8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Exhibit Hall C, Level 2

S100. Conference Registration. Attendees who have registered in advance may pick up their registration materials in the preregistered check-in area, located in Exhibit Hall C on Level 2 of the Hynes Convention Center. If you have not yet registered for the conference, visit the unpaid registration area, also in Exhibit Hall C. Please consult the bookfair map in the conference planner for location details. Students must present a valid student ID to check in or register at our student rate. Seniors must present a valid ID to register at our senior rate, and should do so only at unpaid registration. A $50 fee will be charged for all replacement badges.

8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Exhibit Hall B, Plaza Level

S102. Bookfair Concessions, Bar, & Lounge. Breakfast, lunch, and coffee concessions are available from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Bookfair Lounge area of Exhibit Hall B on the Plaza Level, and from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Exhibit Hall D Café on Level 2. The lounge will host a bar from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Please consult the bookfair map in the conference planner for location details.

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.

S103. Lactation Room. To gain access to our shared lactation room, visit the AWP Help Desk in the preregistered check-in area of Exhibit Hall C. For reasons of privacy and security, access to the lactation room is granted by permission of AWP only.

9:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.

Room 101, Plaza Level

S104. On Labor: Junior Women Faculty in Creative Writing Programs. (Susan Somers-Willett, Jenny Browne, Yona Harvey, Erika Meitner, Rachel Zucker) Many female faculty begin their careers during their childrearing years, posing unique demands on their families and writing. What are the concerns of junior women as they labor in writing programs, and how might these programs best support them? Panelists on, off, and in-between the tenure track reflect honestly on their careers, finding work, negotiating pay, mothering, and labor divisions across rank and gender lines. Pre-conference questions are invited on our womenwriting Tumblr.

Room 102, Plaza Level

S105. Bored Board: Rethinking Your Most Important Volunteers. (Jeffrey Lependorf, David Lynn, Anna Moschovakis) Find out how four different organizations built and utilized effective boards. Wondering what to do with those nice people whose names are on your letterhead? Learn strategies for rectifying “founding board” syndrome, do-nothing boards, and/or boards who don’t give.

Room 103, Plaza Level

S106. P.U.P.: Poets in Unexpected Places. (Jon Sands, Samantha Thornhill, Adam Falkner, Syreeta McFadden, Elana Bell) Join the founders of P.U.P., a poetry and performance collective dedicated to placing New York City’s top poets into the public arena. Their impromptu readings from the Q train to the Whole Foods stretch the comfort zone of the artist while providing communities with literary and artistic experiences in unexpected public spaces. Panelists will discuss best practices for bringing one’s art back to the spaces that rarely know how to request it but need it most.

Room 104, Plaza Level

S107. From Here, From Away: Maine’s Young Fiction Writers. (Joshua Bodwell, Ron Currie, Lily King, Sarah Braunstein, Lewis Robinson) Many great writers call and have called Maine home, but what about the next generation? Whiting Award winners Lewis Robinson (Officer Friendly and Other Stories; Water Dogs) and Lily King (Father of the Rain; The English Teacher) will read recent fiction along with Ron Currie, Jr. (God is Dead; Everything Matters!) who won the New York Public Library Young Lions Award, and Sarah Braunstein (The Sweet Relief of Missing Children) who was named one of “5 Under 35” by the National Book Foundation.

Room 105, Plaza Level

S108. The Truth of Nonfiction: Bringing Students into the Conversation. (Lee Gulyas, Kelly Magee, Rachel Wood, Zackrie Vinczen) The topic of truth in nonfiction is an old one; only the players change. What’s new is asking students what they hear in classes, what they hear in the cultural conversation, and how they make sense of this issue when considering their own ethics, limits, and creative work. Two instructors, one undergraduate student, and two graduate students will consider how the line between fiction and nonfiction informs their classrooms, their writing, and their participation in the larger literary community.

Room 107, Plaza Level

S109. Other Worlds: Writing Between Genres for Young Adults. (Liza Ketchum, Kelly Easton, Mark Peter Hughes, Swati Avasthi) When writers create a world, they include culture, language, politics, belief systems, and the historical aspects of the fictional time and place. They bring into being a cosmology and an ethos. This panel will explore the invention of what John Gardner termed a vivid continuous dream in fantasy, dystopian, historical, and realistic fiction written for young adults. We will analyze the plasticity of form and content, and we will explore the tools needed to create new worlds.

Room 108, Plaza Level

S110. Fifty Years Later: Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction. (Gabriel Brownstein, Joanna Smith Rakoff, Thomas Beller, Jess Row, Elisa Albert) 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of J.D. Salinger’s Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction. When it was published, critics called it “Seymour—A Disaster” and said the book was “blood-curdlingly bad.” But the late Salinger stories have had an enormous influence on a huge number of writers. Five writers will consider this strange book’s influence on their craft.

Room 109, Plaza Level

S111. The Illustrated Novel, the Illustrated Memoir, and What Else? (Ron Tanner, Mira Bartók, Reif Larson, Josh Weil, Stan Mack) This may be the age of the graphic novel, but is it an age that embraces illustration in “serious” literature? In recent years, we have seen an increasing number of works that blend art with text. Is this practice catching on? Or is this recent trend only the exception? A panel of authors and illustrators will discuss the issues and consider the possibilities for all writers who entertain the idea of expanding their textual worlds with images. Panelists will show examples.

Room 110, Plaza Level

S112. One-Room Schoolhouse: Teaching the Private Writing Workshop. (Rachel Basch, Baron Wormser, Bonnie Friedman, Alexandra Shelley, Douglas Goetsch) Establishing and leading a private creative writing workshop can be like building and running a one-room schoolhouse. Writers who teach both within and outside of the academy will share their decades of experience initiating thriving private workshops. The panel of poets, fiction, and creative nonfiction writers will discuss practical and pedagogical issues; everything from how to attract and screen prospective students to strategies for teaching to a wide range of ages and aspirations.

Room 111, Plaza Level

S113. The Poetics of Play. (Catherine Barnett, D. Nurkse, Deborah Landau, Saskia Hamilton, James Hall) Huizinga called play serious strife and erotic application; Winnicott claimed that playing is inherently exciting and precarious, which can be said about both the act of writing and the best writing itself. Useful for writers and teachers, this panel will illustrate how games (which like much of the best art are both spontaneous and highly organized) can vex, heighten, and mirror the life of feeling. Panelists will read and discuss poems that celebrate play in all its complications.

Room 201, Level 2

S114. Digital Writing: Performances and Readings of Electronic Literature. (Eric LeMay, John Cayley, Dene Grigar, Nick Monfort, Stephanie Strickland) Performances and readings by John Cayley, Dene Grigar, Nick Montfort, and Stephanie Strickland will feature innovative writing that is digital in the sense of literature conceived and created for electronic media. Come and experience work that challenges and reinvents narrative form, literary composition, and poetic meaning. Afterward, there will be discussion of the present and future of e-lit: its range, its possibilities, and its promise for enlivening and enriching contemporary literature.

Room 202, Level 2

S115. Teaching Mutt Lit: Genre-Benders, Hybrids, and Other Weirdness in the Creative Writing Classroom. (Ruth Ellen Kocher, Jeanine Deibel, blake nemec, Vanessa Villarreal, Kelsie Hahn) This panel will explore nontraditional and hybrid literary forms as a means of developing craft, generating voice, and discovering a broader palette of reading and writing interests. Members will present approaches to teaching a variety of forms, including flash fiction, prose poetry, mixed-media, online and interactive text, and lyric essay, in addition to multi-genre work. We will also address resistance to unconventional structures and how to overcome these challenges in the classroom.

Room 203, Level 2

S116. The Art of Losing. (Reese Okyong Kwon, Elliott Holt, Jennine Capó Crucet, Meghan O’Rourke, Alexander Chee) Leonard Michaels wrote about his wife, Sylvia, Edwidge Danticat wrote about Haiti, and Henry James wrote about his cousin, Minny. Many writers, after losing the people and places they love, have translated their grief into prose. For those of us who find that profound personal loss has informed our writing, what concerns and challenges have we encountered? What are potential pitfalls, and are there any consolations? Join us as we share our perspectives and read from our work.

Room 204, Level 2

S117. Translating Slippery Dreamers: French Surrealist Poetry in the Hands of American Authors. (Marilyn Kallet, Mark Polizzotti, Nancy Kline, Bill Zavatsky, Darren Jackson) This panel of poets who are also translators of French poetry will discuss the particular challenges—pitfalls and joys—of translating Surrealists. We note the historical range and marked differences among the poets we have translated: Breton, Eluard, Péret, Char, Larbaud, Michaux. We tackle questions of how one translates automatic writing and unpredictable imagery—the language of the interior world—and how much of the traditional techniques of poetry come into play in each poet’s work.

Room 206, Level 2

S118. Literary Nonfiction and Social Activism. (Helene Atwan, Marianne Leone, David Chura, Courtney Martin, Michael Patrick MacDonald) This panel explores the craft of writing nonfiction that is both literary and socially relevant. Panelists include writers who, while seeking to make significant contributions to the national conversation on the issues they are writing about, are first and foremost writers of literary nonfiction. Writers and editors on the panel discuss ways to balance the political goals of the activist with the aesthetic imperatives of literary writing and the financial demands of trade publishing.

Room 207, Level 2

S119. Arab American Writing in the 21st Century: A Reading and Discussion. (Randa Jarrar, Alicia Erian, Hayan Charara, Glenn Shaheen) Four award-winning Arab American writers will present rich, multilayered, and quintessentially American poems, essays, and fiction. Writers will discuss topics such as the burden of responsibility post-9/11 versus post-Arab Spring, whether Arab American literature is seen through an anthropological rather than a literary lens, and the dangers and rewards of writing about family.

