AWP would like to respond to discussions on social media about the number of Latinx featured presenters for the 2018 conference. One tweet claimed there was only one Latinx featured presenter. Although that tweet was untrue, many have retweeted and commented upon that remark.

The 2018 Tampa conference has three Latinx 2018 featured presenters, which is 7.5% of the total featured presenters. There is, of course, a great deal more Latinx participation throughout the general conference schedule.

The Communities of the 2018 AWP Conference & Bookfair data released at the end of July shows that 143 total Latinx presenters were selected as part of events by the Tampa 2018 Subcommittee for the 2018 conference schedule. The Latinx presenters had a 60.3% acceptance rate, which is 17.7% higher than the overall acceptance rate for proposed events, and nearly 20 points higher than their white peers. The numbers for all of the demographic groups related to people of color are all 15 to 30 points higher than white presenters. 

Since the 2016 conference (and including for 2018), we’ve hosted 14 Latinx featured presenters.

The 2018 featured presenters include the first indigenous authors we’ve hosted since 2015. It ties for the most Asian-American authors in a single year. This is likely the most LGBTQ authors ever, including the first transgender featured writer. It’s the second most writers of color we’ve ever hosted in a single year, as well as only the second time we’ve hosted more women than men. These are all positive things, but those number could have easily changed if the demographics went in any number of other directions. 

There is no way to apply all of the demographic considerations equally, or to match the numbers from US census, every year. It’s simply not possible. Year over year, however, the AWP conference schedule of events, including the featured presenters, presents an unrivaled view of the many communities of literature.

We are grateful for the many opportunities we have had to host an extraordinarily broad range of presenters, including many Latinx presenters, in front of large and small audiences over many years. Participation from these authors has been fundamental to our ability to produce the most inclusive annual literary event programming in the United States.

The large majority of the featured events come to us through our Literary Partnership program, which creates events with affinity organizations like the Academy of American Poets, the Authors Guild, Cave Canem, Copper Canyon Press, Graywolf Press, Grove/Atlantic Press, Kundiman, the National Book Critics Circle, and PEN America, to name a few. These events are designed to draw large audiences, and we work closely with the partners to make the featured presenters as inclusive as possible because we know those events will draw larger, more inclusive audiences. When AWP and its partners create the events, we look at a number of different factors including a high level of artistic accomplishment, demographics, book sales, and awards. We seek to balance emerging authors with established authors. Although literary partnerships help AWP to expand our featured presentations, we are never able to produce as many as we would like.

We appreciate all the discussion about how to improve the conference, and if anyone has any further questions or suggestions for future featured presenters, please feel free to contact us at suggestions@awpwriter.org.