April 15, 2020
Aloha,
As you may know, the 2020 Honolulu Writers Conference sponsored by the Honolulu Branch of the National League of Pen Women was scheduled for June 6-7, 2020. Unfortunately, and with heavy heart, we are announcing the cancellation of the 2020 Honolulu Writers Conference due to the coronavirus situation.
We are now approaching mid-April, only weeks away from early June. We have no way of predicting the situation with respect to travel, stay-at-home restrictions, curfews, or the spread of the coronavirus here in Hawai‘i and elsewhere. Even if the cycle of the COVID-19 virus pandemic in some regions may be relatively short-lived, once controlled, the situation is so grave that almost no one is thinking about attending a conference at this time.
Hence, with resolve that this is the right thing to do, we are cancelling the 2020 Honolulu Writers Conference. The speakers have all been notified, and we have also issued a full refund to pre-registrants.
We cannot say with any certainty if our next Honolulu Writers Conference will be scheduled within the near future. While we would like to re-schedule, this would involve confirming new dates with a preferred venue as well as agreements with speakers. Venue possibilities will not be known until September at the earliest, so it would be precipitous to try to schedule anything at the present time. We will be exploring possibilities to hold a writers conference in 2021 (or perhaps even as late as 2022), and our monthly meetings and other sponsored events are expected to resume by September 2020.
Please also note that the 2020 Lorin Tarr Gill Writing Competition is ongoing with extended dates to accommodate these challenging times. Check this website for details.
We appreciate your support for writing and expanding what we all know about how to write well. Perhaps this is a time to explore new possibilities in our own writing as we all stay-at-home during this difficult time!
Meanwhile, be safe and keep well.
Mahalo for your understanding,
Luanna Meyer, Ph.D.
Co-President, Honolulu Branch, NLAPW
Chair, 2020 Honolulu Writers Conference
Email: luanna.meyer@vuw.ac.nz
