1. (Fri.) Opening Session 
Write Place ~ Write Time ~ Write Now
Bill Kent, author of seven novels and two nonfiction books, has written for more than forty national and regional publications. He teaches novel writing at Temple University.

2. (Sat.) Newspaper Writing:
Feature This: Colorful Writing
Jo Ciavaglia has won regional, state and national writing and newspaper awards.  Her work also appears on Harvard University’s Nieman Narrative Digest, an online resource highlighting the nation’s best narrative journalism. 

3. (Sat.) Websites
Leah Kauffman is the writer/singer behind the satirical Web hits "Crush on Obama" and "My Box in a Box."  She is the founder and editor of Phrequency.com (Philadelphia Media Holdings), an interactive Website dedicated to local music news. 

4. (Sun.) Writing for Alternative Weeklies
Breaking in and staying within an editor’s good graces.
Tara Murtha is a staff writer, columnist, blogger (and ex-arts editor) at Philadelphia Weekly. Obsessed with A&E, she has interviewed entertainers such as Joan Baez, Sarah Silverman and Deborah Harry. 

 5. (Sun.) Tracking Details
Keep your characters’ appearances, histories, settings, etc., at your fingertips. 
Mindy Starns Clark has written eleven books, including Shadows of Lancaster County (fiction) and The House That Cleans Itself (nonfiction).  Visit her at www.mindystarnsclark.com.

6. Novel: Plot and Pacing
Keep readers eagerly turning pages, whatever your genre.
T.L. (Tracy) Higley is the author of six novels, including the Seven Wonders Series.  She primarily writes historical suspense, and has traveled extensively to research her settings, characters and stories.

7. Novel Setting: Time and Place
Improve era and locale to make your work more compelling and marketable.
Brent Monahan has had ten novels published, two made into movies.  He teaches creative writing at Rutgers and Rider Universities. 
Tracy MacNish’s latest novel in her Georgian England “Beneath the Veil” series garnered top awards from The Romantic Times.

8. Nonfiction Book
How to write successful nonfiction books, query letters and proposals.
Yvonne Latty is the author of In Conflict and We Were There: Voices of African-American Veterans, from World War II to the War in Iraq.

9. Poetry I
Starting from scratches: how to imaginatively transform experience into art.
Jeffrey Ethan Lee is a creative writing professor at West Chester University and senior poetry editor for Many Mountains Moving (mmminc.org).  His books include identity papers (Colorado Book award finalist) and invisible sister.

11. Memoir
The you they want to read.  Writing and publishing stories of self.
Tom Coyne is the author of A Course Called Ireland, Paper Tiger, and the novel A Gentleman’s Game, which was adapted into a motion picture starring Gary Sinise.  He teaches creative writing at St. Joseph’s University.

12. Cookbooks & Food Writing
Eat your words: food writing for magazines, newspapers and cookbooks.
Jim Tarantino has written numerous articles on food and is the author of three cookbooks which have sold more than 140,000 copies.  His latest is  Marinades, Rubs, Brines, Cures & Glazes. 

13. Juvenile
Creating age-appropriate stories to enchant young readers.
Judith Byron Schachner is both the author and illustrator of numerous books for young people. Her popular Skippyjon Jones series encompasses eight books. Other titles include Willy and May, Mr. Emerson's Cook, and more, with subjects ranging from history to pets to wackiness.

14.  Short Story: Popular
Understanding the fundamentals of creating “page turner” popular fiction.
L.A. Banks published more than thirty-five popular fiction novels and twelve  anthology short stories.  She holds a B.S. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton undergraduate program and an MFA from Temple University in filmmaking.
Expanding the Short Story (Sunday)
Make short fiction--longer! Turn stories into novellas, novels and more.
Bill Kent (see Workshop 1 bio).

15. Short Story: Literary
Super starts and fantastic finishes: the grab and the payoff.
Karen Blomain is a multi-genre writer.  Streisand optioned her Toby Press novel, A Trick of Light.  Latest book, a poetry collection, Hard Bargain.  Workshops in U.S., Austria, France, Ireland, Mexico and Russia.

16. Magazine Writing
How to sell, research and write compelling stories for magazines.
Randi Glatzer has written for Self, Glamour, Vibe, Good Housekeeping, Philadelphia Magazine, American Health, The Village Voice and other publications.  She holds an MFA in nonfiction writing and teaches at Temple University.

17. Poetry II
The Poetic Line—rolling it out and breaking it down.
Louis McKee, the author of fifteen collections, including Near Occasions of Sin, has had poems in publications from APR to Chiron Review to Dublin Quarterly.

   These words are from the PWC bylaws at it’s founding in 1949—retained today—when from 150 to 200 conferees gather annually to experience the intensity of a full-three days of learning about and talking about writing. PWC has been called “the conference with the most learning-hours per dollar,” and credited with  “having true workshops—not just lectures or book talks.”

   To get the most out of attending a writers’ conference, the effective conferee carefully reads the directions for signing up for workshops, for submitting manuscripts, for attending food functions, for talking with an agent or editor, and for following the general guidelines of conferee participation.

   Arrive prepared. Don’t forget paper and pencils for taking notes. (Sorry, laptops are not permitted as the clicking annoys others; nor are tape-recorders permitted as this infringes on the workshop leaders’ rights to their presentations.) At Friday 8:30 a.m. sign-in, conferees  receive a Conferee Packet with helpful information about pertinent writing-related information. The packet folder has space for additional handouts from leaders. However, don’t bring additional manuscripts for leaders to look at—they’ve been promised that won’t happen.

    Because two subjects are so popular, conferees must choose between  two novel or two short story  workshops in duplicate time slots. Without that division, leaders would have an unreasonable load of manuscripts to critique. Nevertheless, throughout the scheduling there are ample workshops to schedule a fiction or nonfiction “track.”

   A conferee lounge is available for meeting other conferees, where one is free to join any group. There are sample magazines and publishers’ guidelines to take home. Conferees may put a limited number of small flyers about their work on the tables, but arrangements with the Book Fair and city tax codes prohibit sales. 

   PWC has a large number of returning-conferees, who say the craft, business, and other applications learned are invaluable, but especially value the interaction with other writers and the inspirational high the workshops and general conference atmosphere create. Conferees, workshop leaders, board members—at PWC, the attitude is  “Speak to anyone as you would have them speak to you, and do it first.”

   The PWC is operated by a volunteer Board of Directors, comprising up to thirty-five elected members, representing a broad range of writing categories. Just as some former conferees have come back to serve as workshop leaders, many of the board members, too, are former conferees. The focus and spirit remain the same—help from professional leaders,  and inspiration that spurs writers to attain their goals.