Conversations & Connections: Practical Advice on Writing
April 24, 2027
American University, Washington, DC
Conversations and Connections is a one-day conference organized by Barrelhouse in person at American University in Washington, DC on April 24, 2027.
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What is Conversations and Connections?
Conversations and Connections is a one-day writer's conference that brings together writers, editors, and publishers in a friendly, supportive environment. The conference is organized by Barrelhouse magazine, and has been held for the past 15 years in Washington DC, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. The April 24, 2027 conference is our 30th Conversations and Connections. All proceeds go to participating small presses and literary magazines, and to Barrelhouse, a literary nonprofit organization.
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What do you get with your $95 registration fee?
For your registration fee, you get the full day conference, including the featured authors reading/QA, and 3 craft workshop/panel sessions, plus your choice of choice of 1 out of our 4 featured books. Through our “partner press program,” you’ll also be able to allocate $25 to one of our participating literary magazines or small presses, each of whom is offering a different incentive — a subscription, a book, a poster, something else— for your donation. More than half your registration fee goes directly to the participating literary magazines and small presses.
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Who should attend?
We strive to make Conversations and Connections truly practical and valuable for all writers. If you’re just getting started and trying to figure out how this all works and where your place might be in the literary community, we’re the conference for you. If you’ve published a fair amount of work and are l0oking to re-energize your writing practice, focus on specific elements of craft, and connect with editors, publishers, and other writers who are doing the same, we’re the conference for you. All are welcome and we really strive to focus on the second part of our title: practical advice on writing!
Sign up today!
For $95 you get the full day conference (3 craft workshops or panel discussions, and our featured author reading and QA), plus 1 featured book, 1 ticket for speed dating with editors, and more lit stuff from our partner presses. See you on April 24, 2027!
Featured Books!
With your registration, you get your choice of one of these awesome books.
Heehee, by Juliet Gelfman-Randazzo
Poems. Publishing Genius Press. “In Heehee, Juliet Gelfman-Randazzo’s poems refuse to stop having fun. The poems refuse to go home. The poems go to the second location, and the third. The poems refuse to stop talking, which is of course a form of having fun. Actually, talking is singing in the language world of Heehee. And of course, you should never stop singing. Where any reasonable poet would end a poem, Juliet sends the figures in her poem out for pasta, ostensibly to continue talking and laughing (which, remember, is singing) long into the night. I’m so happy this book is finally here. And that it won’t stop talking.”
— Courtney Bush
Short Stories. Modern Artist Press. Forever Egg, by Tierney Oberhammer
“Tierney Oberhammer’s stories explore the places in between: the weeks between period and pregnancy, the wait between surgery and recovery, the distance between parent and child, the bridge between funeral and one-night stand, the overlap between past lives and new lives, the ship sailing between volcanic disaster and escape. With all the well-deserved confidence of an experienced cartographer, Oberhammer maps out the uneasy terrain of our existence. This collection is a crisp, assured, and gorgeous debut.”
—Julia Phillips, best-selling author of Bear and Disappearing Earth
What Our Attendees Say
General Schedule
All times are U.S. eastern standard time:
9:00: Welcome
9:30 — 10:30: Session 1 panel discussions and craft workshops
10:45 — 11:45: Session 2 panel discussions and craft workshops
12:00 — 2:00: Speed dating with editors; online Write-In; Lunch
2:15 — 3:45: Featured author readings and QA
4:00 — 5:00 Session 3 panel discussions and craft workshops
5:00: Post conference reception
Literary Magazines and Small Presses
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A Baltimore-based micro-press that specializes in hand-bound chapbooks of a spacious/minimalist nature and is dedicated to publishing work that’s small, quiet, odd, easily-missed, and 100% needs to be read.
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ARTWIFE Magazine is a digital literary & arts magazine publishing short stories, essays, visual art, and video art. We host a monthly podcast on the craft of writing and the life of the artist, featuring interviews with published authors and contributors to our magazine. Artists of all kinds are invited to join us for The ARTWIFE Creative Hour, a free and virtual working session meeting every week.
