This is a guest post by Victoria Doerper
The pandemic changed us in many ways, making Zoomers of almost all of us. But with the 2024 Chuckanut Writers Conference and its theme, Return to Your Senses, we returned to each other, in person and outside of our tiny Zoom boxes. In a new venue and with a couple of new sponsors, the conference offered a diverse group of talented faculty, opportunities to interact with other writers, and a time away from the routine to focus on new ideas, techniques, and purpose.
Village Books (Paul Hanson), The Narrative Project (Cami Ostman and Amanda Stubbert), and Sidekick Press (Lisa Dailey) wore the mantle of sponsorship with style and good humor. The new venue, Sehome High School in Bellingham, functioned beautifully. The capacious auditorium was accessible, including an excellent sound system. Classroom arrangements made for easy interaction among participants and faculty during the workshop sessions.
Good conferences can bring people together, generate new ideas, and create new energy for our work. And some conferences can manage to create an atmosphere of community in a short span of time as well. In those cases, there’s a certain, for want of a better word, magic, that no one can plan but everyone can feel, and this year the two-day Chuckanut Writers Conference conjured up the magic. Minor bumps in the logistical road turned into funny stories. Faculty mingled easily with participants during the day’s sessions and at the evening reception the excellent faculty readings were mercifully short and informal to allow more time for chat.
Keynoter Erica Bauermeister, author of Whatcom County’s current Whatcom Reads novel, No Two Persons, and plenary speaker, Whatcom County’s own Rena Priest, former Washington State Poet Laureate, along with opening speaker Cami Ostman and closing speakers Brooke Warner and Grant Faulker, co-hosts of the Write-Minded podcast, brought information, inspiration, and humor. Genres received their due, including poetry with Rena Priest, Sati Mookherji, Jessica Gigot, Elaina Ellis; non-fiction with Priscilla Long, Thor Hanson, William Kenower, Melissa Johnson; fiction with Erica Bauermeister, Becky Mandelbaum, Kim Hudson, Stephanie Dethlefs; and a lineup of knowledgeable editing and publishing pros.
I’ve attended a number of writers conferences, and each one offers some flash of inspiration and insight or some reminder of what you knew but had either forgotten or hadn’t consistently put into practice. For me this time around, it was the importance of story, whether in prose or poetry. “Making the World By Naming It,” Rena Priest’s poetry workshop session, reminded me of the importance of our work as writers, our role as creators in this world that is so often frustrating and frightening. An encouragement to keep showing up and creating, no matter what.
Among conferences you consider for the future, you might want to keep an eye out for the Chuckanut Writers Conference planned for June 2025.