Background

The Sun Valley Writers’ Conference started as an idea in the minds of Reva Tooley, Leslie and Jon Maksik and Gordon Russell back in 1993 and the first event, featuring 12 writers and 108 attendees, took place two years later at The Community School in Sun Valley. What made this little launch noteworthy is that Pulitzer Prize winner David Halberstam gave the opening talk, and gave us instant credibility.

It turned out that a growing number of readers and writers had a deep yearning to hear from experienced authors – to engage, match wits, learn and listen. Word quickly spread that something special was happening in Sun Valley. Our earliest partners – Mary Anne Dolan, Brandon Stoddard, Barbara and Ethan Canin, Anne and Karl Fleming, Barbi Reed, Diane Peavey  and Van Gordon Sauter- along with a Founders’ Circle that was comprised of authors, editors, supporters, and friends, brainstormed with us. Youngsters volunteered to help out just as long as they could listen to their “writer rock stars.” Early on we developed a scholarship/fellowship program and we invited students and teachers to attend free of charge. Attendees came from all over the country, and writers came from all over the world. Pulitzer Prize winners David Halberstam, Frank McCourt, and W.S. Merwin became our literary advisors and added immeasurably to the richness of the experience. The following have been added to our group of literary advisors: Anne Taylor Fleming, Paul Holdengraber, Ellen McCourt and Abraham Verghese.

Under the leadership of a small, dedicated board of directors we became an Idaho nonprofit corporation; we  grew dramatically and decamped for breathtaking venues at the Sun Valley Resort. In the meantime a new, young team began to guide SVWC into the future. Robin Eidsmo, Executive Director of SVWC, has had experience in every aspect of the conference and now provides inspired leadership. Novelist John Burnham Schwartz, who helped shape our program for years, is now our Literary Director and assisted by Associate Director, the novelist Anne Taylor Fleming.  Marcia Mode-Stavros, also Associate Director and beloved figure in Sun Valley, now manages a creative, part-time staff. We are a family that grows bigger, better, and stronger each year.

We are thrilled to see familiar faces, to meet new attendees who are in for the time of their lives, to applaud the writers who come bearing gifts, and to thank the generous donors who believe in the importance of this Sun Valley experience.