The Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County’s third annual Seaside Writers Conference will take place May 14 – 21 in Seaside as part of Art Week South Walton.

The Conference includes a full week of intensive writing workshops, one-day seminars, agent consultations, school outreach programs and social events and provides an opportunity for beginning, intermediate and advanced writers to celebrate writing, to network and to hone their craft.

Headlining authors Andre Dubus III (House of Sand and Fog, The Garden of Last Days, Townie) and Elizabeth Stuckey-French (The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady, Mermaids on the Moon) will each lead a seminar and reading while guest literary agents Alex Glass (Glass Literary Agency) and Duvall Osteen (Aragi, Inc.) will offer one-on-one consultations with attendees.

“When we were able to get a writer of the caliber of bestselling author Andre Dubus III for our relatively new conference, we knew we were onto something,” said Conference co-founder, author and faculty member Matt Bondurant.

“However, we do have a secret weapon. There is no other writers conference that allows you to step out of intimate workshops with national award-winning authors and agents directly onto the white sand of the Gulf of Mexico. Our writers love that, and they also appreciate the people and culture of the community.”

Bondurant (The Wettest County In The World, made into the film Lawless; The Night Swimmer; The Third Translation) and conference co-founder and poet Seth Brady Tucker (Mormon Boy; We Deserve The Gods We Ask For), are joined by visiting faculty member Rebecca Makkai, the Chicago-based author of The Hundred Year House (winner of Chicago Writers Association’s Novel of the Year Award) and recipient of a 2014 NEA fellowship, to lead intensive workshops throughout the week.

Registrants may choose one of two genres of workshop study, either Fiction led by Bondurant and Makkai or Poetry led by Tucker.

“The caliber of our special guests this year is a testament to our growing brand,” said Seth Brady Tucker, “but the feedback we get from our attendees is just as important to us. Matt, Jonathan and I started this conference with three key goals in mind:  create a personal experience for our writers, give them a beautiful place to write and discuss literature and writing with great teachers and good people, and to give back to the local community.  I think we have accomplished these goals, and I know our attendees feel the same way.”

Other components of the conference are the Scholars and Fellows Program, including the Robert & Daryl Davis Scholar in Fiction and the Sundog Books Scholar in Poetry, and the public school outreach program organized by conference co-founder and Seacoast High School Principal Jonathan D’Avignon in which Scholars and Fellows work directly with 8th and 11th grade writers in their schools. Some of the students go on to read their work publicly as part of the conference alongside a headliner.

The Seaside Writers Conference is produced by the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County and sponsored by the University of Mississippi, Visit South Walton, Sundog Books, The Seaside Institute, Stetson University MFA, Bud & Alley’s, Great Southern Café and Cabana Man Beach Service.

“The Cultural Arts Alliance is proud to have partnered with the SWC Founders to produce this conference,” said the Alliance’s Executive Director Jennifer Steele. “Attendance doubled from year one to year two, and we know it will continue to grow as word spreads of the special nature of SWC.  The conference fulfills the CAA’s partial mission of bringing literary programming to the community while providing opportunities for hands-on literary arts enrichment in our public schools. We are grateful to the partners that have made the conference possible.”

Participants who pay the early bird rate for the full conference tuition ($500 up until March 20, $575 thereafter) will be able to take part in an intensive workshop and all daily activities, including special events, receptions and dinners.  À la carte pricing is available for classes, workshops, consultations and events. Accommodations can also be secured through the registration process by paying the all-inclusive fee of $1500.

For more info, or to register, visit the Seaside Writers Conference.