HOPEWORDS WRITERS’ CONFERENCE 2026
April 24-25 | Bluefield, WV
HopeWords Writers’ Conference
2026
April 24-25
Bluefield, WV
Order Early Bird Tickets Now!
HopeWords welcomes you home to Bluefield, West Virginia; a place of inescapable beauty and adversity. Our mountains are the backdrop to one of the most gorgeous places you could evervisit and just a cage's ride under them are the dark tunnels in which our fathers gave their healthand sometimes their lives to claw out the best burning coal in the world. In between is a gritty hope that refuses to give up.
And that's why, on April 24-25, 2026, we are hosting some of the world's greatest writers of children's literature. The storytellers who walk straight into the truth without flinching. The folks who, like miners, take to their knees, tough and brave, extracting what's good to illuminate what's true. They take what is painful and sacred, and somehow make it clear enough to face, simple enough to hold, beautiful enough to believe.
“We are hosting some of the world's greatest writers of children's literature.”
We share C.S. Lewis' disdain for "critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval." The stories we give to our kids are often the very best ones. They teach us how to see. They remind us what is worth protecting. They help us recover a childlike posture that makes real faith and real art possible.
So this year, we invite you to join some of the best authors in the world to be reminded of what is important and good. The work of these storytellers has carried families through grief, lit sparks of courage, and awakened wonder. These are writers who speak simply of beauty without being naive, and handle complex brokenness with an unrelenting hope.
Come join us in these wild and wonderful mountains. Come learn from voices who can show you how to write with clarity, courage, grit, and hope. Come be part of a weekend that just might reshape the way you tell stories.
HopeWords is ready. Bring your story and meet us here.
If you are a writer of any kind, there is something here for you. Because learning to write for children is, in many ways, learning to write in truth.
Join our keynote speaker Mitali Perkins, along with Daniel Nayeri, Gary Schmidt, and more inspiring voices!
2026 Speakers
-
Mitali Perkins was born in Kolkata, India, and grew up across the globe before settling in California. A lifelong lover of story, she writes award-winning books for young readers that explore identity, justice, and belonging across cultures. Mitali has taught at every level from middle school to college and is the author of both fiction and nonfiction, including Steeped in Stories and Just Making. She speaks widely on the power of story to bridge divides and bring healing.
-
Daniel Nayeri was born in Iran and spent some years as a refugee before immigrating to Oklahoma at age seven with his family. He has had a long career in publishing, first as a literary agent, then an editor and publisher for houses such as HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Macmillan. During that time he edited books in every category, from memoir, cookbooks, board books, picture books, literary fiction, how-to, novelty, and more. He is the author of several books, including Everything Sad is Untrue (A True Story), winner of the Michael L. Printz Award, the Christopher Medal, and the Middle Eastern Book Award, and The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams, winner of the Newbery Honor. He lives in the U.S. with his wife and son.
-
Gary Schmidt is an award-winning children’s book author. He received a Newbery Honor and a Printz Honor for his young adult novel Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, as well as a Newbery Honor for The Wednesday Wars. More recently, his books include The Labors of Hercules Beal and Jupiter Rising. In addition to his accomplished authoring, Schmidt is a Professor of English at Calvin College in Michigan.
