Key West Literary Seminar

The Key West Literary Seminar welcomes readers and writers to this subtropical island city. Our flagship program is the annual seminar, a four-day program that explores a unique literary theme each January. Our Writers’ Workshop Program offers instruction and community to writers of all levels, while our awards and scholarships recognize emerging writers of exceptional merit and support teachers and librarians. Through Littoral, our online journal, and our Audio Archives Project, we present exclusive literary resources to readers worldwide.

Our 30th annual seminar took place January 5–8, 2012. “Yet Another World: Literature of the Future” featured some of the most innovative writers working today and explored the potential of our present moment through dystopian, utopian, and imagined worlds. You can see pictures of the event on Littoral, our online journal, where you’ll also find an interview with James Gleick, the mastermind behind this year’s seminar. Selected recordings from the seminar are available in our audio archives, including talks by Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Lethem, Colson Whitehead, and China Miéville.

Our 31st annual seminar takes place January 10–13, 2013. “Writers on Writers” will be an exploration of some of the world’s most enduring writers and an investigation of the relationship between life and art. As we turn the lens on the contemporary writers on stage, we will also explore the creative act of recreating a life and consider how an engagement with great writers of the past affects the literature of today. Confirmed panelists include James Atlas, Rosalind Brackenbury, Geoff Dyer, Pico Iyer, Jay Parini, Robert D. Richardson, Phyllis Rose, Julie Salamon, Judith Thurman, Colm Toibin, Edmund White, and Brenda Wineapple. Registration is open now and filling up fast. Writers’ workshops and scholarship opportunities will be announced in the spring.