30th Annual Writer's Symposium by the Sea

Jesmyn Ward, Feb 26

Jesmyn Ward has been hailed as the standout writer of her generation, proving her “fearless and toughly lyrical” voice in novels, memoir, and nonfiction. 

Betsy Burton of the American Booksellers Association has called her “the new Toni Morrison.” Ward is a MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient and in 2017, she became the first woman and the first person of color to win two National Book Awards for Fiction—joining the ranks of William Faulkner, Saul Bellow, John Cheever, Philip Roth, and John Updike. 

Her books include Let Us Descend, Sing, Unburied, Sing, Salvage the Bones, and Navigate Your Stars. 

Ward is also a professor of creative writing at Tulane University.

Sandra Cisneros, Feb 27

Sandra Cisneros is a Latina American short-story writer and poet regarded as a key figure in Chicano literature. 

Cisneros is best known for her first novel, The House on Mango Street, and her subsequent short story collection, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories. 

Her work experiments with literary forms that investigate emerging subject positions, which Cisneros herself attributes to growing up in a context of cultural hybridity and economic inequality that endowed her with unique stories to tell. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowship, the USA Literary Award, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, and more. In 1998 she established the Macondo Writers Workshop, which provides socially conscious workshops for writers, and in 2000 she founded the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation, which awards talented writers connected to Texas. 

Her most recent books are Martita, I Remember You: A Story in English and Spanish and Mujer sin vergüenza.

Mitch Albom, Feb 28

Author, screenwriter, philanthropist, journalist, and broadcaster Mitch Albom is an inspiration around the world. 

Albom is the author of numerous books of fiction and nonfiction, which have collectively sold more than 40 million copies in 48 languages worldwide. 

He has written eight number-one New York Times bestsellers — including Tuesdays with Morrie, the bestselling memoir of all time. 

His most recent book The Little Liar is also a NY Times bestseller.

SYMPOSIUM SUPPORT

Thanks to donors who support the Writer's Symposium by the Sea with their financial contributions.

PLNU Honors Program
PLNU Center for Justice & Reconciliation
PLNU Office of Diversity & Black Student Union
Mery Olive Bangs Endowment
San Diego Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists
Ron & Kathleen Lauderbach
Lawrence and Suzanne Hess
Daniel K. O'Neill
Lori & John Dedic
The Tom and Melanie Gillette Trust, in memory of Tom Gillette
Bob and Jo Birdsell
The Rasak Family
Drs. Kathryn & Michael McConnell
Dr. David & Elizabeth Ostrander
David & Elinor Vandegrift
PLNU Department of Communication Studies
PLNU Department of Literature, Journalism, Writing, & Languages

Interested in supporting the Writer's Symposium? 

To maintain the symposium's high-quality programming, we need your help to meet our yearly donation goal of $80,000. 

Please consider partnering with Writer's Symposium by the Sea by giving an ongoing or one-time, tax-deductible donation. Every gift allows us to provide these inspiring events to PLNU students and the community.