GENERAL INFORMATION
What Is Writing by Degrees?
How Do I Attend?
How Do I Get There?
Flight Information?
Where to Eat?
Who We Are
Sponsors
What Is Writing by Degrees?
Now in its eleventh year, WBD is a conference/writers' retreat created by and featuring solely graduate creative writing students nationwide. Since its inception, WBD has grown to be an annual three-day meeting place for some of the most exciting work by graduate creative writers. Panels on pedagogy, theory in the creative writing classroom, the process of editing and submitting work, and the creative writing job market, have turned WBD into more than merely a showcase for national graduate literary talent. WBD features keynote poets, fiction writers, essayists, and critics from all theoretic and aesthetic backgrounds. Past speakers have included Lee K. Abbott, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Steve Almond, Jo Ann Beard, Lydia Davis, B. H. Fairchild, Sascha Feinstein, Judith Harris, Timothy Liu, Sena Jeter Naslund, Vijay Seshadri, Neil Shepard, Michael Steinberg, plus Binghamton University's very own award-winning faculty, including poets Liz Rosenberg, Ruth Stone, and Maria Gillan, and novelists Jaimee Wriston Colbert and Jack Vernon. The conference is held in Binghamton, New York, in association with Binghamton University.
How Do I Attend?
WBD is free to the public and to all students (graduate and undergraduate) who are not presenting at the conference. Just check our schedule link for more precise information regarding the nature and starting times of the panels you wish to attend. Don't miss the keynote speakers Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening, and the receptions to follow.
How Do I Get There?
This year WBD will be held at the historic Bundy Mansion, a Queen-Anne Victorian mansion built in 1892. The mansion is located at 129 Main Street, Binghamton, NY 13905-2742. For a detailed map, and directions to the Bundy Mansion, click here.
Binghamton is located in the Southern tier of New York State, three and one-half hours Northwest of New York City, and one hour South of Syracuse at the junction of Interstate 81 and 88. A regional airport and Greyhound station service the city.
If you are traveling from the Binghamton University campus, the easiest way to get to Writing By Degrees is via OCCT bus. Take the JC Westside bus and get off at Cedar at the pedestrian sign. If you miss the Cedar stop then you can get off at Mather at the BCT sign. On weekdays, buses leave the Old Union Bus Stop on the JC Westside route every half hour from 7:00 AM to 1:00 AM the next day. However, on the weekend, the earliest bus leaves at 11:00 AM, and then they depart every two hours until 11:00 PM. If you want to see a map of the JC Westside OCCT route, click here.
(Special thanks to Andrew Cholewa for compiling this information.)
Flight Information
For those flying into Binghamton for the conference, Edwin A. Link Field (Binghamton's Regional Airport) is located about fifteen minutes Northwest of downtown. We recommend that participants try Binghamton's airport prior to going to larger airports farther away. From the airport, participants may rent cars or take taxis to the conference. Under the accommodations link, there are good hotels within walking distance of the conference as well as lots of restaurants and the entire downtown.
If, however, you are not flying into Binghamton's airport, try one of the following airports, keeping in mind that rental cars will be necessary:
Syracuse International Airport (1 hour and 15 minutes North)
Ithaca Regional Airport (1 hour Northwest)
Elmira/Corning Regional Airport (1 hour and 15 minutes West)
Scranton, Pennsylvania (1 hour and 15 minutes South)
Where to Eat?
A list of ethnic and regional restaurants will be available to all participants at the conference. Highlights include The Lost Dog Cafe (across the street from the Best Western) and Mekong Vietnamese restaurant.
Who We Are
Writing by Degrees is the only National Graduate Creative Writing Conference. Key staff members include Binghamton University graduate students and faculty. Binghamton University is one of four university centers within the State University of New York system. The Fiske Guide to Colleges 2005 calls Binghamton the “premier public university in the northeast.” Binghamton enrolls nearly 14,000 students in bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs.
Sponsors
Writing by Degrees is sponsored in part by Binghamton University’s Creative Writing Program, English Department, Graduate English Organization, Graduate Student Organization, Harpur College Speaker Fund, Convocations Committee, and Gance’s Complete Catering, Uno Chicago Grill and Bar, Pizza Hut, Cyber Café West, Sam’s Club, Whole in the Wall, and The Spot Diner.
Questions or comments? Email us at writingbydegrees2008@gmail.com.
