About ROOTED & WRITTEN

Rooted & Written was founded in 2019, and this year marks our sixth year of empowering writers of color and we're excited to continue the tradition.

This year, The Writers Grotto in San Francisco, California, will host Rooted & Written, the country's first fully-funded, tuition-free professional writing program, which includes symposiums, write-ins, and readings/panels for Writers of Color.

Forty alumni from previous Rooted & Written conferences will participate in a two-day series of classes, six sessions of generative write-ins, and two reading panels featuring Rooted & Written alumni. Selection will be on a first-come, first-served basis, with attendance capped at 40 for the syposium and 275 for the write-ins to guarantee a high-quality learning and growth experience for all. As always, all Rooted & Written Fellows will receive full scholarships for the entire program.

"This is an unprecedented opportunity for talented, emerging writers of color in the San Francisco Bay Area to access invaluable mentoring and professional development, and to begin building their body of work in a supportive literary community," said Rooted & Written co-founder Susan Kiyo Ito. "The conference not only includes workshops for the Fellows in the craft of writing, but also discussion panels of seasoned editors and agents in the literary industry to assist these emerging writers in advancing their careers."

"Our mantra is “Your Words Matter,” added Rooted & Written former Director JD Beltran. “The literary landscape is a blanket of white. The New York Times’2020 study of the literary industry discovered that 95% of the most read English-language fiction books were written by white authors—and not only are the heads of the “big five” publishing houses white, so are 85% of the people who acquire and edit books! How and when do our stories get told?”

The Rooted & Written Symposium and Write-Ins will be held virtually. 

As noted by our Rooted & Written founders, “The top priority of Rooted & Written is affording access to emerging writers of color—access to strong mentoring, to professional networks, and to the tools for building a critical community of support in the creative process. We want to equip these writers with the means to get their voices out into the world—and to provide this means at no cost. One of our past Fellows participated in our mentorship program and wrote, edited, and completed his first book with the help of our writing community, secured his first agent, and then secured not one, but two book contracts. These kinds of thrilling successes are what Rooted & Written hopes to cultivate.”

Rooted & Written was first conceptualized and founded by Salvadoran writer Roberto Lovato as a free conference by The Writers Grotto for Bay Area-based BIPOC writers, and has since evolved into a full-blown writing conference and curriculum featuring internationally renowned speakers, faculty, and seasoned professionals in the literary industry! 

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