San Miguel Writers’ Conference and Literary Festival draws record attendance

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The San Miguel Writers’ Conference and Literary Festival ended Sunday, Feb. 15, aft a jam-packed week of literate and related activities organized astir the taxable of “Our Stories, Doors to the World.” That turned retired to beryllium an due rubric since the 21st yearly lawsuit drew a grounds 1,750 participants from 15 countries, 67% of whom were attending for the archetypal time, according to Susan Page, league laminitis and president.

Eight keynotes and 2 sheet discussions were held successful the ballroom of the Hotel Real de Minas, with the biggest draws featuring Abraham Verghese, an Indian-American doc and writer of “Cutting for Stone” and “The Covenant of Water”; Maira Kalman, a New York City author, illustrator and designer; R.F. Kuang, the Chinese-American writer of “Yellowface” and “The Poppy War”; Andrés Neuman, an Argentine poet, writer and translator; and Margaret Atwood, the well-known Canadian writer of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and galore different publications (and a league patron).

Canadian-American novelist and essayist Emily St. John Mandel greets attendees astatine the San Miguel Writers’ Conference and Literary Festival. (Cathy Siegner)

The panels

Comprising the archetypal sheet were representatives of the publishing industry, including agents, editors, reviewers, critics and a showrunner. The 2nd sheet included keynoters Neuman; Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil from Oaxaca, who writes successful her autochthonal Mixe, Spanish and English; Emily St. John Mandel, a Canadian-American novelist and essayist; Souvankham Thammavongsa, a Laotian-Canadian writer and short-story writer (and two-time victor of Canada’s Giller Prize); and Danielle Trussoni, a U.S. novelist and columnist (and manager of the conference’s English-language program).

The Spanish connection program

The conference’s Spanish-language programme had a higher illustration this year, with its wide director, Armida Zepeda, organizing 2 keynotes successful Spanish, positive readings, scholarships and different events for Mexican students. On the last day, Zepeda introduced Lizeth Galván Cortés, caput of civilization for the authorities of Guanajuato, who called the league “an lawsuit that shines” and helps to fortify the determination literate environment.

“I invitation you to support speechmaking to link and to support penning to marque change,” Galván Cortés said. “Every leafage work creates societal bridges. Together, let’s marque penning and speechmaking the heartbeat of our development. On behalf of the politician of Guanajuato, we await you adjacent twelvemonth successful San Miguel de Allende.”

Key moments successful 2026

Below are conscionable a fewer of the galore highlights from the panels and keynotes astatine this year’s conference.

Industry Insiders Panel: Leslie Zemeckis, U.S. author, documentary filmmaker and actress, was asked astir the contraction of the publishing manufacture and had this to say: “You conscionable can’t fto different radical accidental no. I’ve had truthful galore friends conscionable springiness up. You tin self-publish, you tin get successful a magazine. I’ve made films and had different radical marque my films. So don’t ever springiness up.”

Abraham Verghese: “My calling to medicine came to maine from a book. I was a precocious reader. By 9 oregon 10, I accidentally picked up ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover.’ ‘Of Human Bondage’ by W. Somerset Maugham held retired the aforesaid promise, but, to my astonishment, it was overmuch better.”

Abraham Verghese with a signed transcript of his publication “Cutting for Stone” for an admirer. (Cathy Siegner)

Maira Kalman: “I did a amusement with David Byrne, who asked maine to bash the (embroidered) curtain for ‘American Utopia.’ He’s an optimist. You bash your work, and you look astatine quality and assistance the radical who request help.”

R.F. Kuang: “All characters are outsiders, those who don’t acceptable successful and are ever connected the extracurricular looking in. I felt similar that increasing up successful Dallas. Later, I realized outsiders person a batch of power. I deliberation I’ll support penning astir those connected the margins.”

Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil: “Thanks to each the radical who are doing fantastic enactment successful spaces wherever they are not seen. Thank you for making this into a multilingual space. Literary spaces should beryllium multilingual. It’s a large enactment of generosity to perceive to the words of others.”

Andrés Neuman: “There are galore reasons to write. Mine was to recognize that I felt much live erstwhile I wrote. My world was not successful my caput unless I wrote astir it. I realized that my beingness was much existent if I wrote astir it successful my diary. I really constitute truthful I’m not a zombie. When we constitute oregon read, it’s erstwhile we are really live and we recognize that we are here.”

Emily St. John Mandel: “There’s ever a babe oregon a occupation oregon thing that keeps you from writing. You person to dainty penning similar a job. If you lone person 45 minutes successful a java store wearing noise-canceling headphones, past instrumentality it. The archetypal draught is conscionable the marble oregon the artifact of wood; it’s not the statue. The draught is the earthy material, and I’m going to find the publication successful that.”

Keynote Panel: When asked which 3 writers she would invitation to a meal party, Danielle Trussoni said, “Virginia Woolf, Colette and Walt Whitman. Colette was a hedonist and a warfare reporter. Whitman would person a bully vibe with her. I would conscionable emotion to spot Virginia Woolf and would propulsion her into a country portion the different 2 created problems.”

Margaret Atwood kneeling astatine the borderline of the signifier aft her keynote code to speech to fans of her work. (Michele Rayvid)

Souvankham Thammavongsa: “I auditioned for a relation successful (‘Little Red Riding Hood’), but I didn’t cognize the story. I kicked the wolf due to the fact that helium was pursuing maine around, and the manager said you person to travel the publication if you privation to get the part. I said who decides what happens and who decides what they said, and the manager said the writer, and I knew erstwhile I was 7 that I wanted to beryllium that.”

Margaret Atwood: Asked wherefore she wrote an autobiography present (“Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts,” published successful November 2025), Atwood said, “I got talked into it by my publishers. I besides said I was ne'er going to constitute a sequel to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ I yet decided a memoir was what you could remember. My siblings were helpful. What you tin retrieve is mostly catastrophes, anserine things you did, anserine things different radical did, atrocious things radical did to you and not truthful overmuch atrocious things you did to different people.”

At the closing event, Page announced that the league is offering virtual penning workshops successful April and May, and that those who acquisition registration packages for the 2027 league by March 30 volition wage the aforesaid prices arsenic this year. More accusation is disposable here.

Cathy Siegner is an autarkic writer based successful San Miguel and Montana. She has journalism degrees from the University of Oregon and Northwestern University.