A CELEBRATION OF STORIES: THE 2020 SCWA SPRING CONFERENCE

By Kasie Whitener 

For the first time in our 30-year history, SCWA is hosting its Annual Conference in Columbia. I have the privilege of planning it and showing off our city has been my goal. Each activity, venue, and participant has been specially chosen for contributions made to the arts scene in our state capital.

Columbia poetry-boss Al Black hosts over a 100 Open Mic events per year and in April he’s lending his talents to the SCWA for a fantastic line up of live readings on Friday night.

Saturday’s packed day of workshops includes SCWA member speakers Barbara Evers, Craig Faris, Robert Lackey, Alexa Bigwarfe, Amber Wheeler Bacon, and Estelle Ford Williamson. A truly professional organization recognizes the professionals in its membership and showcases them.

Some cool alternative sessions include poetry roundtables with South Carolinians Len Lawson and Derek Berry and pop-up breakouts with musicians, playwrights, and agents. Our North Carolina Keynote speaker Belle Boggs has won awards for fiction and non-fiction endeavors. Her take on the craft, the process, and the modern literary profession should be insightful and inspiring.

Saturday night we host a big, beautiful birthday bash in the gardens of Historic Columbia’s Siebels House under strung lights with live music and an awards ceremony with the South Carolina Academy of Authors. The party is open to the public and we’re partnering with One Columbia, the Richland Library, SC Poetry Society, Columbia Writers Alliance, and others to include the most diverse group of artists ever gathered.

The Sunday conversation with Ray McManus and Jonathan Haupt should be the jewel in the crown of this glittery weekend. Both believe mightily in their topic, “You Can Build a Writing Career in South Carolina.” Expect stories, insights, and advice on navigating our state’s literary scene.

We will reprise the best-of-Saturday workshop on Sunday morning and offer the traditional slushfest-style feedback sessions with agents and publishers. That afternoon we’re pleased to offer discounted tickets to the Columbia Food & Wine Festival, a city-wide event that showcases the artists and storytellers in our culinary professions.

Columbia has so much to offer. We’re frequently overlooked in favor of Coastal playgrounds, historic ports, and mountain-rich meccas. We have the discouraging nickname “Midlands” which seems to invoke passing through on one’s way to something better. Weighed down by the politics of state government and given to territorialism over trivial things like St Patrick’s Day, Columbia is a city with opposing sides.

Yet we’re also the most diverse city in the state. Our oppositions give rise to rich and varied voices. We have the mosaic of struggle and forgiveness, of hurt and healing, of wealth and want. In the richness of diversity is the opportunity for understanding. While our nation seems ever more divided in politics, in Columbia we are bridging gaps with art. With stories.

We are a vibrant community of creators. I can’t wait to show that to the rest of the state.

Register here.