Literary artists gather for annual Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference

By Poppy Smith
Photos by Sinon Smith

For the Homer Independent Press

The 24th annual Kachemak Bay Writers Conference, held May 16-19 at Kachemak Bay Campus, highlighted the importance of continuing to write in today’s world and offered attendees and presenters alike a chance to experience community, growth and inspiration. A four-day event with multiple workshops and presentations teaching attendees tips and tricks regarding poetry, memoir and other genres, the conference drew dozens of attendees from across the state of Alaska, as well as from Washington, California, Montana and even Australia.

Praised by many attendees for the opportunities it presented to meet fellow authors and improve their craft, one presenter, Jamie Ford, described it as like being “in a herd of unicorns.” 

The conference opened on Saturday with “Writing Into the Precipice,” acclaimed poet and essayist Jane Hirschfield’s keynote presentation on the topic of writing during the inevitable climate crisis we all face, as well as introductions from the conference faculty and presenters. Hirschfield has published 10 books of poetry and won multiple awards for her writings, including in the field of science.

Following the keynote speech, attendees separated into groups to introduce themselves. When asked why they were attending and what genres they wrote in, the answers were surprisingly varied. While many were poets, others wrote romance, historical fantasy, legal case files, screenplays or even manga, a genre of graphic novel originating in Japan. Nearly all had the same goal: to improve their writing skills, to meet other writers and to learn from the professionals. Some even planned to meet with agents in the hopes of getting their manuscripts picked up.

After an hour of introductions, the first round of craft classes started, one of which was “Seeds and Roots: A Writer’s Relationship with Place,” taught by Diane Wilson.

Wilson is a Dakota author and poet from Minnesota enrolled on the Rosebud Reservation of South Dakota, whose works have earned numerous awards.

“Writing is a spiritual practice,” Wilson said, and as an enrolled member of the Rosebud Reservation, spirituality is central to what and how she writes. Wilson stressed the importance of nature to a book’s setting, and suggested engaging in nature via hiking and gardening in order to better one’s relationship with the earth. 

After an hour-long lunch break, the conference resumed with a Q & A about first pages and publishing, presented by literary agent and tenured publishing house editor Ayesha Pande and Chip Blake, former editor-in-chief of Orion Magazine. Pande and Blake discussed what makes a book publishable and said that a book is most publishable when there is a market for it, and a large market such as romance or mystery offers more specificity.

Pande and Blake both agreed that the most important factor in getting published is having the manuscript’s first page jump out to the reader.

However, Blake said, “We almost always read more than the first page.”

To give the audience an idea of what makes a good first page, volunteers were asked to read the first pages of manuscripts presented to the agents in the past. Genres ranged from speculative mystery, “chick-lit” (a playful term for women’s literature) creative nonfiction and memoir. The authors pointed out things that they liked and things that they felt ought to be changed, and determined whether they would read past the first page. 

During the Q & A portion, audience members asked what makes a query letter successful. Writers send query letters to agents or editors to propose ideas for writing, and the presenters said that it was important that the writer know their own genre. They suggested that the author read that genre widely, as their credibility within the genre is quite important.

Pande confirmed when asked that branding is unfortunately important in literature lately, but that due to the trend-based nature of the publishing world, it wouldn’t be that way forever. 

When asked about how they were dealing with artificial intelligence in the publishing industry, Pande said that they were struggling, and that many of her clients are part of the Bartz v. Anthropic class action lawsuit against the AI company Anthropic for theft of intellectual property. She also confirmed that her agency protects both clients and editors from AI usage during publishing.

The audience’s final question was “Does literature still matter?” Despite how much literature may have changed over the years, their answer was still a resounding “Yes!”

Saturday ended with another round of craft classes, including one led by award-winning novelist Hanna Pylväinen, called “Symphonic Structure,” which discussed how to effectively use omniscient point of view to write for multiple main characters.

Craft classes resumed Sunday morning.“Cracks in the Glass,” taught by award-winning Montana novelist Jamie Ford, focused on creating evocative scenes for the readers through setting up good moments for an author’s character, then crushing that character’s spirits. As the saying goes in the publishing world, “you cry, you buy,” Ford explained.

In a later interview, Ford said that his favorite part of the conference was the chance to learn as an artist, having attended multiple workshops himself, including in genres that weren’t his main writing focus, such as poetry.

Hirschfield took the stage later that morning with her poetry workshop, “Opening Invitations,” which covered how to start a poem off of just single-word prompts such as “I, the, after, when, if, because.” Hirschfield used these prompts to direct the audience towards creating new works.

Hirschfield quickly returned after another round of craft classes to do a Q & A. When asked what keeps her going in her writing process, she answered that while she is generally low-energy, she does everything on stamina, a practice she learned while training to be a Zen monastic for 14 years.