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Autofocus Literary is a publisher of artful autobiographical writing in any form: personal essay, memoir, confessional poetry, journals & diaries, letters & e-mails, bits & pieces of each of these, and other work that makes art from your life. We publish a book imprint, an online journal, and a podcast. The imprint, Autofocus Books, specializes in work that fits, and occasionally stretches, the boundaries of our interest in literary autobiography. We launched in early 2022 and currently publish six to eight books a year.
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The Baltimore Review, founded in 1996, is a literary journal publishing the poems, short stories, and creative nonfiction of writers from across the U.S. and beyond.
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Barrelhouse is a literary organization that puts out a print magazine, runs a small press, organizes the writers conference Conversations & Connections, the retreat Writer Camp, and online Write-Ins, and publishes reviews, interviews, and issues online.
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Gargoyle magazine was founded in 1976 by Russell Cox, Richard Peabody, and Paul Pasquarella. By 1977, Peabody was the only member of the original triumvirate left. He ran the mag until 1990 with several co-editors through the years, most notably Gretchen Johnsen (1979-1986) and Peggy Pfeiffer (1988-1990). Based in the Washington, D.C., metro area, Gargoyle was dedicated to printing work by unknown poets and fiction writers, as well as seeking out the overlooked or neglected. The magazine archive is housed in the Special Collections at George Washington University’s Gelman Library in DC (some back issues are still available to the public as well—read on). The mag was on something of an extended hiatus as of 1990 and resurfaced in 1997.
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Hippocampus Magazine is an exclusively online publication set out to entertain, educate and engage writers and readers of creative nonfiction. Each issue features memoir excerpts, personal essays, reviews, interviews and craft articles.
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction is an independent literary magazine for short-form creative nonfiction. We publish flash nonfiction of 1,000 words or fewer, micros of 400 words or fewer, and short-shorts of 100 words or fewer.
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Kestrel’s mission is to explore the human condition and to share a vision of the human experience with readers in West Virginia, Appalachia, the United States, and abroad, and to bring together contributors and audiences for Kestrel Celebrations that foster appreciation for and inquiry into the humanities.
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Neon Hemlock is a Washington, DC-based small press publishing speculative fiction, rad zines and queer chapbooks, and the flash fiction magazine Baffling. Our books have won the Nebula, World Fantasy, Ignyte, Locus, and Shirley Jackson Awards, among others. We've been known to punctuate our catalogue with oracle decks, occult ephemera and literary candles. Publishers Weekly once called us “the apex of queer speculative fiction publishing” and we’re still beaming. Find us online: www.neonhemlock.com
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The Offing is an online literary magazine publishing creative writing in all genres and art in all media.
The Offing publishes work that challenges, experiments, provokes — work that pushes literary and artistic forms and conventions.
The Offing is a place for new and emerging writers to test their voices, and for established writers to test their limits. -
Poet Lore: America's oldest poetry magazine, publishing in print since 1889, Poet Lore is a biannual journal of poetry, featuring the finest in contemporary writing. Each issue features a curated folio of work from a select guest editor alongside poems from our general selections. We champion innovative and experimental poetic forms, from prose sequences to poems that utilize negative space on the page, and feature poems that broaden the spectrum of what poetry is and can be.
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Riot in Your Throat is an independent poetry press publishing fierce, feminist poetry.
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Santa Fe Writer’s Project was founded in 1998 by Andrew Gifford and is dedicated to artistic preservation, recognizing exciting new authors, and bringing out of print work back to the shelves through an eclectic catalog of fiction and creative nonfiction, an online quarterly journal, and an annual Awards Program that has been judged by writers such as Benjamin Percy, Emily St. John Mandel, Jayne Anne Phillips, Robert Olen Butler, and many others. Find out more at www.sfwp.com.
