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* The AWC Annual Conference *
September 12-14, 2025
“Inspire, Educate, Support!”
Orange Beach Community Center
27235 Canal Rd.
Orange Beach, AL 36561
The Alabama Writers’ Cooperative was founded in 1923. Join us in 2025 for our annual conference as our organization recognizes 102 years of existence. This year’s conference will include an Open mic on Friday night, workshops and sessions during all three days of conference covering elements of the craft and enterprise of writing, and more to exciting offerings. Saturday’s Awards Dinner will feature a ceremony for the AWC Writing Content winners, as well as a keynote address by Kerry Madden-Lunsford.
Faculty
Faculty Bios
Kerry Madden-Lunsford has been a regular contributor to the LA Times OpEd page. For several years, she directed the creative writing program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she is still a professor, and she taught in Antioch University’s MFA program in Los Angeles for a decade. She is the author of the new children’s novel, Werewolf Hamlet, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, which received a Starred Booklist Review. Werewolf Hamlet, published by Charlesbridge Moves in 2025, has gone into a second printing and is going to be a paperback and an audiobook. Her picture book Ernestine’s Milky Way was the Alabama State Book of 2019. She also wrote the Maggie Valley Trilogy, which includes Gentle’s Holler, Louisiana’s Song, and Jessie’s Mountain and Gentle’s Holler received a Starred Kirkus and PW Review and was the State Book of North Carolina in 2007. Her biography, Up Close Harper Lee, was one Booklist's Ten Top Biographies for Youth in 2009. Her first novel, Offsides, was a New York Public Library Pick for the Teen Age in 1997 and was optioned for a series by Diane Keaton and Jim Henson Productions. Her plays have been produced in Los Angeles and Tennessee, and she has published fiction in Shenandoah, Amaryllis, Belle Lettres, Carve Magazine, Scholastic Storyworks, and nonfiction in the North Carolina Literary Review, Global South, LA Weekly, Nelle, American Girl, and the Washington Post, among others. Her new children’s novel, Millie G and Vulcan is currently under submission, and she is at work on a memoir, The Family Plan – Unstable Connections. Kerry is the mother of three adult children and a grandmother, and she now lives full-time in Birmingham, Alabama with her husband, Kiffen, and beloved dachshunds, Olive and Wilbur. Visit her at kerrymadden.com.
H. M. Cotton is the managing editor of Birmingham Poetry Review, contributing editor for NELLE, and production manager for both journals. Her writing appears in places such as Greensboro Review, storySouth, and Terrain.org. She teaches at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is a student at Warren Wilson’s MFA program for writers. As an Alabama Master Naturalist and board member for the Cahaba River Society, she dedicates her spare time to advocating for Alabama's outdoor spaces. A 2023 Poetry Fellow with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, she soloed a 180-mile trip down the Cahaba River and wrote about it at theCahabaProject.substack.com.
Jessica Temple earned her PhD in poetry from Georgia State University and teaches creative writing at Northwest Florida State College. She attended the 2019 Sewanee Writers' Conference as a contributing participant in poetry and the 2025 Spring Ossabaw Island Writers' Retreat as a poetry scholar and will attend the 2025 Longleaf Writers' Conference as a St. Joe's Community Foundation Local Scholar. She was Alabama State Poetry Society's 2019 Poet of the Year and placed third in the BlackBerry Peach Poetry Prizes 2022: National Spoken and Written Word Contest. She is managing editor of Blackwater Review and Emerald Coast Review XXII. Temple serves as treasurer of the Alabama State Poetry Society, 2nd vice president of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies, and contest chair for Alabama Writers Cooperative. In addition, she is a member of the Florida State Poets Association, Emerald Coast Writers, and the National League of American Pen Women, Pensacola Branch. Her work has appeared in Wraparound South; Crab Orchard Review; Canyon Voices; and Stone, River, Sky: An Anthology of Georgia Poems from Negative Capability Press, among others. She is the author of Daughters of Bone (Madville Publishing, 2021) and Seamless and Other Legends (Finishing Line Press, 2013).
