Conversations & Connections: Practical Advice on Writing
October 5, 2024, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Conversations and Connections is a one-day conference organized by Barrelhouse in person at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA on October 5, 2024.
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What is Conversations and Connections?
Conversations and Connections is a one-day writer's conference that brings together writers, editors, and publishers in a friendly, supportive environment. The conference is organized by Barrelhouse magazine, and has been held for the past 15 years in Washington DC, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. The October 2024 conference is our 26th Conversations and Connections. All proceeds go to participating small presses and literary magazines, and to Barrelhouse.
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What do you get with your registration fee?
For your registration fee, you get the full day conference, including the featured authors reading/QA, and 3 craft workshop/panel sessions, plus your choice of choice of 1 out of our 4 featured books. Through our “partner press program,” you’ll also be able to allocate $20 to one of our participating literary magazines or small presses, each of whom is offering a different incentive — a subscription, a book, a poster, something else— for your donation.
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Who should attend?
We strive to make Conversations and Connections truly practical and valuable for all writers. If you’re just getting started and trying to figure out how this all works and where your place might be in the literary community, we’re the conference for you. If you’ve published a fair amount of work and are l0oking to re-energize your writing practice, focus on specific elements of craft, and connect with editors, publishers, and other writers who are doing the same, we’re the conference for you. All are welcome and we really strive to focus on the second part of our title: practical advice on writing!
Program Schedule
Note: We will be forming the conference schedule when we get into summer 2024.
General Schedule (all times are U.S. eastern standard time):
9:00: Welcome
9:30 — 10:30: Session 1 panel discussions and craft workshops
10:45 — 11:45: Session 2 panel discussions and craft workshops
12:00 — 2:00: Speed dating with editors; online Write-In; Lunch
2:15 — 3:45: Featured author readings and QA
4:00 — 5:00 Session 3 panel discussions and craft workshops
5:00: Post conference reception
What Our Attendees Say
Literary Magazines and Small Presses
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American Short Fiction is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit literary organization based in Austin, Texas that promotes the art form of the short story in a nationally-distributed triquarterly print magazine, via ASF Online, and through live events and literary programming.
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Barrelhouse is a literary organization that puts out a print magazine, runs a small press, organizes the writers conference Conversations & Connections, the retreat Writer Camp, and online Write-Ins, and publishes reviews, interviews, and issues online.
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Founded by Veronica Bennett in October of 2021, BULLSHIT is an online literary magazine + chapbook publisher. While BULLSHIT got its start out of garages in Houston, TX, it's now based in Philadelphia. BULLSHIT publishes poetry, prose, fiction, art, and stuff that doesn't fit into any of those categories. New online shit every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (and sometimes other days, too); new books every month. BULLSHIT is the antithesis to those flowery submissions calls for, like, "the deepest echo in your heartcanyon." We don't take ourselves too seriously.
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The Hedge Apple is the literary magazine at Hagerstown Community College. At the Hedge Apple, we believe that literature and artwork are essential parts of humanity. These powerful channels can offer us hope and healing, bring us together, and give voice to the marginalized. They aren’t highbrow pursuits reserved only for intellectuals—literature and art are for everyone. Fresh voices are essential, and we love fledgling artists. We are passionate about helping you find your niche, whether it’s through our feedback or the resources provided on our website, and yes, we want to hear from you veteran crafters too, so please send us your stuff as well. We want to hear what you have to say. www.hedgeapplemagazine.com
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Hippocampus is an online publication set out to entertain, educate and engage writers and readers of creative nonfiction. We also have a books division and bring our mission to life with an annual writing conference. (partner press incentive: craft anthology “Getting to the Truth”)
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JAKE is the punkest little shit you know. He doesn’t want to eat his vegetables, he doesn’t want to wake up for school, he doesn’t want to follow the established trends of what makes good literary writing good and bad literary writing bad. JAKE wants to look deep into the heart of all entropy of the universe, and do a sick kickflip over the abyss between what we know is possible and what we dream can be. JAKE is the king of bad taste, of broken forms, and broken rules. JAKE wants all of the shade of the bigger, badder mags, and he wants your funniest, strangest, or boldest words. JAKE is here to play without rules.
