2026 CONFERENCE
REGISTRATION IS
OPEN NOW!
Seats are Limited!
2026 Workshops
Fiction
creative non-fiction
Poetry
Screenwriting
PLEASE READ!
Registration does not require an application. Simply select an option below and we’ll see you in May 2026. Workshops generally fill by March so don’t miss out!
Please note, we are no longer providing housing for attendees (except for the Longleaf on the Half-Shell Donor package). We recommend booking your housing early in Grayton Beach, Florida. Housing books fast, so please plan ahead.
2026 Open Enrollment Options
Longleaf on the Half-Shell Sponsorship
$10,000.00
Perhaps you have always wondered how you can support a literacy and literary arts non-profit? This option allows you to create a two-year scholarship or fellowship in your name while also purchasing a ‘special’ registration pass. With our Longleaf on the Half-shell, you will benefit from some face to face time with our faculty at a dinner even as you register for the full conference and become a sponsor for 2026 and 2027!
These sponsorships are limited to two individual donors each years. If you would like the option to support us while also registering for our full conference experience, then the ‘Longleaf on the Half-Shell’ sponsorship will provide sustaining funds for our conference (worth ~$6000), along with a full registration package that includes housing and a private evening with our headline writers (and other faculty and agents) at a special dinner in Grayton. Supporters will be provided lovely booked shared housing with our faculty or fellows for the duration of the conference and will enjoy all that our conference has to offer. Individual seats are limited (4), so register and support us today. Registration for this option will close when we hit capacity in the early Fall. This is not an option for groups.
NOTE: Locals who are considering this sponsorship option may contact us directly if housing is not needed during the week–in this case the price for our Longleaf on the Half-Shell is $8000 total!
Includes:
Includes:
~$6000 donation to the Longleaf Educational Services and ensures our continued success and existence
We provide wonderful shared housing for you for the entire conference
One special fine-dining dinner at a local restaurant with other ‘On the Half-shell’ sponsors, faculty, and our featured writers
Up to four agent/editor consultations
All Seminars (10+)
All events and special meals
Beach Yoga
Access to bicycles
Access to all readings and special events
Access to all food and beverage offerings
Beach Bonfire Party
Director’s Dinner Party
Shrimp Boil and Reading
All sunset receptions
All breakfast offerings
Weeklong Writing Workshop in your preferred genre
Discounts on local food and entertainment with lanyard
Full Conference Registration
$1,699.00
This registration option provides all that our conference has to offer. Attendees will want to reserve their seat and then use either local rental management companies or VRBO or AirBnB to book your housing for the week.
HOUSING IS NOT PROVIDED.
Arrival is May 9th and departure is May 16th. We will fill up early. Registration will close when we hit capacity in the late winter.
Includes:
TWO agent/editor consultations
All Seminars (10+)
All events and special meals
Beach Yoga
Access to bicycles
Access to all readings and special events
Access to all food and beverage offerings
Beach Bonfire Party
Director’s Dinner Party
Shrimp Boil and Reading
All sunset receptions
All breakfast offerings
Weeklong Writing Workshop in your preferred genre
Discounts on local food and entertainment with lanyard
All Conference Pass
$950.00
Perhaps you just want to experience this conference but aren’t interested in the pressure of having your written work critiqued in a workshop?
We have many major poets and writers (all the way from beginners to published authors) who take advantage of this so you would be joining an exclusive group! This option provides access to all that the LWC has to offer but does NOT include our workshop experience. This is perfect for those writers and members of the public who just want to experience our conference and social events without the pressure of having your writing evaluated in a writing workshop. Registration will close when we hit capacity in late winter.
Includes:
ONE agent/editor consultations (each extra consultation is offered at $49)
All Seminars (10+)
All events and special meals
Beach Yoga
Access to bicycles
Access to all readings and special events
Access to all food and beverage offerings
Beach Bonfire Party
Director’s Dinner Party
Shrimp Boil and Reading
All sunset receptions
All breakfast offerings
Weeklong Writing Workshop in your preferred genre
Discounts on local food and entertainment with lanyard
Workshop Only Registration
$549.00
Perhaps you don’t have the time for all the offerings but would love to have your work critiqued in workshop?
This option is for those who want workshop critiques but are not interested or do not have the time for the full conference experience of seminars and readings and events. This will give you access to a workshop in your genre where you will have your work critiqued by experts and ensures an educational and electrifying experience. Please let us know your intent to be in workshop well ahead of our final May 5th deadline–we have to arrange for our faculty to prepare! Please email directly with your genre faculty after arranging payment.
Includes:
Seminar Pass
$359.00
Perhaps you just want to learn new craft approaches to writing but aren’t interested in the pressure of having your works critiqued and you don’t have the time or interest in attending evening events and readings?
This option gives you access to all seminars (you get 10+ for the price of just over 4 seminars) being offered daily in the morning and afternoon by agents, writers, and faculty over the course of the week. This is a perfect option for those who want to learn more about the craft of writing and the agent and publishing industry, but who might not be able to attend all the evening events and are not interested in having their own creative writing critiqued in workshop.
Includes:
Donate here and Help Ensure our Future!