Room 208, Level 2

S120. A Room of Our Own: How to Make the Most of (or Create) a Writers’ Workspace in Your Community. (Maureen Rogers, Donna Brodie, Susan Schnur, Scott Adkins, Lucas Schulze) For the past thirty years, urban retreats have provided an essential for writers: quiet, secure workspace. But few writers are aware of this resource, and even fewer feel they can afford it. How have writers’ workspaces responded to the stark economic climate and the changing demands of the publishing world? What new services, are these workspaces developing to nurture local writers? Panelists will also discuss strategies proven to create an affordable, cooperative workspace in your own community.

Room 209, Level 2

S121. What Do You Mean, I Have to Change That? Creative Nonfiction Editors Explain Logistical Challenges Writers Face along the Path to Publication (and Offer Some Tips for Avoiding Common Pitfalls). (Hattie Fletcher, Stephanie G’Schwind, Laura Julier, Andrew Snee) In a perfect world, your essay quotes a song, describes your neighbor’s late-night orgies, or details your sister’s grisly battle with cancer. It’s a terrific essay… but you might not be able to publish it—at least, not as is. Editors discuss their procedures related to creative nonfiction—what and how we fact-check; why you need to get permission, and how we can help; when (if ever) we suggest disguising identities—and offer concrete tips for anticipating and working around such challenges.

Room 210, Level 2

S122. Biracial Women Poets. (Brenda Shaughnessy, Monica Ferrell, Paisley Rekdal, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Monica McClure) In this presentation, panel members will each read poetry that addresses hybrid-ethnic identity in either content, style, or motivation. After each poet reads, she will deliver a short presentation in the form of an essay relating to her experience and development as a biracial writer.

Room 303, Level 3

S123. Puritan Scar, Scarlet Letter: Contemporary Writers on Hawthorne’s Masterwork. (John Domini, Amy Wright, Heidi Julavits, Jennifer Haigh) No novel so established Boston as a literary center as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850), and few have left such an indelible trace across the American project since. Hester Prynne’s struggle raises core issues of outsider and community in all their moral contrariness. As art, too, the novel sets a rare challenge, working cross-gender and cross-genre, at once romance and realism, transcendental and ambiguous. Panelists assess the impact the book had both locally and worldwide.

Room 305, Level 3

S124. Playwright as Actor / Actor as Playwright. (Kate Snodgrass, Melinda Lopez, Steven Barkhimer, John Kuntz, Lydia Diamond) Do actors make the best playwrights? If the written character is meant to be a skeleton that actors translate into flesh, who better to create the character than the actors themselves? Boston Playwrights’ Theatre playwrights Steven Barkhimer, Lydia Diamond, John Kuntz, and Melinda Lopez investigate building characters from their perspectives as trained actors by each reading a short monologue from their own work and discussing the benefits and limitations of creating text from two perspectives.

Room 306, Level 3

S125. Looking Out: American Journals on the World Stage. (Glenna Luschei, Kwame Dawes, John Freeman, Daniel Simon, Donovan Webster) On the evidence that a literary tradition is as interested in looking in on itself as it is in looking out, this panel will explore ways in which three leading American journals and one British journal are seeking to engage an internationalist perspective in their content and editorial interests. Editors from Granta, World Literature Today, Virginia Quarterly Review, and Prairie Schooner will discuss strategies, challenges, and opportunities that come with pursuing such a vision for their pages.

Room 309, Level 3

S126. How Do You Know When You’re Ready? (Kim Wright, Tracy Crow, Holly LeCraw, Alison Smith) When’s the right time to show new work to a circle of beta readers? How about your agent or editor? Writers struggle with this issue, some of them throwing their books into the marketplace prematurely, and others holding on too long, tinkering for years with those final forty pages. And even if your book is ready, you yourself might not be. The adjustment from writer to author is a tricky one, requiring a level of objectivity that’s hard to maintain. Finally, when, if ever, does it make sense to wait out the market? Do publishing trends dictate when you make your move?

Room 313, Level 3

S127. Taking Back the Creative Capstone. (Julie Hensley, Sandra Meek, Morri Creech, Tara Ison) Capstone courses, the final classroom experience in an undergraduate’s creative writing degree, are subject to departmental demands and colleges’ specific assessment needs. How can instructors navigate the competing goals inherent in such an academic environment? Panelists from a variety of institutions will share their own experiences developing Capstone curricula which creatively challenge and professionally inspire while providing quantified assessment data.

Alice Hoffman Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall D, Level 2

BF42. Poets Out Loud Prize Series: A Reading. (Amy Sara Carroll, Nicolas Hundley, Julie Choffel, Michelle Naka Pierce, Elisabeth Frost) Poets Out Loud and Fordham University Press present a reading by recent winners of the POL Prizes, introduced by series editor Elisabeth Frost. For 15 years, Poets Out Loud has partnered with Fordham Press to publish its diverse list, now awarding two prized annually. 2012 winners Amy Sara Carroll (POL Prize, selected by Claudia Rankine) and Nicolas Hundley (Editor's Prize) are joined by 2011 winners Julie Choffel (POL Prize, selected by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge) and Michelle Naka Pierce (Editor's Prize). Please join us to hear and to celebrate their work, and visit us at table E4 for author signings and the full range of POL titles and other volumes from Fordham Press.

Patricia Olson Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall A, Plaza Level

BF32. 5th Annual Mayapple Press Authors' Reading. (Mary Alexandra Agner, Marjorie Manwaring, Nola Garret, Mary Winegarden) Recent authors Mary Alexandra Agner (The Doors of the Body), Nola Garrett (The Pastor’s Wife Considers Pinball), Majorie Manwaring (Search for a Velvet-Lined Cape), and Mary Winegarden (American Book Award winner, The Translator’s Sister) will read from their poetry collections.

10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.

Room 101, Plaza Level

S128. Best Practices for Submitting an AWP Panel Proposal. Join AWP conference committee members and staff for a best practices discussion about submitting a panel proposal for the 2014 AWP Conference & Bookfair in Seattle. Discussion will include an overview of the proposal system and tips for submitting a more effective proposal.

Room 102, Plaza Level

S129. Why Genre Matters. (Dinah Lenney, Sven Birkerts, Judith Kitchen, David Biespiel, Scott Nadelson) Writer Lawrence Weschler once said, “… every narrative voice—and especially every nonfiction narrative voice—is a fiction. And the world of writing and reading is divided into those who know this and those who don’t.” If so, how do we distinguish between memoir and novel, essay and story, poetry and the rest? And why should we care? Panelists will address conflating, compressing, twisting, and embellishing, and the ongoing debate across forms about memory versus imagination and truth versus fact.

Room 103, Plaza Level

S130. Widening the World: Editors and Writers Discuss the Art of Bringing Far-Flung Places to Readers’ Fingertips. (Aviya Kushner, Jennifer Acker, Curtis Bauer, Susan Harris, Anne McPeak) In the era of instant information, literary magazines must bring more than bare facts to readers craving an international perspective. This panel of four distinguished editors from print, audio, and web journals discuss their unusual strategies for bringing readers the world, including dispatches from a high-rise in the Middle Eastern desert; an editor’s travels through Spain to make audio recordings of poets; and a magazine’s “country focus” series featuring new literature in translation.

Room 104, Plaza Level

S131. Poems from the Garnet State: A Celebration of Connecticut Poets. (Clare Rossini, Benjamin S. Grossberg, Ciaran Berry, Dennis Barone) On the occasion of the publication of Weslyan University’s Garnet Poems: An Anthology of Connecticut Poetry Since 1776, four Connecticut poets, including the anthology editor, will explore the role of place in the Connecticut literary tradition. How have Connecticut poets figured their state’s landscape and culture—and how has that landscape and culture shaped these poets? We will examine the work of historical and contemporary poets, including Gilman, Sigourney, Stevens, Twichell, and Deming.

Room 105, Plaza Level

S132. Breaking Bones: Traditional and Nontraditional Structures in the Novel. (Michelle Hoover, Dawn Tripp, Bruce Machart, Sheri Joseph, Jenna Blum) Given the constraints and freedoms of the novel, structure proves the heart of the debate about whether the form can be taught at all. Do novels rely more on structure than short stories? Is it possible to teach traditional structures as a backbone instead of a restrictive weight? What opportunities do experimental structures give us? Panelists will revisit the traditions, discuss their importance, and explore alternative ways to guide writers in their choices without restraining innovation.

Room 107, Plaza Level

S133. Lower Your Standards: William Stafford in the Workshop. (James Armstrong, Philip Metres, Alissa Nutting, Jeff Gundy, Fred Marchant) This panel considers how William Stafford’s complex and still-controversial approach to the poetry workshop can help overcome some of the pitfalls of that system (such as writing for the teacher or writing the safe poem). Panelists recount their own experiences using Stafford’s ideas in the classroom; they discuss how Stafford’s no praise, no blame stance towards the imagination, his notion of the centrality of daily practice, and his insistence on overcoming writer’s block through lowered standards can help students become fluent practitioners.

Room 108, Plaza Level

S134. Poem As Object: Wrestling with Metaphor through Multiple Media. (Julie Sheehan, Tracy M. King-Sanchez, Christopher Cascio, Erin White, Maggie Bloomfield) Faculty and students talk about their experiences in a newly-conceived workshop at Stony Brook Southampton called Poem/Object, where metaphors took shape—literally—off the page. Students, who traveled far beyond ekphrasis, found poem, and erasure, discuss what they learned from this multimedia approach about fear, delight, and unexpected consequences; how it affected their process; and why they can’t wait to do it again. Then they’ll share the fruit (not from trees) of their labor.

Room 109, Plaza Level

S135. The Whole Megillah: The Jewish Experience in Children’s Books. (Barbara Krasner, Sarah Aronson, Meg Wiviott, Micol Ostow, Sarah Lamstein) Writing Jewish-themed children’s books isn’t just about Sunday schools, synagogue, or the Holocaust. In this growing market, writers can include mainstream Jewish characters in secular settings and situations as well as explore the most observant families and the untold stories of Jewish history, including the Holocaust. Five authors discuss the Jewish experience in today’s children’s books—picture books, middle grade, and young adult novels, graphic novels, and nonfiction.

