October 18th
2025

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SAVE THE DATE

We are looking forward to our 9th Annual Craft of Writing Conference and hope you will join us. We will once again be at the OSU Center for Poets & Writers and are grateful for their continued support. 

Saturday, October 18th
9am – 5pm

TNW Members & Students | $60

General Public | $80

Pitch Session | $10 

Interested in being a speaker or taking pitches as an agent or publisher?

We are looking for speakers to speak on topics that will give attendees skills to hone their craft of writing. 

Keynote Speaker & Guest | Abbott Kahler | New York Times Best-Selling Author

Abbott Kahler (formerly Karen Abbott) is the author of four New York Times bestselling works of narrative nonfiction. A search for an ancestor who went missing in 1905 led her to write Sin in the Second City, which tells the true story of two sisters who ran the world’s most famous brothel and the nationwide battle to shut them down. Her interest in Gypsy Rose Lee, the subject of American Rose, stems from stories her grandmother shared about the ecdysiast’s performances in the 1930s and 40s. Liar Temptress Soldier Spy was inspired by a six-year stint in Atlanta, where the ghosts of the Civil War still seem omnipresent. The HBO show Boardwalk Empire introduced her to bootlegger George Remus, the subject of The Ghosts of Eden Park and a character much more fascinating than Al Capone. Then Came the Devil, her next nonfiction book, is by far the most outrageous story she’s ever encountered. Her debut novel, Where You End, is inspired by a true story of identical twins and amnesia, and will be out next January. USA Today once named her “a pioneer of sizzle history.”

Abbott’s books have featured as Indie Next picks, Amazon’s best books of the year, Library Journal’s best books of the year, and Smithsonian Magazine’s best history books of the year. She has also been a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, the Goodreads book award for history, and the Ohioana Book Awards, the second oldest state literary prize in the country. She has written fonewyorker.comNew York Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, and other publications, and has appeared on the History Channel, CBS Sunday Morning, AMC’s “Making of the Mob,” the Discovery Channel, and other media outlets. Her books have been optioned for television and film, and her podcast about George Remus, REMUS: THE MAD BOOTLEG KING, is forthcoming from iHeartRadio.

Abbott is a native of Philadelphia, where she spent six years as a journalist, covering crime, advocating for abused women, and hanging out with mafia bosses and baseball wives. She lives in New York City and in Greenport, New York, where she’s convinced her little bungalow is haunted. She appreciates a good poker hand, an old bottle of wine, and the never-ending hunt for new stories to tell.

Read the strange story behind her name change here. You can follow her on FacebookInstagramand Twitter, or sign up for her (monthly or so) Wicked History newsletter.

We will have over 20 speakers and 25+ breakout sessions. As speakers are confirmed we will update this page – so check back often. If you want to be a speaker – fill out the Speaker Inquiry form above and we’ll be in touch!

Speakers |

Agents & Publishers

Venue Details & Where to Stay

OSU Tulsa Conference Center

700 N Greenwood Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74106

Park in lot E or D.
Registration is in North Hall and you’ll enter through the walkway in the circle driveway that passes the Auditorium. 

Local Hotels

Courtyard by Marriott Tulsa Downtown
415 S Boston Ave
TulsaOK74103
918-508-7400
 

Visit Our Local Bookstores!

Fulton Street Books & Coffee
21 N Greenwood Ave
Tulsa, OK 74120

Magic City Books
221 E Archer St.
Tulsa, OK 74103

Whitty Books
2306 E Admiral Blvd
Tulsa, OK 74110

“It’s not wise to violate the rules until you know how to observe them.”

T.S. Eliot