2026 Conference Keynote Speakers 

Chuck Wendig, Friday Evening Keynote Dinner speaker, is the New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers, The Book of Accidents, Wayward, Black River Orchard, and more than two dozen other books for adults and young adults.

A finalist for the Astounding Award and an alumnus of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, he has also written for comics, games, film, and television. He’s known for his popular blog, terribleminds, and books about writing such as Damn Fine Story. He lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with his family. His agent is Stacia Decker, with Dunow, Carlson and Lerner.

Terribleminds is his blog. Here he rambles on about writing, parenthood, food, pop culture, and other such shenanigans. It is NSFW and NSFL.

Maria V. Snyder, long-time Pennwriters member and Saturday Luncheon Keynote Speaker.

Meteorologist turned novelist, Maria V. Snyder's been writing since she was bored at work and needed something creative to do. Twenty-four published novels and two short story collections later, Maria's learned a thing or three about writing.

She’s been on the New York Times bestseller list, won a dozen awards, and has earned her MA degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University where she's been happily sharing her knowledge with the current crop of MFA students. When she's not writing, she's either playing pickleball, traveling, taking pictures, or zonked out on the couch due to all of the above. Maria welcomes readers to learn more about her and her books at https://www.MariaVSnyder.com