“You can be tired as long as you’re awake,” Hirschfield said.

One audience member asked, “How do you avoid losing your voice when revising or studying your craft?” 

Hirschfield suggested always revising one’s works by hand, and to look into a wide variety of genres when studying craft. She herself learned Latin while teaching rhetoric in high school, which she said taught her a lot about writing. Hirschfield revealed her pedagogy: “Keep reading and falling in love with new things.”

Hirschfield noted that workshops can often kill originality if  an author takes all of the criticisms to heart without being able to stand up for themself. Her advice to those struggling with perfectionism: “Be ferociously attached to anything you feel has meaning.”

Monday opened with two outdoorsy classes — a nature walk with naturalist guide and writer Nancy Lord and a nature mandala workshop with local artist Kim McNett.

The conference’s first panel discussion, “Environmental Writing and its Relationship to Narratives of Crisis,” presented by environmental historian Bathsheba Demuth, nature poet Danika Kelly and essayist Diane Wilson,  kicked off that morning in Pioneer Hall. Kelly read a few select pieces of her nature-related poetry; Demuth gave a dramatic reading of her essay about the environment of Siberia; and Wilson spoke on the St. Croix River, known in Dakota as Hoġan Wanḳe Kin. All three presenters had a brief Q & A session at the end, where they tackled genre choice, narrative and language changes during translations.

The second panel discussion, “Socialized Nature” with Ford, naturalist Elizabeth Bradfield  and author and former environmental reporter Zoë Schlanger, was presented to the entirety of the conference Monday afternoon. They spoke on how an author’s identity affects what they write and how they view the world, then opened to a Q & A towards the end.

The authors were asked what communities they have made the most connections with during their writing processes, and the results were interesting, if not surprising. Schlanger, whose works focus heavily on plant life and the environment, said that she has become a prominent member of her gardening community, as well as scientific circles in general. Bradfield said that she has strong ties to the boating and water-related communities through her works. 

Ford, who is of Chinese descent, said that his book on Japanese internment camps in America during World War II has led him to make several connections with members of the Japanese-American community. When asked how much of what he writes influences him, Ford replied that his first few books were about his family life, but that he felt he needed to be more vulnerable. According to Ford, all of what an author writes is about themself in some way.

After the day’s presentations had ended, attendees mingled in a small meet-and-greet in the KBC commons. When asked what brought them to the conference, many had a similar response — they were encouraged to attend by a mentor figure, be it a parent, teacher or friend of a friend. Chloe Huff of Anchorage said that their favorite part of the conference thus far was getting to meet and learn from other authors, a sentiment echoed by most other attendees. Huff, who originally heard about the conference through a patient of their father’s, said that they plan to return the following year.

First-time attendee Aidan Jackson of Anchorage said that they were not expecting to learn as much as they did, and found it to be an introduction to a new way of thinking about writing. They noted that the atmosphere of Homer differed greatly from that of Anchorage, feeling more transformative as a whole and allowing the fostering of further group discussion.

Tuesday morning, the last day of the conference, after the final round of craft classes, multiple conference attendees presented at the participant reading. Over a dozen people read three minutes’ worth of their work to the audience, and genres ranged from flash nonfiction to fiction, true crime, novel excerpts and many, many poems. Each was well-received by the audience, especially with the knowledge that many of the presenters had recently become published authors.

The third and final panel discussion was held Tuesday afternoon by poet and biologist J. Drew Lanham, 2023-2025 Montana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray and author Hanna Pylväinen on the subject of the writing life. The authors reminisced on how their rise to success had affected their personal lives, and what it took to get into the zone when it came to writing. They remarked that attending conferences such as this one greatly improved their connections in the publishing world, thus helping them to get a foot in the door.

Following the panel, conference participants gathered into small groups like they had the first day, discussing their final thoughts on the conference. Some tearful new attendees spoke of how inspiring it all was to become better writers, especially by getting to meet such renowned authors. Other more seasoned attendees commented on how much the conference had grown over the years, and why they kept coming back every time to appreciate both the community and Homer’s wonderful atmosphere.

Erin Hollowell, longtime director of the conference, presented the closing address and informed a shocked but supportive audience of her decision to step down from her position in order to focus on her work. Mercedes O’Leary-Harness, the incoming conference director, presented Hollowell with a bouquet of flowers to the sound of overwhelming applause. Hollowell thanked the faculty and again addressed the crowd. 

In an age where creativity and literature are at risk, Hollowell asked that the attendees be grateful for their lives as writers. 

“May writing find a congenial place in your heart,” she said. “May others see you as a writer and treat you like one, and more importantly, may you see yourself as a writer and treat yourself like one.”