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Stanchion is an independent quarterly print literary magazine and book press founded in the suburbs of Philadelphia during the tumultuous summer of 2020 by editor-in-chief and one-man band, Jeff Bogle. The magazine is printed on thick uncoated A5 paper and features short stories, flash fiction, CNF, poetry, one-act plays, drawings, collage art, and black & white photography.
Stanchion is an inclusive space, a paying publication and press with no fees, and is a safe home for diverse voices from around the globe.
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Troublemaker Firestarter is an international LGBTQ+ and feminist magazine and publishing press. They have circulated books in Canada, England, Northern Ireland, Ireland, China, India, Australia, and Aotearoa.
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Washington Writers’ Publishing House is a non-profit, cooperative literary organization that has published over 100 volumes of poetry since 1975 as well as fiction and nonfiction. The press sponsors three annual competitions for writers living in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and the winners of each category (one each in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction) comprise our annual slate. In 2021, WWPH launched an online literary journal, WWPH WRITES to expand our mission to further the creative work of writers in our region. In 2024, WWPH launched our biennial works in translation series. More about the Washington Writers' Publishing House at www.washingtonwriters.org
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Yellow Arrow Publishing is a Baltimore-based independent non-profit press that supports and inspires writers and artists identifying as women through publication and access to the literary arts. Women’s voices have historically been underrepresented in literature, and we aim to elevate those voices and stories through our programs and publications. Yellow Arrow publishes a biannual journal in print and PDF, an annual online journal celebrating Baltimore creatives, and multiple chapbooks each year; offers a rich and affordable program of online workshops; and holds readings and other special events in Baltimore and beyond. See the Yellow Arrow website and @yellowarrowpublishing on social media for more.
American University’s MFA in Creative Writing Program is our host for the conference.
For more than 30 years, writers have come to American University to develop their work and exchange ideas in the District’s only creative writing MFA program.
Our graduate workshops provide a rigorous yet supportive environment where students explore a range of approaches to the art and craft of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. As an MFA student at American University, you are free to pursue a single genre or explore several. You will acquire a deeper understanding of your own work and hone your skills in a collaborative setting. This two-year, 36-credit-hour MFA program integrates writing, literary journalism, translation, and the study of literature to prepare students for a range of career possibilities. Write, give feedback, and receive guidance from a close-knit community of respectful peers and faculty.
In the MFA program, you'll find lawyers, military veterans, musicians, teachers, and business executives who are passionate about the written word. In addition to our prestigious Visiting Writers Series, our MFA program publishes Folio, a nationally recognized literary journal sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences at American University in Washington, DC. Since 1984, we have published original creative work by both new and established authors. For more information, contact us at lit@american.edu.
Speed Dating With Editors is a 10 minute, 1-on-1 workshop with an editor
With your registration, you get one ticket to “Speed Dating with Editors,” a 10 minute, 1-on-1 meeting with a literary magazine or small press editor where you’ll receive direct feedback about your work.
What works best?
We’ve found that the following things work best: a flash story or essay, the first few pages of a longer story or essay, or a poem.
Paper!
It's easiest for the editors if they're reading paper, so please print out and bring along copies of whatever you intend to workshop
We’ll match you up.
The logistics and timing don’t allow for you to choose the editor you’d like to work with. We’ll make sure nonfiction work is read by nonfiction editors, poetry by poetry editors, etc, but the situation doesn't allow for everybody to choose their editor. You’ll be matched up with an editor by our volunteers.
Location and Logistics and Information About The Day of the Conference
Address
Ward Circle Building, Kerwin Hall
3590 Nebraska Ave NW
Washington DC 20016
Google Map:
Click here to open the map in a new window
Timing:
Check-in will begin at 8:30 on the first level of Kirwin Hall
The conference will start at 9:00
At 5:00 we’ll wrap up with a post-conference reception and hang out
A full schedule is included below (scroll down)