Jo S. Kittinger is the author of more than 30 books for children—fiction and non-fiction picture books and easy readers, e-picture books, and middle grade nonfiction. Most notably The House on Dirty-Third Street (Peachtree Publishers) was honored with a Christopher Award, a Social Justice Literature Award, and the Carol D. Reiser Children’s Book Award. Other picture books include: Rosa's Bus: The Ride to Civil Rights (Calkins Creek Books), which won a Crystal Kite award from The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, A Breath of Hope, Helping a Hero, and The Beauty of Dreams (all with the American Bar Association Publishers). In addition, Jo has published numerous items in various books, magazines, educational materials and newspapers. Jo enjoys the position of Regional Advisor Emeritus for the Southern Breeze region (AL, MS, GA) of SCBWI, having led the region for 12 years. Having been in the industry for over 30 years, Jo enjoys teaching and freelance editing, sharing what she has gleaned with writers who are now arising. When not at her desk, Jo loves adventure and being out in nature!
Charlotte Donlon is a writer and spiritual director whose work centers on helping people explore themes of belonging through art and spirituality. Her approach resonates with individuals from diverse faith backgrounds, including those uncertain about their beliefs. She employs a universal framework of belonging and connection to foster meaningful, soulful conversations. In 2020, Broadleaf Books published Charlotte's first book, The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. Her second book, Spiritual Direction for Writers, is slated for release by Eerdmans in January 2026. As the founder of several initiatives, including Belonging through Art™, Spiritual Direction for Writers®, Spiritual Direction for Belonging®, and Parenting with Art®, Charlotte has established herself as a thought leader in the intersection of creativity and spirituality. Her essays have been featured in prominent publications such as The Washington Post, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, and The Millions, among others. Charlotte's academic background includes a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing and a certificate in spiritual direction, equipping her to guide others on their creative and spiritual journeys. Her nonjudgmental approach and inclusive language have made her work accessible and appealing to a broad audience, regardless of their faith tradition or spiritual inclinations.
Lesa Carnes Shaul grew up in the community of Horton, Alabama, in Marshall County. After graduating from Albertville High School, she earned a B.A. in English from the University of Alabama and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. She is currently a professor of English at the University of West Alabama in Livingston, and she has authored a previous book (a purely academic book that could be used as a cure for chronic insomnia) titled Poems of Pure Imagination: Robert Penn Warren and the Romantic Tradition from LSU Press.
Lesa grew up hearing stories about what was referred to as “the Kilpatrick shooting,” and even though the tragedy happened long before she was born, she carried her family’s lore about the shooting for decades. Now she has written a book about the events leading up to the night of May 17, 1951, the shoot-out between law enforcement and Aubrey Kilpatrick, a Marshall County farmer and bootlegger, and his son James’s bloody revenge on the men who killed his father. It’s also a story of a time and a place—post-WWII north Alabama and the customs and people of Sand Mountain. Midnight Cry has been featured in Southern Living and Alabama Heritage magazines, as well as the Alabama Public Television series Bookmark with Don Noble and the podcast Most Notorious, hosted by Erik Rivenes.
Manda Collins grew up on a combination of Nancy Drew books and Jane Austen novels, and her own brand of Regency romantic suspense is the result. A former academic librarian, she holds a BA in English from Spring Hill College and master's degrees in English Lit and Librarianship from the University of Alabama. Her books have been reviewed in Entertainment Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, Publisher's Weekly, Bookpage, Kirkus, and USA Today. Her novel Duke with Benefits was named one of Kirkus Books Best Romance Novels of 2017. Her latest book is A Wallflower’s Guide to Viscounts and Vice, from Forever, a division of Grand Central Publishing. A native of Mobile, she lives on the Gulf Coast with a very stubborn cat named Toaster Strudel and more books than are strictly necessary.