Room 110, Plaza Level

S136. Women in Crime. (Toni Margarita Plummer, Sophie Littlefield, Linda Rodriguez, Nicole Peeler) Boasting diverse voices and writing in settings varying from academic to rural to paranormal, three women discuss their choice to build a crime series around a female protagonist. These authors discuss crime and life from the female perspective, focusing on issues such as domestic abuse, divorce, parenthood, gender roles, sex, and justice, as well as the female sleuths and authors who inspired them. Moderated by one of the top acquiring editors for crime fiction, a Q&A session will follow.

Room 111, Plaza Level

S137. The Art and Craft of Short-Form Nonfiction. (Sarah Einstein, Joni Tevis, Brian Oliu, Chelsea Biondolillo) Can you write an essay in 140 characters? In 750 words or fewer? And can you get it published once you have? Join the managing editor of Brevity, two authors of short-form collections, and a graduate student working in this exciting new form as they share techniques and strategies for writing and marketing short-form nonfiction—from the lyric to the expository.

Room 200, Level 2

S138. The Lake Effect: A Celebration of Fifty Years of Creative Writing at Syracuse University. (Sarah Harwell, George Saunders, Arthur Flowers, Brooks Haxton, Christopher Kennedy) Syracuse University’s creative writing program celebrates its fifty-year anniversary with a reading by current faculty. The faculty will read from their own work as well as highlight work from a diverse and celebrated group of alumni and past faculty. Readers will include poets Brooks Haxton, Christopher Kennedy, and Sarah Harwell and fiction writers Arthur Flowers and George Saunders.

Room 201, Level 2

S139. Feminism Meets Neo-Benshi: Movietelling Talks Back. (Sarah Rosenthal, Tracie Morris, Jennifer Firestone, Paolo Javier, Anne Waldman) Neo-benshi, also called movietelling, meets contemporary feminism in this panel where poets co-opt popular film and subvert its plots and purposes for their own. The panelists have rewritten film scripts to critique and respond to current social issues. Panelists will perform these short pieces, which explore Neo-benshi’s potential for feminist dialogue and collaboration as well as its capacity to talk back, as it were, to society at large.

Room 202, Level 2

S140. Against Veils—A Tribute to Alan Dugan. (Michael Morse, Marie Howe, John Skoyles, Suzanne Wise, Adrienne Su) On the 10th anniversary of the poet’s death, join us as we honor this National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize-winner who wrote seven books of poems and helped found the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown forty-five years ago. Dugan mentored and inspired some of our finest contemporary poets in the emerging stages of their practice, and many will be on hand to join our participants as they read his poems, share anecdotes, and celebrate his lively spirit and enduring influence.

Room 203, Level 2

S141. From a Survivor: Looking at the Work of Adrienne Rich. (Beatrix Gates, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Alicia Ostriker) This event features a presentation, critical appreciation, and close reading of one of the great American metaphysical poets, Adrienne Rich. This multigenerational panel consisting of academics, scholars, and writers talks about how Rich’s work evolved through more than twenty books of poetry into one of the most essential and far-reaching bodies of work in American letters.

Room 204, Level 2

S142. Advice to Nonprofit Organizations Seeking Funding from the NEA. (Amy Stolls, Ira Silverberg, Eleanor Steele) Staff members from the Literature Division of the National Endowment for the Arts will address your questions and provide a status update on a range of topics, including grant opportunities, eligibility, the review process, tips for an effective proposal, policy trends, funding levels, and the future outlook for the agency and the field of literature. We’ll discuss key buzzwords, such as “diversity” and “innovation.” Both publishers and presenters are welcome.

Room 206, Level 2

S143. Sons of Boston: Tino Villanueva and Don Share. (Francisco Aragón, Tino Villanueva, Don Share) Tino Villanueva and Don Share read from their distinguished body of poetry and, afterwards, engage in a moderated conversation. This will touch upon their work as artists, how their work has (or hasn’t) been informed by their longtime residence in Boston, as well as their work as translators and editors. Poets Eduardo C. Corral and Luivette Resto will introduce Share and Villanueva, respectively.

Room 207, Level 2

S144. Agents, Editors, and the State of Publishing. (Mary Gannon, Jofie Ferrari-Adler, Jennifer Joel, Chuck Adams) Agents and editors share behind-the-scenes perspective about what authors need to know about the changing industry of publishing. How have e-books, e-readers, and self-publishing affected the industry? With the closing of Borders and the growing influence of Amazon, how have changes to distribution channels affected the way publishers market books, and what does this mean for authors? How have the best practices for submitting work to agents and editors changed?

Room 208, Level 2

S145. CultureStrike: A National Cultural Movement for Immigration. (Youmna Chlala, Rigoberto González, Mark Nowak, Favianna Rodriguez) CultureStrike, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop’s national cultural movement around immigration, presents a reading featuring Guggenheim fellow Rigoberto González’s pro-migrant narratives, writer and artist Youmna Chlala’s work, and Guggenheim fellow Mark Nowak’s poems written with Domestic Workers United. Artist Favianna Rodriguez will show work from CultureStrike’s national street art campaign.

Room 209, Level 2

S146. Honors Creative Writing Students: Researching, Reading, and Writing the Thesis. (Cecilia Rodríguez Milanés, Rafael Lancelotta, Alise Vick, Detrachia Neely, Martha Marinara) In this session, three creative writing undergraduates from diverse backgrounds and at different stages in their program, discuss the rewards, challenges, and reasons for choosing the thesis option. Together with faculty who’ve served as directors and readers, they’ll address the research required before writing, the dynamics of processing feedback from committee members within/outside of the major, as well as the promotion of the honors creative writing thesis at a showcase of undergraduate research.

Room 210, Level 2

S147. The Business of Publishing Your First Novel: Author and Publisher Perspectives. (Dennis Loy Johnson, Christopher Boucher, Emily St. John Mandel, Vanessa Veselka) Melville House copublisher and cofounder Dennis Johnson will lead a practical discussion of the publishing process with three authors in various stages of their literary careers: Emily St. John Mandel has published three acclaimed novels with Unbridled Books, while Christopher Boucher and Vanessa Veselka each debuted a novel in 2011 with Melville House and Red Lemonade, respectively. Topics will include: acquisitions, editing, big-house versus independent publishers, publicity, marketing, tours, social-networking, and the changing role of the author.

Room 302/304, Level 3

S148. Breaking the Jaws of Silence. (Sholeh Wolpe, Kim Addonizio, Tom Sleigh, Quincy Troupe, Yusef Komunyakaa) Poets are a threat to despotic regimes as light is a threat to darkness. In a project to benefit PEN USA’s Freedom to Write program, prominent American poets raise their voices and call on poets to bear witness, to collectively engage, to activate, to call, to give texture, to demand, to caress, to shatter, to build, and to never let the world forget.

Room 303, Level 3

S149. We Are Homer: A Reading of Collaborative Poetry and Prose. (Ryan Teitman, Traci Brimhall, Laura Eve Engel, Adam Peterson, Brynn Saito) In this reading of poetry and prose, two pairs of writers (Traci Brimhall & Brynn Saito and Laura Eve Engel & Adam Peterson) will read from their collaboratively written works. Ryan Teitman will also read from a set of poems cowritten with Marcus Wicker. After the reading, the writers will discuss their writing process, how they came together to write collaboratively, and the challenges and joys of writing with a partner.

Room 306, Level 3

S150. If These Walls Could Talk... Oh Wait, They Do! (Eleanor Henderson, Stewart O’Nan, Tea Obreht) The whole world is a stage, but as fiction writers we get to choose where and when to set a story. That decision can influence everything else in the novel, for better or worse. Four novelists talk about the pressures that settings, both urban and rural, can place on our fiction, and how and why to make choices about landscape.

Room 309, Level 3

S151. Flannery O’Connor Short Fiction Award 30th Anniversary Reading. (EJ Levy, Amina Gautier, Lori Ostlund, Bill Roorbach, Melissa Pritchard) A fiction reading by winners of the Flannery O’Connor Award in celebration of its 30th anniversary. Diverse authors celebrate this major American book prize with series editor & award-winning writer Nancy Zafris. Come hear these FOC award-winning writers as they explore—through readings from their fiction and conversation with the series’ editor—the award’s importance and offer practical advice on how to succeed in the process.

Room 310, Level 3

S152. Apples and Oranges: How Different Academic Systems Have Produced Different Models for Creative Writing Programs. (Graeme Harper, Katharine Coles, Marguerite MacRobert, Nigel McLoughlin) In 1936, the first studio MFA program was founded at the University of Iowa. Since then, many academic programs—awarding MFAs and PhDs—have been developed in the US. More recently, other English-speaking countries have developed programs within academic models and systems that are very different from ours. Panelists from various English-speaking countries will discuss the advantages and disadvantages these differently structured programs offer students within their systems.

Room 313, Level 3

S153. I Can’t Write That!: Censorship in the Writing Workshop. (Randall Albers, Steve May, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Tim Liardet, Patricia Ann McNair) The old admonition to “write what you know” often prompts a response, spoken or unspoken: But I can’t possibly write that! Without wide permission for voice and material, students find it hard to avoid a self-censorship that diverts them from meaningful content, strong voice, and purposeful play. In this session, writer-teachers reveal their own tangles with self-censorship and offer ways to create a safe space for students to free themselves from the debilitating fear of transgression.

Alice Hoffman Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall D, Level 2

BF33. The Tusculum Review and H_NGM_N Reading. (Nate Pritts, Alexis Orgera, Matt Hart, Angela Veronica Wong) The Tusculum Review and H_NGM_N are pleased to present four superstar poets who have lent some gravitas to our pages.

Patricia Olson Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall A, Plaza Level

BF34. Lynx House/Lost Horse: How Two Presses Collaborate. (David Axelrod, Greg Pape, Bill Tremblay, Ray Amorosi, Dawn Lonsinger) Lynx House Press and Lost Horse Press, both small, active literary presses based in the inland Northwest, have discovered that their missions are much the same: to publish the highest quality poetry and literary fiction in editions that are above trade standard in design and to achieve for these books the widest possible circulation and cultural impact. The terrific results of their collaboration, on display at this event, suggest a model that other small presses might consider.

