The Desert Nights, Rising Stars
Writers Conference

Gracious, generous educators with a passion for community.

Featuring over 25 award-winning writers, editors, agents, educators, and other internationally recognized creative writing professionals, our faculty are here to do more than expand your skill set or open new ways of thinking about your work. They're here to share their experiences, answer questions, and spend time connecting with conference attendees.

Our 2020 faculty were Ryka Aoki, Andrea Avery, Sally Ball, Tracey Baptiste, Matt Bell, Sherwin Bitsui, Piper J. Daniels, HelenKay Dimon, Rosemarie Dombrowski, Cristina García, Vanessa Hua, Jenny Irish, Kirby Kim, Bill Konigsberg, Cathy Linh Che, Alberto Ríos, Ivelisse Rodriguez, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Natalie Scenters-Zapico, Solmaz Sharif, Michael A. Stackpole, Laura Tohe, Peter Twal, Kay Ulanday Barrett, Sarah Viren, and Joy Young.

Faculty for next year's conference will be announced soon. 

To meet past faculty, keep reading. 

You can also meet our fellows, view the schedule, or learn more about the conference.