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Each Fall, MTSU Write celebrates its mission by hosting the Creative Writing Conference on the MTSU campus.  The Conference brings together students, mentors, alumni, and members of the community for learning, networking, and recognizing program graduates.

Conference Theme

This year’s conference theme is “Write to Heal'' and will feature workshops and presentations exploring what it means to heal--ourselves, our relationship to the environment and others, as well as our own writing practices--after the pandemic.

Keynote Speaker

We are excited to share that our Fall 2021 Keynote Speaker will be acclaimed poet (and MTSU Write alum) Tiana Clark!

Tiana Clark is the author of the poetry collection, I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018), winner of the 2017 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize, and Equilibrium (Bull City Press, 2016), selected by Afaa Michael Weaver for the 2016 Frost Place Chapbook Competition. Clark is a winner for the 2020 Kate Tufts Discovery Award (Claremont Graduate University), a 2019 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow, and the 2015 Rattle Poetry Prize. She is a recipient of the 2021-2022 Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship and 2019 Pushcart Prize. Clark is a graduate of Vanderbilt University (M.F.A) and Tennessee State University (B.A.) where she studied Africana and Women's studies. Her writing has appeared in or is forthcoming from The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Virginia Quarterly Review, Tin House Online, Kenyon Review, BuzzFeed News, American Poetry Review, Oxford American, Best New Poets 2015, and elsewhere. She is the Grace Hazard Conkling Writer-in-Residence at Smith College.

Conference Schedule

The 2021 Fall Conference will have both virtual and in-person components! Save the dates: October 22 (virtual) and 23 (on campus). Here's what we have lined up so far (follow us on social media for all the updates!)

Friday, October 22: Virtual Programming (all times in CST): 

Noon-1:00pm: Facebook Live reading featuring MTSU Write mentors & alumni (line-up TBD). Free & open to the public. 

1-3:00pm: Zoom Breakout Sessions led by Jung Hae Chae, Rochelle Hurt & Carol Guess, and Brendan Basham.

Saturday, October 23: In-person Programming: 

Saturday’s line-up will feature workshops by the following writers: Donovan McAbee, Fred Arroyo, Melissa Jean, Joshua Moore, Meg Wade, and more! 

Schedule and session details forthcoming! 

SAVE THE DATE!!! Conference Registration will open Wednesday, July 6, 2021. 

Virtual Programming: $30

In-Person Programming: $60

or register for BOTH virtual and in-person programming for $75

Registration is FREE for current MTSU Write students, MTSU students, and mentors. 

Program enquiries to mtsuwrite@mtsu.edu