WTF Is AWP & Why Are You Here
Low-down on the show-down (idk, it rhymed so I put it here)
If you’re reading this from a hotel room/AirBnB in Baltimore that smells faintly of ylang-ylang, fresh carpet cleaner and literary ambition, welcome! You made it to AWP.
AWP — the Association of Writers & Writing Programs — (personally I pronounce it like yawp without the y) is technically a professional organization for creative writing educators. In practice, it’s the largest literary gathering in North America: eight to ten thousand writers, editors, publishers, and MFA students descending on one city for four days, this year Baltimore, March 4–7.
There is a book fair the size of an airplane hangar. There are panels on every conceivable aspect of writing life. There are off-site readings in bars you’ll never find again. There is a specific energy — part reunion, part anxiety, part genuine excitement — that you won’t find anywhere else.
Here is what AWP actually is, under the surface: it’s proof that you’re not alone in this. That thousands of people have organized their entire lives around the strange, economically irrational project of making literature.
You might be here because you’re in an MFA. Because you teach. Because you’re trying to get your book out into the world. Because you got dragged along by your spouse/significant other/friends, etc. Or because you’re lost.
From Lucille Clifton to Edgar Allan Poe, Baltimore has long been a city that inspires writers to find their voice (also apparently Poe haunts these streets!?), which is either a good omen or the kind of thing you say on a press release. Either way, you’re here now.
Go to the panels that scare you a little. Skip the ones that feel obligatory. Talk to the person at the book-fair table who looks like they’d rather be anywhere else—they probably have the most interesting press. Drink water.
You’re a writer. So is everyone else here, which is either the most comforting thing you’ve ever experienced or a complete nightmare depending on the hour. Either way, you belong here. Stay hydrated and buy books.
This is your one weird conference. Go make something of it!
I never knew this existed. Thank you for sharing what to expect. Is there a way to find out about other book and writing events such as these?
Sorry I couldn't make it.