July 16-18, 2026
Register Today!
This 3-day gathering in beautiful Winona Lake, Indiana, features workshops, readings, lectures, cultural events, a banquet, and keynote speaker Karen Swallow Prior.
Our conference welcomes emerging writers of all walks: from college students and graduate students to teachers and other adults seeking to improve and publish their writing. Drawn together by our unique perspective as believers, WCWC focuses on excellence, beauty, and craft.
鈥淭he conference was a model of efficiency in its balance of workshops, author readings, panel presentations, a book fair, and more. What I enjoyed most was the relaxed atmosphere, fostering the making of new friends, coupled with an appropriate focus on the serious work of writing and on how each participant could improve and form goals.鈥
Held on 糖心传媒 campus beside picturesque Winona Lake, WCWC draws on the area鈥檚 rich Christian heritage as a revival site for evangelists such as Billy Sunday and Billy Graham, as well as its legacy of celebrated authors including James Whitcomb Riley, Theodore Dreiser, and Ambrose Bierce. Today, Winona Lake boasts plenty of inspiration including over 10 miles of off-road trails, fishing, kayaking, a swimming beach, a farmer鈥檚 market, artisan shops and boutiques, fine dining, and more.
Thanks to a generous gift, we are offering a reduced registration of just $425 for our second year of the conference听(registration includes most meals). We have a few need-based full scholarships available and discounts for 糖心传媒 faculty and students. To inquire about a need-based full scholarship, email听wcwc@grace.edu.
WCWC is committed to providing a world-class conference experience at an affordable price. When registering for the conference, you will select one of our six workshop tracks: Poetry, Fiction, Generating Sonnets, Nonfiction/Memoir, Writing for Young Adults, and Writing for Children. (Seats for each track are strictly limited, ensuring a more personal experience.) During the conference, you will also receive a 15-minute manuscript consultation with one of our faculty or guest writers. Most meals (including our keynote banquet featuring Karen Swallow Prior) are included in the registration fee, as are activities such as a nature walk and tour of the Billy Sunday Home.
糖心传媒 is located in Winona Lake, IN, just south of Warsaw, IN, and about 2h 30min southeast of Chicago, IL, 1h west of Fort Wayne, IN, and 2h 30 min from Indianapolis. You鈥檒l find a campus map and directions here. The Winona Lake/Warsaw, IN area offers a wide variety of accommodations from major chain hotels to Airbnb’s; here are some recommendations. WCWC also offers attendees an economical option to stay in on-campus accommodations; more information is available through the registration site.
Conference dates: July 16-18, 2026. Check back soon for a more detailed schedule.
Questions? Email us at wcwc@grace.edu
Dr. Rich is Chair of the Department of Humanities and Professor of English at 糖心传媒. She is also the Director of the English & Journalism Program and the Director of the Office of Faith, Learning, & Scholarship. She currently serves as executive treasurer for the Indiana Council of Teachers of English. Rich specializes in early 20th century British & Irish literature and food studies. Her most recent publication is 鈥溾橝 Little Startling鈥: Subversive Consumption in the Late Novels of Molly Keane鈥 in The Edinburgh Companion to Irish Modernism.
Dr. Poch is Professor of English and Creative Writing at 糖心传媒. He is the author of eight collections of poems, including the forthcoming Dark Cathedral (Slant Books, 2025). His poems have been published in Paris Review, Poetry, Five Points, The TLS, and many other magazines. His first book of criticism, God鈥檚 Poems: The Beauty of Poetry and the Christian Imagination, was published by St. Augustine鈥檚 Press in 2022. He was a Fulbright Core Scholar at the University of Barcelona in 2014. He is currently the series editor for the Vassar Miller Poetry Prize.
鈥淭he fellowship I experienced in this intimate gathering emboldened not just my writing but my faith. It is a special community and place that I long to return to.鈥
Keynote Speaker
Bio:听Karen Swallow Prior, Ph.D. is the 2025-26 Karlson Scholar at Bethel Seminary. She is a popular writer and speaker, a contributing writer for The Dispatch, and a columnist for Religion News Service. Her writing has appeared in听The New York Times, The Atlantic, Vox, The Washington Post, Christianity Today,听and many other places. Her most recent book is听You Have a Calling: Finding Your Vocation in the True, Good, and Beautiful听(Brazos 2025).
