The 30th Anniversary Women Writing the West Conference will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, Denver Tech Center in Denver, Colorado on October 10-12, 2024. The theme, “Through A Woman’s Eyes,” honors the perspective of women—both women’s stories and women writers who write the stories of the West in all genres.

Registration is now open!

Conference Highlights and Schedule

Workshop and Conference Schedule

Twelve Workshops and Panels will be presented during the conference. View or download the Conference Schedule here.
(updated 9/24/2024)

Meet the 30th Annual Conference Workshop Presenters

Meet the Participating
Editors & Agents

Tour – Thursday, October 10, 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM.
~ Sold Out ~

The Thursday morning half-day tour includes a visit to the History Colorado Museum, where they will have a display and lecture specific to our writing the West. Afterward, lunch will be served at the Denver Women’s Press Club.
Meet in lobby at 9:00 AM

Thursday, October 10, Pre-Conference Add-On Afternoon Educational Session

FROM BOOK TO FILM, Is it an impossible dream, or is the indie movie scene with low-budget productions a chance?  Presented by Manuela Schneider.
If you attended the 2023 virtual conference, Manuela’s short film about the copper miners was shown. The time will coincide with the Roundtable Critiques, which is 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm. Cost for members is $30.00 and non-member $35.00.

Hotel Reservations must be made using the Reservation link, or by calling the hotel and speaking with Sales. Information
WWW Room Rate of $109/night ends September 22 at midnight! Reservations made after that date will be charged the regular hotel rate.

Opening Session

“Colorado: Through the Eyes of Two Daughters”Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk, a member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of Towaoc and land advocate, and Gayle Gresham, President of Women Writing the West and a descendant of early Colorado pioneers and miners, will share their families’ stories, including the reported friendship of their ancestors in the early 1860’s. Meet the speakers

Editors and Agents

Our guest Editors and Agents will present a panel on the state of the publishing industry, and be available for Pitch Appointments. Schedule and Editor/Agent bios will be posted as soon as they are available.

Awards Banquets

The Luncheons and Banquet are included in your Conference Registration

The DOWNING Journalism Award and The LAURA Short Fiction Award Winners and Finalists will be honored during the Friday Luncheon, October 11.

The WILLA Literary Award Finalists Luncheon on Saturday, October 12, introduces the books and Finalists.

The WILLA Literary Award Banquet, held on Saturday evening, will honor The 2024 WILLA Literary Award Winners.

Author Readings and Book Signing

Attending Award Winners and Finalists will read from their work, and be available to sign books.

Conference attendees are invited to include their books in the Conference Bookstore. Details and application

Meet the 2024 Conference Keynote Speakers

Opening Session Speaker
Gayle Gresham

Gayle Gresham is a freelance writer. Her magazine credits include Colorado Country Life, Today’s Christian Woman, and Country magazine. She is the 2023-2024 President of Women Writing the West.

A descendant of Colorado pioneers, she has researched and written about her family’s history in Colorado since she was in high school, starting with a paper about a great-great-uncle arrested for stealing cattle in 1883. This story has never let her go and she is writing a novel based on the true story.

Gayle and her husband, John, run a small cow-calf operation on the family farm in Elbert, Colorado along with their two children and their families. They enjoy camping, riding their 4-wheeler, and exploring the places where Gayle’s family lived in the mountains.

Opening Session Speaker
Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk

Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk was born and raised in southwestern Colorado and resides on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation. She is a member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of Towaoc. She attended school and graduated from Montezuma Cortez High School. She has spent 10 years in the information technology field, working for Chief Dull Knife College, the Southern Ute Indian and Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribes. In October of 2013, she was elected to serve as a member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal council.

At an early age, Lopez-Whiteskunk began to advocate for land, air, water and animals, and strongly believes that the inner core of healing comes from the knowledge of our land and elders. She is a former Co-Chair for the Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition, Co-Chair and Education Director for the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose.

Currently, she is seeking a Master’s of Environmental Management with Western Colorado University. She serves on the Telluride Institute Board, Advisory board for Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Torrey House Press Board, and Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Lopez-Whiteskunk has traveled extensively throughout the country sharing the Ute culture through song, dance, presentations, and is honored to continue to protect, preserve and serve through education, creating a better understanding of our resources, culture and beliefs—a great foundation for a better tomorrow.

The WILLA Literary Award Banquet
Page Lambert

A founding member of Women Writing the West, and leader of creative adventures for twenty-seven years, Page Lambert’s writing is found inside monumental sculptures at the Denver Art Museum, online at Huffington Post, and in dozens of anthologies about the West. A contributing author to The Light Shines from the West: A Western Perspective on the Grown of America, Page is the author of the Wyoming memoir In Search of Kinship and the novel Shifting Stars.

Writing recognitions include nominations for two Pushcart Prizes, contributing author to the Willa award-winning anthology Writing Down the River, finalist for the Mountains & Plains Fiction Book Award, Fellowships for Literary Excellence from the Wyoming Arts Council, AROHO Orlando Nonfiction Award, and Writer’s Studio Best Fiction Award.

A member of the International League of Conservation Writers, Colorado Authors League, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, Denver Women’s Press Club, Western Writers of America, and past advisor for the Rocky Mountain Land Library, Page writes the blog All Things Literary/All Things Natural from her mountain home west of Denver. Her agent is currently shopping her novel, Lake of Longing, and she is back at work on her second Wyoming memoir, New Moon on the Horizon. www.pagelambert.com

The DOWNING Journalism Award and The LAURA Short Fiction Award Luncheon
Rachel Gabel

Rachel Gabel is a longtime agriculture writer and the assistant editor of The Fence Post Magazine. She is also a farm broadcaster on Western Ag Network and the rural issues and agriculture columnist in Colorado Politics, the Denver Gazette, and Colorado Springs Gazette.

She writes exclusively about the agriculture industry and primarily about protein production. She lives in northeastern Colorado where she is a member of one of the 12,400 beef producing families in Colorado. She is the author of five ag-themed children’s books that have been used by Colorado Agriculture in the Classroom to teach students about agriculture. She is also the author of a collection of her popular #cowbios titled Light a Candle for Her, Girls.

Follow Rachel on Facebook @RachelWrites. She may be contacted at [email protected] or 970-768-0024.

Reserve your room!

The 30th WWW Annual Conference will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn at the Denver Tech Center.

Room Rate $109.00 per night Wednesday – Sunday
Contact the hotel for extra days

WWW Room Rate of $109/night ends September 22 at midnight! Reservations made after that date will be charged the regular hotel rate.

Use the link below to get the WWW Room Rate Discount, or call the hotel and speak with the Sales Department.

Reserve Online Here

Hotel Website

Bookstore

Conference attendees are invited to include their books in the Conference Bookstore. Details and application

Volunteers

Interested in helping with the 30th Annual Conference?

We will need volunteers during the conference to help with set up, pitch appointments, moderating workshops and panels, Silent Auction and more.

Email the Conference Chair for more details at [email protected].

Auction

To support The WILLA Literary Award Fund

Check back for ways to donate and bid!

Hotel Reservations

Hilton Garden Inn at the Denver Tech Center. Room Rate $109.00 per night

WWW Room Rate of $109/night ends September 22 at midnight! Reservations made after that date will be charged the regular hotel rate.

Reserve Now

More Hotel Info

Contact

2024 Conference Chair,
[email protected]


CONFERENCE PRIVACY POLICY

Women Writing the West is committed to providing conference attendees with the best possible service while preserving your privacy. WWW will not release your name or other personal information about you to any other parties unless consent is obtained. Conference registration information is collected and used for that conference only.


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