12:00 noon to 1:15 p.m.

Room 101, Plaza Level

S154. 2014 Seattle AWP Conference & Bookfair Forum. Join the AWP 2014 conference chair and AWP staff for an open forum to discuss topics of interest and relevance to AWP’s upcoming conference in Seattle.

Room 102, Plaza Level

S155. Career Suicide. (Lesley Wheeler, Asali Solomon, Luisa A. Igloria, Lawrence Schimel, Ann Fisher-Wirth) Creative risk is crucial to literature’s vitality, but professional risk is also a powerful force in writers’ lives. Presenters will discuss the consequences of switching genres and jobs, passing up apparently rare opportunities, and pursuing passions and commitments that seem antithetical to career advancement and conventional measures of success. Tales from the audience will be received eagerly.

Room 103, Plaza Level

S156. Creative Convergences: Integrating the Arts and Technology in the Writing Classroom. (Rebecca Manery, Lizzie Hutton, Carol Tell, T. Hetzel) College students are immersed in a multimedia and genre-blended world, yet their writing classrooms don’t reflect this reality. In this panel, creative writers who teach at the University of Michigan demonstrate how alternative pedagogical approaches that challenge traditional boundaries of genre and medium inspire students to solve compelling creative problems and to live authentically as writers, both in and beyond the academic setting.

Room 104, Plaza Level

S157. Navigating the Track: The Writer and the Nontenured Position. (Emma Bolden, Hannah Abrams, Sarah Domet, Jared Yates Sexton) Adjunct, instructor, lecturer, visiting assistant professor: today’s academic job market offers a labyrinth of nontenure positions. In this session, writers who have held such positions discuss how they navigate this terrain. Panelists will offer a realistic map of the pitfalls, prospects, and benefits (literal and metaphorical) of the positions as well as seeking and transitioning to a tenure track.

Room 105, Plaza Level

S158. Bound, Not Gagged: Artful Constraints in the Creative Writing Classroom. (Leah Stewart, Kevin Wilson, David James Poissant, Michelle Burke, Sean Flanigan) In this panel, teachers will share time-tested secrets for tricking students into producing great work. Whether asking students to describe abstract art without the use of adjectives or demanding that a story begin with a fifty-word sentence, these panelists impose arbitrary—even absurd—constraints in order to push students beyond their comfort zones. The result is, most often, innovative and surprising work. Walk away from this panel energized to create your own regimen of artful constraints.

Room 107, Plaza Level

S159. International Perspectives on Love, Sex, and Censorship: Crossing Continents in Young Adult Fiction. (Lucy Christopher, Julia Green, Coe Booth, David Levithan, Siobhan McGowan) Love and sex—we all do it, don’t we? Not always in young adult fiction, it seems. This panel of internationally acclaimed novelists and editors explores different ways this fiction deals with issues of love and sex, as well as the censorship often imposed upon it. It contrasts an American approach with a British perspective, discussing the pressures from publishers and educators, as well as authors themselves, to write responsibly. Just how far is too far in this fiction? Can we go all the way?

Room 108, Plaza Level

S160. Essayists on the Essay. (Ned Stuckey-French, Lynn Bloom, Jenny Spinner, Patrick Madden, Barrie Jean Borich) A new anthology, Essayists on the Essay: Montaigne to Our Time, collects four centuries of commentary, theory, poetics, and celebrations of the essay. Tapping into that resource, this panel explores the form of the essay as described by its practitioners. How have essayists defined the essay? What have they said about what the form allows? What does the essay ask of its writers and readers?

Room 109, Plaza Level

S161. Carol Shields: Her Language and Craft. (Eric Freeze, Aritha van Herk, Anne Shields Giardini, Genni Gunn) The work of the late Pulitzer Prize-winning author Carol Shields teaches much about language and invention in fiction. Panel participants will discuss those fictional delights: her experimentation with epistolary narratives, her use of absence, and her innovative syntax. Acclaimed writer and daughter of Carol Shields, Anne Shields Giardini, will also provide insight into Shields’s writing life and process.

Room 110, Plaza Level

S162. Courting the Love Poem: Challenges of Sincerity and Sentimentality. (Alyse Knorr, Timothy Liu, Joe Hall, Beth Ann Fennelly, Nate Pritts) Who’s afraid of the big bad love poem? How does the contemporary love poem fit in today’s postmodern literary landscape? This panel discusses the poetics and politics of writing the love poem, including the challenges of evoking sincerity, avoiding sentimentality, and working with a theme as old as poetry itself. What are the current poetic modes of writing love poems, from the autobiographical narrative to intentional experimentalism? How do gender and sexual orientation influence poetics?

Room 111, Plaza Level

S163. Memoir Beyond the Self. (Jeffrey Shotts, Leslie Jamison, Brigid Hughes, Benjamin Nugent, Colleen Kinder) This panel will focus on narrative nonfiction that pushes the boundaries of traditional memoir by weaving personal experience into broader explorations of literature, history, and culture. What are the possibilities for a precarious first person, neither oppressively dominant nor entirely dissolved? How can memoir escape the bind of solipsism by looking outward at other people, places, and eras? How can private life become a medium through which the external world is articulated?

Room 200, Level 2

S164. Walcott as Teacher: A Reading by Derek Walcott with Glyn Maxwell and Melissa Green. (Ann Kjellberg, Derek Walcott, Glyn Maxwell, Melissa Green) Walcott has been writing poetry since 1944 and teaching since 1981. Maxwell and Green, both students of his when quite young, have responded to his music and taken it in their own directions. Maxwell has written many books of poetry and, like Walcott, worked extensively in verse theater. Green’s oeuvre and reputation are smaller and yet intensely valued by a circle of knowing readers. They read poems that reflect their affinities and consider their shared craft and working friendship

Room 201, Level 2

S165. The Enduring Voice: African American Poets on Music and Musicians. (Monica Hand, Kate Rushin, Linda Susan Jackson, Mitchell L H Douglas, Harmony Holiday) Historically, African American poets have used music and the stories of musicians and singers to express the rhythms and realities within their poems. Panelists will discuss their influencers and their individual poetics, aesthetic platforms, and literary approaches including parallel narratives, persona poems, and jazz metrics. They will also discuss the work of pioneering and contemporary practitioners in this living tradition.

Room 202, Level 2

S166. Bringing Poetry to the People. (Taylor Mali, Samantha Thornhill, Jon Sands, Roger Bonair-Agard, Michael Salinger) This is a panel discussion with poets and organizers who have found creative and engaging ways to bring poetry into the lives of people who would not otherwise seek it out. By teaching workshops in prisons and needle exchange programs, performing sudden poetry flash-mob style on the NYC subway, or even stamping small poems on $100 bills, these panelists don’t just know that men and women die each day for the lack of what can be found in poetry; they’re actually doing something about it.

Room 203, Level 2

S167. Small Presses Win Big: Publishers Sound Off on Their National Book Award Winners and Finalists. (Martha Rhodes, Parneshia Jones, Fiona McCrae, Bruce McPherson, Emily Louise Smith) What does it mean to be published by a small or independent press today? As National Book Award judges select more winners and finalists from smaller presses, publishers representing recent winners and finalists will discuss the impact of the NBAs on both press and author. Join Four Way Books, Graywolf, Lookout Books, McPherson & Co., and TriQuarterly/Northwestern for a conversation that will look at changing face of the NBA as it honors more writers from a broader swath of publishing houses.

Room 204, Plaza Level

S168. All Voices Everywhere: Teaching Creative Writing to Marginalized K-12 Students. (Lisa M. Nohner, Lecroy T. Rhyanes, Jr., Electra Rich, Kelsie Hahn) All kids deserve to be heard, particularly those in unique populations. This panel will address practical strategies and advice in teaching creative writing to K-12 students in many contexts, including bilingual schools, gifted programs, developmental classes, and juvenile detention facilities. Drawing on experiences with Writers in the Schools and Voices Behind Walls, the panel will evaluate various methods, such as multimodal and multimedia texts, for helping students find their voices.

Room 206, Level 2

S169. Impossible to Tell: Tributes to Robert Pinsky. (Aliki Barnstone, Erin Belieu, Jennifer Clarvoe, David Gewanter, Thomas Simmons) Robert Pinsky is a public poet whose Favorite Poem Project revitalizes the role of poetry in America. His work is surprising, idiosyncratic, unclassifiable, and ambitious. According to David Wojahn, Pinsky’s service to the art oddly obscures his daring work, which has influenced a generation of poets. Five poet/critics discuss Pinsky’s importance and the generative possibilities of his innovations and read a poem or two of their own to show his influence. Pinsky reads his own poems under discussion.

Room 207, Level 3

S170. An FC2 Fiction Reading. (Matthew Roberson, Melanie Rae Thon, Kate Bernheimer, Sarah Blackman, Matt Kirkpatrick) A reading in anticipation of FC2’s forty-year anniversary in 2014, that will include flash fiction from recent FC2 authors, including—in addition to the listed event participants—Joanna Ruocco, Sarah Blackman, and others.

Room 208, Level 2

S171. Writing to Change the World: Social Justice and Youth Writing Programs [WITS Alliance]. (Janet Hurley, Tamiko Ambrose Murray, Glenis Redmond, Christina Shea, Terry Blackhawk) Does the endeavor of creative writing intrinsically encourage the subject of social justice and/or nuture the same? Panelists who work with students, elementary through college age, will discuss the art of teaching youth. They will chronicle the ways in which creative writing often triggers or gives space for idealism in students and empowers a sense of agency. What are the teachable moments, and what risks are involved?

