Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the early bird registration deadline for the conference.

It’s that time of year again — the deadline for early registration for the 2018 Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference is approaching.

The conference will be held June 8-12 at Lands End Resort, presented by Kachemak Bay Campus.

This year’s keynote speaker is Anthony Doerr, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his latest novel, “All the Light We Cannot See,” according to a press release from KBC Director Carol Swartz.

“Since the publication of his first story collection, “The Shell Collector,” in 2002, Doerr has been lauded for his lyricism, his precise attention to the physical world, and his gift for metaphor,” the release states. “Nature is also an important theme in Doerr’s novel About Grace. Doerr’s memoir Four Seasons in Rome is a carefully observed account of the year he spent as a fellow at the American Academy in Rome.”

In addition to Doerr, attendees of the conference will get the benefit of 16 other award-winning authors, editors and agents. Their jobs are to conduct workshops, hold readings, and host panel discussions on poetry, creative fiction, nonfiction and more. These other writers, both national and from Alaska, will include Jean Anderson, Rick Barot, Richard Chiappone, Bryan Allen Fierro, Diane Glancy, Ernestine Hayes, Jean Hegland, Erin Coughlin Hollowell, Barbara Hurd, Kevin Larimer, Nancy Lord, Peggy Shumaker, Floyd Skloot, Joe Wilkins and Sally Wofford-Girand, according to the release.

Participants will also have the option to take part in extra activities, such as a boat cruise, consultations with editors and agents, and an “open mic.”

Attending the conference costs $425, but attendees who register by May 1 will only pay $395. The fees include dinner, four lunches, receptions and the workshops.

For those not planning on paying for the full experience but still curious about the conference, there will be readings by visiting writers open to the public from June 9-11, all taking place in the evening.

Advanced registration is required. For program and registration information see: http://writersconference.homer.alaska.edu