Summer Words conference brings top authors, emerging writers to town this week

Summer Words, one of the top writing conferences and literary festivals in the nation, begins Sunday.

The six-day festival includes highly sought after workshops, a Readers Retreat taught by Luis Alberto Urrea, and a craft panel series (the latter of which is still open to the public), as well as the annual Book Ball — this year featuring Margaret Atwood as the featured speaker.

While deadlines for the juried workshops in book editing, fiction, memoir, middle grade, personal essay, poetry, science-fiction/fantasy, and the Readers Retreat have passed, for $30 total, anyone can still attend Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday’s craft panels, which cover the publishing industry, elements of a great beginning and ending, how to maintain momentum in the middle, and takeaways.

Monday afternoon, publishing experts Millicent Bennett, Kirby Kim, and Dana Murphy help writers navigate the book business, providing advice on how to get published and discussing challenges and opportunities facing the industry today.

Wednesday afternoon, Katie Kitamura and Joshua Mohr offer tips for creating strong openings that hook readers. Then, Urrea, Ashley C. Ford, and Emily Raboteáu help writers avoid those dreaded “flabby” middles, when character arcs and plotlines stall as they talk about best practices for finding the strongest structure to keep stories moving forward.

On Thursday, Alaya Dawn Johnson and Michelle Wildgen give advice on creating surprising yet satisfying and inevitable endings that wrap up central conflicts. The craft panel concludes with takeaways from Claire Dederer, Major Jackson, Erin Entrada Kelly, and Tom Perrotta as they share insights about the writing life and how to keep momentum going when writers return home from Summer Words.

“People who attend the public panels will get to eavesdrop on an unscripted and intimate conversation between esteemed writers — an insider look into the creative process and a healthy dose of inspiration,” said Adrienne Brodeur, executive director of Aspen Words.

In addition to honing skills and receiving feedback, writers seep in the majesty of the Rocky Mountains, cultivate friendships, and develop literary networks throughout the week, Brodeur said.

Meanwhile, literary enthusiasts who don’t necessarily aspire to write participate in Urrea’s Readers Retreat — though he might argue that readers innately create.

“Every story is your story because you cowrite it as you read it,” he said, adding that “every story is essentially a map that (writers) offer to the reader.”

In his Readers Retreat, he will reveal “secrets” he’s learned over the years, including the unseen story and the process of delving deeper into stories.

Aspen Words began in 1976 when a young bartender and poet, Kurt Brown, launched a two-week Aspen Writers’ Conference. Since then, it has grown into Writers in the Schools, Writer in Residence programs, Aspen Writers’ Network, Winter Words, and Summer Words.

“Summer Words is a standout writing conference in no small part because of the caliber of the teaching faculty and the publishing consultants, the offering of panels and craft talks, as well as the intimacy and intensity of the workshops, which feature both group and one-on-one instruction,” Brodeur said. “Attendees leave not only feeling inspired, but also with practical strategies on how to pursue their writing goals.”