Now included with WELL Membership: Mastodon

the Open-Source Social Network

Your WELL membership now gives you access to our Mastodon server and the entire Fediverse, in addition to the rich conversations in our local conferences. The Fediverse is an internet-wide social network. free of advertising, algorithms, and corporate objectives. Join us and see Mastodon Quick Start Guide to join the worldwide conversation today!

NOW in the Inkwell

Election 2024 Pop-Up, beginning November 4, 2024

Election Night and the weeks that follow are going to be both tense and intense. Looking for community and (reasonably calm) conversation to help you cope? You’ll find it at Inkwell’s Election 2024 Pop-Up!

The conversation will be led by KALW radio host and WELL member Angie Coiro <coiro>, and feature some of the WELL‘s most avid and well-informed politics nerds, including Larry Person <lperson>, Jennifer Powell <jnfr>, Jon Lebkowsky <jonl> and instigator/organizer/journalist Emily Gertz <emilyg>. It will be a haven where WELL members as well as the public can follow, analyze, worry over and even, possibly, celebrate the 2024 election and its results.

JOIN the live conversation

Welcome to a gathering that’s like no other.

When we talk about The WELL, we are usually talking about the conferences. The conferences are where the magic happens: where posts develop into conversations, and members become a community.

For more about why conversation is so treasured on The WELL, and why members of the community banded together to buy the site in 2012, check out the story of The WELL.

If you like what you see, join us!

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Featured Recently in The Inkwell

Unlike most conversations on The WELL, you don’t need a WELL member account to participate – this one is open to all!

Jonathan Lethem: Brooklyn Crime Novel, September 9 - October 1, 2024

We’re honored to have author Jonathan Lethem as our guest in the WELL’s public Inkwell.vue conference discussing his life and work, especially his latest, Brooklyn Crime Novel, winner of the New York City Book Award. Jonathan is the author of thirteen novels; his work has been translated into over thirty languages. Please join us!

VISIT the archived conversation

Erin Bow: Simon Sort of Says, August 27 - September 9, 2024

Inkwell welcomes author Erin Bow, who will discuss the writing life, and her Newbery Honor Award-winning book _SIMON SORT OF SAYS_. The book was long-listed for the National Book Award, and won a Schneider Family Book Award. And we’ll also focus on the life of writing and the writing life. Erin was trained as a physicist but somehow ended up writing poetry and children’s fiction. She is the author of three volumes of poetry (writing as Erin Noteboom) and six novels for younger readers.

VISIT the archived conversation

Visit the rest of the topics in The Inkwell

Well Members Say:

I am a political junkie, and the heat-to-light ratio in the Politics conference is very favorable — there’s a lot of substantial discussion without a lot of name-calling. The Sports conference features the day-to-day discussion of all kinds of sporting events, but the best things about the conference are the annual football and March Madness pools. Finally, the Legal conference is where I go to share war stories and get advice and dark humor from the grizzled old war horses.

–Doug Masson, Attorney
WELL Member since 1999

I love the Writers conference, home to a wonderfully supportive community of all types of real working writers being real people together. Byline is full of inside info the working writer needs — contracts and contacts, editors and agents. Current gives me thoughtful insights — and some fiercely argued points of view — on what’s happening in the world.

-Joe Flower, Healthcare Futurist
WELL Member since 1989

My home on The WELL is the convivial chow.ind. It’s the best place online to talk about food — eating it, cooking it, going out for it, and heck, even making dioramas from it. You’ll also find me in the San Francisco conference, which I co-host. There we discuss all aspects of city life from arts to sports to politics to — okay, eating again. I’m also a fan of Plumage, where a fashion reality check is always available from friendly cohorts.

-Brady Lea, Playwright/Teacher
WELL Member since 1998

I have always loved the Weird conference because “weird” only begins to describe it. I love the Plumage conference because my friends and I never get tired of talking about clothes, shoes, bags, accessories, and grooming, and because on Oscar night we cast all discretion aside and call it like we see it. And the Media conference is as rich and huge and fast-moving as media culture itself.

-Stephanie Vardavas, Attorney and Author
WELL Member since 1994