The SFWC Facts
The inaugural San Francisco Writers Conference was held February 15-16, 2004, at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, under the direction of Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada. The 3rd through 15th conferences were held at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel. In 2019, the SFWC moved to the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero.
The conference is held each President’s Day weekend in mid-February. The SFWC has expanded to a four-day event and it now starts on Thursday and ends on Sunday.
In addition to the main conference, there are pre/post in-depth classes, an exhibition hall, a YA/children’s session for SF students, and free open-to-the-public events. Events in addition to the conference include the San Francisco Writing for Change and year-round writing classes held at Mechanics’ Institute.
Attendance at the main conference averages around 600 people. There are 80-100 speakers, editors and agents who participate each year. There are 70-80 volunteers.
The theme of the conference is A Celebration of Craft, Commerce and Community, which reflects the literary heritage of San Francisco as well as the founders’ vision of helping writers get their work published by connecting them with publishers, editors, agents and other professionals.
The San Francisco Writers Conference is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation that donates money and services to charities that support writing. SFWC donations have gone to BINC, the Children’s Book Project, EveryLibrary, Litquake, WNBA, Books & Booze, Project Homeless Connect, high school scholarship recipients and other organizations. SFWC management team members donate their time on many projects and can often be seen giving pro-bono speeches at writers conferences and other venues.
The conference director is Laurie McLean who is also a co-founder of Fuse Literary, building the literary agency of the future.
Barbara Santos, co-creator of the Maui Writers Conference, is marketing director. Her husband Richard Santos manages conference registration. Lissa Provost is the operations director and Linda Lee is the volunteer director and oversees the www.sfwriters.org website.
Contact Information
SFWC Co-founders Mike Larsen & Elizabeth Pomada
- Director: Laurie McLean [email protected]
- Marketing Director/Newsletter Editor: Barbara Santos [email protected]
- Operations Director: Lissa Provost [email protected]
- Registration/Website Director: Richard Santos [email protected]
- Volunteer Coordinator: Linda Lee [email protected]
- Director of AV: Venkat Raman
- Indie Publishing & Tech Sponsorships: Carla King [email protected]
San Francisco Writers Foundation Advisory Board
- Kathleen Antrim, author and radio commentator
- Taryn Edwards, Mechanics’ Institute Library
- Harvey Pawl, businessman
Mailing Address
San Francisco Writers Conference
P.O. Box 326 Oakley, CA 94561
Phone: 925.420.6223