Writers and Editors

Note that many events will still be held online while Covid is around, so where you live may not matter so much. 

Looking for a local writers association, community, group, guild, or league? Or for a national or international group with local branches? Listed here are official local and regional groups, but sometimes the most effective local groups for writers and/or editors are informal groups. For freelancers, such a group is one way to alleviate cabin fever.

One group of magazine writers, editors, and book authors, for example, began meeting once a month for networking sessions, and the group grew to about 50 people. The group invites guest authors to give 20-minute talks, after which members network. Members bring dishes to share, no fees are charged, and members find work through the networking.

Another, smaller, group meets the same day and place every week, after office hours, just to schmooze, vent, gossip, give and ask advice. Some groups meet to critique each other’s work. Some meet to discuss special-interest topics (such as Victor Block's group in DC, which discusses travel writing). See Kathryn Lance's description of the Tucson Women Writers, posted here as a model of how you can start your own local group.

If you don’t know of any such group where you live, start one. It’s comforting to have a local support group with which to vent, brag, query, bitch and moan, and exchange shop talk. Meanwhile, the larger organizations provide a place to make connections and learn about your craft. Sometimes their strength lies in practical features such as health insurance. (Disability insurance is harder to come by for writers; insurance firms think a writer wants to stay home and write the great American novel.) On the whole, you get a lot more out of a group if you are active and visible. You are unlikely to get referrals or make friends if you just sit and wait for things to come to you. If you make friends with people AND you do good work, and your name comes to mind when opportunities arise, then belonging to a group can work for you, both personally or professionally, if the group is a good fit for your skills and personal preferences.

You'll find more local and regional organizations listed under organizations for medical and science writers, specialized and niche writing (where you will find many regional sports and writing organizations, including groups such as Southern Bowling Writers). Also, many, if not most, national organizations, have local chapters, so if you find a national organization that suits your interests, check to see if there are local chapters. And if you don't find something local, check out online communities (and critiquing groups) for writers and editors. Finally, this may be of practical interest to association leaders: 6 Key Issues Facing Association Leaders (Seth Kahan, Fast Company, 4-12-13)

• Authors Guild. Theoretically the AG has regional chapters based in Los Angeles, CA; San Diego, CA; Bay Area, CA; Washington, D.C.; St. Petersburg/Tampa, FL; Chicago, IL; Boston, MA; Detroit, MI; Las Vegas, NV; New York, NY;Raleigh-Durham, NC; Cleveland, OH; Philadelphia, PA; and Seattle, WA.  I suspect they have evaporated in the pandemic. Let me know if I am wrong.
• Left Coast Crime (an annual mystery convention sponsored by mystery fans, both readers and authors, held in western U.S.)
• Midwest Travel Writers Association (MTWA, based in St. Charles, IL)
• Mystery Writers of America Eleven regional chapters, ranging in size from one state (Florida) to thirteen (Midwest)
• New England Science Fiction Association, Inc. (NESFA)
• New England Science Writers (NESW)
• The Fellowship of Southern Writers (based in Chattanooga, TN)
• North American Snowsports Journalists Association (includes Eastern Ski Writers Association)<
• Northwest Independent Writers Association (NIWA, serving writers from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Northern California, Nevada, and Alaska)
• Northwest Independent Editors Guild (NIEG)
• Northwest Science Writers Association (NSWA)
• Pacific Northwest Writers Association (PNWA)
• SciComm South Conference in Austin for science communicators of all stripes from Texas and surrounding states (New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana)
• Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains (SWARM)
• Sisters in Crime
• Society of Midland Authors (SMA, represents published authors from 12 states in the Midwest. Gives annual awards for the best books by authors from the region and hosts lectures and panel discussions, which you can listen to online (broadcast by WBEZ). Also on Facebook.
• Society of Southwestern Authors (with chapters and members in Arizona and Texas). Its newsletter.
• Southeastern Writers Association (based in Georgia, SWA comprises writers from twelve Southern and Mid-Atlantic states). Blog: The Purple Pros
• SouthWest Writers. Check its newsletter archives and its critique groups .
• Women Writing the West
• Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF)
• Western Writers of America (WWA) (promotes the literature of the American West and bestows Spur Awards for distinguished writing in the Western field)

Broad lists of groups for writers I do not know how reliable these are, or how up-to-date (always check to see if the info still holds true), but here's the information:
• Many States: Resources for Writers (WriteByNight)
• All states: Writers Groups by State (Freelance-Zone.com)
• Writing Groups by State or Region (Writer's Relief, an authors' submission service)
• Top Writers Conferences to Attend in 2022 (Kotobee, 12-27-22)
• Writers Conferences 2023: 60 Events Worth Attending (Dana Sitar, The Write Life, 2-8-23)
• The Top 25 Writers’ Conferences in 2022 The So You Want to Write blog, 1-11-22)
• The 8 Best Affordable Writing Retreats That Won’t Break the Bank (Stephanie Bucklin, Electric Lit, 12-14-17)

• Academy of American Poets (has local affiliates)
• American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW)
• American Society of Journalists & Authors (ASJA)
• Authors Guild regional chapters and local online sub-communities. I just discovered these (Feb. 2023) although I am a member of AG and participate in its online discussion board.
• Association of Personal Historians (APH), The Life Story People
• Book Fairs and Festivals (Jacob M. Appel's excellent list, with monthly updates)
• Cartoonists and Illustrated United (on Facebook) and Cartoonists United (a forum)
• International Women's Writing Guild (IWGG)
• Literary Organizations That Serve Writers of Color (Kundiman links)
• Mystery Writers of America
• National Association of Science Writers local science writing groups, with chapters in various cities, regions, and states, and on Facebook
• National Federation of State Poetry Societies
• National League of American Pen Women ((NLPW, page listing its branches)
• Romance Writers of America (local chapters, by state)
• Romance Writers of America (local chapters, alphabetical by state, on Charlotte Dillon's site)
• Sisters in Crime (map of local chapters)
• Society for Technical Communication (STC) (search page for 120 U.S. and international chapters worldwide, or check out professional chapters.
• Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI). See local U.S. and international chapters
• Online communities, critique groups, etc. (for writers and editors)
• Writers meetup groups
• Writer's Relief Links to U.S. writers organizations (by state) and five online writing groups (for all genres): Critique Circle, Inked Voices, Pen Parentis, Scribophile, Writer’s Café.

• ALLi (The Alliance of Independent Authors). A nonprofit association for self-publishing authors organized across eight publishing territories.
• Australian Society of Authors (ASA). An advocate for the rights of professional authors in Australia
• Irish Writers Union - Comhar na Scríbhneoirí
• Norwegian Authors Union (www.forfatterforeningen.no/english), protecting Norwegian authors' professional and economic interests.
• Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC). Canada's professional writing community.
• The Society of Authors, the UK trade union for more than 10,000 writers, illustrators and literary translators, at all stages of their careers. Advising individuals and speaking out for the profession since 1884.
• Swedish Writers Union (www.forfattarforbundet.se/in-english/about-us/). The central professional organization for writers and literary translators in Sweden.
• Union of Finnish Authors (Suomen Kirjailijaliitto, www.kirjailijaliitto.fi) Professional organization of Finnish-speaking writers of fiction.
• Women's National Book Association (WNBA)
• The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB). A trade union representing professional writers in TV, film, theatre, radio, books, comedy, poetry, animation, online, and videogames.
• The Writers Union of Canada. Canada's national organization of professionally published book authors.

• American Christian Fiction Writers (Little Rock chapter)Arkansas Press Association (APA)
• Arkansas Review (A Journal of Delta Studies)
• Arkansas Writers (a regional guide to writers and writers' groups)
• Central Arkansas Speculative Fiction Writers' Group (Little Rock)
• Fiction Forge Creative Writing Workshop (Springdale Public Library) Facebook group
• Fiction Writers of Central Arkansas (FWCA) ("Where the ink meets the paper."
• Northwest Arkansas Writers Workshop
• Ozark Creative Writers (holds a friendly writers conference, Writing in the Ozarks, with awards for annual writing contests )
• Ozark Poets & Writers Collective
• Six Bridges Book Festival (Little Rock)
• Village Writers' Club (Hot Springs Village)
• White County Creative Writers (Searcy, all genres)
• The Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow , a residency program open to writers of every genre for short or long-term stays