Judge Debra H. Goldstein is the author of With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying, a collection of her short stories, as well as Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery series, and two standalone novels: IPPY award-winning Maze in Blue and Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players Mystery. Her short stories, which have been named Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer finalists and won AWC, BWR, and other awards, have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, Malice Domestic Murder Most Edible, Masthead, Murder by the Glass, Jukes & Tonks, and Paranoia Blues: Songs Inspired by the Music of Paul Simon. Debra serves on the national board of Sisters in Crime and previously was on Mystery Writers of America’s national board and was president of the Guppy and SEMWA chapters. Find out more about Debra at https://www.DebraHGoldstein.com.
Marlin Barton is from the Black Belt region of Alabama. His most recent book is a novel, Children of Dust, which was a finalist for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. He’s published two earlier novels, The Cross Garden and A Broken Thing, and three collections of short stories: The Dry Well, Dancing by the River, and Pasture Art. His stories have appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies, including Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories. He’s also been awarded the Truman Capote Prize for short fiction by an Alabama writer. He teaches in, and helps direct, the Writing Our Stories project, a program for juvenile offenders created by the Alabama Writers’ Forum, and he’s been teaching in the low-residency MFA program at Converse University since 2010.
Poet, librarian, raconteur; Matthew Layne believes in the radical transformative power found in the intersection of poetry and art. His poetry collection, Miracle Strip, was named 2024 Book of the Year by the Alabama State Poetry Society, and he is the recipient of a 2025 Alabama Author Award for Poetry from the Alabama Library Association. The collection is a unique hybrid of the written and spoken word. Kirkus Reviews describes it as "A lusty collection of poems rooted in the physical and emotional topography of the South." Layne, along with a poetry collective, recently purchased the Brick Road independent press, and they are in the process of releasing their first collections under the new ownership. Look for him at your local library.
Mike Turner, a poet and songwriter living in Fairhope, Alabama USA on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay, was named 2025 Poet of the Year by the Alabama State Poetry Society in recognition of his contributions to promoting and encouraging Alabama poetry.
Mike has more than 450 poems published internationally, in over 100 print and online literary journals and anthologies. His poem, “A Flash of Blue,” was awarded First Prize in the 2020 Spring Poetry Contest sponsored by the Academy of the Heart and Mind; while his poem, “Sense of Peace,” was awarded the 2023 Roger Williams Peace Prize by the Alabama Writers’ Cooperative. Mike’s debut poetry collection, Visions and Memories, was published in 2021 by Sweetycat Press and is available on Amazon.
As a songwriter, Mike was named Male Gospel Entertainer of the Year by both the Alabama Music Association (2016) and the North America Country Music Association International (2017). He was featured performing his original songs about life on the Gulf Coast, at the 2020 Monroeville Literary Festival. Mike has multiple recordings of his songs, recorded both by himself and by other recording artists in the U.S., the U.K., Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, receiving radio airplay and streaming on Spotify, iTunes, and other streaming platforms.
Mike is a member of the board of directors of the Alabama Writers’ Cooperative and serves as editor of the AWC Newsletter. He is also a member of the Alabama State Poetry Society, the Alabama Writers Forum, Emerald Coast Writers, and The Pensters, Fairhope’s writers group.
Mary Dansak is a writer, an equestrian, and a naturalist. Her connection to horses and the natural world informs not only her writing but her outlook on life. Mary grew up in Alabama, surrounded by the beauty and mystery of the lush forests, cool rock caves, roiling Gulf waters, and endless creeks and rivers here. After a demanding 30-year career in science education, she enjoys semi-retirement and the opportunity to be outside, exploring and enjoying all the wonders underfoot and overhead. Mary feels strongly that nurturing connections to wildlife is the path to preserving our natural heritage and writes from a place of profound love.
Mary writes a weekly column for The Auburn Villager and is the author of Box Turtles, Hooligans, and Love, Sweet Love, a collection of some of those columns. She has co-authored several books with her writers’ group, The Mystic Order of East Alabama Fiction Writers, and her works appear in print and online magazines and journals. Additionally, Mary works as a writer at a horse and cattle ranch and has happily traded her office chair for a buttercream palomino named Jasper. She maintains an active presence on Substack through her publication, Writing into Wonder, and enjoys speaking about the necessity of nurturing awe and creativity.