Room 209, Level 2

S172. From the University of Nebraska Press: Readings from The Prairie Schooner Book Prize Anniversary Reader. (Hilda Raz, Shane Book, Brock Clarke, Jesse Lee Kercheval, Susan Blackwell Ramsey) A perfect time capsule of the diverse, experimental trends in American poetry and short fiction over the last ten years, The Prairie Schooner Book Prize Anniversary Reader pulls together excerpts from all twenty winning books of Prairie Schooner’s Book Prize Series. The Press will launch this anthology at AWP 2013; come listen to four of the most successful winners read and hear Hilda Raz, legend and influential founder of the Book Prize Series, discuss finding work that speaks to our living moment.

Room 210, Level 2

S173. Wesleyan Poetry Series Reading. (Stephanie Elliott, Rae Armantrout, Kazim Ali, Annie Finch, Jena Osman) Readings from the newest titles in the Wesleyan Poetry series. Rae Armantrout’s Just Saying continues her standard of inventive, tightly written verse. Spells: New and Collected Poems represents Annie Finch’s technical mastery and her illuminating response to the world. Kazim Ali’s carefully crafted Icarus is an ethereal meditation on the human spirit. Jena Osman’s Public Figures employs a hybrid form of poetry, prose, and found text to explore memory and remembrance in American culture.

Room 302/304, Level 3

S174. Write Where You Know: When Setting Serves as a Main Character in a Novel. (John Roche, Jennifer Haigh, Thomas Kelly, Richard Russo) Richard Russo’s bestselling novels, including Pulitzer-winner Empire Falls, uniquely capture a sense of place, whether it’s dying blue-collar towns in upstate New York or New England enclaves. Thomas Kelly, the author of three novels praised for their authentic depiction of New York City, and Jennifer Haigh, whose four novels include Faith, set in Boston, will join Russo in discussing the importance of setting in their fiction, at times to the point where place itself becomes a main character.

Room 303, Level 3

S175. Opening Her Veins: Variations on Poems by Marina Tsvetaeva in Two Voices. (Carey Salerno, Ilya Kaminsky, Jean Valentine, Stephanie Sandler) Poets Ilya Kaminsky and Jean Valentine take turns reading their new variations of poetry and prose by Russian great Marina Tsvetaeva. Dr. Stephanie Sandler from the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University will open with remarks on these unbridled “translations” as well as the life and work of Tsvetaeva. AJB executive director, Carey Salerno, will moderate.

Room 305, Level 3

S176. The Look of the Book. (Lucille Lang Day, Anne Coray, Gloria Mindock, Doug Holder) Publishers today are faced with many choices—perhaps too many—when it comes to printers and print methods. What is a good product? Which printers are responsive? Should a small press use digital or offset? What are the pitfalls of e-books or cheap hard copy printing? Five small presses—Červená Barva, Ibbetson Street, NorthShore, Ooligan, and Scarlet Tanager—will address these nuts-and-bolts questions and share experiences to help presses and writers make informed printing decisions.

Room 306, Level 3

S177. Reading by Grand Central Authors. (Benjamin Percy, Julianna Baggott, Ed Falco) Discover three of the strongest voices in contemporary fiction at a reading by Grand Central’s finest. Julianna Baggott is the author of Pure, the first book in a postapocalypic series which was a New York Times Editor’s Choice. Ed Falco’s most recent novel, a prequel to The Godfather titled The Family Corleone, is based on material excerpted from screenplays by Mario Puzo. Benjamin Percy’s new novel, Red Moon, is an epic and terrifying story of lycans set in the American West. Prepare for a thrilling night—and take the cannoli.

Room 309, Level 3

S178. Creative Writing Under Siege: Setting the Record Straight. (Stephanie Vanderslice, Anna Leahy, Dianne Donnelly, Tom C Hunley, Tim Mayers) Detractors of creative writing, via sweeping generalizations and straw men, have long criticized the field. What is the responsibility of those within the field to demythologize and demystify creative writing to the public? Find out happens when, in response to Anis Shivani’s particularly scathing criticism in the Huffington Post, a group of writers representing a wide cross-section of the field (undergraduate and graduate writing, public and private universities) set the record straight.

Room 310, Level 3

S179. Facing the Beast: Conscience and Literary Writing. (Helen Benedict, Masha Hamilton, Elizabeth Nunez, Paula Sharp) What is the place of conscience in literature today? Can literary writers who address such topics as war, violence, sexism, racism, and torture be taken seriously as artists, and if so, how and by whom? Where are the pitfalls between politics and polemics, conscience and coercion? Are women taken as seriously as men when they write of political matters? And what is literature of conscience in America anyway? A group of literary writers will discuss these questions.

Room 313, Level 3

S180. Reporting Creatively: The Dying Art of Literary Journalism. (Amorak Huey, Austin Bunn, V.V. [Sugi] Ganeshananthan, Billy Baker, Oindrila Mukherjee) Lately, the growth of new media with its focus on short and instant forms, and the memoir which prioritizes personal experience over facts, have become the dominant forms of nonfiction. They threaten to make literary long-form journalism, with its combination of deep reporting and aesthetic risk-taking, extinct. We discuss the challenges of teaching literary journalism and the process of writing for print and online magazines. Come hear us share our experiences from the field and the classroom.

Alice Hoffman Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall D, Level 2

BF35. CavanKerry Press: The Lives Brought to Life Reading. (Teresa Carson, Nin Andrews, Paola Corso, Joan Cusack Handler, Wanda Praisner) Paola Corso (The Laundress Catches Her Breath), Joan Cusack Handler (Confessions of Joan the Tall), and Wanda Praisner will read from their recently published books, plus Nin Andrews will read selections from The Waiting Room Reader II: Words to Keep You Company.

Patricia Olson Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall A, Plaza Level

BF36. Cleveland State University Poetry Center 2013 Book Release Reading. (Frank Giampietro, Rebecca Hazelton, Rebecca Gayle Howell, William D. Waltz, Wendy Xu) The Cleveland State University Poetry Center is proud to feature our four newest authors reading from their books: Rebecca Gayle Howell (Render / An Apocalypse, winner of the 2012 First Book Award, selected by Nick Flynn), William D. Waltz (Adventures in the Lost Interiors of America, winner of the 2012 Open Book Award), Rebecca Hazelton (Vow), and Wendy Xu (You Are Not Dead).

1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Room 101, Plaza Level

S181. Working as Communicators in a Digital Age. (Jennifer Nelson, Erika Anderson, Chris Jones, Sarah Twombly, Stephen Knezovich) Are you enthusiastic about Twitter, Facebook, and blogs, and do you love to write? Four writers speak about jobs for tech-savvy literary types. Sarah Twombly works as a digital strategist at Blue State Digital after spending years as a literary agent. Erika Anderson is a freelance publicist after leaving a communications job at the United Nations. Chris Jones edits an online publication at The Loft Literary Center, while Stephen Knezovich is revamping the website of Creative Nonfiction, a literary journal.

Room 102, Plaza Level

S182. The Affirmation of Influence. (John Fulton, Fanny Howe, Barbara Perez, Lloyd Schwartz, Shilpi Suneja) In this reading, two University of Massachusetts Boston MFA Faculty members, Fanny Howe (fiction) and Lloyd Schwartz (poetry), will read from their work alongside a current student and an alumna. The student and alumna will present work that has been shaped in some way by faculty mentors. A discussion will follow about influence and pedagogy, focusing on how differences and similarities between student and faculty aesthetics, backgrounds, and cultures can lead to creative synergies.

Room 103, Plaza Level

S183. Money Is a Kind of Poetry: Strategy and Tactics for the Small, Independent Nonprofit. (David Rothman, John Barr, David Yezzi) No matter how strong their programs may be, all nonprofits eventually face the challenges of establishing effective leadership, sound financial management, and good governance. This panel, featuring three speakers who have helped to direct and govern independent literary and arts organizations across the country, will address crucial strategic and tactical problems such as how to create a strong development program, how to build a mission-centered board, and how to retain strong leadership.

Room 104, Plaza Level

S184. In Between: The Art of Lyric Transitions. (David Roderick, Katie Peterson, Nick Lantz, Shara Lessley) As poets and critics, we naturally pay attention to the beginnings and endings of poems, but sometimes we overlook the body in between. After a poem’s opening flourish, what lyrical, narrative, or rhetorical tactics do poets use to guide a reader from ignorance to revelation (or vice versa)? Using examples from Keats, Brooks, O’Hara, and B.P. Kelly (among others), we will discuss how poems carry a reader’s attention from beginning to end.

Room 105, Plaza Level

S185. War in the Workshop: Handling the Combat Vet Writer. (David Everett, Ron Capps, James Mathews, Stewart Moss) War veterans are flooding the nation’s writing classes, sometimes encountering stereotypes, misunderstanding, and outright prejudice from teachers and fellow writers. Yet teachers often don’t know how to respond if a veteran’s workshop writing turns scary, troubled, or even violent. This panel of writing teachers and vet writers offers useful tips based on real workshop examples of students who touched on combat, suicide attempts, and even the thrill of killing.

Room 107, Plaza Level

S186. Countering Stereotypes of Disability through Contemporary Fiction. (Michael Northen, Jillian Weise, Anne Finger, Terry Tracy, Christine Stark) Disability literature—especially disability fiction—is a relatively new field, still in the process of defining itself. The panelists, all of whom are authors of recent novels featuring a protagonist with disabilities, will discuss the problem of stereotypes of disability in traditional fiction and, in the process, read from their work to illustrate how they have attempted to counter these images. Time will be provided for a Q&A.

Room 108, Plaza Level

S187. Embracing Echo, Rediscovering the Self: Teaching Strategies of Repetition in the Undergraduate Poetry Workshop. (Tyler Mills, Rebecca Hazelton, Brianna Noll, Valerie Wetlaufer) In a beginning poetry workshop, repetition can seem like an easy culprit to critique: say something new! But meaningful repetition is one of the best tools we have for bringing unexpected voices into our poems. The echo, or difference in sameness of rhyme, refrain, and fixed forms like the sestina and the villanelle never reveal the same self we thought we released. We will explore methods of teaching repetition to beginning poets and how to greet the politics of self we encounter in the echo.

