It’s that time of year again, when writers across the land flock to spring conferences for that necessary writing recharge. This week and coming weekend, two of the biggest gatherings of writers will happen in Portland, Oregon at the 2019 AWP Conference, and in New Orleans at the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival. Peauxdunquians populate panels and readings at both, so we’re all in luck, from the South Coast to the West Coast.

At AWP, Peauxdunquian Maurice Carlos Ruffin will be almost everywhere at once. On Friday, March 29, 9:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m., Maurice will be part of the panel, “Unspoken Intimacies: On Male Friendship, Romance, and Everything in Between,” in room B113 on Level 1 of the Oregon Convention Center. On Saturday, March 30, 2 p.m. – 5 p.m., Maurice will be part of the Krewe de Louisiane & Friends reading put on by Lavender Ink and River Writers, at the Big Legrowlski at 812 NW Couch Street (this reading will also feature one of the poets in the imminently released Issue 1 of The Peauxdunque Review, Christopher Romaguera). Then, somehow managing simultaneous appearance, on March 30, 4:30 p.m. – 5:45 p.m., Maurice will be part of the panel, “Match Game: How to Find and Work with Your Agent,” in Oregon Ballroom 203 on Level 2 of the Oregon Convention Center. Finally, on March 30, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m., Maurice will be part of the reading for the SEI Library Grand Re-Opening at the Center for Self-Enhancement at 3920 N. Kirby Avenue.

At the Tennessee Williams Festival, Anne Babson will moderate the panel, “Poets on Craft and Inspiration,” on Sunday, March 31, 1 p.m. – 2:15 p.m., in the Royal Ballroom at the Hotel Monteleone. Tad Bartlett will be on the panel, “How to Start and Maintain a Writers’ Group,” on Thursday, March 28, 2:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m., at the Historic New Orleans Collection (533 Royal Street). And Claudia Gray will moderate the panel, “Writing Young Adult Fiction: It’s Not Just for Teenagers,” on Saturday, March 30, 11:30 p.m. – 12:45 p.m., at Muriel’s Jackson Square.

And, of course, at both conferences there will be almost-countless Peauxdunquians roaming around in attendance. And there will be so many friends of Peauxdunque on panels and in readings that I dare not try to start listing them all, for fear of forgetting one (but just a sample, because I can’t help myself: at Tennessee Williams Fest, we are looking forward to bumping brains and elbows with great friends George Bishop, Bryan Camp, Nancy Dixon, Abram Himelstein, Susan Larson, Daniel Jose Older, Hannah Pittard, Brad Richard, Nathaniel Rich, and Bryan Washington; we can’t even begin to list all the friends at AWP).

Mostly, though, we can’t wait to see YOU (yes, you), as we grow in community with all the writers around us.