Dear San Francisco Writers Conference Community,
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ THIS!
What a year 2021 has been. We have all been put through the wringer, learning and unlearning everything we know about how to survive and thrive through this pandemic. We’ll be processing the impact that these past two years have had on us as a community–locally and globally–for years to come.
Due to the once again spiking and mutating COVID situation, and out of an abundance of caution and care for you, our valued community, the SFWC planning committee and I have made the decision to move the date of our 2022 conference event from our normal President’s Day weekend slot in February to July 21–24, 2022. This decision was not made lightly. But at the end of the day, we want the best writers conference in America to be as safe as it is excellent.
Speakers, agents, publishing professionals and attendees have all reached out to us, concerned about traveling in the next few weeks, and the reasons vary from health risks to canceled flights. We heard you. We want this conference to be the best that it can be, and that includes honoring our wellbeing, as well as ensuring the safety of our attendees, the quality of our content and the fantastic connections at our event.
What does a new conference date mean for you?
If you were still on the fence about registering for SFWC 2022, now you have more time to decide!
If you have already purchased your registration for our February 2022 event, you have two options.
- Option 1) Your registration is still valid for the July event regardless of what you paid (even if we’re forced to raise the registration fee), so we’ll save your spot and see you then! If you have already booked your room at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, please cancel your room directly with the hotel ASAP. We will send you a SFWC code to use when it’s time for you rebook to your hotel room for the new dates at the same rates. Keep up to date on everything about the conference by visiting our website, sfwriters.org, subscribing to our monthly newsletter there, and following SFWC on social media (we even have a community Facebook page!).
- Option 2) We will be offering a full refund of conference fees to currently registered attendees until April 15, 2022, for those who cannot rearrange travel plans for the new dates or still feel unsure of the Covid situation. Contact Richard Santos, Director of Registrations, for a full refund of your conference fee. You can email Richard at [email protected] to begin that process.
Obviously we hope you’ll join us in July. Part of what makes our conference so special is the community that we share when we’re together.
We promise to deliver the same quality programming and opportunity for connection that you have come to expect from us over the years. As an added bonus, this year we will be videotaping all of our sessions. Our registered attendees will have access to the video recordings of all of our sessions for an entire year after the event. You can watch sessions you missed because the schedule conflicted, and you can revisit key points in the sessions you did attend. This is a big deal because for no extra charge you’ll get to experience 100% of all 5-7 simultaneous sessions, as well as the entire Writing for Hollywood and Poetry summits!
We apologize for any inconvenience brought on by the latest evolution of Covid-19. We want to be sure the 2022 SFWC is up to our high standards of excellent programming and is safe for all participants, attendees and presenters. We thank you for your patience and support. Living with uncertainty isn’t easy. We’re all doing our best to make the most of the time we have here on this planet. We appreciate you for sticking by us and trusting us to guide you on the path to achieving your publishing dreams.
See you in July.
Laurie McLean, Director
San Francisco Writers Conference
(on behalf of the hundreds of people who put on this spectacular event for you each year!)
Will you offer a virtual option?