• Authors Guild (local chapters in Los Angeles, San Diego, and the San Francisco Bay area)
• Bay Area Book Festival (May, Berkeley)
• Bay Area Editors' Forum (BAEF), strong organization in San Francisco Bay area
• Bay Area Travel Writers (BATW)
• BlogHer (Los Angeles, conference by SHE Media) Celebrating female storytellers who use their voices to raise awareness for our collective health. Follow on Facebook (a community forum and private network for women content creators and entrepreneurs to connect, discuss, and share).
• California Chicano News Media Association (CCNMA, Latino Journalists of California--for journalists, media professionals, employers and students
• California Crime Writers Conference (co-sponsored by local chapters of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime)
• California Freelance Writers Unite Private Facebook group invested in challenging the current state of AB5 (a California law that limits the use of classifying workers as independent contractors rather than employees by companies in the state) and here to support one another, navigate questions and concerns about laws affecting our community, advocate for one another, and share our career-related wins.
• California Writers Club (with 18 "branches" in state). See Bulletin.
• Calliope Workshop (Talliesin Nexus, Los Angeles). Talliesin Nexus also hosts Cinder writing groups, Liberty Lab for Film, Apollot Workshop (film and TV)
• City Guide to Los Angeles (Carolyn Kellogg, Poets & Writers, 7-18-11)
• Cross Campus, in Pasadena, Santa Monica, and downtown L.A. (formerly Writers Junction)
• DSTL Arts (nonprofit arts mentorship organization that inspires, teaches, and hires emerging artists from underserved communities)
• East of Eden Writers Conference (always held in Steinbeck Country--Salinas, California--sponsored by South Bay Writers (Santa Clara Valley branch of the California Writers Club)
• Greater Los Angeles Writers Society (GLAWS) and onFacebook
• The Grotto (San Francisco, an office for the creative, self-employed people who by definition don’t need to punch a clock. From its beginnings, it’s been a place where narrative artists–writers, filmmakers and the like–welcome the discipline of structure in their work lives, and build a community of peers)
• Independent Writers of Southern California (IWOSC)
• Intersection for the Arts (San Francisco)
• Korean American Women Artists & Writers Association (San Francisco Facebook group)
• Lambda Literary (champions queer books and authors)
• Literary Orange (Newport Beach, a celebration of authors, readers, and libraries)
• Los Angeles Poets & Writers Collective (students of Jack Grapes)
• Los Angeles Press Club
• L.A. Times Book Prizes
• Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
• Los Angeles Writers Calendar
• Marin Poetry Center
• Mount Herman Christian Writers Conference (Felton, California, south of San Jose)
• Northern California Science Writers Association (NCSWA)
• Northern California Publishers and Authors (supporting independent publishing)
• The Office (Santa Monica. No conference rooms. No phone calls. No conversation. Just you, the keyboard and a room of like-minded individuals serious about getting the work done.)
• Organization of Black Screenwriters Writers Group (OBS WG)
• PEN Center West (Wikipedia entry) Now PEN America Los Angeles office
• Poetry Center. There are poetry centers in Sacramento, San Francisco, and San Jose.
• Porchlight San Francisco's live storytelling series. Once a month, six people from different backgrounds tell ten-minute true stories without using notes or memorization. "Past storytellers include some of the area's most entertaining school bus drivers, mushroom hunters, politicians, socialites, sex workers, musicians, authors, systems analysts, and social workers."
• Published Writers of Rossmoor (Walnut Creek)
• Publishers and Writers of San Diego (PWSD)
• Romance Writers of America (SoCal branches)
• Sacramento Writing Workshop (a full day conference)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/sbwritersgroup/about/
• San Diego Professional Editors Network (SD/PEN).
• San Diego Writers/Editors Guild (meet 4th Monday of each month)
• San Diego Writer's Festival
• San Bernardino Writers Group
• San Diego Christian Writers' Guild (Facebook page)
• San Diego Writers, Ink
• San Francisco Writers Conference (annually, February, Presidents' Day weekend) Over the course of four days in mid-February, over 500 attendees and renowned keynote authors, presenters, editors, and agents, attend SFWC, combining the best of both the traditional publishing industry with the latest technology to empower authors to publish anywhere.
• San Francisco Writers Workshop
• San Francisco Writing for Change Conference (San Francisco, each September) "Write to make a difference: Your ideas can change the world." This annual conference for nonfiction writers and publishing professionals focuses on writing, publishing and motivation.
• Shuffle Literary Arts Residency A 6 month work-trade residency, open to emerging and established writers and poets in the Bay Area.
• Sierra Writers (writers from the Nevada City - Grass Valley area in California)
• Small Press Traffic (SPT) Literary Arts Center, San Francisco
• Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) ( national summer conference, 3 days in August, Los Angeles) Brings together top professionals in the children's publishing world, engaged in children's book writing and illustrating and publishing.
• Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles (Illustrators United)
• Sonora Writers Group (Facebook) and Sonora Writers Group YouTube channel
• South Bay Writers (Silicon Valley's premier writing group, a branch of California Writers Club)
• Southern California Writers Association (meets third Saturday of each month, in and around Huntington Beach)
• The Southwest Manuscripters (Torrance and Hermosa, CA), "longest active writers organization west of the Rockies"
• #WeAllGrow Summit (annually in spring, near Los Angeles) The go-to professional conference for 'Latinas in the Digital Space'
• Women's Center for Creative Work (WCCW, Los Angeles)

• WriteGirl (supporting the voices of teen girls)
• Writer's Digest Novel-Writing Conference (Los Angeles, October)
• Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW)
• Writers of Kern (Bakersfield)
• The Writing Salon (classes, San Francisco area)
• Writing Workshop of San Francisco (all-day conference)
• Writing Groups, or How Not to Go Crazy While Working on that Book (Frances Dinkelspiel, SFGate, 4-15-09). "One of the oldest and best-known writing groups in the region is the San Francisco Writers’ Workshop, which was started in 1946 and is still going strong....Another prominent group with more than a dozen chapters is the 100-year old California Writers Club. It was the first professional writers group in California and Jack London was among its charter members." And then generally what's helpful and enjoyable about writing groups.

(I know, Canada is not a U.S. state; I include this for friends in Canada and list it among states so people hunting in alphabetical order can find it.)
• Aboriginal Multimedia Society of Alberta (AMMSA), which has a Community Access page.
• Alice Munro Festival of the Short Story (Wingham, Ontario, in the spring)
• Canadian Authors Association aka Canadian Authors. Writers helping writers since 1921. This links to a page listing and linking to national, provincial, and international Canadian writers organizations.
• Canadian Jewish Literary Awards in several categories: fiction, scholarship, biography/memoir, history, youth literature, poetry, Holocaust literature, Jewish thought and literature, Yiddish.
• Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC, all-Canada, formerly Periodical Writers Association of Canada)
• Quebec Writers' Federation (QWF)
• Saskatchewan Writers Guild (SWG)
• SF Canada (Canada's National Association of Speculative Fiction Professionals
• Six Nations Writers (Six Nations of the Grand River).
• Toronto Writers' Centre
• The Western Association of Aboriginal Broadcasters (WAAB)
• Writers' Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB)
• Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS)

• Book Organizations of Colorado
• Book club groups in and near Denver (some Meetup groups)
• Boulder Media Women (BMW, Colorado. has been meeting for 20 years) Includes writers, editors, photographers, journalists, filmmakers, graphic artists, web designers, TV producers, screenwriters, publishers, agents, PR specialists, and others.
• Colorado Authors' League
• Colorado Book Awards (Colorado Humanities) Celebrating authors, editors, illustrators, and photographers.
• Colorado Gold Rush Literary Awards (Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers)
• Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA).

    See rules and registration for CIPA EVVY book competition.

    Many winners are from publishers in the Rocky Mountain Corrider.
• Colorado Christian Writers Conference
• Colorado Poets Center
• Colorado Prize for Poetry
• Colorado Springs Fiction Writer's Group
• Colorado Writers and Publishers Facebook page
• Colorado Writing Workshop (July)
• Denver Woman's Press Club
• Fort Collins Book Festival (October)
• Lighthouse Writers Workshops (Denver)
• Nelligan Award for Short Fiction (Center for Literary Publishing, Colorado State University)
• Northern Colorado Writers holds national Northern Colorado Writers Conference (April/May)
• Pikes Peak Writers (listen to audio from PPW's conference)  A 3-day fiction-writing conference for writers of all levels, indie and traditionally published, featuring a variety of craft and business workshops, acquiring editors/agents and well-known authors across a variety of genres.
• Publishing Pros of RMPPG (based mostly along Colorado’s Front Range)
• Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (RMFW). The Jasmine Award honors the long-term service of individuals to the organization.
• RMFW Professional Authors Alliance (PAA) See also RMFW Professional Authors Alliance (PAA Facebook page)
• Scholastic Art and Writing Awards (the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious recognition program for creative teens in grades 7–12, ages 13+)
• Tattered Cover Bookstore (Denver)
• Women Writing the West
• Writers on the Plains (a visiting writers program at Colorado State University)

• Central Connecticut Writers Group
• Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association (CAPA) Regional chapters have meetings with speakers.
• Connecticut Literary Festival (Hartford)
• Connecticut Screenwriters Group (West Hartford) Meets the last Wednesday of every month)
• Elizabeth Ayres Center for Creative Writing
• Institute of Children’s Literature
• Just for Writers (Fairfield Public Library, Westport)
• Fairfield County Writers Groups (Westport, all genres)
• Fairfield County Writers' Studio
• Long Ridge Writers Group (West Redding)
• Ridgefield Writers Conference
• Northern Connecticut Writers Workshop (meetup group meets every other week in Somers, CT)
• Wesleyan Writers Conference
• West Hartford Fiction Writers (Noah Webster Library)
• Westport Writers' Workshop
• Westport Writers Rendezvous (Meetup group, meets on the third Wednesday of each month in the Cafe at Westport's Barnes & Noble)
• Yale Writers' Workshop (10-day summer program)
• Yale Writers' Conference

• As the Eraser Burns (MD/DE/WV Region, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, SCBWI)
• Creative Writing Center of Delaware (Lewes)
• Delaware Poetry Review
• Delmarva Christian Writers' Fellowship
• Dreamstreets (publishes fiction/ creative non-fiction, essays and literary criticism)
• Eastern Shore Writers Association (meets in various parts of the Delmarva Peninsula). Here's a 1992 article about it.
• Rehoboth Beach Writers' Guild
• Writing Is a Shore Thing (news for writers in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia)
• The Written Remains (an alliance of writers, mostly it seems of fiction, whose events include a 250 Plus Facebook Page for Writers, encouraging members to write at least 250 words a day)

• Amelia Island Book Festival (February)
• Ancient City Romance Writers (St. Augustine). Romance Writers of America also has chapters in Homosassa, Jacksonville, Lake Helen, Orlando, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale/Palm Beach, Melbourne, Naples/Estero/Fort Myers, and Tallahassee.
• Atlantic Center for the Arts (ACA, New Smyrna Beach)
• Authors Guild (local chapter in St. Petersburg/Tampa)
• The Bloomingdale Writers Connection A Facebook group, with a newsletter. Free 10-week memoir classes
• Brandon Christian Writers (Valrico, FL)
• City Guide to Miami, Florida (P. Scott Cunningham, Poets & Writers, 11-4-11)
• Edit and Get It Retreats (Fort Lauderdale)
• Florida Authors & Publishers Association (an organization for authors, publishers, independent publishers, illustrators, editors, printers, and other publishing professionals)
• Florida Christian Writers Conference (WordWeavers International)
• Florida Literary Arts Coalition (Florida's voice for independent literary magazines, publishers, & writers)
• Florida Society of News Editors
• Florida Writers Association (local FWA writers groups in Amelia Island, Avon Park, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Bradenton, Brandon, Brooksville, Casselberry, Celebration, Daytona Beach, Fleming Island/Orange Park, Hallandale Beach, Havana, Jacksonville, Kissimmee, Lady Lake, Lakeland, Longwood, Maitland, Melbourne, Mount Dora, Ocala, Orlando, Oxford, Palm Beach, Palm City, Palm Coast, Pembroke Pines, Pone Vedra Beach, Port Orange, Sanford, Sarasota, Sebring, St. Augustine, St. Lucie County--Treasure Coast, St. Petersburg, Tampa, Wellington, and Wesley Chapel)
• Florida Writers Conference (FWA, October)
• F.R.E.S.H.Book Festival (Daytona Beach)
• Gulf Coast Writers Association, Inc.
• Hearts in the Sand Conference (Southwest Florida Romance Writers)
• Key West Literary Seminar (January, $575) A solid reputation. Check out teacher and librarian scholarships to attend the seminar. You must apply for a slot in the Key West Literary Seminar Writers Workshops (also January)
• Longleaf Writers Conference in Seaside, on Florida's panhandle, with workshops on fiction, poetry, prose and creative nonfiction.
• Mystery Writers of America, Florida chapter
• Miami Book Fair International (November fair, creative writing classes year round, Miami Dade College)
---Miami Book Fair’s Emerging Writer Fellowships
• Panama City Writers Association
• Sanibel Island Writers Conference
• Seaside Writers Conference (Seaside, May, poetry, fiction, and screenwriting)
• Sleuth Fest (March, a popular annual conference for mystery, suspense, & thriller writers, sponsored by the Florida chapter of Mystery Writers of America)
• South Florida Writers Association
• Southwest FloridaReading Festival (Fort Myers)
• Space Coast Writers' Guild (Melbourne)
• The Studios of Key West (residencies, classes, workshops)
• Tallahassee Writers Association (TWA)
• Tampa Writers Alliance, including the TWA Critique Group
• Treasure Coast Writers Guild
• Venice Book Fair
• Writers' Network of South Florida
• Writers Room at the Betsy, a writers' retreat -- the Betsy Hotel in Miami hosts authors (locally, regionally and nationally), artists and thought leaders year round. Residencies at The Betsy are typically Sunday through Wednesday
• Writing groups in Tampa (Meetup groups)

