Port Townsend. Summer. The most craft-heavy, egalitarian conference in the country. Three days to go. That's all I've got. We expect registration to go faster than the previous two years, and here is the best way to get in: Follow this online link for the fastest process, or call 360.385.3102, x117. If that extension is busy, 360.385.3102, x131 will also be open and available.

Morning workshop faculty members: fiction writer Chris Abani, nonfiction writer Denise Chávez, poet Martín Espada, poet Dana Levin, travel writer Tom Miller, nonfiction writer Bich Minh Nguyen (leading a master class), and fiction writer Ana Menéndez.

The Menéndez class is drawing a huge amount of early buzz, so I'm trying to make sure everyone has a chance at it. She'll be leading a generative workshop in which everyone will write one short-short story a day, and leave the Conference with at least six new stories and with a much deeper knowledge of craft.

The 2010 Conference is being presented through the generous partnership and financial support of The Inland Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University, Western Washington University, the University of Washington, the University of Idaho, Central Washington University, the Crab Creek Review, Willow Springs, Copper Canyon Press, Amazon.com, Port Book and News, the Rainier Writers' Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University, Peninsula College, and the Richard Hugo House.