Japan Writers Conference

The Japan Writers Conference is a free, annual conference open to all. Since 2007, JWC has attracted English-language writers in a variety of fields for a weekend of sharing ideas and experiences on the art, craft and business of writing.

Past JWC presenters have included translator Juliet Winters Carpenter, Colunnist Baye McNeil, YA writers Holly Thompson and Suzanne Kamata, science writers Amanda Alvarez and Elizabeth Tracker, journalist Elaine Lies, poet Jessica Goodfellow, poet/editors Phillip Rowland and Richard Jones, creative nonfiction writer Ann Tashi Slater, and novelists Barry Eisler, Naomi Hirahara and Vikas Swarup. Journals including The Font, Cha, and Kyoto Journal have also participated, as have publishers Fine Line Press and Isobar Press.

JWC is run entirely by volunteers and is held at a different Japanese university each year, with past venues in Tokyo, Hokkaido, Kobe, Kyoto, Tokushima, Iwate and Okinawa.