The Chesapeake Writers’ Conference, located on the campus of St. Mary’s College of Maryland, is in its seventh year. Each summer, we host writers at all levels of experience for a week of lectures, craft talks, readings, and panel discussions (including an entire day with publishing professionals), as well as daily workshops in the genre each participant has applied in–fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction. These workshops, as well as the other events, are led by exemplary faculty, including National Book Award finalist, Patricia Henley, and PEN/Diamondstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay finalist, Angela Pelster. We also offer course credit for those enrolled in a degree program. We’ll again offer a workshop designed for high school-aged youth; this will be a multi-genre course in which participants try their hand at a range of writing genres and styles.

St. Mary’s College sits at the bend of the St. Mary’s River, just upstream from the confluence of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. The place has a quiet, pastoral beauty. Accommodations will be in townhouses on the campus, each with a full kitchen. Excellent food is also available at all meals in the college’s “Great Room.”