By Pat Steele—
The San Miguel Writers’ Conference and Literary Festival began in 2006 as an event attended by just 26 people. But what a difference two decades makes. Celebrating its twenty-first anniversary next year, it now brings 1,500 visitors to the mountain town in the heart of Mexico that Travel + Leisure magazine readers have repeatedly voted the “number one city in the world.”
“Our goal is to bring together the literary traditions of the US, Canada, and Mexico,” said the organization’s executive director, Jodi Pincus. “But as we continue to grow, we also have an increasingly global outlook. We strongly believe in the power of literature to build bridges by telling people’s stories. And there’s never been a greater need for that.”
The charm, culture and people of San Miguel de Allende are all parts of the reason why world-famous authors make the trip here each year. Keynoting the 2026 conference, which will be held February 11—15 at the Hotel Real de Minas, are global superstar writers Abraham Verghese (Cutting for Stone; The Covenant of Water), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Half of a Yellow Sun; Americanah; Purple Hibiscus), Rebecca “R.F.” Kuang (The Poppy War trilogy; Babel; Yellowface), Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven; The Glass Hotel; Sea of Tranquility), Andrés Neuman (Bariloche; Traveler of the Century; Fracture; Until It Begins To Shine) Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil (Ää: Manifiestos por la diversidad lingüística), Maira Kalman (The Principles of Uncertainty), and the winner of Canada’s prestigious Giller Prize for fiction (to be announced.)
Sandra Cisneros (The House on Mango Street, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories) and Eduardo Antonio Parra (Nostalgia de la sombra, El rostro de piedra) are two famous names among the dozens of conference faculty who will be offering lectures, advice, and hands-on courses. Attendees will be able to take workshops in everything from plotting telenovelas to writing their memoir. Other faculty members of note include Jean Kwok, Jennifer Clement, Ann Hood, Hope Edelman, Christopher Bollen, and Sara Weinman.
The conference is also a great place for would-be authors to get practical advice from experts on the business and publishing side of literature. Prominent literary agents such as Michael Carr, Anna Knutson Geller, Rita Rozenkranz, Veronica Flores, Sam Hiyate and Susan Golomb will offer one-on-one pitch sessions. Other top publishing insiders offering individual consultations include Harper Influence publisher, Lisa Sharkey. There are also parties galore, faculty readings, open mic sessions, guided local excursions, discussion groups, wellness offerings, and more.
The conference is almost fully bilingual, and many of the Spanish-langue events are free to Mexican nationals. The general director of the Spanish program is Armida Zepeda, who has been instrumental in bringing many famous writers from Mexico and Latin America to San Miguel. “As a culture promoter, I know the literary scene in Mexico, which allows me to interact with literary professionals whom I am thrilled to invite to the festival,” she said.
Prominent Mexican and Spanish-language teaching faculty next year will include Amaranta Caballero, Ana Luisa Isla, Araceli Ardón, Bernardo Govea, Marcela R. Loreto, Mónica Hoth, Rodrigo Díaz Guerrero, Josemaria Moreno, Antolina Ortiz Moore, Matthew Sanabria Stenger, and Magali T. Ortega.
Many credit the event’s president and co-founder, Susan Page, as being among the secrets to its success. “I organized my Brownie troop in the third grade and have been starting organizations ever since,” she jokes. “The Writers’ Conference has put San Miguel on the literary map of the world and brings over three million US dollars into the local economy every year. Plus, I love the experience itself: high-level thrills combined with intimate connections. It’s an enchanting week.”
Her considerable charm and commitment to literature have brought a who’s-who of famous writers to the conference over the last 20 years. Just a small selection of those names include John Irving, Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, Cristina Rivera Garza, Silvia Moreno Garcia, Gloria Steinem, Judy Collins, Alice Walker, Scott Turow, Joyce Carol Oates, Calvin Trillin, Yuri Herrera, Rosa Beltrán, Margo Glantz, Pedro Ángel Palou, Brenda Lozano, Guillermo Arriaga, Adam Gopnik, Elena Poniatowska, Laura Esquivel, Mary Karr, Juan Villoro, Jorge Volpi, Tommy Orange, Paul Theroux, and Delia Owens. (You might also recognize Page’s name as the author of the international bestseller “If I’m So Wonderful, Why Am I Still Single?”—first published in 1988, and still going strong.)
Tom Robbins, the late counterculture icon whose novels include Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, was an early supporter, keynoting the conference in 2008. Before going home he left a testimonial for the fledgling event, which was then still only catering to a few dozen people: “If Dante had had the San Miguel experience, he would have written more about heaven and less about hell.”
For tickets and more information about the program, please visit the ‘ San Miguel Writers Conference and Literary Festival website: http://www.sanmiguelwritersconference.org