Action Alert from RAWI, Mizna, and the SWANA Caucus at AWP

Dear RAWI Members and Friends,

In this moment of increasing censorship and silencing among writers, artists, and activists, we have been made aware that, when finalizing the Los Angeles 2025 Conference schedule, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference circumvented the peer-driven, equitably minded process it uses to select panels. After issuing a list of tentatively accepted events in October 2024, AWP added several panels that were all sponsored by the Jewish Book Council (JBC) following what one panelist described as “intervention" from the Book Council. This was in response to the feeling among a small subset of participants that the peer process had selected what one panelist referred to as "a sea of anti-Israel panels."

On December 12th, 2024, AWP put forth a schedule that included at least one panel that had previously been rejected through the peer selection process. In response, we reached out to AWP for clarity, but we have not received a satisfactory explanation as to why some partner organizations were allowed to submit event proposals past the publicly advertised deadline, or were given an outsized number of panel slots potentially outside of the review process. To our knowledge, even Literary Partner organizations must meet stated deadlines for proposing programming. The fact that any organization might be allowed to usher through multiple panels, including some that were previously rejected, after the tentative conference schedule was released shows an extraordinary preference.

The lack of clarity surrounding these late-added events potentially compromises what should be an equitable, transparent process. Many writers rely on conference panel acceptances to secure travel funding, advance their careers, and prove scholarly engagement within academic promotion and tenure processes.

The decision by AWP to allow external pressure to dictate its conference schedule outside of the selection process compromises the trust of the writing community at large. This trust relies on the notion that conference selection is performed through a transparent selection process and by a diverse body of our peers. The fact that a single organization might successfully lobby to have events put forth that represent its interests and perspectives is unfairly opaque; this potentially risks the interests of the most vulnerable members of AWP’s community.

We're asking you to sign our petition and to write directly to AWP and demand transparency on this past year's selection process, including an accounting for how panels were added after the initial peer review process resulted in a list of accepted events. We must collectively insist that AWP adhere to its guidelines for panel selections, which are intended to avoid outsized external influence and political lobbying.

Please write, forward, and share widely.

In Solidarity,

RAWI
Mizna
The SWANA Caucus at AWP