National Writers Conference
The National Writers Conference is presented in partnership with University of Birmingham, and supported by ALCS. We are also grateful for the support of our many panelists and speakers and their organisations.
The National Writers Conference Is Back on the 31st May 2025
Join us for a friendly day of presentations, panel discussions and networking opportunities.
Tickets on sale soon!
National Writers Conference Programme 2024
Listen to the podcast of the 2022 National Writers’ Conference to find out about the publishing industry, marketing for writers, social media, representation and diversity in the writing sector.
After 2 years of online or dispersed events, the National Writers’ Conference returned in July 2022 in Birmingham.
This podcast is a snapshot of a friendly day of writers sharing their tips and experiences of how to have and maintain a writing career.
Previous National Writers’ Conferences
2019
The National Writers’ Conference 2019 was a day of information sharing with industry experts.
Hear what those who really know about being a writer have to say about finding opportunities, creating new work and sustaining a creative career.
Come along, ask questions, share answers and be part of a vibrant network of writers from across the country, working in many forms and genres.
At a glance:
- Professionalising Yourself: protecting your rights, mentoring, working with the publishing industry
- Promoting Yourself: pitching your work, performing your work, social media for writers
- Keeping Going: resilience for writers, writing with a disability, forging a career from writing
- Our two keynote addresses, from Mandy Ross and Kit de Waal, will set the tone for the day’s discussions and future direction of the writing industry.
- Our panel sessions are informal discussions around specialist areas, with plenty of opportunities to ask questions and share ideas.
2018
The 2018 National Writers’ Conference took place on Saturday 30 June 2018 at the Bramall Music Building on the University of Birmingham campus.
Over 150 people turned out on a beautiful sunny day to hear from keynote speakers Shoo Rayner and Jo Bell, and take part in workshops, breakout sessions and networking opportunities.
Poet Jo Bell’s keynote speech on Confidence struck a particular chord, and Jo has been kind enough to let us have the text so you can read it at your leisure.
2017
In 2017, our keynote speakers were poet Andrew McMillan and Aki Schilz, Director of The Literary Consultancy. If you missed the event, we’ve been lucky enough to have the text of Aki’s address for you to read. You can also read Andrew McMillan’s thought-piece for The Guardian which sets out a lot of what he spoke about at the Conference.
The National Writers’ Conference is presented in partnership with University of Birmingham, and supported by ALCS. We are also grateful for the support of our many panelists and speakers and their organisations.
