Bear River Writers’ Conference is a place where writers can enjoy the beauty of Northern Michigan and meet writers from all over the country. We hope to bring people with general literary interests together with those who are interested in writing about place and the natural environment. We hope the mix will create new ideas that would send writers home with good work to continue. We hope the shores of Walloon Lake, which have already inspired one American classic, Hemingway’s Nick Adams stories, will be a good place to accomplish that goal. After ten years of conferences, and a number of successful publications, it seems to be working!

- Keith Taylor
Director, Bear River Writers' Conference

Bear River Writers’ Conference, which takes place in northern Michigan, connects the Ann Arbor campus with communities hundreds of miles away. With the new initiative Michigan has taken in sponsoring Bear River, we are now reaching out to writers at all levels of experience and expertise. Based on the participation of writers with Michigan connections, as well as internationally known authors, Bear River is well on its way to becoming the premier literary gathering in the Great Lakes region.

- Mary Sue Coleman,
President, University of Michigan