Eckerd College celebrates 20th year of esteemed writing conference – News

During the day, from Jan. 13–20, Eckerd’s Continuing Education Center at the front of campus filled with writers from all over the country wearing neck lanyards and embroidered, blue ball caps.

The conference, which has run each January since 2005, is an eight-day immersion in education, community and sanctuary for writers of all ages and experience levels. Founded by acclaimed authors Sterling Watson ’69 and Dennis Lehane ’88, Writers in Paradise has a mission to provide talented and hardworking writers the opportunity to learn from successful authors.

Each weeklong workshop, led by a professional author, focuses on a particular genre to provide the most effective feedback for participants. Genres include novel, short story, memoir, nonfiction, poetry, crime fiction and suspense. Faculty spend upwards of 20 hours of quality time helping participants refine their work.

Select Eckerd creative writing and communication students participate in the conference each year for a Winter Term course credit. This year, four students attended the conference: Braydon Tomasic, a junior from Kansas City, Kansas, participated in poetry; Avery Allen, a senior from Atlanta, Georgia, studied short story; Lila Cook, a junior from Succasunna, New Jersey, focused on novel; and Ashlyn Fransen (yours truly), a senior from Anderson, South Carolina, explored memoir.