How to make your AWP proposal shine: Advice from author and educator Susan Muaddi Darraj
How can SWANA writers who want to propose a panel for the annual AWP Conference & Bookfair increase their chances of success? On May 13, 2026, Susan Muaddi Darraj, who teaches English and creative writing at Harford Community College and the Johns Hopkins University and is an award-winning writer of books for adults and children, shared tips with RAWI members in a 1-hour Zoom webinar.
The next Conference & Bookfair is the largest annual gathering of writers in North America. In 2027, it will take place March 17–20 in Chicago, Illinois. Proposals for panels and readings are due June 1, 2026.
Here’s what Susan told participants:
Writing the proposal
Be specific. Keep the focus tight and narrow, while making sure it has broad appeal. The panel you propose should be a way to present work that you’re already doing.
Write accessibly. AWP is not an academic, pedagogical event; it’s primarily for writers. Avoid academic jargon. Use language that is broadly appealing. It doesn’t need to be formal, and it can even be a little snarky and funny. Let your personality show. Use dynamic, humorous, eye-catching language.
Write a creative, two-part title. Make the first part catchy and the second highly specific and descriptive. Look at last year’s accepted panels for examples.
Tell the audience what they will get from coming to your session. How will writers benefit from attending? What are the outcomes?
The event category is very important. Your proposal will only be evaluated against other proposals submitted to the same category, so choose carefully.
Statement of value. Situate the panel amidst political, historical, and social issues that make your panel important, and make statements such as, “Historically, AWP hasn’t featured many…” or “There have been few panels that focus on…” You can use data to make your point about why the panel is needed.
Inviting panelists
Try to get five panelists. You’re allowed to include two to five panelists, but people drop out, so it’s a good idea to have the maximum number in your proposal.
Panel participants should be diverse in their own way. This may mean their genres, where they live, their backgrounds, and their writing experience.
Invite people who you also want to collaborate with in another way. For example, writing a paper together based on your panel, putting on a follow-up event, or pursuing other opportunities that arise through the conference.
Reach out to people that you don’t know personally but whom you admire.
Develop the idea in collaboration with the people you invite. Write a draft and ask them to give input.
Be respectful to your panelists in the proposal. Use correct pronouns and mention their books and awards.
A person attending AWP cannot be on more than three accepted panels. So, it might be useful to ask panelists if they are being included on other proposals and what the content of those proposals are. There might even be an opportunity for collaboration with folks who have a topic very similar to yours.
If you are invited to be a panelist, ask to see the proposal and the other panelists before it is submitted.
Pitching Arab/SWANA content
If you have an Arab American or SWANA theme, talk to other RAWI members about what they’re submitting, if you can. That way, you can avoid too many SWANA submissions competing against each other in the same category.
Look at what panels have been done in past years. AWP likes to change things up from year to year. Here’s RAWI’s list of last year’s panels with SWANA topics and panelists.
“Arab American” or “SWANA” isn’t enough of a marker to distinguish your proposal. Be more specific.
If your panel is accepted
Publicize. Make a social media post advertising your panel and circulate it.
Get quick impressions after the panel. What questions came up for you? You might use these to pitch a paper to a journal.
“Take the show on the road.” Re-package the proposal for another conference, inviting participants for Round 2 in which you continue to refine the idea. Create another event at a bookstore or literary organization or as a webinar or online event. There are many ways a panel can have a second life.
Publish what you presented. Turn what you said on the panel into a short op-ed or essay for Literary Hub or Writer’s Digest or some similar publication or develop it into an academic article.
Thanks so much to Susan for the valuable advice. If you submit a panel idea this year, let us know!