• ACFW, North Georgia chapter (American Christian Fiction Writers)
• Athens Writers Association
• Atlanta Writers Club
• Augusta Literary Festival (Augusta, March--Frank Yerby country)
• Broadleaf Writers Association (Decatur, Georgia). Holds YATL con, a one-day conference for writers of young adult fiction and nonfiction.
• Calhoun Area Writers
• Dahlonega Literary Festival
• Decatur Street Festival (sponsored by Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Decatur, GA)
• Georgia Author of the Year Awards Awarded in several categories.
• Georgia Romance Writers
• Georgia Writers Association (GWA, with grants for readings and workshops)
• Georgia Writers Registry (Georgia Council for the Arts)
• Low Country Sisters in Crime (Savannah chapter)
• Milton Literary Festival (Facebook page, Milton)
• Northeast Georgia Writers (holds annual Red Clay Writers Conference)
• Northwest Georgia Writers Conference (November, for poets and for writers of all genres and skill levels, sponsored by the Calhoun Area Writers and the Rome Area Writers)
• Resources for writers in Atlanta (Authors Guild, Business Bootcamps for Writers)
• Rome Area Writers
• Savannah Book Festival
• Seersucker Live
• Sisters in Crime (Atlanta chapter)
• Southern Breeze (SCBWI for AL, GA, and the Florida Panhandle)
• Village Writers Group (VWG, based in Decatur)

Conferences and Retreats
• Atlanta Writers Conference (Atlanta Writers Club)
• Atlanta Writing Workshop
• Broadleaf Writers Association writers conference (DeKalb County, Atlanta)
• Moonlight & Magnolias (Georgia Writers Association)  Annual conference for romance writers held in Athens, Georgia, where the Maggie awards are presented (for the best romance novel of the previous year). 
• Ossabaw Island Writers' Retreat (spring and fall)
• Red Clay Writers Conference (Georgia Writers Association)
• SCBWI Southern Breeze Springmingle and Illustrators’ Day (AL, GA, and the FL panhandle)
• Tinderbox Workshop

• Aloha Writers Conference (January). Check out Lessons from the Aloha Writer's Conference (posted by Toby, 1-24-13).

• Aloha Romance Writers Rendezvous (there seems to be some uncertainty about this one)
• Center for Autobiographic Studies
• Hawaiʻi Actors Network (of interest to screenwriters)
• Hawaiʻi Book Blog (Facebook page)
• Hawaiʻi Island Writers Group
• Hawai`i Pacific Review (Hawai`i Pacific University's online literary magazine)
• Hawai‘i Writing Project (HWP) (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa), provides literacy-related teacher professional development to K-16 educators across the Hawaiian Islands
• Pacific Writers' Connection (encourages and supports creative, nature, environment and place-based writing programs)
• Kauai Writers Conference (fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting)
• Kauai Backstory (a venue for rigorous writing with a view about Kauai)
• Kahini Writer Retreats (December, Waikoloa)
• Kalani TV Writing Retreat (April, Big Island)
• Maui Writers Conference (aka Hawaii Writers Conference) ended its 17-year run in 2010. Story here (Star-Advertiser)
• More Hawaiian writers resources and organizations.
• National League of American Pen Women (Honolulu Branch)

• Great American Book Festival (Rapid City)
• Idahope Writers (Christian Writers in the Treasure Valley)
• Idaho Writers & Readers Rendezvous (conference in Boise in spring)
• Idaho Writers Guild (all genres)
• Idaho Writer's League
• Writing North Idaho (umbrella for local groups -- the craft and business of writing and the literary life)

• American Writers Museum (okay, this new Chicago museum is not a writers group, but where else could I put it?). "A national museum celebrating American authors." In a review of the museum, A Cliffs Notes Approach to Literature (Wall Street Journal, 5-15-17), Edward Rothstein writes that "no one will learn to write here," "and few will be inspired to read." But it may "help recall an earlier era’s powerful American writers’ museums: They were called libraries."
• Association for Women Journalists in Springfield, Illinois (AWJ Springfield)
• A-Town Poetics (Batavia). A Facebook group.
• Authors Guild (local chapter in Chicago)
• Center for Writing Studies (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
• Central Illinois Writers Group (on Facebook)
• Chicago-Area Writers Resources (maintained by Writers Workspace)
• Chicago Dramatists
• Chicago Women in Publishing (CWIP)
• Chicago Writers Association. The annual Book of the Year award and the Uncommon Writers Conference (March)
• City Guide to Chicago (Zach Dodson, Poets & Writers, 7-18-11)
• DuPage Writers Group
• Illinois Woman's Press Association
• Independent Writers of Chicago (IWOC)
• Little Grassy Literary Festival (Carbondale, Facebook page)
• Naperville Writers Group
• Newtown Writers (Chicago-based, supporting LGBT writing for over 30 years)
• Northside Freelance Network (a collaborative resource and community-building tool for current and fledgling freelancers and solopreneurs, serving Chicago's far northeast side and near North suburbs). See Facebook group
• Printers Row Lit Fest (more than 100,000 people attend over 2 days and buy lots of books)
• Southern Illinois Writers Guild
• The Writers Workspace (a membership-based work and meeting space for writers of all genres, in Chicago)
• Write to Publish Conference (Chicago)

• Ann Katz Festival of Book & Arts (October-November, 3 weeks, Indianapolis)
• Central Highlands Writers' Group (Facebook page) -- I hope this is in Indiana!
• First Friday Wordsmiths (Facebook page)
• Hoosier Ink, Indiana chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW)
• Indiana Author Awards (Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Awards) Debut, fiction, nonfiction, genre, poetry, young adult, middle grade, children's.
• Indiana Writers Center
• Magic Hour Writers (for writers dedicated to creating books for children of all ages)
• Midwest Writers Workshop (Muncie, Indiana). A Love Letter to Midwest Writers Workshop (Why It’s Worth Saving) (Jane Friedman, 1-15-18). For backstory, Google for info about Roxane Gay defending Sarah Hollowell against fatphobia.
• NW Indiana Poetry Society (Facebook page)
• Southern Indiana Writers Group (meetings held in extreme south of Indiana)
• Taylor's Professional Writers' Conference (Taylor University, Upland, Indiana)
• Write-On Hoosiers, Inc.

• City Guide to Iowa City (Jan Weissmiller, Poets & Writers,5-1-12)
• Des Moines Writers' Workshop (critique groups)
• The Examined Life Conference (October, Iowa City, exploring the links between medicine and the arts)
• The Examined Life Journal (seeking works related to health and the human condition in all its myriad definitions)
• Iowa Center for the Book, which among other things posts the helpful How to Begin and Lead a Book Discussion Group
• Iowa City Book Festival
• Iowa Poetry Association The Iowa Review
• Iowa Romance Writers
• Iowa Scriptwriters Alliance , which links to a pretty big group of Iowa Film Festivals/Events
• Iowa Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
• Iowa Writers’ Workshop (a two-year residency program at the University of Iowa which culminates in submission of a creative thesis -- a novel, a collection of stories, or a book of poetry -- and the awarding of an MFA degree). See the workshop's summer programs. Here's Poets & Writers on Iowa City. The " Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the first creative writing program in this country, had been there since 1931. The fame of the program was already well established: Wallace Stegner had received one of the first degrees in 1932 and was followed over the years by Flannery O’Connor, Donald Justice, Philip Levine, John Irving, James Tate, and T. C. Boyle, to name just a few." See list of writers (Wikipedia), Iowa Writers' Workshop (or MFA) at any age (YouTube, 57 minutes). Several graduates discuss the MFA experience at various ages. And for an interesting historical side trip: How the CIA Helped Shape the Creative Writing Scene in America (Josh Jones, Open Culture, 12-14-18) and scroll to bottom for links to related stories.
• Saturday Writers A Des Moines group of writers of a fiction in various genres (science fiction, urban fantasy, mystery, psychological suspense, contemporary, romantic comedy, non-fiction) and lengths (novels, novellas, short stories).
• Sisters in Crime (Iowa workshop of reader and writers who promote women crime writers)
• The University Club

• Great Plains Writers Group (writers of memoir, autobiography, and personal essays meet weekly in a bookstore in Lawrence, Kansas
• Kansas Authors Club (Wichita, Facebook page)
• Kansas Book Festival (Topeka)
• Kansas City Writers Group (workshop and critique groups)
• Kansas Poets (links to other poetry-related sites and organizations in Kansas)
• Kansas Writers Association
• Kansas Center for the Book

• Carnegie Center for Literacy & Learning (Lexington) For writers of all ages. Click on "Menu" at top for all offerings.

