Writing Conferences and Retreats
Click here for an extensive list of writing conferences and retreats around the state and the country.
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Sonoma County Writers Conference
Saturday, October 17, 2026, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Presented by Redwood Writers Club
Finley Community Center, Santa Rosa
A full day of craft, publishing, and marketing sessions, plus a keynote from award-winning indie poet, historical novelist, and forensic historian Gini Grossenbacher.
Workshops/Panel:
- Jill Lublin — How to Use Publicity to Boost Leads, Visibility and Profits: For Authors
- Sarah Paris — U2 Can Haiku!
- Mary Alice Stephens — Radical Honesty: How to Share Hard Truths in Your Memoir
- Chris Fox — Craft Blurbs that Sell Books
- Albert Flynn DeSilver — The Art of Memoir: From First Sentence to Finished Book
- Natalie Gould — From the Page to the Stage: Finding Your Speaker’s Voice
- Kristen Tate — What’s In a Scene? A Sentence-by-Sentence Look at How Bestselling Authors Build Scenes
- Susan Bono — Writing Courageous Personal Essays: Telling the Truth with Craft, Care, and Emotional Power
- Lisa Manterfield & Shirin Leos (panel) — Your Path Through Today’s Publishing Labyrinth
- Matthew Felix — Beyond Craft: Navigating a Writer’s Personal Realities
Registration fees for the conference range from early bird, by September 15, $125 (members) / $150 (nonmembers) to $150/$175.
Details and registration: redwoodwriters.org/sonoma-county-writers-conference
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Creative Writing Retreat
Saturday, October 17th, 10:00am-3:30pm
In-Person Dominican Campus Event, $60
Step away from daily life and onto our idyllic campus for our fall writing retreat. Join MFA faculty in the morning for small group writing studios. In the afternoon, there is a journal writing campus walk, a participant sharing of work-in-progress, and an author talk. Come to the retreat for creative nourishment and to connect with a community of writers.
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Better Books: A Craft-Based Workshop for Middle Grade & Young Adult Writers
Saturday, October 24 to Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Better Books Marin has a few spots remaining for its October 24–27, 2026 workshop at the Vallombrosa Center, Menlo Park. So many middle grade and young adult writers credit the workshop for helping them improve their craft, expand their community, find their critique mates, polish their manuscripts, and/or meet their agent or editor.
Limited to fewer than 25 seasoned writers, Better Books is designed to provide deep immersion in craft, discussion, and high-level critique. You need not be published, but we ask that you’ve completed at least one middle-grade or YA manuscript. Workshop fee includes food, lodging, informative sessions, and a written and oral critique of 25 pages. Faculty this year: Gary D. Schmidt, Newbery and Prince Honor; Irene Vázquez, Editor at Levine Querido; Sheyla Knigge, agent with High Line Literary Collective; and Hannah Teachout, literary assistant at Folio Literary Management.
Details and application instructions can be found at betterbooksmarin.com. One scholarship for underrepresented voices is still available. Any questions, you can reach out to Darcey at darceyr@comcast.com.