Roy Hoffman, called by critic Don Noble “one of Alabama’s best storytellers,” is a novelist and journalist with a special interest in place, character, family history, and widely ranging cultures. He is the author of four novels rooted in the Gulf South: “The Promise of the Pelican,” about an undocumented immigrant accused of a crime and the old lawyer who defends him, “Come Landfall,” love stories in a time of hurricanes and war, “Chicken Dreaming Corn,” inspired by the sojourn of his grandparents, Eastern European Jews, to Alabama, and “Almost Family,” a domestic drama during the Civil Rights Movement. He is the author of two nonfiction books, “Back Home,” a collection of pieces about his hometown, Mobile, and “Alabama Afternoons: Profiles and Conversations.” Among his prominent essays are “Harper Lee, My Daughter and Me,” in the New York Times, and “Buddha Meets Bubba: The South’s Surprisingly Diverse Heritage,” in the Wall St. Journal. During his literary career, including a twenty-year stint in New York, Roy has also worked as a features writer, religion reporter, and speechwriter. He is on the fiction and nonfiction faculty of Spalding University’s low-residency Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing, and lives with his family in Fairhope, AL. On the web: www.royhoffmanwriter.com
Retiring as a police captain in Birmingham, AL, T.K. Thorne turned to crime with a trilogy of murder, magic, and mayhem in the “Magic City Stories” (House of Rose, House of Stone, and House of Iron) where a rookie policewoman discovers she is a witch. A deep dive into the past produced award-winning historical novels about famous, unnamed women briefly mentioned in the Bible (the wives of Noah and Lot—Noah’s Wife and Angels at the Gate) and two nonfiction civil rights works (Last Chance for Justice and Behind the Magic Curtain: Secrets, Spies, and Unsung White Allies of Birmingham’s Civil Rights Days). Website: TKThorne.com
Valerie (V.M.) Burns is an Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, and Next Generation Award finalist. Writing as V.M. Burns, she is the author of the Mystery Bookshop, Dog Club, and RJ Franklin Mystery series. As Valerie Burns, she writes the Baker Street Mystery series. She also writes the Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery series as Kallie E. Benjamin. In addition to writing, Valerie is an adjunct professor in the Writing Popular Fiction MFA Program at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA, and a mentor in the Pocket MFA program. Born and raised in northwestern Indiana, Valerie now lives in Northern Georgia with her two poodles. Connect with Valerie at https://vmburns.com.
Richelle Putnam is a writer, editor, educator, and marketer passionate about storytelling and the creative process. She is the Arts Project/Arts Education Director for The Montgomery Institute and Executive Editor of The Bluegrass Standard Magazine. Holding a BS in Marketing Management and an MA in Creative Writing, Richelle is also a Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC) Certified Teaching Artist, a two-time MAC Literary Arts Fellow, and a Mississippi Humanities Speaker. Her literary work has appeared in Pif Magazine, Flashquake, The Copperfield Review, Birmingham Arts Journal, and multiple bestselling Adams Media (Simon & Schuster) anthologies. Her short fiction and memoirs have earned recognition from Writer’s Digest, Fish Publishing, New Millennium Writings, and more. Among her six published books are a 2014 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards Silver Medalist and a 2017 Foreword Indies Book Awards Bronze Medal winner. Visit http://richelleputnam.com to learn more.
Workshop descriptions
Saturday Banquet Keynote: "We can write about hard things: Addressing tough issues in fiction for young people" - Kerry Madden-Lunsford
“The Long and Short of Writing Fiction: How to write long, short, and sell it!” - Debra H. Goldstein and Valerie (V.M.) Burns
The elements needed to write novels or short stories. Finding markets for your work and selling it.
