For three days this summer, from Saturday, July 19 through Monday, July 21, thousands of people will join together in Sun Valley, Idaho, to celebrate the written word. The 31^st annual Sun Valley Writers’ Conference (SVWC) will be packed with not only passholders and donors, but also with locals on the lawn catching free Pavilion Lawn Talks, students and teachers from a new Blaine County community scholars program, talented young writing fellows from around the country, and livestreamers from around the world. And of course, we will be joined by today’s biggest and brightest literary stars, including Max Boot, Griffin Dunne, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Colum McCann, Liz Moore, Ruth Reichl, Ocean Vuong, and many more.

The theme of this year’s Conference is “Words & Wonder”—a thread that will weave together the variety of voices and diverse ideas being presented in 2025. In the words of SVWC Literary Director John Burnham Schwartz, “It is our hopeful goal that, for a few magical days every summer, each of us will be filled with a state of wonder, through the medium of words—those singular elements of human genius, poetry, art, learning, and emotion.” A state of wonder is, after all, a feeling of surprise with mingled admiration, caused by something beautiful but unexpected and perhaps even unfamiliar or inexplicable. This year, explains Burnham Schwartz, “We traverse on a path to deeper knowledge of self and society, hoping we might come always through the wondrous doorways of the unexpected, the unfamiliar, and the inexplicable, towards beauty, empathy, and understanding.”

Among these different voices, Erling Kagge will take us on a breathtaking adventure story about the shimmering beauty—and fragility—of the North Pole. Jaimaican-born poet Safiya Sinclair will transport us into her childhood growing up with a strict Rastafarian father. Max Boot will enlighten us about the affable if often opaque 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. And Doris Kearns Goodwin, an American biographer, historian, former sports journalist, and political commentator, will unveil a rich love story—her own. As always, the goal of the SVWC is to challenge and inspire, enlighten and uplift, and ultimately, to connect us all through a shared love of literature. These influential thought-leaders will continue an unsurpassed tradition of quality, intimacy, and inspiration that has made SVWC one of the country’s most beloved literary festivals for over 30 years.

This year, SVWC will also host a special performance by the Chicago-based Improvised Shakespeare Company. Based on one audience suggestion, their cast creates a fully improvised Shakespearean masterpiece on the spot, with no planning or rehearsal ahead of time. As they say, “You’ve never seen the Bard like this before!”

Passes for the 2025 Conference will go on sale February 25 at 10:00AM (Mountain Time) on our website. This year, as in years past, two types of passes will be available—a Full Conference Pass ($1,100) and a Next Generation Pass ($550) for those 35 and under. Passes are known to sell out quickly, often within minutes. SVWC recommends signing up for their email newsletter to receive important pass sale updates and information.

Thanks to generous donations, we will remain accessible and open to the local community in 2025, offering a variety of programming including free Pavilion Lawn Talks, free livestreaming, a free Community Speaker Series in partnership with The Community Library, single event tickets to Pavilion Talks, and a Live Watch Party at The Argyros. We have also been able to expand our outreach into local schools, offer scholarships to Wood River Valley students and teachers, and develop a fellowship program for aspiring young writers from around the country, including a New Voices Fellowship inaugurated in 2022.

Stay tuned as the list of 2025 writers and presenters continues to grow. The list to-date includes: Meena Ahamed, Jonathan Blitzer, Max Boot, Oren Cass, Sloane Crosley, Andre Dubus III, Griffin Dunne, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Carl Hiaasen, Dan Jones, Erling Kagge, Claire Keegan, Colum McCann, Liz Moore, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, Todd Purdum, Sonia Purnell, Paola Ramos, Ruth Reichl, Theodore Schwartz, Safiya Sinclair, Admiral James Stavridis, Wright Thompson, Yael van der Wouden, Ocean Vuong, and a feature performance by The Improvised Shakespeare Company.

Stay tuned for the Writer in the World announcement coming in May 2025, with a very special surprise speaker!