For two weeks in May, starting on May 12th, Seaside will become home base for two professional writers who will be participating in a series of events for the first Seaside Writers Conference.

Conceived by Seacoast Collegiate High School principal, Jonathan D’Avignon, the goals of this conference is to reach out to local students at both the middle and high school level and the general public by offering instruction with a heavy emphasis on the process of writing during a concentrated time period.

“Writing has seen a decline in importance through the myriad of state testing,” said D’Avignon. “I wanted to bring a new sense of urgency back to writing.”

With that mission in mind, D’Avignon reached out to former Florida State University college friends and accomplished writers Dr. Matt Bondruant and Dr. Seth Brady Tucker to see if they would be interested in assisting him with this idea. They jumped at the opportunity.

“I have wanted to spearhead a retreat like this for many years,” said Dr. Tucker. “And I believe that the fact that this experience is going to be developed and deployed by writers is going to give the conference a distinct literary flavor.”

Sessions with the Seaside Neighborhood School and Seacoast Collegiate High School students will be held during the first week of the authors’ stay, which begins on May 12th. Also during the first week, a three-day, college-level workshop is being offered to any student who wants some concentrated time with the authors.

During the second week, daily ticketed events on various topics will be offered to the general public (see schedule below). Courses will focus on teaching craft skills, strategies and tricks of the trade used by the instructors and other writers to develop accomplished pieces of work.

The last two days will feature a two-day, four-session workshop targeting the more experienced writer. Feedback from both authors will be given on works in progress along with helpful techniques to deal with getting over problematic areas.

A sunset reception for the authors will be held on Monday, May 12th, and a movie screening of “Lawless,” which was based on the international best selling book, The Wettest County in the World, written by Dr. Bondurant will take place on May 16th, followed by a reception and Q & A session with the author.

Dr. Tucker believes that the act of reading and writing teach us how to be better people and that this particular conference can truly benefit the local community in more ways than one.

“Poetry and fiction writing can make us more empathetic,” he said. “And if there is anything this world needs right now, it is empathy.”

For more info, or to purchase your tickets, visit the Seaside Writers Conference.