Genre: Poetry

Atlanta Writers Conference

The fall 2025 Atlanta Writers Conference, sponsored by the Atlanta Writers Club, will be held on October 24 and October 25 at the Westin Atlanta Airport Hotel. The conference includes a book fair featuring attendees’ books; presentations on the craft and business of writing, including a workshop titled AI and Publishing: What You Need To Know, led by fiction writer, business writer, and IT specialist Jeff Lakusta; agent and editor pitch sessions; manuscript sample critiques; query letter critiques; and Q&A panels for poetry, fiction, and nonfiction writers.

Type: 
CONFERENCE
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
no
Event Date: 
October 24, 2025
Rolling Admissions: 
yes
Application Deadline: 
September 21, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
September 21, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Atlanta Writers Conference, 8080 Jett Ferry Road, Atlanta, GA 30350. (404) 632-3525. George Weinstein, Conference Director. 

George Weinstein
Conference Director
Contact City: 
Atlanta
Contact State: 
GA
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
30337
Country: 
US
Genre: 
Poetry
Fiction
Creative Nonfiction

The Pistil by Ben Lerner

Caption: 

“Noses of bats, it’s time / To write the first poem in English / Each line the last, small / rain turning glass.” In this Poetry Book Society video, Ben Lerner reads his poem “The Pistil,” which appears in a special U.K. slipcase edition of his collection The Lights released by Granta Books and the Poetry Books Society.

Genre: 
Poetry
Tags: 
Ben Lerner
The Lights
Granta Books
Poetry Book Society
reading
2024

Etymology

The Time Is Now
2.11.25

Did you know that the word robust comes from the Latin word robur meaning “oak tree?” Merriam-Webster’s “12 Words Whose History Will Surprise You” provides the fascinating etymological history of words such as boudoir, phlegm, amethyst, and assassin, essentially mini lessons demonstrating an English word’s linguistic origins from an assortment of languages, including Medieval Latin, Greek, Arabic, French, and Middle English. Jot down a list of some of your favorite nouns, verbs, and adjectives, and look up their origin stories. (Tip: Merriam-Webster often lists a word’s etymology in the “Word History” section.) Write a poem inspired by this newly discovered and intriguing story behind the language, incorporating past iterations of the word into your verse.

A Reading With Lise Goett and Mark Wunderlich

Caption: 

Lise Goett reads from her third poetry collection, The Radiant (Tupelo Press, 2024), in this Jules’ Poetry Playhouse virtual reading with Mark Wunderlich hosted by Jules Nyquist and John Roche. The Radiant is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Genre: 
Poetry
Tags: 
Lise Goett
The Radiant
Tupelo Press
reading
Mark Wunderlich
Poetry Playhouse
Jules Nyquist
John Roche
Page One
January/February 2025

The Luminous Life: Debut Poets Virtual Reading

Caption: 

Poets & Writers Magazine features editor India Lena González hosts this two-part event celebrating the ten debut poets featured in “The Luminous Life: Our Twentieth Annual Look at Debut Poets” from our January/February 2025 issue. The virtual event includes readings from the poets, as well as conversations about their debut books, their influences and inspirations, and their individual paths to publication.

Genre: 
Poetry
Tags: 
Debut Poets 2025
India Lena González
Poets & Writers Live
Kenzie Allen
Jimin Seo
Sarah Ghazal Ali
Diego Báez
Saretta Morgan
Yalie Saweda Kamara
Darius Atefat-Peckham
Stephanie Choi
Christian J. Collier
Matthew Gellman
reading
January/February 2025

In Motion

The Time Is Now
2.4.25

Edges of Ailey is an immersive exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art centered around the twentieth-century choreographer, dancer, and artist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The show spotlights multimedia presentations of Ailey’s work, recorded footage, notebooks and drawings, as well as works that inspired Ailey and have been inspired by him in the forms of literature, music, and visual art. Write a poem centered on movements of the body, whether a creative motion like a dance move or the everyday, repetitive motion of carrying out a task. Allow yourself the freedom to experiment with page space—choosing different sizes or styles of script, incorporating small drawings or cutouts—to create a collage-like piece.

Roosevelt Poetry Reading: Ilya Kaminsky

Caption: 

In this Harvard Radcliffe Institute event, Ilya Kaminsky reads a selection of poems from his collection Deaf Republic (Graywolf Press, 2019), including “We Lived Happily During the War” and “While the Child Sleeps, Sonya Undresses,” and discusses being an immigrant and poet in between languages in a conversation with Stephanie Sandler.

Genre: 
Poetry
Tags: 
Ilya Kaminsky
Deaf Republic
Graywolf Press
Stephanie Sandler
Harvard Radcliffe Institute
reading
conversation
2025

Poetry and Shame With Matthew Nienow

Caption: 

“Some things, then, cannot be repaired and must go on, into a kind of dusk that seems somehow endless,” reads Matthew Nienow from his poem “Dusk Loop,” which appears in his second poetry collection, If Nothing (Alice James Books, 2025), in this reading and conversation for the Table For Deuce podcast hosted by poets Kate Hanson Foster and Michael Schmeltzer. Nienow’s collection is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Genre: 
Poetry
Tags: 
Matthew Nienow
If Nothing
Alice James Books
Table For Deuce
podcast
Kate Hanson Foster
Michael Schmeltzer
reading
Page One
January/February 2025

Walk in the Woods

The Time Is Now
1.28.25

In a Sight and Sound magazine interview from last November, filmmaker David Lynch, who passed away earlier this month, was asked about the inspiration for his latest album with longtime collaborator Chrystabell. Publicity materials for the album described how Lynch experienced a mysterious, revelatory vision while out for a nighttime walk in the woods. In the interview, Lynch admits this revelation isn’t quite what happened, but that he does “walk in the woods in my mind.” Jot down notes about the type of atmosphere, shape, mystery, or emotions you associate with a walk in the woods, and how might you “walk in your mind.” Allow your imagination to wander freely into any shadowy corners. Then, compose a poem that results from this creative exercise.

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