Longleaf on the Half-Shell Sponsorship
$10,000.00
Perhaps you have always wondered how you can support a literacy and literary arts non-profit? This option allows you to create a two-year scholarship or fellowship in your name while also purchasing a ‘special’ registration pass. With our Longleaf on the Half-shell, you will benefit from some face to face time with our faculty at a dinner even as you register for the full conference and become a sponsor for 2026 and 2027!
These sponsorships are limited to two individual donors each years. If you would like the option to support us while also registering for our full conference experience, then the ‘Longleaf on the Half-Shell’ sponsorship will provide sustaining funds for our conference (worth ~$6000), along with a full registration package that includes housing and a private evening with our headline writers (and other faculty and agents) at a special dinner in Grayton. Supporters will be provided lovely booked shared housing with our faculty or fellows for the duration of the conference and will enjoy all that our conference has to offer. Individual seats are limited (4), so register and support us today. Registration for this option will close when we hit capacity in the early Fall. This is not an option for groups.
NOTE: Locals who are considering this sponsorship option may contact us directly if housing is not needed during the week–in this case the price for our Longleaf on the Half-Shell is $8000 total!
Includes:
Donate to the Sybil McLain-Topel Scholarship Fund!
$5.00
Our non-profit organization is a registered 501(3)(c) and we work year around to facilitate and create and nurture literacy and literary programs in the Florida panhandle and throughout the South and elsewhere. All donations are tax deductible, so please give to our cause! You may donate any amount!
Includes:
In 2024, Longleaf and the larger artistic communities of South Walton, FL and Chattanooga, TN (among many other loving family members and uncountable friends) lost our good friend Sybil McLain-Topel. For those who knew her, she was a bright light for literature and the arts and for Longleaf in particular she was one of our stalwart loyalists and mentors and friends, and she was a visitor to the conference going back all the way to our first year in 2013.
With the help of Christopher McLain, we decided to honor her memory by creating a new legacy for her support of artists. For 2025 (and with your help) for decades into the future, we are starting this scholarship fund.
Our scholarships are life-changing and they allow emerging writers and poets to surround themselves by like-minded artists for the week of the conference. These scholarships on their own (housing, registration, and the food and beverage we provide) are worth anywhere from $3200-4200 each year (depending on housing costs here on the Emerald Coast). We hope you will give to this wonderful memorial fund!
General Longleaf Fund
$5.00
Our non-profit organization is a registered 501(3)(c) and we work year around to facilitate and create and nurture literacy and literary programs in the Florida panhandle and throughout the South and elsewhere. All donations are tax deductible, so please give to our cause!
Includes:
Running a writer’s retreat and conference in a location on the Emerald Coast can be very expensive. There are myriad expenses that a non-profit (especially one run by volunteers such as ourselves), must face–from accountants to insurance to travel to housing to cold beverages to paying our tremendous visiting writers. The Marilyn Harris Teachers Scholarship and Fellowship came to us through an inheritance built into a will! Reach out if you have questions (our joke is that those cruddy nephews (Jeremy) don’t deserve your money, but we do!
We appreciate any and all support and are always looking for that person who is willing to give of themselves for this important cause. Help us to ensure that we exist in 10, 20, and 100 years! Please reach out to us with any questions!
A La Carte Options
Seminar A La Carte
$59.00
Our seminars with faculty, visiting writers, and agents/editors take place daily. See schedule for dates and times. To secure a spot, simply pay for as many seminar seats as you would like for the week, then fill out our registration form to place your name with specific speakers. In 2026 we have made agent consultations part of the fees, so the best way to reserve a spot is to see our main registration options.
Note: afternoon ‘beach generative seminars’ take place on the beach where our chairs are situated.
Description
A la carte option:
Our seminars with faculty, visiting writers, and agents/editors take place daily. See schedule for dates and times. To secure a spot, simply pay for as many seminar seats as you would like for the week, then fill out our registration form to place your name with specific speakers. In 2026 we have made agent consultations part of the fees, so the best way to reserve a spot is to see our main registration options.
Note: afternoon ‘beach generative seminars’ take place on the beach where our chairs are situated.
Related products
A la carte options are based on availability and are first come, first served.
All options will remain open until filled. More Options Coming Soon!
Cancellation Policy
Cancellation Policy
Full Conference Registration requests for cancellation must be submitted before March 15, 2026 in order to receive a full refund (minus $100 processing fee). Any request to cancel after midnight of March 15, 2026, cannot be honored.
Conference Pass requests for cancellation must be submitted before April 1, 2026 in order to receive a full refund (minus $75 processing fee). Any request to cancel after midnight of April 1, 2026, cannot be honored.
All other cancellations will be considered on a case by case basis.
Our cancellation policy is based on the fact that our registrations fill up early and late attempts to cancel impact our workshops and seminars negatively. Often, late cancellations create empty seats that are then not filled.
Ready to Support The Future Of LongLeaf?
You can donate directly to the Longleaf Educational Services (our 501 non-profit) by going to PayPal and submitting a donation of any amount to our account email:
longleafwritersconference@gmail.com
or by sending a check to:
Longleaf Educational Services
7901 4th St N #8273
St. Petersburg, FL, 33702, USA
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