The Word’s [margins.] Conference, Festival Supports Marginalized Creatives

What if spaces for writers and readers were designed with marginalized people in mind? According to recent research from PEN America, 41% of books banned in the U.S. in the last nine months featured protagonists of color, and 31% featured LGBTQ+ characters or topics, which is exactly why we need to support writers from marginalized communities more than ever.

The only event of its kind in the U.S., [margins.] conference + festival, brought to you by The Word, is a biannual conference and festival to support writers and creatives from marginalized communities. The Word is a nonprofit organization working to build a publishing community that will fight for inclusivity. Our mission is to promote voices from underserved communities and diverse backgrounds, to honor the stories of those who have faced adversity and injustice, and to provide a sanctuary space where these groups will see themselves in literature.

Launched in 2020, [margins.] brings together writers, storytellers, and wordsmiths at all levels of experience to explore emerging trends in literature and the many approaches to storytelling, visioning and creating, education, inclusion, advocacy, organizing, and building community. [margins.] was created by and for people on the margins, promoting the inclusive representation of experiences in literature for communities who have historically been excluded.

We believe in the power of words and will work to provide a platform for voices to be heard beyond social, cultural, political, and economic barriers. We believe in the power of gathering ourselves together to support the growth and development of healthy careers and writing communities that welcome and embrace voices from all races, colors, genders, sexual orientations, lifestyles, classes, national origins, religions, ethnicities, ages, and abilities.

The author Arundhati Roy said, “There's really no such thing as the ‘voiceless’.. There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard.” Our goal is to increase access, diversity, equity, and inclusion in media to ensure that historically silenced groups are heard.

The 2022 [margins.] conference will take place from August 5-7 in Denver, CO, as well as online, and will feature over 100 locally and nationally recognized speakers and performers, including keynote speakers award-winning author Nate Marshall (Finna, Wild Hundreds), National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree and author K-Ming Chang (Bestiary, Bone House, Gods of Want), and Nicole Counts, Senior Editor at One World, an imprint of Random House.

​The author James Baldwin said “Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance.” Together, we will create community and develop methods to help us endure. Tracks will be centered around the themes of intersectionality, centering historically-marginalized voices, and collectively realizing our vision of a liberated future. We will explore emerging trends in literature and the many approaches to storytelling, visioning and creating, education, inclusion, advocacy, organizing, and building community. With our partners, we will offer workshops, meet-ups, open mics, readings, panels, and an epic dance party.

​Register today for the conference to learn from agents, publishers, authors, editors, journalists, and more publishing industry experts through
● agent pitch sessions
● panels
● workshops
● community cohort sessions
● and more

The [margins.] festival is a free-to-the-public festival with engaging readings; performance events such as free outdoor movies, youth poetry programs, and collaborations for multi-disciplinary arts programming, and a public book fair. As a Denver Arts & Venues Cultural Partner, all in-person events will be held at the McNichols Building in downtown Denver. Virtual programming will be its own live, dedicated track featuring authors, industry experts, and creatives from around the world.

Join us at the festival to support writers and creatives and community organizations through
● author readings and signings
● open mics
● workshops
● film screenings
● dance party

We invite you to dream with us. To build with us. To listen with us. To welcome and celebrate voices that have historically been silenced and oppressed.

Learn more at thewordfordiversity.org, and get the latest updates by following The Word on Instagram and Twitter @wordisdiversity.

Photo courtesy of The Word