We’ve just returned from AWP, North America’s largest Conference & Bookfair for writers and writing programs. It took place in Baltimore March 4-7, 2026. We saw a lot of friends. There was comedy at our little corner of the book fair, as usual. It seems there was a rogue electric mobility device that was assigned to two of our friends on different days. Of course, both friends tried to stop by to see us. Tried is the operative word here because the evil blue cart had other ideas! I won’t mention names, but one friend plowed through on Friday, and another did the same on Saturday!!! It was good for a laugh, but I did mention it to the security staff, since we are pretty sure the same cart was involved in both accidents.
A feeling of solidarity
The feel of this conference was one of solidarity. Everyone seemed to recognize that our role has become more important over recent months. The books we write and publish and the younger writers and editors we teach have greater value than ever in this time of book banning and media consolidation. We seem all to be holding the weight of responsibility to maintain literacy itself.
There was a little surprise for Patricia Clark while we were there. She got word that her O Lucky Day has been named a Forward Indies finalist. So we got to share that news with people stopping by the booth.
It’s that time of year again, already–AWP!!! We feel like we are hanging on for dear life. Somehow we forget every year how fraught January and February are… no matter how carefully we plan and organize.
What causes chaos at the start of the year?
End-of-year bookkeeping is a beast. Royalty calculations, statements, and then checks going out. It happens every year, and we always think, “next year it’s going to be easy…” But each year brings special challenges. still we’re pretty sure this time. Next year WILL be easier. but the royalty checks went in the mail yesterday. Whoosh! (6 weeks of my life I’ll never get back… and the bookkeeper’s life… You all have no idea how much work goes into getting those statements right. So many small sums of money come and go from so many directions that it takes a specialist or two to get it right, and at the end of the year, no amount of careful recording makes all of it make sense!)
AWPs past
Then there’s the anxiety brought on by memories of AWPs past. So many things have gone wrong. Kim’s first trip to AWP she was very green. She shipped four or five boxes of random books and didn’t read all the convoluted instructions about tax documents and all the rest of it, so spent that whole conference sitting with more experienced poets and authors who published with TRP. We couldn’t really sell books, so we gave a bunch away, and Kim learned plenty just shooting the you-know-what and people watching.
In 2018, Kim was at the tail end of her time with TRP, and planning for Madville’s launch. She sat, for the second year in a row, next to Rick Campbell, veteran editor, publisher, and poet, and a friendship developed. It was once more a good time and place to people-watch and learn. An unfortunate connection was made to a printer/distributor who offered what we thought we couldn’t get for Madville as a start-up… full distribution. (Y’all know that old adage about when something seems too good to be true?? But these guys were old school, respected…) At any rate, friendships grew at that Tampa conference and seeds were planted for Madville.
Luanne Smith, Lisa Rose, Kim Davis, Suzanne Heagy, and Laura Leigh MorrisMadville founding board member Clay Reynolds with Theodora Ziolkowski who won the Clay Reynolds Prize at TRP that year.The Goliad guys… John Molina, three Cooper boys, and Joe Haske
AWP 2019 in Portland
2019 was Madville’s, our big introductory year. And that Thursday morning as Kim was walking into the bookfair to kick the whole thing into gear, she received the email from her printer/distributor that they had filed for bankruptcy and Madville should figure out what to do with their books. We got the books back, but those so-and-sos ate all our money for our first year of operations. But you know… we did what we do… We put a brave face on it and had a good time.
Kim and Jacqui at AWP19 in Portland.Luanne Smith moderating her panel at AWP19Jacqui Davis outside Voodoo Doughnuts in PortlandfLuanne Smith’s panel at AWP19. Notice how you can barely see Lu benind the podium!Kim and Jacqui arrive in Portland!Poet Leah Meuller manning the booth at AWP19.
Then there was AWP 2020 in San Antonio
2020 should have been our big breakout year. We were determined to make a grand splash in San Antonio–in our home state. We splurged and took a whole booth space in conjunction with our friends at Kestrel: A Journal of Literature and Art that is put out by Fairmont State University. And wouldn’t you know? March 2020 marked San Antonio, Texas, as ground zero for the Covid-19 Lockdown.
We had fun anyway, not realizing how serious the situation really would become. We saw old friends, breathed in each other’s general directions, and tried to figure out social distancing. And we didn’t make the splash we hoped we would. Many people were sensible and stayed home, but news was breaking while we were driving to San Antonio. We carried on with our plans, and Kestrel shifted over to an empty booth up the way. We had rented a house and made all those plans… sponsorship reception, reading in the bookfair, parties in the house every night. It was a good time… right up until it wasn’t! Yes, some of us did get sick, but we pulled through.
