The 2026 Colgate Writers Conference will take place June 7–13 and will feature Colgate professors Peter Balakian and Kyle Bass as workshop instructors, alongside other distinguished visiting faculty. Genres include poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and young adult, as well as playwriting and screenwriting. Applications will be open from early January through the beginning of March.
The conference, now entering its 30th year, began in 1996, co-founded by Professor of English, Emeritus, Frederick Busch, and Peter Balakian, Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor in the humanities and professor of English, and was later led for several years by Professor Matt Leone, emeritus. In 2019, Professor Jennifer Brice stepped to the helm. Brice led the conference through several tumultuous years — the COVID-19 pandemic spurred an online version in 2021, affectionately named the Porch Symposium after the Merrill House porch, where participants gather in the evenings to socialize.
“After the 2022 conference, we paused for several years to take the time to reconsider the administrative structure and make the conference a sustainable enterprise for the University,” says Brice. She worked with the offices of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty and Advancement to envision the future of the conference and secure donor funds. “This allowed us to establish an advisory committee and hire a dedicated staff to run the conference.”
Last June, the conference returned to campus under the leadership of Director Kanitha Heng Snow ’09 and the advisory committee. An English and creative writing major and former student of both Peter Balakian and Jennifer Brice, Heng Snow went on to receive her MFA from Columbia University and worked in the field of social entrepreneurship. But the opportunity to contribute to the Colgate writing community and work with her former professors drew her back to campus.
“It’s incredibly rewarding to direct a conference that helps inspire writers at all levels to develop their work,” says Heng Snow. “Last June, conference participants included current Colgate students, writers in their third acts, MFA students from neighboring universities, and aspiring writers with diverse professional backgrounds — from neuroscience to nonprofit work, journalism to jazz, and from education to entrepreneurship.”
With expanded workshop offerings designed to support both emerging and established writers, as well as enhanced scholarship opportunities, the 2025 conference drew writers from more than 20 states and three countries for the opportunity to hone their craft in the collegial setting of Colgate’s campus in June.
Reem Numan ’27, who is pursuing a major in music and a minor in Japanese, attended the 2025 conference with financial support from Colgate. “I really enjoyed being in community with other writers — it was so inspiring!” she says. “Sometimes it becomes a chore working on your creative projects by yourself, so getting to share that and bounce back ideas with other writers was truly invaluable.”
Heng Snow says the Colgate Writers Conference is invested in making the program accessible to writers from all backgrounds. “Last spring, we distributed approximately $30,000 in scholarships. Nearly one in three applicants received up to 50% financial support.”
2026 brings an exciting slate of workshops and faculty with visiting faculty from Hamilton College, Cornell University, Ithaca College, and more. Agents and editors will also join again to support participants in their writing journeys. Learn more, sign up for the CWC mailing list, and apply at colgate.edu/cwc.
If you want to transform your writing and establish community, attend the Colgate Writers Conference. I appreciated the different tiers and options in the genre programming, the faculty expertise and friendliness, the worthwhile craft and panel sessions, and opportunities to connect with literary agents.
— Phylise Smith, 2025 Colgate Writers Conference participant and Periplus Collective Fellow