6th Annual Catamaran Writing Conference

August 4 - 8, 2019

Registration is now open

Stevenson School, in Pebble Beach

At Catamaran Literary Reader, our artistic themes tap into the rich literary history and beautiful setting of the California Central Coast.  We invite you to transform your own creative work in the scenic location of Pebble Beach, a major source of inspiration for writers from John Steinbeck to Robinson Jeffers.  The conference will be held on the campus of the Robert Louis Stevenson School, and attendees will meet in the elegant Stevenson classrooms, commons, theater, and chapel for workshops, lectures, and presentations. Registration includes four nights lodging at the Robert Louis Stevenson campus on 17-Mile Drive, access to the Stevenson dining commons for 12 meals with your fellow attendees, 4 days of literary workshops in a small group of up to 12 participants.  Also available are optional daily literary themed excursions, daily craft talks, nightly faculty and special guest readings, and student readings. 

2019 Faculty

Wallace J. Nichols’ book Blue Mind, published in summer 2014 by Little, Brown & Company, quickly became a national bestseller and has been translated to numerous languages and inspired a wave of media and practical application. He has authored more than 200 scientific papers, technical reports, book chapters, and popular publications; lectured in more than 30 countries and nearly all 50 states; and appeared in hundreds of print, film, radio, and television media outlets including NPR, BBC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, National Geographic, Animal Planet, Time, Newsweek, GQ, Outside Magazine, USA Today, Elle, Vogue, Fast Company, Surfer Magazine, Scientific American, and New Scientist, among many others.

Dorianne Laux has recently published her sixth poetry collection Only As the Day is Long: New and Selected. Her fifth collection, The Book of Men, was awarded The Paterson Prize. Her fourth book of poems, Facts About the Moon won The Oregon Book Award and was short-listed for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. Laux is also the author of Awake; What We Carry, a finalist for the National Book Critic’s Circle Award; Smoke; as well as a fine small press edition, The Book of Women. She is the co-author of the celebrated text The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry. Laux teaches poetry in the Program in Creative Writing at North Carolina State University and is a founding faculty member of Pacific University's Low Residency MFA Program. 

Michelle Bitting’s latest collection Broken Kingdom won the 2018 Catamaran Poetry Prize and was listed as a best book of 2018 by Kirkus Reviews. Her third collection is The Couple Who Fell to Earth (C & R Press, 2016), named to Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2016. Her book Good Friday Kiss, chosen by Thomas Lux won the DeNovo First Book Award and Notes to the Beloved won the Sacramento Poetry Center Book Award, earned a starred review from Kirkus and was re-visioned by C & R Press in 2018. She has won awards from Glimmer Train and the Beyond Baroque Foundation and been a finalist for the Poet's & Writer's Magazine California Exchange, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, the Julia Peterkin, and Rita Dove poetry awards. Michelle joined the Loyola Marymount University English Department faculty in in the fall of 2018.

Peter Ho Davies’ books include The Fortunes, a New York Times Notable Book, and winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Award and Chautauqua Prize, and The Welsh Girl, long-listed for the Man Booker Prize, and a London Times Best Seller. His short stories have appeared in Harpers, The Atlantic, The Paris Review and Granta and been anthologized in Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories. Born in Britain to Welsh and Chinese parents, he now teaches in the MFA program at the University of Michigan.

Elizabeth McKenzie is the author of three novels, most recently The Portable Veblen, winner of the California Book Award for fiction, long listed for the National Book Award, and finalist for the Baileys Prize. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Best American Nonrequired Reading, the Pushcart Prize Anthology, and elsewhere. She is the senior editor for Chicago Quarterly Review and managing editor of Catamaran.

Joan Staffen has served as a facilitator for Julia Cameron's Artist's Way for 15 years, helping her clients recover, visualize, plan, and actualize their dreams. She is the author of The Book of Pendulum Healing, Swimming the Inner Ocean (memoir and story), and Catching You, Catching Me, Catching Fire (a book of poetry). She will be your facilitator as you focus your mornings at the conference to work on your individual writing project.