Room 109, Plaza Level

S188. Found in Translation: Great Nonfiction. (S.L. Wisenberg, Faith Adiele, Patrick Madden, Susan Harris, Vijay Seshadri) Much of the creative nonfiction published in literary magazines, anthologies, text, and trade books in this country is written by US writers. We seek to broaden the conversation. We introduce, discuss, and read excerpts from exemplary and significant essays, memoirs, and other nonfictions that excite us—by such writers as Eduardo Galeano, Clarice Lispector, Milena Jesenska, Frantz Fanon, Goli Taraghi, Peter Fröberg Idling, Zbigniew Herbert, Nawal El Saadawi, and more.

Room 110, Plaza Level

S189. Poetry Serving Story Serving Teens: Verse Novels for Young Adults. (Holly Thompson, Ellen Hopkins, David Levithan, Mariko Nagai, Samantha Schutz) Four writers of novels in verse and poems will discuss the craft of narrative verse and the compelling use of poetic elements to drive stories that can deeply impact the lives of young adults. This panel will elaborate on challenges of characterization, dialogue, and plotting within verse; the wide range of forms and structural approaches employed today; and the effects and appeal of distilling complex stories for teens into verse.

Room 111, Plaza Level

S190. Document-Based Sources of Inquiry. (Allison Wigen, Patricia Kirkpatrick, Sally Keith, Jody Gladding, Arlene Kim) Poets will discuss the ways in which document-based sources inform the writing process. Works of art, “texts” found in nature, brain maps, and fairy tales are among the “source documents” of interest to the panelists. Though art, nature, and narrative have inspired poets for centuries, in their recent works, these poets have utilized document-based sources in unexpected ways. This craft discussion will offer panel attendees fresh approaches to incorporating found sources into the writing process.

Room 200, Level 2

S191. Message in a Bottle: Poetry of the Sacred and the Profane. (Michael Broek, Tony Hoagland, Nicole Cooley, Timothy Liu, Jaamal May) What poem would you cast into the sea in a bottle? Mead: the Magazine of Literature and Libations believes that, like good wine or old scotch, poems have ropes and legs and leave a residue. This event presents four of Mead’s poets and its managing editor for a reading highlighting poetry that is fermented, burnt, makes some kind of penance, offering, or sacrifice, and has a sense of spiritual renewal, but begs for forgiveness.

Room 201, Level 2

S192. Wild Writing Residencies. (Marybeth Holleman, Nancy Lord, Diane Weddington, Gary Lawless, Mimi White) Nineteen of our national parks, plus additional national forests and refuges, sponsor artist residency programs that include writers and poets. Panelists who’ve participated in some of these programs will discuss the effects their experiences have had on their art, the importance of the programs in bringing wildland values to the public, and opportunities for collaborating with visual artists and scientists. They will also share brief excerpts from work inspired by landscape and solitude.

Room 202, Level 2

S193. Innovations in Low-Residency MFA Programs. (Wayne Ude, Brian Clements, Xu Xi, Janet Pocorobba, Lex Williford) Low-residency programs have been centers of innovation since their first appearance in 1977. This panel will explore innovations useful to both low-residency and residential programs, including new approaches to traditional courses, new courses, new technologies, new constituencies, new program goals, and new program structures.

Room 203, Level 2

S194. Finding New Freedom in Old Forms. (Danielle Jones-Pruett, Jill McDonough, Maria Hummel, Tyehimba Jess) Sonnets, villanelles, ghazals, and other poetic forms are often discussed in terms of their restrictiveness, but more and more poets are returning to these forms to address social injustice, tragedy, and inequity, or to engage in other politically charged topics. Come hear Jill S. McDonough read sonnets grappling with the history of execution in America; discover how song forms, like villanelles and pantoums, provided a release for Maria Hummel, allowing her to write about her son’s illness in a way that is emotionally honest; experience Tyehimba Jess’s ability to take African Americans on the fringe of history and reintroduce them into popular culture, all while deconstructing and reconstructing form. After the reading, the poets will answer questions about working with form and how it has been significant to their poetic process.

Room 204, Level 2

S195. Borrowing from Literature to Create for the Screen. (Erin Trahan, Lyda Kuth, Jan Egleson, Cheryl Eagan-Donovan, Luke Poling) New England has a strong tradition of independent documentary filmmaking and has played a significant role in the evolution of film genres that includes first-person documentaries, essay films, and biopics. Recent films by our panelists encompass all three; they will screen clips and discuss the influence of literary forms on their approach to filmmaking.

Room 206, Level 2

S196. What We Wish We’d Known. (Eric Olsen, Lucy Silag, Jane Smiley, Vu Tran, Douglas Unger) Should a creative writing program provide a refuge from the “real world” during which writers can concentrate on their art? Or should a workshop also provide some exposure to “professional practices,” the real world of publishing and/or teaching they’ll face once they leave? And if so, how best? Our panelists will discuss what they learned in a workshop that prepared them, as writers and as teachers of writing, for the “real world” outside, and what they didn’t learn but wish they had.

Room 207, Level 2

S197. Don’t Stop Believing: Leading the Writing Life After the MFA. (Lori D’Angelo, Heather Frese, Sandra Marchetti, Sarah Beth Childers) In this conversation between Sarah Beth Childers, Lori D’Angelo, Heather Frese, and Sandy Marchetti, four writers from three different genres will discuss how to keep writing after the MFA, and how to successfully navigate the waters of both the business side of writing (agents, contests, residencies, and competitive funding) and the personal side (relationships, marriages, and children) while keeping both writing life and money in balance.

Room 208, Level 2

S198. Numbers Trouble: Editors and Writers Speak to VIDA’s Count. (Jennine Capó Crucet, Don Bogen, Katha Pollitt, Stephen Corey, E.J. Graff) VIDA’s annual Count, well known for its documentation of gender bias in literary publishing, has produced hundreds of responses in media outlets around the world. It seems everyone wants a share in this conversation that now appears necessary and long overdue. This panel is the first organized discussion about VIDA’s numbers and what they may mean to women writers nationally. Established editors and writers will respond to this complex issue occupying the forefront of our literary landscape.

Room 209, Level 2

S199. Poetics of Fiction in/at Buffalo. (Christina Milletti, Ted Pelton, Kim Chinquee, Dimitri Anastasopoulos) A tapestry of fiction and critical statement, this panel will explore the evolution of innovative fiction in the Buffalo community. Though Buffalo is largely known for its tradition of poetry, this panel will explore how Buffalo has evolved as a related site of innovative fiction and avant-garde narrative praxis through readings and discussion by writers representing three local universities: Medaille College, Buffalo State College, and the University at Buffalo.

Room 210, Level 2

S200. What Is Criticism? With NBCC Winners and Finalists. (Stephen Burt, Vivian Gornick, James Wood, Clare Cavanagh, Parul Sehgal) What does it take to change discussion—or start discussion—around a novel, a poem, a play, a career? How to combine instruction with delight? Four leading literary and cultural critics, winners or finalists for the National Book Critic Circle’s awards, discuss the art of writing about books. These winners and finalists differ in background and experience; all represent criticism as a lively, challenging activity, one that can and must find something new to say.

Room 302/304, Level 3

S201. A Centennial Tribute to Robert Hayden, Sponsored by Poetry Society of America. (Alice Quinn, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Major Jackson, Sharan Strange, Eduardo C. Corral) Introduced and moderated by Alice Quinn, the poets will explore the life and poetry of Robert Hayden. They will discuss his influence and read poems of their own in tribute to him.

Room 303, Level 3

S202. Polish Poetry Now. (Joelle Biele, Robin Davidson, Piotr Florczyk, Karen Kovacik, Mira Rosenthal) Join us for a discussion of new Polish poetry with four noted translators. Poland has one of the most vibrant poetry scenes in Europe, and the postcommunist generation has a significantly different relationship with poetry than its ancestors, having thrown off the weight of what Czeslaw Milosz calls the “responsibility of being a bard.” After looking at these changes, we will consider Polish poetry’s future, the art of translation, and cultural exchange, ending with a reading by panel members.

Room 305, Level 3

S203. Inside Asian American Editing: How Aesthetics and Advocacy Affect Five Editors’ Publishing Decisions. (Allen Gee, Phong Nguyen, Sunyoung Lee, Jennifer Derilo, Tarfia Faizullah) Five editors discuss the aesthetics behind the decisions they make about what books, stories, or essays to publish. Other aspects include: what role does advocacy play in our editing, and how does each editor envision their role in the greater nexus of publishing and racial/ethnic dynamics? The editors will also provide suggestions for correspondence with editors and give submission tips. Time will be allotted for meeting the editors.

Room 306, Level 3

S204. How to Lose Friends and Alienate Loved Ones: Exploitation vs. Documentation in Creative Nonfiction. (B.J. Hollars, Roxane Gay, Marcia Aldrich, Ryan Van Meter, Bonnie J. Rough) Not every story is flattering, nor is every character. Nevertheless, nonfiction writers continue to document their lives and the lives of others, often at the risk of violating personal relationships. How should writers navigate between revealing the true nature of their subjects without alienating the people themselves? Join four writers as they explore the fine line between documentation and exploitation, among other ethical dilemmas inherent in writing of friends, family, and loved ones.

Room 309, Level 3

S205. The New (England) Guard: A Poetry Reading. (Jennifer Militello, Arielle Greenberg, Heather Christle, Lisa Olstein, Sandra Lim) Five up-and-coming women poets forty and under showcase the excellence and diversity of contemporary New England poetry. Representing the continued vitality of a region that lays claim to one of the oldest and richest literary heritages in the nation, these award-winning emergent poets offer a dynamic snapshot of New England poetry today.

Room 310, Level 3

S206. Changing the Sheets: How Best to Get Sex on the Page. (Nicole Louise Reid, Michael Griffith, Melanie Abrams, Dean Paschal, Jim Grimsley) We all know (or think we know) what constitutes a bad sex scene, but what is a good one? What do we mean when we declare a sex scene good, and what are we looking for, as readers and as writers, from this maligned genre? Five fiction writers known for their often controversial and always riveting sex scenes will explore the special lures and perils of writing sex, and the work of some writers we think have succeeded at it.

