.png)
The 15th Annual Writers Conference
Resonance
The evocative power of a story to strike a chord within the reader, creating a lasting harmony between the written word and the human experience.
Saturday, September 26, 2026 • 9 AM - 4 PM | Madison Community House, Madison, NJ
Connect with agents, editors, and publishers. Develop your craft. Network. Have fun!
Plus, we'll be offering our signature Fishbowl Session, which breaks the fourth wall, bringing together authors, editors, agents, and YOU in a live, rotating conversation! And, remember to sign up for your personal, 15-minute one-on-one critique. (Must be registered at the conference to take advantage of this add-on.) Don’t miss out on this amazing gathering of talent and inspiration!
You can view the full agenda on the Eventbrite page.
Whether you're a seasoned author or just starting out, you'll find plenty to inspire you on your writing journey. Join us for thought-provoking sessions on prose, poetry, and children's books presented by noted editors, agents, and authors, including:
Jamie Fiore Higgins
Author of the bestselling memoir Bully Market: My Story of Money and Misogyny at Goldman Sachs
Christina Lopez
Associate Editor at St. Martin's Press
Dr. Ann E. Wallace
Jersey City Poet Laureate Emeritus
Alyssa Eisner Henkin
Agent at Birch Path Literary
Sera Rivers
Agent at Speilberg Literary Agency
.png)
In this keynote, Jamie Fiore Higgins explores how resonance has shaped both her life and her writing journey. From her early years on Wall Street, where achievement, ambition, and success resonated most strongly, to her later work as an author, advocate for gender equality, and mental health clinician, she reflects on how the things that matter to us evolve over time. Drawing on her experiences writing Bully Market, Jamie examines how writers are often compelled to tell the stories that won't let them go, the experiences, questions, and truths that continue to resonate long after they occur. She shares how writing became a way to make sense of difficult experiences, transform personal challenges into universal themes, and connect with readers who saw their own stories reflected in her words.
Each of us can point to specific moments—days, hours, even flashes of time—that hold outsized weight and significance in our lives. We are shaped these defining events, yet we often are not sure exactly why or how. Sometimes we don’t even remember them in full detail, just in fragments and snatches of detail—a snippet of song, a familiar smell, the feel of fabric against our skin. In this generative workshop, we will rely on sense memory to recall and write through those embodied experiences that have stayed with us. We will reflect on what they tell us about who we are and what makes us tick. Placing our younger selves in conversation with who we are now, we will explore how the meaning of early moments may resonate in new ways as we travel through our lives.
Editor Christina Lopez offers a craft-focused session demystifying what editors look for in the opening chapters, including common pitfalls that lose momentum and practical ways to create stronger hooks, emotional investment, and page-turning tension.
Step inside the circle for an unfiltered look at the industry. Forget the podium. Our signature Fishbowl Session breaks the fourth wall, bringing together authors, editors, agents, and YOU in a live, rotating conversation.