During the years Tennessee Williams lived in Key West, he swam at South Beach every morning before sitting down to write. "I work everywhere," Williams said of Key West, "but I work best here."

The Key West Literary Seminar has been drawing lovers of literature to our small island in the subtropics for more than a quarter of a century. Each January, an audience of passionate readers gathers together under the tropical sun for three-and-a-half days of conversations, readings, panel discussions, lectures, and festive Key West parties where it is possible to mingle with the world's most illustrious writers.

In 2009, we will explore HISTORICAL FICTION and The Search for Truth. Speakers will include Andrea Barrett, Russell Banks, Madison Smartt Bell, Geraldine Brooks, Francisco Goldman, Allan Gurganus, Tony Horwitz, David Levering Lewis, Thomas Mallon, Peter Matthiessen, Joyce Carol Oates, Barry Unsworth, Gore Vidal, and many more. Session 1 is now sold out. We still have room for Session 2 and for our Writers' Workshops. Click here for an up-to-date list of panelists.

LITTORAL is the year-round online voice of the Seminar. It is the home for our interview series, which includes recent conversations with Thomas Mallon; and our 2009 keynote speakers, Geraldine Brooks and Barry Unsworth. You'll also find Seminar news; and dispatches from our Audio Archives Project, which will archive, digitize, and format for the web twenty years of Seminar readings and discussions. More than thirty of these readings are now freely available as podcasts.

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Registration for the 2009 Literary Seminar.