at KCC, was one of them. He just wrote to let us know the impact the conference had on his...
Learn about the Kauai Writers Conference in this one-minute video.
This beautiful short video will give you a good introduction to the people and places of the Kauai conference.
Full moon naming contest
ANNOUNCING THE KWC MOON NAMING CONTEST Have you noticed all the names cropping up for full moons? Blood Moon. Super Wolf Moon. Now we get to watch the Worm Moon. Give us a break! What's behind this epidemic of bizarre lunar nomenclature? One word: clickbait. Online...
Finding an agent on Kauai
Finding an agent can be a difficult and daunting task. The Kauai Writers Conference provides real help. This year we will host fifteen literary agents, publishers and editors. Going through the usual channels to get appointments with them would be difficult if not...
Is Kauai the world’s most beautiful island?
Many people think so. A rare combination of geological features come together on Kauai. The Hawaiian islands are the most isolated specks of land on the planet, 2000 ocean miles from anywhere. Tradewinds blow across the Pacific, picking up water vapor as they go....
Meg Wolitzer’s The Wife — Glenn Close nominated for best actress Oscar.
We're proud to welcome Meg Wolitzer to the 2019 Kauai Writers Conference as a key faculty member. Her novel The Wife is a remarkable book and an award-winning film. Glenn Close won the Golden Globe and is nominated for best actress Academy Award for her starring role....
Stanford writing program reunion on Kauai
Decades after I graduated from college, I took a running leap off the edge of a cliff, ditched my job in a medical practice I helped found, and enrolled in a two-year novel writing program. Five years ago, Fall 2013, nervous as a first-grader on the first day of...
Makana to perform at Kauai Writers Conference
We are delighted to announce that Makana, the internationally known and loved master of Hawaiian slack key guitar, will perform Saturday evening, November 10, at the Kauai Writers Conference for all attendees and faculty. His playing has been called "dazzling" by the...
Soho Press at the Kauai Writers Conference
Bronwen Hruska, publisher of Soho Press, has joined the KWC faculty. She would like to meet writers of literary, young adult, and international crime fiction. KWC attendees with projects in any of these three genres can reserve individual sessions with Bronwen to...
How I met my agent
Garth Stein's account of meeting his agent, Jeff Kleinman. Both will present at the Kauai Writers Conference. Jeff will also offer a master class on craft from the perspective of an agent. I started writing The Art of Racing in the Rain during the summer of 2006 and...
Kauai’s big winter storm
As you've no doubt heard, this winter Kauai went through a huge storm. Some places had near-record rainfall, and some low lying areas were badly flooded. Hanalei was hit hard, and the road north from there to Haena was wiped out by mudslides. In the aftermath, there...
Do you think your book would make a great movie?
Well so does almost every author, including writers of cookbooks, says KWC faculty member and super-agent Steve Fisher. And of those that do get optioned by a studio, a disappointingly small percentage make their way to the screen. Yet he makes his living by beating those odds.
A writers account of Las Vegas mass shooting.
KWC friend and writer Jill Hueckman was in the middle of the Las Vegas mass shooting. Here's her account. Last night, when I was standing in the middle of an enormous venue beneath Mandalay Bay on the closing night of a three day music festival with a nice...
Brooke Warner on Memoir, Hybrid Publishing, and Leveling the Playing Field
When Kauai Writers Conference invited us to present, we celebrated and danced in our kitchen. Then we looked to see who else was presenting. One of the great pleasures of going to a conference is hanging out and networking with some of the most interesting people in publishing. We were overjoyed to see Brooke Warner’s name on that list. If you’ve been in publishing, especially independent publishing, for any length of time, you are aware of the force that is Brooke Warner.
Our Mongolian Connection
Oyungerel Tsedevdamba and Jeff Falt traveled from Mongolia to attend the last Kauai Writers Conference. Their book, The Green Eyed Lama (GEL), became the best selling book on the history of Mongolia, selling over 80,000 copies in that country alone.
Scott Turow coming to Kauai Writers Conference
We will be delighted to have Scott Turow in attendance at the Kauai Writers Conference. He'll give both a talk to the whole group about his journey to success as an internationally acclaimed author of legal fiction, as well as a smaller more intimate session focused...
Kristin Hannah at the 2018 Kauai Writers Conference
Kristin Hannah will present once again at the Kauai Writers Conference in November. She will give a keynote address on the inside stories behind her recent works, The Nightingale and The Great Alone. She’ll also conduct a small group workshop on her unique approach to the craft of writing. And along with Christina Baker Kline and Alice Hoffman, she will lead a three-day master class on Turning Life into Art.
A Writer’s Journey through the Publishing Process
I found myself on a plane headed to Kauai to begin writing the book that had been brewing in me for twenty years. I’d never been to Kauai and didn’t know a single person—but felt called there after a friend told me about this ancient island in the middle of the Pacific ocean, 5,000 miles from my home in New York City. And this is how a magical web of synchronicities led me to where I am today.
Three Master Classes on the Business of Writing
The Kauai Writers Conference has two focuses: the craft of writing and the business of writing. Writing a good or even great book is one thing, and getting published successfully is another. We offer an unparalleled opportunity to learn the business of writing from some of the most knowledgeable people in the publishing world.
KWC faculty member Steve Fisher reminisces about introducing Patrick O’Brian to Sam Goldwyn Jr.
Twenty years ago, entertainment royalty gathered to welcome the author whose book would become an Oscar-winning film — APA’s Steve Fisher writes for THR about one of his most memorable nights as a young agent. The death of legendary producer and studio executive...
Meet World Class Faculty – 2018 Kauai Writers Conference
The Kauai Writers Conference offers keynote talks by distinguished authors, workshops, as well as master classes, and opportunities to meet one-on-one with literary agents, editors, and other publishing experts. The events are set on Kauai’s beautiful Kalapaki Beach....
Connect Island Style at the Kauai Writers Conference – Reflections from bestselling author Christina Baker Kline
The Kauai Writers Conference is unlike any other literary conference I’ve attended, for obvious and not-so-obvious reasons. First of all, of course, Kauai is spectacular; faculty and attendees walk around in a perpetual state of delight and astonishment at their good...
Andy Ross interviews renowned editor Peter Ginna
Literary agent Andy Ross will return to the Kauai Writers Conference for the third year to look for promising writers. In this interview, he and Peter Ginna discuss the changing role of editors in today's publishing scene. Today we are going to interview book editor...
Other Writers Conferences We Respect
We believe the Kauai Writers Conference stands above others for its combination of location and excellence of faculty, but we also respect a number of others; among them are the AWP Conference, San Miguel Writers’ Conference, San Francisco Writers...