      Home of the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame
• Eagle Creek Writers Group
• The Fishbowl, official blog of the Lexington Fiction Writers Group
• Heartland Book Festival (Elizabethtown)
• Kentuckiana Romance Writers
• Kentucky Author Forum (four times a year a candid, uninterrupted hour of conversation is taped by Kentucky's public television for national distribution to PBS member stations. Watch archived video of Great Conversations online.
• Kentucky Book Festival (November, Lexington)
• Kentucky Independent Writers (professional writers seeking to help each other prosper as published authors)
• Kentucky Literary Newsletter
• Kentucky Outdoor Press Association
• Kentucky State Poetry Society
• Kentucky Women Writers Conference (women mentoring women since 1979)
• Kentucky Writers: Authors of the Bluegrass State provides information about authors and writers from Kentucky and their work.
• Kentucky Writers' Day (Frankfort, KY--organized by the Kentucky Arts Council)
• Louisville Romance Writers
• Owensboro Writers Group
• PenHouse Retreat Center (in the Kentucky home of Normandi Ellis)
• Poezia poetry and prose writing groups, with meetup groups in Lexington, KY
• Resources for writers in central Kentucky (Authors Guild links)
• Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (Midsouth: Kentucky and Tennessee)
• Southern Kentucky Book Fest (held in Bowling Green, KY)
• Tates Creek Writers Group

Retreats and Residencies
• Appalachian Writers' Workshop (July) "Premier Literary Gathering of the Mountain South"
• COLLIDER Artist-In-Residence Program (Louisville Public Library)
• Hopscotch House, Kentucky Foundation for Women Retreats and services for women.
• Owsley Fork Writers Sanctuary

• Baton Rouge Writers Workshop (a meetup group)
• Bayou Writers Group
• City Guide to New Orleans (John Biguenet, Poets & Writers 2-27-12
• Fantasy on the Bayou (a February conference for fantasy writers, held in New Orleans)
• The Festival of Words Cultural Arts Collective (Facebook page)
• Grave Expectations (local chapter of Sisters in Crime)
• Louisiana Book Festival (November, Baton Rouge)
• Louisiana Book News (Chere Dastugue Coen)
• Louisiana Outdoor Writers Association
• Louisiana Press Association
• The Louisiana Sport Writers Association
• North Louisiana Storytellers & Authors of Romance (NOLA Stars, local chapter of Romance Writers of America, meets in Bossier City)
• North Shore Literary Society) (in Mandeville, LA)
• Pen to Press Writers' Retreat
• Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society . This nonprofit arts organization’s biggest projects include Words and Music (a literary feast in New Orleans), The William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, and The Double Dealer literary journal and student intern program
• The Poetry Alliance (Baton Rouge, holds an Eclectic Truth Poetry Slam & Open Mic)
• Screenwriters Down South (a Baton Rouge meetup group)
• St. Tammany Writers Group (short piece about a private critique group for poetry and short fiction)
• The Southern Review (an esteemed literary journal)
• Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival (held in March, and a poetry contest, fiction contest, and one-act play contest are held during the summer)
• Writers' Guild of Acadiana (guest speaker the last Tuesday of one month alternates with member reading night the next month, in Lafayette, LA)

• Books in Boothbay (Maine's Summer Book Fair) Facebook page
• City Guide to Portland, Maine (Ron Currie Jr., Poets & Writers) 3-20-12
• Maine Crime Wave (a conference new in 2014, held at the University of Southern Maine, in Portland, MA)
• Maine Fellowship of Christian Writers
• Maine Media Workshops + College (film and video and photography workshops, etc.)
• Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance (supporting Maine's writers, publishers, and literary professionals)
• Off the Coast (Maine's international poetry journal)
• Norumbega Collective (Facebook, greater Bangor area)
• Stonecoast Writers' Conference (University of Southern Maine)
• Words From the Frontier: Poetry in Maine (a lively sound-rich radio program featuring poetry, produced for WMPG, Greater Portland Community Radio at the University of Southern Maine)
• Writers Conference at Ocean Park (five-day poetry and prose conference: "Chautauqua-by-the-Sea")
• The Writer's Hotel (TWH) (Boothbay) See TWH Maine “Mini MFA” All-Fiction Writers Conference, May 24-30, 2023 Expensive but with a good roster of speakers.

See also groups listed under Washington, DC, which often meet in, or draw writers from, Maryland.
• Baltimore Book Festival (November)
• Baltimore Writing Hour (a weekly writing group)
• Black Writers' Guild of Maryland, Inc. (based in Baltimore)
• Books Alive. See Washington Writers Conference.
• City Guide to Baltimore (Jen Michalski, Poets & Writers, 4-8-13)
• CityLit Project (based in Baltimore, organizes literary events, writers workshops)
• Eastern Shore Writers' Association (Wye Mills, Maryland, for writers from across the tristate Delmarva Peninsula), holds Bay to Ocean Writers Conference in February
• Fiction and Screenwriting Critique Group (Columbia)
• Fire & Ink (supports gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender writers of African descent or heritage, through activities such as publishing)
• Gaithersburg Book Festival (May)
• Indie Lit Festival  (Frostburg)
• Kensington Day of the Book Festival (April)
• Maryland Writers' Association (meets in Annapolis, sponsors critique groups all around the state, holds an annual conference (March). See Facebook page)
• Mystery Loves Company Bookstore (Oxford, MD)
• Silver Spring Writers Meetup Group
• Washington Biography Group (WBG) , meets monthly on Monday evenings in DC [CHANGED during the pandemic] during the school year, for discussions about various aspects of life story writing (craft, the market, practical topics). Holds social gatherings on two Sundays a year, a potluck followed by round-the-circle discussion, usually led by Marc Pachter. Celebrating 34th year in 2020.
• Washington Writers Conference (Washington Independent Review of Books), often held in Bethesda, Maryland. Originally called Books Alive! Pitch sessions, expert sessions, author talks, and a luncheon (featuring a prominent keynote speaker), plus panels on how to query, how to pitch, and more publishing pros’ insights. I really enjoy this conference.
• Western Maryland Indie Lit Festival (Frostburg, October) Sponsored by The Frostburg State University Center for Literary Arts, in partnership with the Allegany County Library System
• The Writer's Center (based in Bethesda, MD, the WC holds workshops in Arlington, Leesburg, and McLean, VA, too). Offers many excellent workshops and holds literary events in its Bethesda building (refurbished summer of 2014)
• Writer's Group of Western MD (a meetup group in Hagerstown)

• Who Is the Bad Art Friend? (Robert Kolker, NY Times Magazine, 10-5-21) Art often draws inspiration from life — but what happens when it’s your life? Inside the curious case of Dawn Dorland v. Sonya Larson. With appearances by Chunky Monkeys, GrubStreet’s annual Muse and the Marketplace literary conference, the Boston Book Festival, and the One City One Story program. See also Hell Is the New York Times Publishing Your Group Chat (Claire Lampen, The Cut, 10-2021) "For about as long as Dorland has been feuding with Larson, I have been joking with members of my own group chats that, one day, our texts will be read aloud in court, and naturally, this hearing will be hilarious. Now the possibility makes me feel all barf-y. Who among us has not waggled their eyebrows at an attention-seeking tweet, or a praise-courting post, in the assumed confidence of like-minded friends?"

• Two Boston Writing Groups Produce 12 Books (Alex Green, Publishers Weekly, 8-9-19) Since the Chunky Monkeys and the Book Squad formed in 2012 and 2015, respectively, their members have written 12 forthcoming and published titles. Along the way, they have created places where members are not only expert advisers on manuscript development but also provide essential support for nearly every aspect of navigating the world of publishing as an author today.
• Amherst Writers & Artists emphasizes and offers leader training in the AWA method, described by Pat Schneider in Writing Alone and With Others.
• Authors Guild (local chapter in Boston)
• Barbara Pym Society conference . See Barbara Pym and the New Spinster (Hannah Rosefield, New Yorker, 4-3-15)
• Barred Owl Retreat (a writing and retreat center home just outside the city of Worcester, Massachusetts in the town of Leicester)
• Boston Book Festival (October, Copley Square and Roxbury)
• Cape Cod Writers Center holds a conference
• Chunky Monkeys (story on Improper Bostonians, 3-8-19)
• City Guide to Boston (Ifeanyi Menkiti, Poets & Writers, 7-18-11)
• Dune Hollow Writers (based in Orleans)
• Exotic Pen Writers (of Harvard Square) (a meetup group)
• Four stories (One evening, four urban narratives)
• Grub Street (this popular writers center offers writing seminars, workshops, and conferences, publishes a newsletter, The Grub Street Rag, and sponsors the The GrubStreet National Book Prize ($5,000 to three rotating genres: fiction, nonfiction, or poetry--for a second, third, etc., but not first, book).
• Lit Crawl (June, Bay Bay, Boston)
• Marblehead Writers' Workshop (very new)
• Martha's Vineyard Literary Festival
• Massachusetts Book Awards (Massachusetts Center for the Book) recognize significant works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children’s/young adult literature published by current Commonwealth residents.
• Muse and the Marketplace , a three-day literary conference sponsored by Grub Street and designed to give aspiring writers a better understanding of the craft of writing fiction and nonfiction, to prepare them for the changing world of publishing and promotion, and to create opportunities for meaningful networking.
• Nantucket Book Festival
• Newburyport Literary Festival (April, Newburyport)
• New England Newspaper & Press Association (NENPA)
• The New England Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (serves all of New England, not just Massachusetts)
• New England Writing Workshop
• Ploughshares (this award-winning literary magazine publishes poetry, fiction, essays and memoir)
• Straw Dog Writers Guild (a literary hub for writers, readers, and literature-lovers in Western Massachusetts)
• Viable Paradise (October, Martha's Vineyard, a unique one-week residential workshop in writing and selling commercial science fiction and fantasy)
• WIT: Words, Ideas, and Thinkers Festival (an Authors Guild event) in Lenox, the heart of the Berkshires.Inaugural event: September 22-25, 2022, Shakespeare & Company. Theme: Re-imagining America. Program schedule
• Worcester Writers Group (a meetup group)
• The Writers' Room of Boston, Inc. (a secure, affordable work space and an engaged community to emerging and established writers in downtown Boston)

• Alpena Book Festival (October, Facebook page)

• Authors Guild (local chapter in Detroit)
• Detroit Book Fest
• Detroit Working Writers (originally the Detroit Press Club)
• Detroit Writers' Guild
• Harbor Springs Festival of the Book
• Kerrytown Book Fest (Ann Arbor)
• Michigan Literary Network (on BlogTalkRadio)
• Michigan Writers (a community)
• Michigan Writers (a blog only)
• Mid-Michigan Prose and Writing Group (a meetup group)
• Motown Writers Network (based in Detroit -- same as Michigan Literary Network?)
• Southeast Christian Michigan Writers
• Springfed Arts (Metro Detroit Writers)

