Storytelling takes many forms and Moravian College in Bethlehem is exploring many of them this year.

In June, Moravian College hosts the Moravian Writers' Conference following on last year's successful conference. The theme, ""Stories and-of Home," reflects its joining of long-established venues with newer forms of story sharing.

Keynote speaker Beth Kephart's topic is "Where You Live & What You Love: Landscape of the Story," 7:30 p.m. June 6, Foy Concert Hall, Moravian College, Hurd Campus, Main and Church streets, Bethlehem. The talk is free and open to the public.

Kephart is author of the Young Adult genre novels, "Small Damages" and "Going Over," as well as "Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir" and "Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia's Schuylkill River.

There are fees for conference workshops, June 5 - 7, Moravian College campus. Early-bird registration is April 15.

The conference website describes the early Moravians as "avid writers and faithful keepers of diaries." In this sense, the writers' conference carries on that legacy, yet with a new urgency.

"There is a sense of the world shifting," says conference director Joyce Hinnefeld, professor of English and chair of the English department at Moravian College.

She points to the many reasons that writers write, such as to encourage empathy, to unburden themselves, and even from compulsion. She classifies herself in the latter group, for which "the only way to make sense of life and the world is to shape it into something [we] have control over."

Last year's conference included people ranging in age from high schoolers to at least two people in their 80s, according to Hinnefeld. Their life experiences varied as well, a reflection of the diversity of paths that bring individuals to writing.

This semester at Moravian, for example, Hinnefeld is teaching a course for returning military veterans because "thank you for your service" is not the end of their story. Experiences within the military are complex, the return to civilian life challenging whether or not they've seen active duty and the jargon poses "almost a different language." Through the course, Hinnefeld provides opportunities to write and introduces these veterans-students to the wealth of writing out there by other veterans.

The conference is intended to offer insight into the power of story, which is gaining recognition in many fields today. To that end, or beginning, Catherine Moore, a Moravian Academy Upper School English teacher, will offer a workshop on "The Power Of Story."

"Storytelling and listening to stories take more time and allow [more of] a way into ourselves than we usually can communicate in quick, sound-bite formats," Moore says. "Technology is wonderful, but, at times works against communication with someone on a deeper level."

Several workshops look at how the two can work together rather than competing with each other. Professional business communicator Rachel Roland will lead "Once Upon A Time In The Office: Storytelling As A Business Skill."

Other sessions feature Nic Esposito, Bathsheba Monk and Nate Pritts on independent publishing. Ruth Knafo Setton and Javier Ávila are set to lead "shop talks" on the business of writing. Two literary agents will be on hand. More traditional workshops on the novel, short stories, nonfiction-memoir and poetry are available.

The coming together not only of writers but also of both traditional and newer approaches clearly energizes Hinnefeld. It turns out that the conference is only one aspect of story-sharing that the college is exploring. Other projects, included a well-attended March 21 teen story slam hosted by Catherine Moore.

And, Moravian College has partnered with Galvanized, the company of Moravian alum David Zinczenko, former editor-in-chief of Men's Health and author of the "Eat This, Not That!" series of books, to establish an integrated media center that will allow a select group of students to gain experience with traditional, digital and social media in the creation of media brand experiences.

In addition, the college has received generous support from the Mellon Foundation to expand uses of digital technology in the humanities, including digital storytelling and digital portfolios.

A shifting world, varying perspectives on "home" and Hinnefeld's veterans' course all suggest that the need for self-expression, including through writing, is now as great as it ever was. The Moravian Writers' Conference is designed to prepare writers for their next chapters. And this year, Moravian College is, in Hinnefeld's words, "doing things that are cutting edge."

Conference sponsors include Air Products, EBC Printing, Moravian College, Moravian College English Department and the Moravian College Arts and Lectures Committee.

More information and conference reservations: home.moravian.edu/public/writersconference