Members Soleil David and Daniel Felsenthal at the NWU table during the AWP conference.
This post is by Kristen Martin, member of the Digital Media Division (FSP) and the Cultural Critics Working Group.
On March 4–7, approximately 10,500 writers, students, educators, and representatives from writing programs and organizations flocked to the Baltimore Convention Center for the annual Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) conference—the largest literary conference in North America. For the first time in years, the National Writers Union was one of 650 exhibiting organizations in the conference’s bookfair.
NWU members Soleil David, Daniel Felsenthal, Alexis Gunderson, and Kristen Martin manned the union’s bookfair table, distributing materials on NWU and the Freelance Solidarity Project and engaging conference-goers in conversations about freelance labor and improving working conditions. Many attendees dropped by to discuss the effects of generative artificial intelligence tools on the industry; we handed out many copies of a zine featuring NWU’s Platform and Principles for Policy on Generative AI. More than 80 people signed up to receive emails from the union to learn more and potentially join in our organizing efforts.
In addition to conducting outreach at the bookfair table, Daniel Felsenthal moderated a panel discussion at the conference on the importance of labor organizing called “A Writer’s Place Is in a Union.” Joining Felsenthal, who is a member of FSP and the Professional Staff Conference at the City University of New York (PSC-CUNY), were Tina Ontiveros, vice president of the faculty and staff union at Columbia Gorge Community College (UECGCC, local 4754 AFT, AFL-CIO); Umair Kazi, director of advocacy and policy at the Author’s Guild; and Kristen Martin, member of FSP and former member of PSC-CUNY and the ACT-UAW Local 7902 at NYU. The panel highlighted the necessity of cross-labor organizing and of uniting freelance writers.
The enthusiasm for NWU’s bookfair table and for the “A Writer’s Place Is in a Union” panel at AWP—a conference that has for too long lacked labor presence—was heartening and energizing at a time of industry instability. We look forward to following up in one-on-one conversations with conference attendees who requested them, and hopefully welcoming more comrades into our ranks.
