About

Apex-Writers Alliance is an international writing community where writers come together to grow their craft, build their careers, and learn alongside people who understand the journey.

Members can learn through live online gatherings, an extensive library of workshops, presentations, trainings, and courses, along with industry insights and resources designed to help them keep moving forward.

But Apex has never been only about information.

At the heart of AWA is a community of writers who understand both the challenges and rewards of the writing life. It’s a place to learn from those who have traveled farther down the road, share what we’ve discovered along the way, celebrate one another’s successes, and help each other through the difficult stretches.

It’s writers helping writers

Because no writer should have to make the climb alone.

Apex-Writers Alliance has its roots in the vision of New York Times bestselling author, renowned writing instructor, and longtime Writers of the Future coordinating judge David Farland.

Dave’s career reached across multiple corners of the storytelling world. In addition to writing bestselling fiction, he worked within the publishing industry and brought his storytelling expertise to Hollywood, where his work included evaluating stories and projects for their potential. But teaching and mentoring other writers became an equally important part of the legacy he left behind.

Throughout his career, Dave taught writers around the world, mentored emerging authors, shared what he’d learned about both craft and the publishing business, and helped countless writers take the next step in their careers.

He understood something every writer eventually discovers: there can be an enormous distance between dreaming about becoming a writer and knowing how to build a sustainable writing career.

Dave wanted to help writers bridge that distance.

He created Apex to give writers access to knowledge, resources, experienced professionals, and—just as importantly—one another.

Today, Apex-Writers Alliance is proud to carry that legacy forward.

Honoring what Dave built doesn’t mean standing still. It means continuing the work: helping writers learn, creating opportunities, strengthening connections, sharing knowledge, and allowing the community he began to keep growing.

One word was added to the Apex name as we entered this next chapter:

Alliance.

And it was chosen very deliberately.

We want Apex to be more than a place writers come to learn. We want it to be a place where writers come together.

A place where members learn from presenters—and presenters can learn from members. Where discoveries are shared. Where questions lead to conversations. Where connections become collaborations.

This is where writers celebrate each other’s successes and help one another through the setbacks. And where one writer’s hard-earned experience can make the path a little easier for the writer coming behind them.

Because an alliance isn’t built around what one person can provide.

An alliance is stronger because of what each person brings to it.

Tammy Burke’s connection to Apex began long before she became its CEO.

Tammy was one of David Farland’s students and volunteered with Apex while Dave was still with us. Following his passing, Dave’s family asked her to come aboard to help with the organization. She later returned to volunteering with Apex before the opportunity arose in August 2026 to take over the organization and guide it into its next chapter.

As TF Burke, Tammy is the author of the Heart of the Worlds YA fantasy series. Her writing has received multiple Silver Honorable Mentions in the Writers of the Future Contest, and the first book in her series reached Amazon’s Top 100 in Teen & YA Science Fiction & Fantasy.

Before turning her attention more fully to fiction and the writing community, Tammy worked as a journalist, writing hundreds of published articles. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group and holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management.

Those experiences—as a writer, Dave’s student, volunteer, journalist, community leader, and business owner—shape what she hopes to bring to Apex-Writers Alliance.

Her goal is both simple and ambitious:

Honor the foundation Dave created while expanding the ways writers can learn from, connect with, and help one another.

Apex-Writers Alliance is growing.

We’re building on the extensive library of workshops, presentations, trainings, and courses already available to members while creating new ways for writers to connect with knowledge, opportunities, industry professionals, and one another.

Our new Writer’s Ascent blog will share practical insights about writing craft, publishing, marketing, the writing business, and the journey itself from AWA members, presenters, and friends of the community.

Our upcoming Blazing the Writer’s Trail interview podcast will go behind the finished books and successful careers to explore the journeys that created them. We’ll look at the breakthroughs and wrong turns, challenges and successes, lessons learned, opportunities discovered, and people who made a difference along the way.

And we’re continuing to explore new resources, collaborations, presentations, and opportunities that can help writers move forward.

There’s more ahead. But wherever AWA goes next, one thing will remain at its heart:

Writers helping writers grow so no one has to climb alone.