Room 313, Level 3

S207. The Kids Are All Right: Workshop as Outreach. (Michelle Herman, Christopher Coake, Catherine Pierce, Pablo Tanguay, Nick White) For the past four years, Ohio State University has facilitated a weeklong writing retreat for high school students from the surrounding public high schools in Columbus, Ohio, called The Young Writers’ Workshop. Students in this program work with graduate students and established writers alike to develop their own creative voices in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The panel members—all of whom have taught at YWW—will discuss how creative writing, like other fields in the arts, can be used as a method of outreach for at-risk and underprivileged teens.

Patricia Olson Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall A, Plaza Level

BF38. Reading by Publication Studio Authors. (Mathew Stadler, Howard W. Robertson, Matt Briggs) Publication Studio presents a reading by several of its authors, including moderator Matthew Stadler, poet Howard W. Robertson, novelist Matt Briggs, and two other Publication Studio authors.

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..

Room 101, Plaza Level

S209. Master of None: Surviving and Thriving without an MFA. (Rebecca Makkai, Samuel Park, Ru Freeman, Marie Myung-Ok Lee, Emily Gray Tedrowe) Five successful writers talk about making it in the industry without an MFA. We discuss life outside the academy; making professional connections and finding a support network; navigating sticky situations where recommendations are required; teaching without a terminal degree; and the challenges and benefits of writing in isolation. We also share how we learned to better our crafts outside of a workshop, and how we got feedback on our early writing.

Room 102, Plaza Level

S210. Where in the World is the Writer in Residence? [WITS Alliance]. (Cecily Sailer, Alise Alousi, Josephine Jones, Tina Angelo) Although people might agree that poets make the world a better place, poetry is often marginalized to classrooms. What happens when we move the poet from the ivory tower into the real world? What if a poet-in-residence could work in the hospital, museum, theater, or science lab? This panel explores how individuals and arts organizations can enliven and deepen the teaching of creative writing through unlikely collaborations.

Room 103, Plaza Level

S211. Video Games, Fan Fiction, and Comics: Alternative Genres as Legitimate Literature. (Leslie Salas, Jim Miller, Elaine Phillips, Kirsten Holt) Alternative forms of narrative are often perceived with disdain or suspicion even though they address the same plots, themes, and conditions of respectable literary forms. Comics have begun to break away from this stigma, but what about more mainstream genres, such as fan fiction and video games? How do all three of these alternative forms both threaten and reinforce ideas about originality and narrative? This panel will make the case for alternative genres as creative literature.

Room 104, Plaza Level

S212. Moore for Writers: Frontier, Form, and the Case of Marianne Moore. (David Baker, Linda Gregerson, Stanley Plumly, Ann Townsend) Marianne Moore stands as one of the most innovative Modernist poets, representing that American aesthetic paradox: an age-old imperative for newness. We consider her many ways of mapping the frontier: from a radical recalibration of metrics to her rigorous visual architecture; from her dynamic methods of trope and image-making to the new worlds charted by her innovations in voice, stance, and subject. How can her discoveries help us make our own?

Room 105, Plaza Level

S213. Teaching Novel Writing Across Student Populations. (Lisa Borders, Christopher Castellani, John Vanderslice, Mako Yoshikawa, R.J. Taylor) Approaches to teaching novel writing workshops are as varied as the institutions offering these classes. Models that work for MFA students may not work for undergraduate writers; low-residency MFAs have their own unique structure, and writing centers have institutional flexibility as well as different student populations. Instructors representing all of these settings and a student with experience in two different models will contrast their approaches and report on the strengths and weaknesses.

Room 107, Plaza Level

S214. Troubling Ideas: The Renewal of Argumentative Fiction. (Jess Row, Marlon James, Caitlin Horrocks, Amitava Kumar, Helen Benedict) Chekhov famously said that the purpose of fiction is to pose questions without answering them; over a century, in the US, this belief has hardened into a doctrine that fiction should avoid getting entangled in arguments of any kind—political, rhetorical, conceptual, or spiritual. Yet much of the world’s greatest fiction (Tolstoy, Musil, Thiong’o, Rushdie, Paley) allows a great deal of space for these arguments. How can we escape this taboo and bring argument back into our fiction?

Room 108, Plaza Level

S215. Salt: The Home of Beautiful Books: An International Reading. (Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, Kimberly Blaeser, Victor Tapner, Shaindel Beers, Keith Tuma) This international reading panel celebrates works representing tremendous diversity in the global releases of Salt Publications. In 1990, poet John Kinsella first launched Salt Magazine in Western Australia. Now, from its base in Cromer, England, Salt publishes over eighty books a year, with poetry, fiction, biography, critical companions, essays, literary criticism, and textbooks by authors from the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Caribbean, and mainland Europe; an incredible array.

Room 109, Plaza Level

S216. The Future Officer Becomes a Poet. (Jose B. Gonzalez, Antonio Farias, Karen Wink, Dean Horton, Mariette Ogg) This presentation will describe how the US Coast Guard Academy, one of the five federal military service academies, developed an annual poetry slam in which all freshman cadets write, memorize, and recite their poems. Though it is known more for graduating leaders of character than for producing prominent writers, the Academy nonetheless has used poetry to stress the idea that in order for future officers to be effective leaders, they must choose words carefully, speak eloquently, and use creativity.

Room 110, Plaza Level

S217. My Son Is Perfect: Writing (Honestly) About Your Own Kids. (Marybeth Holleman, Hope Edelman, Lisa Couturier, Caroline M. Grant, Kate Hopper) As more mothers find time and courage to write about motherhood, we face unique challenges, especially with nonfiction. One that looms large is how to write honestly about our own children, for whom we have unconditional love and no small amount of adoration. How do we find the distance to write more than the idealized version, to portray our children as the complex characters they are? How do we walk the fine line between telling stories honestly and protecting our own very real children?

Room 111, Plaza Level

S218. Clowns to the Left, Jokers to the Right: Stuck in the Middle of the Story. (Q. Lindsey Barrett, Kelcey Parker, W. Todd Kaneko, David Paul Williams, Catherine Cortese) Writing is too hard, a writer’s time too precious to waste those brilliant story starts, that half-finished novel, high-centered and clueless about how to get unstuck. Teachers use exercises to get their student’s stories started, but the real trouble lies down the road, doesn’t it? We’ve got exercises to fuel and shape projects in progress, go deeper into character, and develop plot; and concrete tools to stick under that spinning drive wheel and get your motor runnin’, headed down that highway.

Room 200, Level 2

S219. A Reading by Matthew Batt, Jen Percy, and Ron Currie, Jr. (Matthew Batt, Ron Currie, Jr., and Jacob Paul) Matthew Batt, author of Sugarhouse, Ron Currie, Jr., author of God Is Dead, Everything Matters, and Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles, and Jacob Paul, author of Sarah/Sara, will read from their recent work, all of which deals with, in the face of catastrophic loss, the sometimes funny, sometimes harrowing ways we try to mend our lives.

Room 201, Level 2

S220. Multicultural Panel of Poet Activists. (Susan Deer Cloud, Sayra Pinto, Francisco X. Alarcon, E. Ethelbert Miller, Teresa Mei Chuc) This Multicultural Panel of Poet Activists will read poems of bearing witness together with poems that transform loss and sorrow into joy. They will address how writing, getting published, giving readings, doing editing work, and weaving dream, vision, and humor into one’s creative work and poetry readings is a part of being activists responsible to the human community and all of life.

Room 202, Level 2

S221. More Truly and More Strange: What We Talk About When We Read James Tate. (Alan Soldofsky, Amy Gerstler, Charles Simic, Lee Upton, Matthew Zapruder) An annotated reading of James Tate’s poems featuring a multigenerational panel of prominent poets who are ardent readers of his work. Panelists will also read a few of their own and other poets’ work which they consider to be within Tate’s lineage—work that might be called predecessors or “cousins” to Tate’s poems; poems marked by their exotic language, surrealism, humor, surprise, and poignancy.

Room 203, Level 2

S222. Fierce Friendships, Raw Rivalries in Robert Lowell’s Circle. Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop. Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath. (Kathleen Spivack, Frank Bidart, Lois Ames, Thomas J Travisano) The well-documented friendships and rivalries among the poets in Robert Lowell’s circle in Boston were complex and multilayered. Respect, help, support, competition, jealousy, and even a suicide pact were some of the aspects. We’ll discuss published material and add our own insights into what we, as young writers in the New England of the time, personally observed through our own friendships with the poets involved.

Room 204, Level 2

S223. From the Ground Up: New Ways of Conceiving the BA/BFA in Writing. (Hugh Behm-Steinberg, Lesley Jenike, Elise Juska, Eric E. Olson, Sally Alatalo) Typical BAs in writing are English degrees with writing workshops. But what if you didn’t have an English department? What if you could start from scratch? What sort of classes would you want to teach? Numerous art schools are now starting BA/BFAs in writing, and each of them are taking different approaches to the challenge of preparing writers. Come hear four teachers from these unique institutions discuss the challenges and opportunities of starting a new writing program from the ground up.

Room 206, Level 2

S224. It’s Complicated: Memoir-Writing in the Political Sphere. (Liza Monroy, Kassi Underwood, Nick Flynn, Anthony Swofford, Matthew Parker) Writers of political memoirs tell personal stories that intersect with issues of social consequence: Abortion. Gay marriage. Torture. How can we avoid accidentally writing a polemic? Are we trying to solve a problem by telling our stories? Can we? We will explore the unique opportunities and challenges of this sub-genre, focusing on how writers can take advantage of the tension that exists when one person’s experience both illuminates and subverts its larger political context.

