News from the Hilltop

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 9, 2009

2009 Writing Today conference cancelled due to economic considerations

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—The 2009 Writing Today Writers' Conference, scheduled for March 13-14 on the campus of Birmingham-Southern College, has been cancelled.

Writing Today has attracted world-class authors to Birmingham since its beginnings in 1978 to teach and encourage aspiring writers. Birmingham-Southern College has been pleased to serve as the host campus for the conference since its inception.

Writing Today, completely supported and run by a Birmingham community all-volunteer Advisory Committee, has brought such literary notables as Horton Foote, Edward Albee, Pat Conroy, Gay Talese and many others to Birmingham for this annual event.

“We are greatly disappointed that this year's conference has become a victim of these uncertain economic times,” said Shaun Crawford, 2009 Writing Today chair. “We knew we would face some struggles in generating attendance and corporate donations this year, but we had no expectation that our registrations and our funding would fall off so significantly. We made a difficult decision to cancel the conference rather than to risk a disappointing experience for our attendees and our conference faculty.”

Crawford said that the conference was unable to secure several corporate contributions that have typically supported Writing Today in the past.

“Many loyal supporters of Writing Today, those who support us with contributions and those with paid attendance, told us that while they remain strong supporters of the conference that they simply could not make a donation or attend this year because of the their own financial situations,” he said. “We believe that holding the conference with extremely low attendance will not create the interactive and inspirational environment that Writing Today has provided for nearly 30 years.”

Writing Today has received the assistance of Birmingham-Southern, which provides meeting facilities and administrative support, and the Alabama Humanities Foundation's grant program.

Registration fees are being refunded in full. For more information on registration refunds, please contact Sandy Barr at Birmingham-Southern College at 205/226-4921.