"People are coming from the West Coast and some from as far as Alaska," said conference director Anne Greene. "Last year we had people from Nepal, but it’s a lot harder to get into the country right now, so we just have people from the U.S. this year."

About 140 writers, from different backgrounds and with different levels of experience, came together for the week long event to share stories, experiences and ideas.

"Writing is a very lonely thing," said Greene. "It is very interesting for them to come together and do something with others."

The event has been growing slowly through it’s tenure at Wesleyan, almost tripling in size and offers something many writers’ conferences overlook.

"Our conference was one of the first to ever to do non-fiction," said Greene. "It’s is much more than just fiction writers."

The idea to include journalists and non-fiction in general was strutted just over 10 years ago and was inspired by a former Middletown Press reporter.

"We were spurred on by a young John Davidoff to include journalists. He attended our conference one yearand then died shortly thereafter," said Greene. "A scholarship was set up in his name by his family for journalists and it allows us to bring them in."

Greene hopes to see the event keep growing, but not only in size.

"We are not just trying to make it bigger. We want to make it better," said Greene

For all the writers walking in to register on Sunday, the week was a chance to improve their strengths and maybe take a stab at something totally new.

"I just wanted to take a look into prose writing," said James Mcguire, a playwright from Manhattan.

"The conference is just a good way to take in the whole spectrum of writing."

Angela Gloria has a day job with the daily grind, but hopes to learn something this week to make the thoughts in her head a career.

"I’m an assistant in PR in New York, but I always write when I can," said Gloria "I just write whenever I’m inspired."

Brandi Kincaid came to the conference from Savannah, Ga. as one of a handful of scholarship recipients and has been writing as long as she can remember.

"A writer is always a writer, whether it’s in your head or on paper," said Kincaid.

The conference concludes on Friday afternoon at 2:45 p.m. and will include guest speakers Norman Rush, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award; Robert Stone, also a Pulitzer finalist and PEN award winner; Philip Gourevitch of The New Yorker, as well as a number of other writers, editors, and publishers.

To contact Szymon Twarog, call (860)347-3331 Ext. 220 or email stwarog@middletownpress.com.