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The story begins twenty five years ago, when a dedicated group of writers and arts patrons conceived of a conference that would meet in what had once been an old mining town but had yet to emerge as a preeminent resort destination. Enthusiastic participants were led by a stellar faculty. We wrote with Harriet Doerr, we discussed with Ron Hansen, and we thronged to readings and lectures by the likes of John Nichols whose movie, The Milagro Beanfield War, was in production. Bound by a love for words on a page and brandishing our art, Writers at Work had embarked on what now is one of the longest-lived gatherings of writers in the country.

In 1999, we relocated to the campus of Westminster College of Salt Lake City. There the conference fortified its mission to serve local writers and readers while maintaining its national presence. We made a home of the central-city campus and expanded our community of friends among prominent faculty, editors, agents, and fellow writers. A decade later, committed to our original purpose and enlivened by our growth, we are poised again to offer the best conference in the Intermountain West--and this time, we reconnect with our roots.

We are pleased to announce the return of the annual Writers at Work conference to Park City, Utah, in the summer of 2009. In partnership with the Spiro Arts Community (www.spiroarts.org), we will host morning workshops, discuss literary topics into the afternoons, and gather for evening readings in a perfectly breathtaking setting within the Wasatch Mountain range.

Spiro Arts is an Artist-in-Residence and workshop center, which offers: fully subsidized residencies for visual and written artists, visiting artist workshops, public lecture series and children's programs. Spiro Arts supports visual artists, writers and community members by providing a place to work, a supportive environment and dedication to the artistic process and ideas essential to human progress. Located at Silver Star in the heart of historic Park City, Spiro Arts offers its facilities to organizations such as Writers at Work, the University of Utah, and the Sundance Film Institute and Festival within a community that once was home to the Silver Star mines.

Under Iron Mountain, the original mine shafts that carted ore from the depths of the earth still exist outside of vintage buildings left as a framework, venerable remnants of the hard wrought mining heritage on which Park City was founded. At an elevation of 7,200 feet above sea level, Silver Star is nestled at the base of Park City Mountain Resort®, overlooking all of the city as well as its municipal golf course and the neighboring mountain range of the Uintas. Join us in June of 2009 as we discover the talents of a community, explore the writers within, and mine for the voices that lie within us all.

Past events:

Remarks delivered at the Turning Leaves event, October 18, 2008

Writers@Work is a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization. All donations are tax deductible.