We are thrilled that Ryan Bernsten will be joining us for the 2023 Writers Conference! You may have already ‘met’ Ryan when he was in conversation with memoirist Diana Goetsch over the summer (see their conversation on writing, teaching, personal journeys in the LGBTQ+ community, and more here.) He will be presenting four sessions at the Writers Conference in November, from a session on travel writing to a session on playwriting, a lecture on persuasion through narrative essay, and a workshop on submitting work for publication.
Ryan Bernsten is a graduate of Northwestern University and Oxford's Creative Writing Master's program. He is the author of "50 States of Mind: A Journey to Rediscover American Democracy." In addition to working as a food-writing contributor for The Infatuation, Ryan has written for The Fulcrum, The Oxford Political Review, USA Today, and The Trevor Project, where he is the Senior Managing Editor. Ryan is an award-winning playwright whose plays have been performed across the US and UK. You may have seen him onstage at the Unicorn Theatre in “The Inheritance” or chatting with Helen Mirren as a Slytherin contestant on “Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses” on HBO Max.
You can register for the 2023 Writers Conference here. Registration isn’t required but is appreciated, and your RSVP includes both days of the conference, Nov. 3 and 4. Sessions are available on a first-come first-serve basis. We will also be hosting aWriters Conference Kickoff on Thursday, Nov. 2.
Inspired by this year’s conference book, By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from The New York Times Book Review, we asked Ryan a few questions to get to know him better:
1. What's in your TBR pile?
Kaikeyi: A Novel by Vaishnavi Patel
2. What are you reading right now?
Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
3. Do you have a favorite book you love to recommend?
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski or The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
4. Do you have a favorite bookstore?
5. Answer the question you wish we had asked.
If anyone's told you that you must specialize in one writing medium, they are incorrect.