• The Anderson Center at Tower View (Red Wing, retreats of two to four weeks duration from May through October to enable artists, writers, and scholars of exceptional promise and demonstrated accomplishment to create, advance, or complete works-in-progress)
• Brainerd Writers Alliance (now Lake Area Writers Alliance)
• The Givens Foundation For African American Literature (St. Louis Park)
• The Jackpine Writers’ Bloc (a writers group that became a literary journal)
• Lake Region Writers Network (LRWN, serves writers in west central Minnesota)
• Lake Superior Writers (based in Duluth)
• The League of Minnesota Poets
• The Loft (a literary arts center in Minneapolis)
• The Loft's Wordsmith (a Minnesota writers conference)
• The Loft's Word Play Minnesota's largest celebration of readers, writers, and great books, a festival launched in Minneapolis  in May 2019, with 10,000 people attending)
• Midwest Fiction Writers (for romance writers in Minneapolis area)
• Minnesota Christian Writers Guild
• The Minnesota Science Fiction Society, Inc. (Minn-SiF)
• Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writers (MinnSpec)
• The Minnesota Writing Workshop
• National League of American PEN Women, Minnesota Branch (Facebook group)
• The Playwrights' Center (supports playwrights and promotes new plays)
• Quint City Poets (Facebook page)
• SASE: The Write Place (1993-2006)
• Screenwriters' Workshop (script groups, annual workshops, staged readings, table readings, seminars)
• Twin Cities Book Festival (Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota State Fairgrounds, October)

• Black Magnolias (a literary journal)
• Goodreads-- see the Mississippi writers group
• Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference (University of Mississippi, holding 46th conference in 2019)
• Gulf Coast Writers Association
• Mississippi Book Festival
• Mississippi Poetry Society
• Mississippi Press Association (MPA)
• Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival (Coahoma Community College, near Clarksdale, Tennessee)
• Mississippi Review (a literary journal)
• Mississippi Writers & Musicians. See its long list of writers born in or long-time residents of Mississippi
• The Mississippi Writers Page (Department of English, Ole Miss)
• Oxford (Mississippi) Creative Nonfiction Writers’ Conference

Kansas City organizations may serve writers in both Kansas and Missouri.
• Book Fest St. Louis (September)
• Dead Horse Society, Kansas City. In The Dead Horse Society, Kansas City's Dark Fiction Writers Practice Their Craft (C.J. Janovy, KCUR, 10-30-15) This group of speculative fiction — horror, fantasy, and science fiction — writers meet regularly to critique each others' work.
• Heartland Romance Writers (Kansas City). Missouri seems to attract (or nurture) romance writers.
• Heartland Writers Guild
• Heart of America Christian Writers Network (HACWN, Kansas City--formerly Kansas City Christian Writers Network, but the circle has expanded)
• Indigo Ink (St. Louis association for African American writers). Meets twice a month. No website.
• Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society (KaCSFFS)
• Kansas City Writers Group (workshop and critique groups)
• Ketchupedia Kansas City & Regional Writers (Facebook group)
• Lebanon Poets' Society
• Midwest Children's Authors Guild (MWCAG, formerly Juvenile Writers of Kansas City)
• Mid-South Writers Group of Missouri (a critique group in Cassville)
• Missouri Literary Festival
• Missouri Romance Writers of America (St. Louis/Metro-East chapter)
• Missouri Writers' Guild Guild for professional writers in all genres across midwest, with chapters throughout the state. National conference?
• Other Missouri Writers Groups (Missouri Writers' Guild links)
• Ozarks Romance Writers
• Ozarks Writers League (OWL, holds quarterly conferences)
• Sisters in Crime (greater St. Louis area)
• St. Louis Writers Guild
• Summit Scribes Writing Group (Lee's Summit, MO)
• Unbound Book Festival. "The most ambitious debut author/book editor/literary agent/reader gathering in Missouri history."~Steve Weinberg
• The Writers Place (Kansas City, lots of writers workshops)

• Authors of the Flathead (writers helping writers). Limited to 100, friendly atmosphere, near Glacier National Park.
• The 406 Writers' Workshop (six-week evening classes and weekend intensives in Missoula)
• Missoula Writing Collaborative
• Montana Arts
• Montana Book Festival (Missoula)
• Montana Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Western Music Rendezvous (in Lewiston)
• Montana Romance Writers
• Montana Story Keepers (promotes and preserves oral and written histories through sharing and gathering, conducting multigenerational programs, and collaborating on educational and community events

•
• Nebraska Book Festival
• Nebraska Center for Writers (an online resource for writers of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction)
• Nebraska Press Association
• Nebraska Writers Guild (holds a fall conference)
• Nebraska Writers Workshop (free weekly meetings in a Ralston Public Library)
• Romance Writers of the Heartland (meets in Omaha)
• Writers' Workshop (in Lincoln)

• Henderson Writers’ Group (hosts Las Vegas Writer's Conference (April)
• Las Vegas Book Festival (October)
• High Sierra Writers (formed in 2012 from two writing groups in northern Nevada -- Unnamed Writers’ Group and Writers of the Purple Sage)
• Las Vegas Writing Workshops (all-day conference)
• Nevada Writer's Resources List (Nevada Arts Council)
• Oasis Writers Group (for writers in the Pahrump, NV, area
• 20Books Vegas (Sam's Town, Las Vegas, November) Annual indie publishing conference--a good place to learn about the book business. Authors welcome.
• The Writer's Block , Las Vegas’ only independent bookstore, and Codex, a studio offering free writing programs to Las Vegas students and writers, per Jennifer 8. Lee
• Writers of Southern Nevada Writers of the Purple Sage Publishing Consortium (a newly formed group of writers in northern Nevada and northeast California who set out to educate themselves on the very confusing and frustrating world of publishing)

• Exeter LitFest (annual spring event, at multiple venues in Exeter)
• The Frost Place, a nonprofit educational center for poetry and the arts based at Robert Frost’s old homestead.
• MacDowell Colony (Peterborough, famed contemporary arts colony with residencies up to eight weeks for creative artists, including writers)
• Monadnock Writers’ Group (monthly meetings from September through June, holds an essay contest, publishes anthologies)
• Murphy Writing retreat in Sunapee (workshops, readings and community)
• New Hampshire Humanities Council
• New Hampshire Writers Network
• New Hampshire Writers Project (hosts Writers' Night Out, a free writers' meetup in Concord, the first Monday of the month)
• Odyssey Writing Workshop (Manchester)
• Plymouth Writing Project (New Hampshire chapter of the National Writing Project,a network of writing instructors)
• Poetry Society of New Hampshire
• Center for the Book (Franconia). See links to NH's literary community

• Althea Ward Clark Reading Series at Princeton
• Collinswood Book Festival
• Delaware Valley Poets (DVP)
• Ink. (supports readings, visiting writers and an arts festival at The College of New Jersey.
• Liberty States Fiction Writers (all genres)
• Maplewood South Orange Book Festival
• Meetup groups in various NJ settings
• Monmouth Writers (Howell, NJ), with a second Saturday critique group at Howell Library)
• Montclair Literary Festival
• Morristown Festival of Books "Where readers & authors meet."
• Murphy Writing Seminars (writing retreats at the Jersey Shore)
• The Nassau Literary Review
• New Jersey Romance Writers
• Poetry and Prose Getaway (Atlantic City in January)
• Poetry Center (at Passaic County Community College)
• Raritan, a quarterly literary, artistic, political, historical, sociological, even scientific, review
• South Jersey Writers Group (a meetup group with its own blog)
• Sprint Writers Conference (William Paterson University)
• Walt Whitman House. Visit the humble dwelling of the "Good Gray Poet," Walt Whitman
• Women Reading Aloud (dedicated to the power of the writer’s voice)
• The Writers Circle (creative writing workshops in several New Jersey locations)

• Blue Mesa Review (the University of New Mexico's literary magazine, which accepts previously unpublished work in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, book reviews, interviews,, graphic novels, and cover art.
• The Drunken Boat (features poets and poetry)
• Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico (a haven for a haven for painters, poets, sculptors, writers, playwrights, composers, photographers and filmmakers -- grantees get three months of rent-free and utility-paid housing in which to work)
• La Sociedad para las Artes offers literary readings to improve the connection between town and gown, and a Writers-in-the-Schools (WITS) program, a creative writing arts program to support an impoverished school system with one of the lowest literacy scores in the country.
• New Mexico Book Foundation (serving all book professionals, including book creators, writers, editors, publishers, illustrators, librarians, booksellers, book designers, typesetters, printers, literacy advocates, agents, reviewers, and avid readers)
• Puerto del Sol (New Mexico State University's journal of new literature -- innovative poetry, prose, drama, criticism, and artwork)
• Resources for writers in Santa Fe (Authors Guild links)
• A Room of Her Own (an arts program for women writers and artists)
• Santa Fe Art Institute (residencies with themes, such as Truth & Reconciliation, Equal Justice, Water Rights, Food Justice)
• Santa Fe International Literary Festival
• Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop (Sciwrite, May, 25th gathering in 2020)
• The Santa Fe Writers Project (a literary awards program and an online literary journal)
• SouthWest Writers
• Taos Summer Writers' Conference (an annual week-long conference that offers workshops in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and screenwriting)
• The Tupelo Press “Perfect Ten” Writing Conference for poets--takes place at Truchas Peaks Place in Truchas, New Mexico between Taos and Sante Fe, in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

