Literary Event Schedule for the 2026 Napa Valley Writers’ Conference
Tickets sold on-site 30 minutes prior to event (tickets not sold in advance or online); SEE PRICES BELOW.
EVENING READINGS (Performing Arts Center, Napa Campus, Napa Valley College, with the exception of Monday, July 27)
Sunday, July 26 – 6:30 pm wine reception; 7 pm – Dana Levin & Lan Samantha Chang
Monday, July 27 – Silverado Vineyards 6:30 pm wine reception; 7 pm – Jane Hirshfield & Paul Harding
Tuesday, July 28 – 6:30 pm wine reception; 7 pm – Mira Rosenthal & Paisley Rekdal
Wednesday, July 29 – 5:30 pm wine reception; 6 pm – Danusha Laméris & Jamel Brinkley
Thursday, July 30 – 6:30 pm wine reception; 7pm – Michelle Huneven & Participants
DAILY CRAFT TALKS (Performing Arts Center, Napa Campus, Napa Valley College)
Monday, July 27
9 am – Poetry Craft Talk: Danusha Laméris, “Writing the Broken Poem”
1:30 pm – Fiction Craft Talk: Jamel Brinkley, “Troubling the Voice in Fiction”
3 pm Translation Craft Talk: Mira Rosenthal, “Welcome to the Herd: Ecopoetry and the Ethics of Translation”
Tuesday, July 28
9 am – Poetry Craft Talk: Dana Levin, “I Hear a Voice: On Mentorship, On Louise Glück”
1:30 pm – Fiction Craft Talk: Michelle Huneven, “Ozio or Creative Idleness”
3:00 pm – Special Event: Participant Reading
Wednesday, July 29
9 am – Poetry Craft Talk: Jane Hirshfield
1:30 pm – Fiction Craft Talk: Lan Samantha Chang, “Nonlinear Novels”
Thursday, July 30
9 am – Poetry Craft Talk: Paisley Rekdal, “Material Versus Digital Poetics: Two New Takes on Poetry and Reading”
1:30 pm – Fiction Craft Talk: Paul Harding, “Some Thoughts on the Power of Description”
Friday, July 31
9 am – First Books Panels, Fiction and Poetry
FREE DROP-IN COMMUNITY CLASSES (Community room, McCarthy Library, Napa Campus, Napa Valley College)
Monday to Friday – 10:30 – 11:30 am – Poetry drop-in generative workshop with Judy Halebsky
Monday to Thursday – 4:30 – 5:30 pm – Evening faculty seminar with Caroline Goodwin
Each daytime event takes place on the Napa Valley College main campus, at 2277 Napa Vallejo Hwy, Napa, CA 94558.
2026 PRICING for public admission (tickets sold on-site prior to each Reading and Craft Talk, no tickets sold in advance or online)
- Individual reading: $20
- Individual craft talk: $25
- Full week pass (all craft talks and readings): $275
- Lectures-only pass (all 9 craft talks): $200
- Readings-only pass (all 5 readings): $90
- Single-day pass (two lectures and one reading): $65