“Travel the Page: How to Structure Your Writing with a Road Trip” - H.M. Cotton
Itching to write something new but not sure how to approach it? Or trying to breathe life into an old piece of writing you keep stalling out on? This presentation will cover how to plan and accomplish your next writing project by using travel as a structural base. Conversation will take into consideration budget-friendly travel ideas alongside project goal-setting tips and tricks. You'll also hear one woman's account of how she accidentally committed herself to solo-kayaking 180 miles of Alabama's most bio-diverse river and lived to write the tale.
“Substack as a Place to Write Authentically” - Mary Dansak
What is this place called Substack, and why are so many writers headed there? In this presentation, we’ll cover some of the basics of this growing platform including the perks for both readers and writers. We will cover setting up your own Substack publication, focusing on writing bravely and authentically, and finding connections to others who share your passions. Bring your questions and ideas. What will you name your new Substack publication?
“Developing an Artist’s Statement - Focusing On Who We Are and What Impact We Seek as Writers” - Mike Turner
Who are you as a writer? What impact do you want your writing to have? What is its purpose? After your readers have finished reading your work, how do you want them to feel? What do you want them to do Answering these questions can do much to not only focus your writing efforts on these larger end goals, but also to further your promotional efforts to get your work in front of the audiences you want to reach.
In this discussion/workshop, poet/songwriter Mike Turner will give examples and tips to help you craft your own Artist’s Statement and explore how to use that statement in finding and connecting with the readers you want to be impacted by your writing.
“Putting It Out There: Cracking the Code to Literary Journals” - Jessica Temple and Halley (H.M.) Cotton
So you’ve poured your soul on the page, now what? This panel will discuss how to get your words out into the world and into the hands of readers. With a primary focus on literary magazines, experienced editors will guide participants through every part of the publishing process from choosing where to send work and crafting submission packets, to navigating publishing rights, and, yes, even the sting of rejection. Writers of all stages will have the chance to Q and A with the panelists and will come away confident and prepared to take on the literary submission process.
“Begin Where You Are: Establishing Sustainable Writing Practices” - Charlotte Donlon
“Begin Where You Are: Establishing Sustainable Writing Practices” invites writers to integrate their creativity with other areas of life by nurturing rhythms that fit their unique circumstances and callings. Drawing on insights from my spiritual direction practice and my forthcoming book, Spiritual Direction for Writers, participants will explore how their writing life is deeply connected to their sense of purpose and design practices that are both nourishing and sustainable. Through practical guidance and reflective prompts, attendees will discover how to honor their current realities and cultivate a fulfilling writing life, starting exactly where they are.
“Unearthing Alabama's Stories: Murder and the March Towards Justice” - Lesa Carnes Shaul and T.K. Thorne
Delve into the heart of our state's complex past! Two acclaimed authors unravel Alabama historical narratives: one, a chilling murder mystery that gripped a community, and the other, powerful accounts of the struggle for civil rights that shaped our nation. Shaul and Thorne share the research processes and compelling storytelling behind these nonfiction works, offering insights and inspiration for your own explorations of Alabama's rich and often challenging history.
“From Fact to Fiction: Using Nonfiction Research to Create Historical Fiction” - Richelle Putnam
This workshop teaches participants how to transform detailed historical research into compelling fictional stories. We focus on creating believable settings, intriguing characters, and a plot driven by real historical events while using creative writing techniques to ensure the story remains engaging.
Key elements:
- Turning nonfiction research into narrative-driven fiction.
- Crafting complex characters inspired by actual historical figures.
- Using historical events as the backdrop or catalyst for character development and plot.
- Includes writing prompts on the setting, character development, and plot integration.
“First-page critiques” - Roy Hoffman
Roy requests that participants write a brief summary of the novel, story, essay, etc., at the top of the page, just to contextualize the first page. He will talk about criteria for his critiques and give a couple of examples of strong first pages from literature.
“Picture Yourself Writing for Young Children” - Jo S. Kittinger
Picture books are a unique genre in the publishing industry. Your words will be completely dependent on the illustrations created to magnify it. (And you may have no say, whatsoever, in that art!)
Learn the ins and outs of creating picture book texts, and how to leave room for the illustrator. PBs have very specific guidelines you need to know so that you can ignore them with purpose!