Clarksville, Tennessee, was a pivotal center of the Southern Renaissance of the 1920s and '30s. Writers of the era living in Clarksville included Robert Penn Warren, Evelyn Scott, Caroline Gordon and Allen Tate. Additional writers, including Cleanth Brooks, Ford Madox Ford, Donald Davidson, Katherine Ann Porter, Robert Lowell, Andrew Lytle, Malcolm Cowley, Frances and Brainard Cheney and others gathered to write and discuss their work at "Benfolly," Tate and Gordon's home overlooking the banks of the Cumberland River. Their Clarksville home became a Mecca for writers of the Southern Renaissance, and from that site poured literature which enriched the American scene. In that great tradition, we offer you the Nineteenth Annual Clarksville Writers Conference.

 

 

Thank you to all who attended our 2023 conference! We hope you will make plans to join us for the Nineteenth Annual Clarksville Writers Conference, scheduled for June 5 - 7, 2024. Please stay tuned to our website and social media for updates about our exciting lineup in 2024.


Thomas Mabry Creative Writing Contest

In advance of the 2024 Clarksville Writers Conference, we invite fiction manuscript submissions to our inaugural Thomas Mabry Creative Writing Contest, judged by critically acclaimed novelist Bren McClain.

Submissions will be accepted from August 15, 2023, through February 10, 2024. Please follow all submission guidelines in the Thomas Mabry Creative Writing Contest rules. A $35 nonrefundable fee is required at the time of submission.

The top three finalists will be notified between mid-March and mid-April 2024. The finalists will be recognized and presented with prize baskets at the conference banquet, when the grand prize winner will also be announced.

The submission deadline has passed. Thank you to all who submitted manuscripts.