After the success of our virtual MCWC 2020, we’re holding MCWC 2021 online as well. All events will be hosted over Zoom, so you can take advantage of all that MCWC has to offer from the comfort and safety of your home.
Each workshop meets all three mornings of the conference and features three hours of instruction, exercises, and manuscript discussion led by our expert faculty, listed below. Limited to just ten participants, these intimate workshops provide a personalized learning experience focused on the art and craft of writing.
Afternoon events include open mics and seminars on a variety of topics. Our Paths to Publishing panelists will share their wide range of publishing success stories, and our Blind Critique panelists are ready to give you feedback (anonymously) on your opening lines. You may even get a chance to pitch your book to agents in our Pitch Panel.
Scholarship applications open January 1 and close February 15. For full application details, visit mcwc.org/scholarships. General registration opens on March 1, and all workshops are first-come, first-served, so don’t wait to grab your spot once registration opens!
Wendy C. Ortiz
Alaya Dawn Johnson
Chris Dennis
Keynote Speaker: Wendy C. Ortiz
Wendy C. Ortiz is the author of three books: the critically acclaimed Excavation: A Memoir (2014); Hollywood Notebook (2015); and the genre-breaking dreamoir Bruja (2016). In 2016 Bustle named her one of “9 Women Writers Who Are Breaking New Nonfiction Territory.” Wendy’s work has been profiled or featured in the Los Angeles Times, Poets & Writers Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, The Rumpus, Los Angeles Review of Books, and the National Book Critics Circle Small Press Spotlight blog.
Speculative Fiction: Alaya Dawn Johnson
Alaya Dawn Johnson is the author of seven novels for adults and young adults. Her most recent novel for adults, Trouble the Saints, was released in July 2020 from Tor books. A short story collection, Reconstruction, is forthcoming in January 2021 from Small Beer Press. Her young adult novel The Summer Prince was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, while her novel Love Is the Drug won the Andre Norton/Nebula Award for Middle Grade/Young Adult fiction.
Short Fiction: Chris Dennis
Chris Dennis is the author of the story collection Here is What You Do (Soho Press, 2019). His work has appeared in The Paris Review, Playgirl, McSweeney’s, Granta, Lit Hub, and Guernica. He holds a master’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis, where he also received a postgraduate fellowship. He lives in Southern Illinois.
Sam Krowchenko
Lillian Li
Krys Malcom Belc
Emerging Writers: Sam Krowchenko
Sam Krowchenko’s work has appeared in Salon, Full Stop, and Michigan Quarterly Review. He received an MFA in Fiction from the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan. He works as an inventory manager and bookseller at Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and hosts the store's official podcast Shelf Talking.
Novel: Lillian Li
Lillian Li is the author of the novel Number One Chinese Restaurant, which was an NPR Best Book of 2018, and a finalist for the Women’s Prize. Her work has been published in the New York Times, Granta, One Story, Bon Appetit, and Travel & Leisure. Originally from the D.C. metro area, she lives in Ann Arbor.
Memoir: Krys Malcolm Belc
Krys Malcolm Belc is the author of the forthcoming memoir The Natural Mother of the Child (Counterpoint) and the flash nonfiction chapbook In Transit (The Cupboard Pamphlet). His essays have been featured in Granta, The Rumpus, Black Warrior Review, and elsewhere, and his work has been anthologized in Best of the Net 2018, Wigleaf Top 50, and in The Best of Brevity: Twenty Years of Groundbreaking Flash Nonfiction. Krys is the memoir editor of Split Lip Magazine. He lives in Philadelphia with his partner and their three young children.
Saretta Morgan
Suzanne Rivecca
Alex Sanchez
Poetry: Saretta Morgan
Saretta Morgan uses text, etching, sculpture, and video to engage relationships between ecology and migration. She is based between Phoenix and Mohave Valley, Arizona where she teaches creative writing at Arizona State University and is an active member of the humanitarian aid organization, No More Deaths Phoenix, which supports the safe passage of migrants in the U.S. Mexico borderlands. Saretta is author of the chapbooks, Feeling Upon Arrival and room for a counter interior. Recent work can be found at Triple Canopy, The Volta, The Colorado Review, and Academy of American Poets.
Nonfiction: Suzanne Rivecca
Suzanne Rivecca is a former Wallace Stegner fellow and the author of a story collection, Death is Not an Option (WW Norton, 2010), which won the Rome Prize in Literature and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Story Prize, and the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and her work has been awarded two Pushcart Prizes and has been included in Best American Short Stories.
MG/YA: Alex Sanchez
Alex Sanchez has published ten novels, including the American Library Association “Best Book for Young Adults” Rainbow Boys, the Lambda Award-winning So Hard to Say, and Bait, which won the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Book Award. His full-length graphic novel for DC Comics titled You Brought Me the Ocean came out in 2020.
Elise Capron
Tricia Skinner
Elise Capron, Agent
Elise Capron is an agent at the California-based Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, established over 40 years ago, which is known for guiding the careers of many best-selling fiction and non-fiction authors, including Amy Tan, Lisa See, Maxine Hong Kingston, Eric Foner, and many more. Elise has been with SDLA for 18 years. On the fiction side, Elise is interested in character-driven literary fiction for the adult market. She aims to work with writers who are getting their work published regularly in magazines and who have a realistic sense of the market and their audience. On the non-fiction front, Elise is looking primarily for well-written narrative non-fiction in the areas of cultural studies, science, medicine, and the environment. She is particularly keen to work with journalists and historians.
Tricia Skinner, Agent
Tricia Skinner was raised in Detroit, Michigan. She obtained her undergraduate degree from the nationally acclaimed Journalism Institute for Media Diversity at Wayne State University and earned her graduate degree from Southern Methodist University. Professionally, she began her writing career as a newspaper reporter and wrote for The Detroit News, Investor’s Business Daily, MSN, and The Houston Chronicle. Tricia has 20 years of experience working with the video game industry in various roles, including public relations, industry relations, and writing/editing. She is also a fantasy author (represented by Fuse co-founder Laurie McLean). Inclusiveness in genre fiction is dear to Tricia’s heart. She specializes in Adult fiction and very select Young Adult and Middle Grade fiction.