Jacqueline Davis and Gianna RussoJacqueline Davis, Cierra Caballero, Bill Davis, George Drew, and Gerry LaFemina. Author Wondra Chang in the foreground, with Brian Petkash and George Drew in the background.Author Bobby Horecka reads.We managed to snag a time on the bookfair stage…Poet/Author Michael Gaspeny and Artist Charles Moody.Poet Stephen PowersGerry LaFemina and Susanne Heagy chatting at the buffet table.Author Lee Zacharias reads.Author Rick Campbell reads.Bill Davis and George Drew pose in front of the sign for the booth.Our booth was a busy place in the not bustling book fair.Gianna Russo, Kim Davis, Brian Petkash, R. Dean Johnson, and not sure.
AWP 2021 was virtual
Nobody knew what to do. To be fair, we were learning how to do things remotely, but this one was a waste of our time, and a very cheap way for AWP to get out of reimbursing us for 2020, which they said they’d do, but did not.
AWP 2022 in Philly
Or… the 2022 SNAFU! We were traveling large to Philly. Luanne Smith splurged again, and bought us the nice sponsorship package with all the bells and whistles. She had a book coming out, you see… I think it was Muddy Backroads that time. And she is one of our board members. Kim, meanwhile read all the instructions from the material handling company, and they suggested quite strongly that we should palletize the books we shipped there because otherwise we would be forced to pay exorbitant fees per box delivered to the booth. Cutting the story short, FedEx were extremely difficult to deal with and didn’t get the books there in time. We had no books to sell at the booth. We had fun anyway, but we really wished they would have just allowed us to claim a loss. But no. They found the books, sent them home, and had the gall to bill us again–several thousand dollars for the pleasure of dealing with them. For future reference, FedEx has no live humans running things anymore. They answer the phone and read from prompts on screen. No decision making capabilities at all. It was really an expensive trip for nothing other than camaraderie, and poor Lu, who paid for it all, barely got to attend due to family issues.
AWP 23 in Seattle
AWP23 in Seattle was a blast. Once again, we had help from Madville board member Luanne Smith, who splurged on a fancy sponsorship package for us. We had a a fabulous location for our booth on sponsors row with Dolly Parton, larger than life to celebrate the launch of our Dolly Parton anthology, Let Me Say This. We had a fun, fun panel about writing poverty, a reception, and an “off-site/on-site” reading that was really nice in one of the hotel conference rooms. Many of the contributors to the Dolly anthology came out to read their work to us, as did the rest of our Madville authors who attended AWP that year.
AWP 2024 in Kansas City
Thanks to Michael Simms and Vox Populi for sharing their space with Madville in 2024 in Kansas City. And thank you to Lee Zacharias for the photos!
AWP 2025 in Los Angeles
Dolly had proven such a success, we attempted something similar with Honkeytonk Sue, a character created by Bob Boze Bell originally, and used to illustrate several poems in our Santa Fe Trail: Chasing the Big West. She was great, but no where near the attraction that Dolly was. The most fun, we think, from Los Angeles, was the University of Utah honors college students who helped out at the booth. They’re all novel-writing students of our Michael Gills.
We’ll be updating with plans for #AWP26 in Baltimore soon!
Once again, we have Luanne Smith to thank for sponsoring our trip to the AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) conference. As always we saw so very many friends–authors and editors with whom we have worked. Authors with whom we hope someday to work. Experts in the field with good advice, and talented new poets and writers. It didn’t seem as crowded as in years past, and there was clearly concern behind the cheery smiles and pats on the back. It’s a tough time to be trying to sell spots in creative programs. And it’s a tough time to try and make a living in publishing. We especially enjoyed connecting with fellow Texas publishers. Here are a bunch of photos. I’ll put them here and try to add the names!!!
And we missed pictures somewhere… Those who took photos with us, please share!
This is an incomplete photo gallery from Madville Publishing’s AWP25 experience. There were several other authors we know we photographed… We need to connect with a couple of others who took photos. Bruce Overby? Patricia Clark? Lee Zacharias already sent hers…
We had many favorable comments about our new backdrop, and we have to admit that we got it from VistaPrint. They do amazing things quickly and inexpensively. I mention it here because some of our friends asked.
Madville has made our nominations for the 2025 Pushcart Prize. The prize will be awarded in several categories for short pieces. It was a hard decision, because we published such amazing work this year. The Pushcart Prizeaccepts six nominations per small press or magazine and “any combination of poetry, short stories, essays, memoirs or stand-alone excerpts from novels.”
Our editors weighed in on their favorites, and this is what we chose:
“James and Jim Ponder Enough” by Jim Minick from his poetry collection The Intimacy of Spoons (Madville 2024).