• Albany Book Festival (September)
• Amateur Writers of Long Island (Huntington, NY meetup group)
• Asian American Writers’ Workshop is devoted to creating, publishing, developing and disseminating creative writing by Asian Americans and nurturing a new generation of Asian diasporic writers.
• ASJA Writers Conference (American Society of Journalists & Authors, spring, journalism and nonfiction). Members-only meeting first day, open to all second day. ASJA has also begun having smaller-scale conferences elsewhere (DC, SF, Chicago).
• The Authors Guild (a national organization with few to no local chapters)
• Blue Mountain Center (Blue Mountain Lake, residencies for writers, artists, activists, composers, film/video)
• Book Expo America (BEA, a major major book fair, typically in May, at which publishers sell books to bookstores and book chains--go at least once!)
• Bronx Book Festival
• Brooklyn Book Festival (in the Fall)
• Brooklyn Creative League (BCL, providing affordable, green shared workspace, office amenities, and a community of professional colleagues)
• Brooklyn Writers Space, a dedicated place for writers, at three locations.
• City Guide to New York City (T Cooper, Poets & Writers 8-21-11)
• Ditmas Workspace, shared office space for neighbors in Brooklyn, NY
• Easthampton Book Fest
• Eastern Shore Writers Association
• East Village Women Writer's Group
• Festival of Books (Spencertown)
• Hudson Valley Writers' Center
• Hudson Valley Writers Guild
• Italian American Writers' Association (IAWA, Manhattan)
• Latino Authors and Writers Society
• Long Island Authors Group
• Long Island Romance Writers
• Long Island Writers' Guild, Inc.
• Millbrook Literary Festival (Milbrook, NY)
• Millay Colony for the Arts (Berkshire foothills of Austerlitz, residencies, workshops, arts education and community in the house that Edna built)
• New Dramatists (playwrights)
• New York Association of Black Journalists (NYABJ)
• New York Pitch Conference "Workshop the novel, pitch the house." This event, currently online, is held four times a year and features top literary agents, TV/Film content seekers and producers, as well as accomplished acquisition editors from major houses. The pitch is also used as a diagnostic method for workshopping the plot, premise, and other elements of the story to determine quality and marketability before finalizing the pitch. You cannot successfully pitch a viable commercial novel if you have not yet written a viable commercial novel.
• New York State Book Festivals and Fairs
• New York State Writers Institute (SUNY at Albany)
• NYC Writers Circle (literary salon and meetup group)
• New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT)
• New York State Sportswriters Association
• New York State Writers Institute (Albany)
• NY Writers Coalition
• New York Writers Workshop
• Paragraph (a quiet workplace for writers, on 14th Street)
• Playwrights of New York (PoNY)
• Room 58 (a quiet workspace on the Gowanus Canal, occupying a corner of Brooklyn Art Space's shared studio space for visual artists)
• Sackett Street Writers (Brooklyn, salon-like workshop with small classes)
• Science Writers in New York (SWINY, a local branch of NASW)
• Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) annual winter conference (each February, NYC) Annual summer conference, Los Angeles, each August.
• Spring Writes Literary Festival (Ithaca, NY)
• Strand Bookstore events (this beloved bookstore holds events worth trying)
• ThrillerFest (International Thriller Writers) This week-long July conference draws the biggest names in the thriller genre.
• Women's Media Group (WMG). A New York-based nonprofit association of women prominent in various fields of media (especially book publishing, print journalism, electronic and online publishing, television and film). Membership by invitation only; if you aren't prominent enough to be invited to join, find a member who will bring you to one of their interesting lunches. From their history: "In the early 1970s, several women, friends and publishing colleagues, began meeting for lunch every now and then to talk about their jobs, their lives, their plans and hopes for the future. By the autumn of 1974, the group of five -- Judith Daniels, Elizabeth Crow, Joni Evans, Eden Lipson and Carol Rinzler -- decided the time had come to form a club. In the beginning the club grew exponentially as each of the five founders invited colleagues to join in on discussions of forming a club of like-minded women in the communications industry."
Various other women's media groups have sprung up, including Boulder Media Women, and if they will tell me about themselves, I will gladly list them. (Maybe they prefer to fly under the radar?)
• Woodstock Bookfest (Woodstock, NY)
• Writers&Books (community literary center in Rochester, NY)
• WriteByNight (writing coaches on West 76th Street)
• Writer's Digest Conference (August, national) Nearly 50 agents and editors participate in Pitch Slam, and industry experts lead educational sessions.
• The Writer's Hotel (NYC, "a new kind of writers conference"). See A New Kind of Writing Program? The Writer’s Hotel Master Class (AWP, 2014).
• The Writers Room provides over 200 writers with a quiet, affordable place in which to work, open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The nation’s oldest and largest urban writers’ colony.
• The Writers' Studio (The Center for Fiction, founded in 1820 as the Mercantile Library)
• Yaddo (Saratoga Springs, residencies, time and studio space to individual artists in a supportive communal setting)

• Anson County Writers' Club
• Authors Guild (local chapter in Raleigh/Durham)
• Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Conference (near Asheville, North Carolina)
• Book 'Em North Carolina (Buy a Book and Stop a Crook!)
• Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors (free annual public event held in Winston-Salem in September, with a focus on youth and adult literacy.
• Carolina Mountains Literary Festival in Burnsville NC
• The Carolina Quarterly (poetry, fiction, art, essays, and reviews)
• Carolinas Writers Conference (April in Wadesboro, NC)
• Cave Wall Pres, LLC (publishes poetry and black-and-white artwork)
• Charlotte Writers’ Club
• Eastern North Carolina Literary Homecoming (on hiatus because of budget cuts, but still post literary events on Facebook)
• Greensboro Bound Literary Festival (North Carolina)
• The Greensboro Review (publishes poetry and fiction)
• The Jargon Society (dedicated to finding, bringing together, and focusing upon overlooked and underrated aspects of American and British culture.
• Netwest Mountain Poets and Writers
• North Carolina Film Office (FilmNC)
• North Carolina Center for the Book (check out its programs
• North Carolina Haiku Society
• North Carolina Literary Review (publishes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by and interviews with NC writers, and articles and essays about NC writers, literature, and literary history and culture)
• North Carolina Literary Map (click on a county and learn which books and authors are associated with it)
• North Carolina Literary Trails (Georgann Eubanks' two guidebooks: to literary trails in the NC mountains and in the NC Piedmont)
• North Carolina Poetry Society
• North Carolina Writers' Network
• Poetry Alive! offers an accredited week-long summer residency program for educators on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Asheville
• Queen City Writers Conference (October, in Charlotte)
• Spring Literary Festival (Western Carolina University)
• Screenline, a screenwriters group that meets in Raleigh
• Southern Documentary Fund . See FAQs about fiscal sponsorship.
• Union County Writers Club
• Winston-Salem Writers (for artists, poets, and writers of fiction, essays, and reviews -- offers programs, workshops, critique groups, open mic nights, web-based writing, contests, writers’ nights out, and a newsletter
• Writers Week (University of North Carolina at Wilmington)

• Center for Writers (for North Dakota State University undergraduates)
• Fargo Writers
• Fargo Moorhead Writers Group (a meetup group in Moorhead, MN, for people interested in fiction writing, poetry, screen or script writing)
• Floodwall (University of North Dakota's journal of literary fiction, poetry, and criticism)
• Lake Region Writers' Yahoo Group (communicates on Yahoo, meets in Devils Lake, ND)
• Lake Regions Writers Network (find information about writers meetup groups in the the lake regions of North Dakota and Minnesota)
• Lake Region Writers Conference (held in October)
• Read North Dakota (finds and promotes books by North Dakotans, or about the state and its people, and promotes statewide literary events
• The Red River Valley Writing Project, a local site of the National Writing Project, brings together teachers in eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota to learn about the teaching of writing.
• UND Writers Conference (a free annual conference bringing writers and readers from all over to Grand Forks, ND)
• UND Writing Center (where students, faculty, and staff can talk about their work in progress with a writing consultant)

• Cimarron Review
• Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry
• Oklahoma Book Festival (September, Boathouse District in Oklahoma City)
• Oklahoma Center for Poets & Writers
• Oklahoma Center for the Book, among other things, sponsors the Oklahoma Book Awards
• Oklahoma City Writers meets the third Saturday of the month.
• Oklahoma Film & Music
• Oklahoma Horror Writers' League (OkHoWL)
• Oklahoma Writers & Authors
• Oklahoma Writers' Federation Inc., a federation of writers groups, holds an annual writing contest and an annual conference
• Oklahoma Writing Project, a site of the National Writing Project, a professional development network that serves teachers of writing at all grade levels, pre-K through university, and in all subjects.
• Red Dirt Writers Society
• Scissortail Creative Writing Festival (East Central University, in April celebrates authors of poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction
• Tulsa NightWriters (writers of every genre, from romance to science fiction, and some members also write screen plays, stage plays and murder mystery dinners.
• World Literature Today (an American magazine of international literature and culture, published at the University of Oklahoma, Norman). WLT also sponsors the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature , and the Puterbaugh Festival of International Literature and Culture

• Attic Institute (offers local and online writing workshops and classes for creative writing teachers)
• Back Fence PDX (in southeast Portland, a cousin to The Moth in NYC, hosts events at which seven performers tell true, original, unmemorized, ten-minute stories based on a theme)
• Joining Forces: A Portland Collaborative Word Has It story about a journalists' collaborative that meets in a central Portland office, "Base Camp."
• Central Oregon Writers Guild
• City Guide to Portland, Oregon (Lee Montgomery, Poets & Writers, 7-18-11)
• Independent Publishing Resource Center, upstairs from Reading Frenzy, an unusual nonprofit self-publishing center)
• Loggernaut Reading Series (a monthly coffee-shop event featuring local and visiting poets and writers)
• Mountain Writers Series (a literary center that started as a community college reading series--it offers writing workshops and special event readings at various venues)
• Oregon Authors, among other things, maintains a list of Oregon authors.
• Oregon Center for the Book
• Oregon Christian Writers Conference (OCW)
• Oregon Writers Colony and Colony House ( north of Rockaway Beach, OR)
• Portland Arts & Lectures brings the world’s most celebrated writers, artists, and thinkers to our community
• Portland Book Festival (November, Portland Art Museum and neighboring venues)
• Portland Women Writers
• Powell's City of Books (may be the biggest independent bookstore in the world -- a reader’s first stop in Portland)
• Western Oregon Editors (WOE, an Instagram group)
• Willamette Writers
• Willamette Writers Conference
• Writer's Dojo (a shared creative office and center of excellence for serious writers)

• Antioch Writers' Workshop (for writers of fiction, creative nonfiction and memoir, and poetry)
• Authors Guild (Cleveland chapter)
• Books by the Banks (Cincinnati, October). Sponsored by Women Writing for (a) Change
• Central Ohio Fiction Writers (chapter of Romance Writers of America)
• Cleveland State Writing Center
• Columbus Book Festival (July)
• Dayton Christian Writers Guild Inc.
• Downtown Writers Network (Columbus, OH)
• Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop (Dayton, April) For humor writers.
• Greater Canton Writers’ Guild
• Greater Cincinnati Writers League
• Hamilton Writers Guild (Hamilton, "The City of Sculpture")
• indieLAB (Writers Digest, Cincinnati, 2018)
• The Inkstone (a greater Columbus novel writing group)
• International Writers Association (IWA)
• Lit Youngstown
• Ohio Writers' Guild
• Organizations for Writers and Illustrators (Ohio Center for the Book)
• Skyline Writers (a writers' group in the Cleveland area--meets in Parma)
• Thurber House
• Western Ohio Writers Association (WOWA, Dayton-based)
• Wick Poetry Center (Kent State University)
• Winter Wheat Writers Festival (Mid-American Review, Bowling Green, Ohio)
• Y-City Writers' Forum (Zanesville)
• Lit Youngstown Fall Literary Festival 