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Lanternfish Press, founded in Philadelphia in 2013, publishes literature of the rare and strange: fiction that crosses the boundary between literary and speculative; real or imagined tales of characters at the margins of history; essays rooted in a strong sense of place; a cabinet of curious Victorian reprints. We seek the grotesque, the alien made familiar, the “I don’t know what this is—but I love it.”
Lanternfish aims to make books and publication accessible to readers and writers who fall outside the literary mainstream, whether in race, sexuality, gender, situation, or pure individual oddity. We're a home for books that defy pigeonholes—and for the readers who love them.
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Santa Fe Writer’s Project was founded in 1998 by Andrew Gifford and is dedicated to artistic preservation, recognizing exciting new authors, and bringing out of print work back to the shelves through an eclectic catalog of fiction and creative nonfiction, an online quarterly journal, and an annual Awards Program that has been judged by writers such as Benjamin Percy, Emily St. John Mandel, Jayne Anne Phillips, Robert Olen Butler, and many others. Find out more at www.sfwp.com.
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Stanchion is an independent quarterly print literary magazine and book press founded in the suburbs of Philadelphia during the tumultuous summer of 2020 by editor-in-chief and one-man band, Jeff Bogle. The magazine is printed on thick uncoated A5 paper and features short stories, flash fiction, CNF, poetry, one-act plays, drawings, collage art, and black & white photography.
Stanchion is an inclusive space, a paying publication and press with no fees, and is a safe home for diverse voices from around the globe. (partner press incentive: Issue 13 and the first Stanchion book, The Woman's Part, PLUS a bookmark and stickers).
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Taco Bell Quarterly is the literary magazine for the Taco Bell Arts and Letters. We’re a reaction against everything. The gatekeepers. The taste-makers. The hipsters. Health food. Artists Who Wear Cute Scarves. Bitch-ass Wendy’s. We seek to demystify what it means to be literary, artistic, important, and elite. We welcome writers and artists of all merit, whether you’re published in The Paris Review, rejected from The Paris Review, or DGAF what The Paris Review is. First and foremost, TBQ is about great writing. It’s about provoking and existing among the white noise of capitalism. We embrace the spectrum of trash to brilliance. Taco Bell Quarterly has tens of thousands of readers. We’ve been interviewed or mentioned in Vox, Salon, Food and Wine Magazine, Mental Floss, Yahoo, The Guardian, The New York Post, Publisher’s Weekly, Literary Hub, Bon Appetit and dozens more.
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Thirty West Publishing House is proudly Pennsylvanian and specializes in debut poets and authors. Publishing hand-made chapbooks, poetry & story collections, and novels since 2015. Take the route to our house.
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Created in 2021, Troublemaker Firestarter publishes volumes and complete poetry/art/fiction collections specializing in LGBTQIA+ and feminist topics. We're independent. Our goal is to excite poetry lovers. We welcome the uncomfortable and controversial. New, bold, and proud poets should find their home here. (partner press incentive: two copies of the print magazine)
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Uncharted is a space for outstanding stories. We publish new work every week from emerging and established authors through our always free / always open / always paid category, and we run prestigious contests with great judges to offer significant awards and attention for our authors.
Temple University’s English department is our host for the conference.
STUDY ENGLISH IN PHILADELPHIA
Literature, the practice of writing and the analysis of language foster attentiveness and mental agility by presenting us with complex perspectives on social and artistic movements, historical events, cultural phenomena, and communication patterns.
WHY STUDY ENGLISH?
Powerful, persuasive writing, sharp analytic skills and creative, flexible thinking are essential abilities for tomorrow’s leaders and professionals. The English major cultivates these abilities through the study of the literatures, language and cultures of the United States, Britain, the English-speaking world and beyond.
Speed Dating With Editors is a 10 minute, 1-on-1 workshop with an editor
With your registration, you get one ticket to “Speed Dating with Editors,” a 10 minute, 1-on-1 meeting with a literary magazine or small press editor where you’ll receive direct feedback about your work.
What works best?
We’ve found that the following things work best: a flash story or essay, the first few pages of a longer story or essay, or a poem.
Paper!
It's easiest for the editors if they're reading paper, so please print out and bring along copies of whatever you intend to workshop
We’ll match you up.
The logistics and timing don’t allow for you to choose the editor you’d like to work with. We’ll make sure nonfiction work is read by nonfiction editors, poetry by poetry editors, etc, but the situation doesn't allow for everybody to choose their editor. You’ll be matched up with an editor by our volunteers.
