BY KAREN BOSSICK
The 2023 Sun Valley Writers Conference will field the strongest literary list its ever had, thanks to five Pulitzer Prize winners, two National Book Award finalists, six New York Times bestsellers and a former U.S. Poet Laureate.
That’s the assessment of the conference’s Literary Director John Burnham Schwartz as he surveys this summer’s conference. The conference will be held Saturday, July 22, through Monday, July 24, at Sun Valley Resort.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum plans to explain why some of her contemporaries have abandoned liberal democratic ideals in favor of nationalist movements. Funny man Dave Barry, a Miami humor columnist who has kept Writers Conference attendees in stitches in the past, will tell what it’s actually like to actually live in Florida.
Bestselling author and science writer Ed Yong will discuss the extraordinary sensory world of other animals. And Salvadoran poet Javier Zamora will share his heart-wrenching story of making a 3,000-mile journey from El Salvador to the United States by himself when he was only 9.
Other speakers at the 29th Sun Valley Writers Conference will include physician Abraham Verghese, whose new novel is “The Covenant of Water;” Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith; Ezra Klein, author of “Why We’re Polarized,” and PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff.
“Every year, the biggest star of the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference is our program; and the biggest star of our program is not one individual writer, however amazing, but all of the writers taken together—an unparalleled literary constellation of breadth, talent, and insight,” said Schwartz.
Passes will go on sale at 10 a.m. Feb. 16 at https://svwc.com. Full Conferences passes cost $1,100 and Next Generation passes for those 35 and under cost $550.
Passes are sold on a first-come, first-served basis. They are expected to sell out quickly—possibly within minutes.
Those joining the Sun Valley Writers Conference Family of Donors can avail themselves of early guaranteed access to passes during the Donor Priority Pre-Sale which is open now through Jan. 31.
Conference organizers also plan to offer free lectures in partnership with the Community Library, as well as free livestreaming and free Pavilion Lawn talks. Single event tickets for specific Pavilion talks will be available for $35 each.