Friday, March 8, 2013

3:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.

Veterans Memorial
Auditorium, Level 2

F219. Don DeLillo & Dana Spiotta: A Reading and Conversation, Sponsored by The Center for Fiction. (Noreen Tomassi, Don DeLillo, Dana Spiotta) Celebrated novelists Don DeLillo, author of Underworld, Libra, and White Noise, and Dana Spiotta, author of Stone Arabia, present readings, to be followed by a discussion moderated by Noreen Tomassi, Executive Director of the Center for Fiction.

3:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.

Hynes Ballroom,
Level 3

F220. Cave Canem Prize Winners, Then and Now. (Alison Meyers, Major Jackson, Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, Tracy K. Smith, Iain Haley Pollock) This reading celebrates four winners of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, since 1999 a first-book award for exceptional manuscripts by African American poets and a catalyst for the careers of emerging poetic voices. Winners from the early years, 2000-2002, who have since achieved literary prominence—Major Jackson (2000), Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon (2001), and Tracy K. Smith (2002)—are showcased alongside Iain H. Pollock, recipient of the 2010 Prize for Spit Back a Boy, selected by Elizabeth Alexander.

4:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.

Veterans Memorial
Auditorium, Level 2

F250. Alison Bechdel & Jeanette Winterson: A Reading and Conversation, Sponsored by Emerson College MFA. (Alison Bechdel, Jeanette Winterson, Elisabeth Schmitz) Alison Bechdel, author of the graphic memoir Fun Home and the ground-breaking comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, and Jeannette Winterson, author of Written on the Body and the memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, present readings from their work followed by a discussion moderated by Elisabeth Schmitz, Executive Editor at Grove/Atlantic, Inc. The events will be introduced by Emerson College's Steve Yarborough, author of the novels Safe from the Neighbors and The End of California.

8:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Veterans Memorial
Auditorium, Level 2

F284. Amy Bloom & Richard Russo: A Reading and Conversation, Sponsored by Lesley University. (Leah Hager Cohen, Amy Bloom, Richard Russo) Amy Bloom is author of the New York Times best-selling Away: A Novel, and Where the God of Love Hangs Out, a collection of short fiction. Richard Russo is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls, Straight Man, and Nobody's Fool. The reading will begin with an introduction by poet Steven Cramer, director of the Lesley University Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing, and will be followed by a discussion moderated by novelist and critic Leah Hager Cohen, author of The Grief of Others and House Lights.

8:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Hynes Ballroom,
Level 3

F285. Language at the Breaking Point, Sponsored by Blue Flower Arts. (Kwame Dawes, Jorie Graham, Terrance Hayes) Pulitzer Prize-winner Jorie Graham and National Book Award-winner Terrance Hayes stretch language past the barriers of mind and limitations of personal experience to reinstate a kind of dignity to the world. Their creative tensions puncture the commonplace allowing the familiar to dislocate, laying bare our tenuous connection to life. Yet grace and a vivid, wakeful presence abide. Their poems demonstrate how the excavation of language itself can shape new possibilities for imagination to evolve.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Exhibit Halls A, B, & D,
Plaza & Level 2

S101. AWP Bookfair, Sponsored by Hollins University: Jackson Center for Creative Writing. With more than 600 literary exhibitors, the AWP bookfair is the largest of its kind. A great place to meet authors, critics, and peers, the bookfair also provides an excellent opportunity to find information about literary magazines, presses, and organizations. Please consult the bookfair map in the conference planner for location details.

3:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.

Hynes Ballroom,
Level 3

S208. WAMFEST and Fairleigh Dickinson University Present: POEMJAZZ, A Conversation and Performance with Robert Pinsky, Laurence Hobgood, and Stan Strickland. (Robert Pinsky, Laurence Hobgood, Stan Strickland, Ben Allison) Robert Pinsky and Laurence Hobgood recently released their collaborative CD titled POEMJAZZ. This performance will be an extension of that collaboration, which includes jazz greats Ben Allison (bass) and saxophonist Stan Strickland (saxophone). Like all WAMFEST (The Words and Music Festival) events, this will be introduced by David Daniel. WAMFEST is a part of Fairleigh Dickinson University’s creative writing programs.

4:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.

Veterans Memorial
Auditorium, Level 2

S235A. Andre Dubus III & Edith Pearlman: A Reading and Conversation, Sponsored by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. (Mary Kay Zuravleff, Andre Dubus III, Edith Pearlman) Andre Dubus III, New York Times best-selling author of The House of Sand and Fog, and Edith Pearlman, author of National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Binocular Vision, read and discuss their work with Mary Kay Zuravleff, author of The Bowl is Already Broken and a PEN/Faulkner board member.

4:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.

Hynes Ballroom,
Level 3

S235B. Tracy Kidder & Adrian Nicole LeBlanc: A Reading & Conversation, Sponsored by the Pine Manor College Solstice MFA Program. (Tracy Kidder, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, Richard Todd) A reading and conversation by two noted literary journalists, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Tracy Kidder, author of Strength in What Remains and Mountains Beyond Mountains, and Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, a MacArthur Foundation fellowship recipient and author of Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx. The event will be moderated by magazine and book editor Richard Todd, author of the memoir The Thing Itself, and introduced by Anne-Marie Oomen of the Pine Manor College Solstice MFA Program.

8:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Veterans Memorial
Auditorium, Level 2

S263. Augusten Burroughs & Cheryl Strayed: A Reading & Conversation, Sponsored by the Wilkes University Low-Residency MA/MFA Program in Creative Writing. (Bob Morris, Augusten Burroughs, Cheryl Strayed) Augusten Burroughs, author of memoirs Running with Scissors and Dry, and Cheryl Strayed, author of the best-selling memoir Wild and the voice behind the Rumpus’s beloved “Dear Sugar” column, will present readings of their work, followed by a discussion moderated by columnist and commentator Bob Morris, author of the memoir Assisted Loving: True Tales of Double Dating with My Dad. The authors will be introduced by playwright and novelist Bonnie Culver, director of the Wilkes University Low-Residency MA/MFA Program in Creative Writing.

8:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Hynes Ballroom,
Level 3

S264. Academy of American Poets Presents Lucie Brock-Broido and Anne Carson. (Lucie Brock-Broido, Anne Carson, Jennifer Benka) Award-winning poet Lucie Brock-Broido, author of Trouble in Mind, and acclaimed poet, essayist, and translator Anne Carson, author of Autobiography of Red, present readings from their respective work with introductions by Jennifer Benka, Executive Director of the Academy of American Poets.