AWP is excited to announce that #AWP21 will be fully virtual this March. The AWP Conference & Bookfair has always been a place of connection, reunion, and celebration, and we hope to offer the same experience in a new way this year.

We are currently working with Kansas City, MO to move the in-person conference to a future year and we will announce more information in the coming weeks. We look forward to rescheduling with Kansas City and celebrating the region and Kansas City’s literary community once it’s safe for us all to be together again.

AWP will be hosting the virtual conference in March 2021 on a platform produced by Pathable, which we chose based not only on their ability to host our full slate of over 250 readings, panel discussions, and a bookfair, but also on the number of different ways this platform will allow attendees to connect, engage, and socialize. You can expect various discussion rooms, one-to-one video and text messaging, appointment scheduling, receptions, and evening entertainment, all in one place.

The #AWP21 schedule will be released in early November, and will include the wonderful panel discussions and readings you have come to expect from an AWP conference. You can expect five days of literary programming and celebration, from Wednesday, March 3 through Sunday, March 7, two more days than the in-person conference. Every registration also offers one month’s access to the virtual content and platform from March 3 through April 3! For the first time, there is no need to choose between simultaneous panels—watch as many as you want with extended access to conference content. 

Virtual #AWP21 will be host to several featured events, including writers like our #AWP21 Keynote Speaker and U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, Marie Mockett, Jess Row, Mira Jacob, Monique Truong, Crystal Hana Kim, Katharine Coles, Alison Deming, Camille Dungy, Edwidge Danticat, Sarah Broom, and many more! Check out our Featured Presenter page for more fabulous events and presenters.

The Bookfair will be just as bustling as the in-person exhibit hall with literary magazines, small presses, universities, journals, and other literary arts organizations. In these virtual exhibit spaces, attendees can access links and video content posted by the exhibitor, in addition to entering a Zoom room with the exhibitor to chat about their publications or organizations. Attendees can purchase books through each exhibitor’s affiliate Bookshop.org webpage.

Registration for the virtual #AWP21 Conference & Bookfair is now open! Registration rates have been reduced significantly for this year’s virtual format, plus every registration offers one month’s access to the virtual content and platform from March 3 through April 3! Register before November 12 for the best Early bird rate.

AWP is very pleased to be working with the Ad Hoc Committee on Conference Accessibility again this year with new members. This committee will help AWP staff with its web accessibility on the Pathable platform and to ensure video content is accessible as well. For more information about the Ad Hoc Committee on Conference Accessibility or AWP’s accessibility services, please visit the Accessibility Services webpage.

The 2021 Conference & Bookfair will be different from years past, but what hasn’t changed are the wonderful people that attend each year. Attendees like you are what make AWP great!