• Alpha (Pittsburgh, the science fiction, fantasy, and horror workshop for young writers, ages 14-19)
• Authors Guild (local chapter in Philadelphia)
• Central PA Writers Workshop (a writers meetup group that meets regularly in Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, Harrisburg, or Dillsburg, 424 members)
• City of Asylum (Pittsburgh) This Exiled Writer and Artist Residency Program offers short and long-term residencies to persecuted writers from around the world so that they can continue to write. It promotes the transformation of cultural life in Pittsburgh while advancing the field of literature worldwide.
• Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group (for writers of all genres: fiction or nonfiction, poetry, journalism, essays and plays)
• Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference
• Hippocamp . A conference for creative nonfiction writers, Lancaster City, in September)
• Just Write (weekly Meetup group, Collegeville, PA, facilitator Patty Kline-Capaldo)
• Milford Memories Festival (Milford, summer)
• The Norman Mailer Center (Wilkes-Barre)
• The Norman Mailer Summer Writers Colony (Wilkes-Barre)
• Penn State Science Writers (chapter of National Association of Science Writers)
• Pennwriters (annual conference in May -- authors, editors, and booksellers -- offers critique groups, local area workshops and meetings, online courses, listservs, and social networking groups)
• PARSEC (Pittsburgh's premier science fiction & fantasy organization)
• Philadelphia Writers' Conference
• Philadelphia Writers Meetup Group
• Pittsburgh Writers Meetup Group
• Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (Western Pennsylvania chapter). Eastern Pennsylvania chapter has a Facebook page.
• Western Pennsylvania Writing Project (engages teachers in their own writing and professional development)

• Block Island Poetry Project
• Bryant Literary Review (an international magazine of poetry and fiction)
• Camp Necon aka Northeastern Writers' Conference, July, Portsmouth, RI (horror, fantasy, and speculative fiction, graphic novels, and other media) draws authors, editors, artists, and fans . Here's Greg Norris's reminiscence of camp, part 1 and part 2.
• The Ocean State Review
• Ocean State Summer Writing Conference (June, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting)
• The Providence Athenaeum (a unique independent, member-supported library and cultural center)
• Providence Book Festival (RI)
• Rhode Island Center for the Book (devoted to promoting personal and community enrichment by celebrating the art and heritage of reading, writing, making, and sharing books)
• Rhode Island Festival of Children's Books & Authors (October)
• Rhode Island Freelancers Forum (Facebook page)
• Roger (the literary magazine of Roger Williams University, publishes fresh and energetic poetry and prose)
• The Writers' Circle, Inc. offers workshops and publishes an online literature and arts magazine that features fiction, nonfiction, book chapters, memoirs, plays, poetry, art and photography.

• Book Your Lunch (a luncheon series in Greenville, with talks by writers from a range of genres, from mysteries to cookbooks)
• Columbia Writers Alliance (workshops, critique groups)
• Crazyhorse (literary magazine that offers prizes and publication for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry)
• Emrys (a writing room, a reading room, open mic, a journal and a press)
• Hub City Writers Project (nourishing writers, creating readers--writing instruction, book launches ).
• Island Writers' Network (meets first Mondays, September through May)
• Lowcountry Initiative for the Literary Arts (LILA), a Charleston-based literary outreach organization, promoting writers and readers at every stage of development
• Piccolo Spoleto Festival (a two-week arts festival in Charlotte)
• Poetry Society of South Carolina
• Slam Charlotte (this poetry slam team has won several U.S. titles)
• South Carolina Book Festival
• South Carolina Literary Review (Clemson University Digital Press)
• South Carolina Writers Association (SCWW--a conference, critique groups, support for writers at every level)

• Bearlodge Writers (this Wyoming group also draws South Dakota writers)
• Black Hills Writers Group (featuring a monthly topic and technique)
• Dakota Writing Project (teachers' organization at the University of South Dakota that focuses on improving the teaching of writing and improving learning at all grade levels and in all subject areas). Also offers a summer creative writing camp for high school students.
• Sioux Falls Writers Group (a meetup group)
• South Dakota Authors Association
• South Dakota Center for the Book
• South Dakota Festival of Books , sponsored by the South Dakota Humanities Council
• South Dakota Review
• Wild Deadwood Reads (June, Deadwood Mountain Grand Hotel and Casino, Deadwood) A multi-genre book fair.

• Chapter 16 (a community of Tennessee writers, readers & passersby). In response to the loss of book coverage in newspapers around the state, Humanities Tennessee founded Chapter 16 in 2009 to provide comprehensive coverage of literary news and events in Tennessee. Each weekday the site posts fresh content that focuses on author events across the state and new releases from Tennessee authors.
• Chattannoga Writers' Guild
• City Guide to Nashville (Adam Ross, Poets & Writers, 7-1-12)
• Fellowship of Southern Writers (founded in 1987 by a group of Chattanooga writers to encourage the creation and development of literature in the South)
• Killer Nashville conference (August, 3 days, $375, all genres incorporating mystery, thriller, and suspense)
• Knoxville Writers' Guild
• Memphis Reads (Memphis Public Library & Information Center)
• Mountain Heritage Literary Festival
• The Porch Writers' Collective (Nashville's independent center for writing)
• Rivendell Writers' Colony closing March 2018The Literary South Is in Mourning (Margaret Renkl, NY Times, 1-22-18)
• Sewanee Writers' Conference, which has a blog.
• Smoky Mountain Romance Writers
• Southeast Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America
• Southeastern Writers Association
• Southern Festival of Books (Nashville)
• Tennessee Mountain Writers
• Tennessee Writers Alliance, short on finances, closed in 2012.
• Tennessee Writing Workshop (July)

• Abilene Writers Guild
• Brazos Writers
• City Guide to Austin, Texas (Oscar Casares, Poets & Writers, 10-19-11)
• Dallas Area Writers Group (DAWG)
• Dallas Screenwriters Association
• Dallas-Forth Worth Writers Conference
• DFW Writers Workshop
• East Texas Writers Guild(Tyler, TX)
• El Paso Writers' League (Facebook page)
• Final Twist Writers (Houston-area organization for writers and aspiring writers of fiction)
• Houston Writers Guild
• Houston Writing Workshop
• Inkers.con (Dallas, June--for fiction writers) Bestselling novelist Pamela Kelley writes, "InkersCon is fantastic. A smaller conference, about the same size as NINC around 400-450 or so people and a good range of workshops. Held in Dallas. I do the virtual every year and it's about $200 [$600 live in 2024) and well worth it--as we have access for six years. Some really great sessions."
• Northeast Texas Writers' Organizations (NETWO), which holds an annual short story contest
• North Texas Speculative Fiction Network
• Nuestra Palabra (Latino Writers Having Our Say)
• Panhandle Professional Writers
• Poetry Society of Texas
• San Antonio Book Festival
• San Antonio Writers' Guild (SAWG)
• San Gabriel Writers' League (Georgetown, TX)
• Society of Latino and Hispanic Writers of San Antonio
• StoryShop Summit (Austin, 2019)
• Texas Book Festival (October, Austin)
• Trinity Writers Workshop (a North Texas critique group)
• West Houston/Texas Writer's Group (a meet-up group)
• White Oak Writers (serious writers gather in the Heights and Oak Forest area of Houston for genre-specific critique)
• Writers' League of Texas (with chapters all over). See links to more Texas writing groups.
• Writers' League of Texas Agents & Editors Conference (annual, in September)
• Writers on the Storm (Woodlands, Texas Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers)
• Writers Retreat Workshop (Purple Sage Ranch, Bandera, TX--sponsored by Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization)
• Writers Conference of Dallas
• Writing Workshop of Austin

Writers groups by state

Alabama *** Alaska *** Arizona *** Arkansas *** California *** Colorado *** Connecticut *** Delaware *** Florida *** Georgia *** Hawaii *** Idaho *** Illinois *** Indiana *** Iowa *** Kansas *** Kentucky *** Louisiana *** Maine *** Maryland *** Massachusetts *** Michigan *** Minnesota *** Mississippi *** Missouri *** Montana *** Nebraska *** Nevada *** New Hampshire *** New Jersey *** New Mexico *** New York *** North Carolina *** North Dakota *** Ohio *** Oklahoma *** Oregon *** Pennsylvania *** Rhode Island *** South Carolina *** South Dakota *** Tennessee *** Texas *** Utah *** Vermont *** Virginia *** Washington State *** Washington, D.C. *** West Virginia *** Wisconsin *** Wyoming

• Bookstock (Woodstock, Vermont)
• Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference (east if Middlebury, August)
• Bread Loaf Environmental Writers' Conference (east of Middlebury) A week-long session designed to hone the skills of people interested in producing literary writing about the environment and the natural world.
• Brattleboro Literary Festival  (October)
• BurlingtonBook Festival 
• Burlington Writers Workshop (a meetup group)
• City Guide to Burlington, Vermont (Edie Rhoads, Poets & Writers, 9-9-12)
• League of Vermont Writers
• Military Writers' Symposium (Norwich)
• Vermont Studio Center (VSC, in Johnson, hosts residencies for more than 50 visual artists and writers each month)
• Vermont Writers discussion group (Laurel Decher moderates discussions of fiction)
• Write Action ( a community-based, grass-roots writer’s organization formed in 1999 “to strengthen a community of writers in Brattleboro and the surrounding area")
• The Writer's Center (White River Junction)