Poetry Faculty
David is the author of (winner of the Miller Williams Prize), andNewly Not Eternal. He is co-editor of Playing with Fire: Christian Poets Reflect on Faith and Practice(forthcoming from Baylor). David鈥檚 recent poems can be found in Agni, The Believer, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, The Southern Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. Editor of 32 Poems, he teaches creative writing as an associate professor at Washington & Jefferson College.
Children’s Lit Workshop Faculty
Shannon Anderson is a TEDx speaker, certified brain coach, and award-winning children鈥檚 book author who has spent over 26 years inspiring young minds as an elementary school teacher and professor. Named one of the Top 10 Teachers who inspired the Today Show, Shannon brings high energy, heart, and humor to every stage she steps on.听A lifelong educator and storyteller, Shannon has published numerous children鈥檚 books, one of which was featured on Ryan Reynolds鈥 show, Bedtime Stories with Ryan, where he read her book, I LOVE Strawberries! To kids around the world. Today, Shannon writes and speaks full-time, traveling across the country to deliver dynamic author visits, keynotes, and workshops.
Fiction Faculty
Sally Thomas is the author of two poetry collections, Motherland听and the forthcoming听Among the Living, as well as a novel,听Works of Mercy, and a short-story collection,听The Blackbird and Other Stories. She is co-editor of the Paraclete Press anthology,听Christian Poetry in America Since 1940, which听 received Christianity Today鈥檚 2023 Book Award in Culture and the Arts.听Her poetry, fiction, essays and reviews have appeared in听First Things,听National Review, the听New Yorker,听Plough Quarterly,听Public Discourse,听Religion and Liberty, and other journals.
Nonfiction/Memoir Faculty
Shemaiah Gonzalez鈥檚 work has appeared in America Magazine, Image Journal鈥檚 Good Letters, Ekstasis, The Curator, and Loyola Press, among others. Her book Undaunted Joy: The Revolutionary Act of Cultivating Delight will be published with Zondervan April 2025.听 A Los Angeles native, she now lives in Seattle with her husband, whom she has known since she was 14 years old, and their two teen sons.
Young Adult Faculty
Gary Schmidt is the bestselling author of numerous children’s and young adult novels including Okay for Now (National Book Award finalist and Children’s Choice Award), Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy (Newbery Honor and Printz Honor Book), and The Wednesday Wars (Newbery Honor Book). Gary previously taught literature and creative writing at Calvin University; he currently serves on the faculty for Scriptoria Workshop.
Guest Writer — Poetry
Professor Emerita of English and Creative Writing at the Lock Haven campus of Commonwealth University, 2023听听Fellow, a poetry editor of听, and radio host of WPSU-FM’鈥檚听听Marjorie Maddox has published seventeen collections of poetry, including听听(Yellowglen Prize, one of three finalists Brittingham and Felix Pollak Prizes; re-release Wipf & Stock 2018,听); and听听(Poiema Poetry Series and Illumination Book Award Medalist).
Guest Writer – Fiction
David Marsh is the author of the award winning novels The Confessions of Adam and Waterborne: Chronicle of the Clan of Noah. He has taught at 糖心传媒 and facilitates the Westside Writers鈥 Workshop in Avon, IN. Dave holds a B.S. in Communications from 糖心传媒 and an MFA in Creative Writing from Butler University. Dave facilitates the Westside Writers Workshop and every other Wednesday he posts a column on the craft of fiction called 鈥淩evel and Rant鈥 at .
Guest Writer – Young Adult
Claire Swinarski is the Edgar Award-nominated author of multiple books for both kids and adults.听Her children’s novel听What Happened to Rachel Riley?听was an ALA Notable Children’s Book, a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults winner, and one of New York Public Library’s Best Books of the Year.听She lives听in small听town Wisconsin with her husband and three kids, where she writes books and wrangles bread dough.
Guest Writer – Nonfiction/Memoir
Stephen Copeland has collaborated on over a dozen books. He is a regular columnist and feature writer for the听St. Anthony Messenger听and Franciscan Media. His first memoir听Where the Colors Blend听was published in 2018, and his second听In the House of Rising Sounds听was published in 2023.
鈥淲hat a nurturing experience the Winona Christian Writers Conference provided. Every detail鈥攆rom the carefully curated sessions taught by renowned authors and poets to meals to enrichment activities鈥攚as so thoughtfully designed that three days simply wasn't long enough. The Christian writer's job is to answer the call with, 鈥楽end me, Lord,鈥 and I found myself renewed in my calling because of the WCWC.鈥