• Appalachian Author's Guild
• Arlington Writers Meetup Group
• Chesapeake Bay Writers Club (a chapter of the Virginia Writers Club)
• Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference (February, Arizona State University, creative writing conference, Tempe)
• Fall for theBook (Fairfax) Listen to book festival podcasts
• Fredericksburg Independent Book Festival
• Hampton Roads Writers' Conference (September)
• Hanover Book Festival (Mechanicsville, April)
• James River Writers (book writers and lovers in Richmond, Virginia--holds annual conference)
• Lex Allen Literary Festival (April, Hollins University, Roanoke)
•  Monkeys with Typewriters (an Arlington, VA meetup group for writing and creating in same space)
• The Muse (Norfolk writers center)
• The Northern Virginia Writers Club (based in Vienna, VA)
• Poetry Society of Virginia (based in Williamsburg)
• The Porches (writing retreat, Norwood, VA 24581)
• Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA, Amherst, residencies of two weeks to two months year-round for (poets, fiction writers, nonfiction writers, playwrights, performance, film and video artists, painters, sculptors, photographers, installation artists, composers and cross-disciplinary artists)
• Virginia Festival of the Book (March, Charlottesville)
• VQR Writers' Conference (July/August, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, for serious writers at all stages of their careers)
• Virginia Writers Club has local chapters: Appalachian Authors, Blue Ridge Chapter, Chesapeake Bay Writers, Hampton Roads chapter, Hanover Writers Club, Northern Virginia Chapter, Richmond, Riverside Writers (for the city of Fredericksburg, counties of Spotsylvania, Stafford, King George, Caroline, Louisa, Orange and all surrounding areas), Traveler chapter (meetings held in Chester), Valley Writers (Roanoke and surrounding areas).
• Washington Biography Group (WBG) , meets monthly on Monday evenings in DC (typically at the Washington International School) during the school year, for discussions about various aspects of life story writing (craft, the market, practical topics). Holds social gatherings on two Sundays a year, a potluck followed by round-the-circle discussion, usually led by Marc Pachter. Celebrating 34th year in 2020.
• Williamsburg Book Festival (October, The Stryker Center) A free event.
• The Writer's Center (based in Bethesda, MD, the WC holds workshops in Arlington, Leesburg, and McLean, VA, too)
• Writer House (Charlottesville, offers work space, seminars, writing classes, etc.)

Writers from the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, and Maryland often belong to an organization near all three of them (by car or Metro)
• American Independent Writers (AIW, originally and for decades Washington Independent Writers, WIW) was in Chapter 11 and now appears to be defunct.
• Authors Guild (local chapter in DC, MD, and VA)
• Books Alive (a lively spring conference about books and book writers, fiction and nonfiction, sponsored by Washington Independent Review of Books)
• Busboys and Poets
• Chesapeake Writing Workshop (Washington DC)
• DC Advocates for the Arts
• DC Area Literary Translators (DC-ALT), a network for literary translators in the Washington, D.C., area
• DC Binders (a closed DC-area Facebook group for women)
• DC for writers (Carolyn Parkhurst, for Poets&Writers)
• DC Speculative Fiction (a meetup group)
• DC Science Writers Association (DCSWA, pronounced duck-swa)
• Folger Shakespeare Library
• Gridiron Club (Wikipedia entry). Prestigious journalistic organization whose 65 active members represent major newspapers, news services, news magazines and broadcast networks. Membership, by invitation only, traditionally offered to Washington newspaper bureau chiefs. Helen Thomas became the first woman member, in 1975. Lack of transparency (no press coverage) leads to D.C.'s Gridiron Club on the griddle, again (Dylan Byers, Politico, 3-8-13)
• The Inner Loop (DC, a literary reading series and network for creative writers in DC
• Kramerbooks & Afterwords (a literary landmark near Dupont Circle)
• The National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress, held every summer. You can watch webcasts online or listen to podcasts.
• Poetry Out Loud (an annual national recitation contest, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation). High school students from all fifty states participate.
• Politics & Prose Bookstore (a bookstore that hosts a gazillion wonderful writer-speakers)
• Speakeasy DC (true stories told live)
• Split This Rock (alling poets to a greater role in public life and fostering a national network of socially engaged poets)
• Story League (D.C.’s place to discover who has the funniest true stories to tell)
• Washington Biography Group (WBG) , meets monthly on Monday evenings during the school year, for discussions about various aspects of life story writing (craft and other aspects of lifestory writing). Holds two social gatherings on two Sundays a year, a potluck followed by round-the-circle discussion, usually led by Marc Pachter. Celebrating 34th year in 2020.
• Washington Independent Review of Books
• Washington Press Club Foundation (an expansion of the Women’s National Press Club, which was formed when women weren't allowed to become members of the Gridiron Club or the National Press Club)
• Washington Writers Conference (Washington Independent Review of Books), generally held in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of DC. Pitch sessions, expert sessions, author talks, and a luncheon (featuring a prominent keynote speaker), plus panels on how to query, how to pitch, and more publishing pros’ insights. (AKA Books Alive!)
• Writers meetup groups in and around DC
• The Writer's Center (excellent workshops and special events for writers--this is where I lead "My Life, One Story at a Time" workshops)
• Writers Room DC (shared workspace for writers on Albemarle, near the Tenley Circle Metro)
• Writing Groups Within 25 Miles of Washington DC (Meetup Groups)
• 5 Steps to Finding Your Perfect Match (in a Writing Group) (Tara Campbell, Washington Independent Review of Books, 4-25-16)

• Authors Guild (local chapter in Seattle)
• Chanticleer Authors Conference (Bellingham) and the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) for the best books featuring Social Science, Data Driven Reporting, Equality and Justice, Ethics, Human Rights, and Activists Groups.
• Cheat River Review (publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and cover art)
• Clarion West Writers Workshops (one-day, weekend, and six-week workshops, with a focus on speculative fiction—science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, and slipstream)
• Hedgebrook (a rural retreat for women writers in residence on Whidbey Island)
• Inland Northwest Writers Group (all genres)
• Lewis Coounty Writers Guild
• Northwest Christian Writers Association (Bothell, Puget Sound)
• Northwest Film Forum (Seattle) Home of the Cadence Video Poetry Festival (where verse meets visuals in motion)
• Pacific Northwest Writers Association (PNWA, Cottage in Issaquah, September conference, courses, fiction and memoir contests, meetings)
• Plateau Area Writers Association (PAWA Facebook group) A large, growing critique group.
• Seattle City of Literature
• Seattle Writer's Cram
• Skagit Valley Writers League
• Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers (Twitter, @CrampSeattle)
• Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers
• Whidbey Writers Group (a Facebook group)
• Women in Digital Journalism (Seattle-area editors, writers, and producers in new media)
• Write on the River (Wenatchee Public Library)
• Writers on Whidbey (Langland Highlands, 6-20-14)
• The Writer's Workshop (Seattle)

• Kestrel (Fairmont State University's literary magazine publishes fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction)
• Lewisburg Literary Festival (West Virginia)
• National Writing Project at West Virginia University (uses technology to support writing and preparing teachers across the curriculum for meaningful writing instruction aligned with the Common Core Standards)
• West Virginia Book Festival (October, Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center)
• West Virginia Center for the Book
• West Virginia Humanities Council (offers grants and fellowships and sponsors Little Lecture series, with podcasts online)
• West Virginia Writers, Inc. , whose blog is here. Sponsors an annual conference and an annual competition, and lists small writers groups around the state These are also listed by WV Division of Culture and History.
• West Virginia Writers Workshop

• League of Utah Writers
• Moab Poets & Writers
• Salt Lake City Writers Group (on Facebook)
• Utah Book Writers Club
• Utah Children’s Writers group
• Utah State Poetry Society
• Utah Valley Writers

• AllWriters' Workplace & Workshop, LLC (a creative writing studio in Waukesha, Wisconsin)
• Central Wisconsin Book Festival  (Wausau) 
• Central Wisconsin Poets and Writers
• Chippewa Valley Book Festival (Eau Claire, October)
• City Guide to Madison, Wisconsin (Michelle Wildgen, Poets & Writers, 5-31-12)
• FoxCities Book Festival (October)
• Madison Writers' Studio
• Milwaukee/Wisconsin Writers
• Romance Writers of America, Wisconsin chapter
• SE Wisconsin Writers Group (a meetup group)
• Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books (November)
• Untitled Town Book Festival (Green Bay)
• UW-Madison's annual Writers' Institute
• Wisconsin Book Festival (October, Madison Public Library)
• Wisconsin Writers Association (WWA). See also links to other regional groups, members of WWA.
• Working Writers of Wisconsin (full-time professional independent writers based in southeastern Wisconsin)

• Bearlodge Writers (based in Sundance)
• Edible Food Festival (April, Teton County Library )
• Jackson Hole Writers Conference (June, Jackson Hole). A small, well-regarded three-day conference (with pre-conference workshops) at which you get one-on-one critiques (15 pages, by three presenters), at an amazing location in the Grand Tetons. Conference relatively inexpensive; accommodations, pricey (book early).
• Wyoming Arts Council blog
• Wyoming Press Association (based in Cheyenne)
• Wyoming Writers, Inc.
• WyoPoets (for poets)

Tucson (AZ) area. The group was started as a listserv in 2001 by a Tucson freelancer, as a way to help ease the occasional loneliness of freelancing and to share information with other like-minded writers. Over the years, the group has grown a bit, but with new members and dropouts tends to stay at around twenty members. This seems to be an ideal number, allowing everyone to get to know everyone else, yet providing a critical mass of expertise.

New members are usually found through word of mouth. Once a new member is proposed by any member, she will be accepted provided that no one (privately) objects to her within a week. The founder of the group has always put an emphasis on inviting people who are published and actively seeking publication, to eliminate mere wannabes. We are all happy to help newcomers, but that is not the purpose of the group, which instead is to provide virtual companionship, to share information, and to interact with fellow professionals with whom you can commiserate or share good publishing news.

The listserv is our primary means of communicating with each other, but we also meet in person every couple of months, for a luncheon or a happy hour. It’s always fun to put faces to names, though some members never or rarely participate in the face-to-face meetings.

In the seven years I’ve been a member I’ve found TWW to be a valuable part of my professional and virtual social life. I’ve learned a lot about local and national markets, and enjoy reading about the triumphs and awards of fellow members. I would never hesitate to ask a question, and do my best to provide assistance when I myself have answers. There is by happenstance an emphasis on travel writing in TWW, but writers of all sorts are members. Though I’m semi-retired as a writer, I am very clear that writers are MY PEOPLE, among the most generous and articulate on the planet. TWW is an exemplar of this spirit, and I think could serve as a model for any small group of writers who wish to band together. ~Kathryn Lance
Obituary for Kathryn (Tucson.com, 2-6-22) http://www.klance.com