Room 207, Level 2

S225. From Pitch to Publication: How to Pitch, Edit, Design, and Publicize an Anthology of Contemporary Writing. (Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum, Janet Holmes, Kevin Prufer, Pinckney Benedict, Susan Aizenberg) Anthologies play a vital role in the writing community. They provide a unique space for our work and our readers and commonly appear in the classroom and bookstore. Unfortunately, the work of editing, pitching, designing, and selling an anthology is shrouded in mystery. Even worse, many writers fear this work will interfere with their writing, and, thus, many great anthologies go unrealized. This panel of prolific writers and experienced editors of successful anthologies will show us the ropes.

Room 208, Level 2

S226. 39 Years of Time, Space, and a Bit of Money: The Bunting Institute’s Gift to Women Writers. (Kate Daniels, Robin Becker, Lorna Goodison, Jaimy Gordon) The Bunting Institute, founded in 1960 by the president of Radcliffe College, was an early resource for women writers struggling for visibility in the era’s climate of un-expectation for women and minorities. Anne Sexton and Maxine Kumin were the first writing fellows. This panel of former Bunting Fellows examines how the Bunting’s gift of a room of one’s own has had an impact on women’s writing.

Room 209, Plaza Level

S227. Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education. (Jennifer De Leon, Ruth Behar, Lorraine López, Erika Martínez, Celeste Guzman Mendoza) Contributors to a groundbreaking creative nonfiction anthology will read from personal essays that explore the range of Latina experiences in college. Come listen to compelling narratives that provide crucial insight into this complex intersection of race, class, and educational issues, dispelling myths and showcasing the diversity of this community’s experiences in higher education.

Room 210, Level 2

S228. Art vs. Commerce: Writing for Love and Money. (Elizabeth Benedict, Stephen McCauley, Stephen Elliott, Maud Newton, Steve Almond) Grace Paley’s advice to writers: Keep your overhead low. But when teaching doesn’t lead to tenure, how do literary writers cobble together a living and a life while writing work that matters? Panelists who have had unconventional careers largely outside the academy examine their decisions and discuss the role of money, literature, and serendipity in their creative pursuits: editing an online literary magazine, writing soft-core porn, and creating advice columns, TV shows, and yoga books under a pseudonym.

Room 302/304, Level 3

S229. Z.Z. Packer & Meg Wolitzer: A Reading and Conversation, Sponsored by VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. (Cheryl Strayed, Z.Z. Packer, Meg Wolitzer) Fiction writers will give a reading followed by a conversation about race, literature that happens to be written about women (as Wolitzer puts it in a recent New York Times essay), and the realities of the contemporary publishing landscape, moderated by Cheryl Strayed, VIDA board member and author of Wild. AWP participants are encouraged to join a brief Q&A period to be held afterwards.

Room 303, Level 3

S230. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. (Mary Johnson, Cheryl Young, Brian Malloy, Liz Engelman, Sonya Larson) Representatives of renowned literary organizations—A Room of Her Own, Grub Street, Hedgebrook, The Loft Literary Center, and The MacDowell Colony—address the rewards and challenges of growing a supportive community, identifying the tools which forge relationships and maximize the benefits of belonging to a niche without getting stuck in a rut.

Room 306, Level 3

S231. Four Way Books 20th Anniversary Reading. (Monica Youn, Alex Dimitrov, Paul Lisicky, Kamilah Aisha Moon, Victoria Redel) Four Way Books, now in its 3rd decade, is regarded as one of this nation’s premier independent literary presses. Publishers of eleven to thirteen books a year, our anniversary reading will reflect the press’s steadfast dedication to aesthetically diverse writing by emerging and established poets and fiction writers. We are happy to present brief readings of fiction and poetry.

Room 310, Level 3

S232. Flash, Sudden—Where Did They Come From, Where Are They Going? (Ron Carlson, James Thomas, Jennifer Pieroni, Tara L. Masih, Robert Shapard) Since the first of these anthologies appeared more than twenty-five years ago, offering their titles as genre names, questions and controversies have followed about just what the names mean and what the forms are. How do they differ from prose poems, micros, nanos, or even shorter forms? Are flash and sudden changing? The original editors, along with newer generation writer-editors and moderator Ron Carlson, take on these topics in an open forum with the audience. Please bring your questions.

Alice Hoffman Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall D, Level 2

BF39. Kundiman:10-Year Celebration of Lovesongs, Verses, and Books. (Joseph O. Legaspi, Cathy Linh Che, Mathew Olzmann, Brynn Saito, Sharon Suzuki-Martinez) Since its inception nearly a decade ago, Kundiman has fostered and championed emerging Asian American voices, resulting in multiple book, chapbook, print, and online publications by Kundiman fellows. In partnership with Alice James Books, Kundiman also sponsors The Kundiman Poetry Prize, which guarantees annually a book publication by an Asian American poet. Through caring openness and poetic rigor, Kundiman has built a vital, dynamic community that is transforming the literary landscape.

3:00 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.

Room 309, Level 3

S233. PBQ at 40, An Anniversary Reading. (Jason Schneiderman, Gregory Pardlo, Jennifer L. Knox, Keetje Kuipers, Ada Limón) Painted Bride Quarterly celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2013. From its early print quarterly days to its current incarnation as a print/digital hybrid, PBQ has developed a brilliant reputation for publishing brash, compassionate, high-quality literary art. Come celebrate this milestone anniversary with poets and special guests.

Room 313, Level 3

S234. The Teaching Press: Literary Magazines and Learning. (Travis Kurowski, Jay Baron Nicorvo, Carolyn Kuebler, Ben George, Jodee Stanley) Amidst worries about college student learning, editors from leading literary magazines New England Review, Ecotone, Ninth Letter, and Third Coast discuss the educational benefits of literary magazines on today’s campuses. Topics will include the teaching press, experiential learning environments, learning-based outcomes, and how campus literary magazines are changing 21st-century publishing.

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.

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.

Room 101, Plaza Level

S236. How to Keep a Story Alive When All Your Characters Are Dead: Finding the Contemporary in Historical Fiction for Young Adults. (Jacqueline Davies, Jeannine Atkins, Pat Lowery Collins, Sarah Lamstein, Padma Venkatraman) Are today’s teens interested in stories from 1710, 1867, 1911, 1918, and 1942? Five writers of historical fiction and narrative poetry discuss how they create stories that feel relevant in the 21st century without sacrificing accuracy in reporting true events. Following the panelists, a group of teenagers will share their thoughts on the books discussed, describing what feels real and current to them in these stories of the past.

Room 102, Plaza Level

S237. A Fly on the Wall: Four Prestigious Poetry Publishers Share Their Insights. (Hélène Cardona, Jeffrey Levine, Jessie Lendennie, Dennis Maloney, Caron Andregg) How do I get my first poetry book published? What about the second book? What do publishers look for in a manuscript? Should I enter literary competitions? Do I need a literary agent? Jeffrey Levine (Tupelo Press), Jessie Lendennie (Salmon Poetry), Dennis Maloney (White Pine Press), and Caron Andregg (Cider Press Review) discuss the business side of publishing and provide a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to break into the literary publishing world with your first poetry manuscript.

Room 103, Plaza Level

S238. Winter in the Blood: Adapting Fiction into Film. (Prageeta Sharma, Alex Smith, Andrew Smith, Ken White) The screenwriting panel will discuss the methodology of adapting literature for the screen using the 2011 production of James Welch’s novel Winter in the Blood as a model. The directors and screenwriters will focus on strategies of adaptation, including writing in consideration of culture, geography, budget, and practical production elements in an ever-changing contemporary independent film market.

Room 104, Plaza Level

S239. Shadow Show: Writers and Teachers on the Influence of Ray Bradbury and Other Genre-Bending Authors. (Sam Weller, Mort Castle, Alice Hoffman, Lee Martin, John McNally) Four accomplished authors discuss the literary shadow of Ray Bradbury, and the history of blurring genres in literature. The panel includes Bradbury biographer, Sam Weller; Seven-time Bram Stoker Finalist, Mort Castle; #1 New York Times Bestseller, Alice Hoffman; Pulitzer nominee, Lee Martin. Each panelist will discuss Bradbury's influence on their career. They will examine the increasingly porous boundaries between genre and literature.

Room 105, Plaza Level

S240. Fail Again, Fail Better: Lessons from the Flip Side of Success. (Kim Dana Kupperman, Brian Hoover, Nalini Jones, Eugenia Kim, Dustin Beall Smith) This panel explores the practical and abstract manifestations of failure. How does the process of failing inform the creative mind? How do we define failure or success, and who determines what fails or succeeds? What is the difference between unfinished and failed work, and how might writers—emerging and established—learn to distinguish between the two? In an educational culture fixated on academic success, how can failure be used to teach and/or learn?

Room 107, Plaza Level

S241. Fixed Forms and Nonce Forms: From the Sonnet to the Bop. (Tony Barnstone, Marie-Elizabeth Mali, David Mason, Willis Barnstone) Five poets will talk about the pleasure of letting form help form the pleasure of the poem. The forms to be discussed are fixed (sonnet, villanelle, blank verse) and nonce (the bop, word count, the tiny bible, and the terzavillonnet). Among topics to be covered are narrative-friendly forms, lyric-friendly forms, repeating lines as song structure, renewing tradition and inventing traditions, and the fixed form as a machine for thinking.

Room 108, Plaza Level

S242. Embracing the Verb of It: Black Poets Innovating (or Innovative?). (Ruth Ellen Kocher, Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, Douglas Kearney, Duriel E. Harris, Tyrone Williams) Five poets read and discuss their work within the context of Expressive Experimentation and an Innovative Avant-Garde-ism embraced by writers such as Russell Atkins, Ed Roberson, Harryette Mullen, C.S. Giscombe, and Claudia Rankine. While locating projects of Black experimentation within the context of Innovative poetry, these writers read work that contemplates, and sometimes resists, being “innovative” against the project of “innovating” expression birthed in lyric tradition.

Room 109, Plaza Level

S243. Translation: Across Languages and Codes. (Eireene Nealand, Natalia Fedorova, Andrea Quaid, David Auerbach, Matvei Yankelevich) Can nonsense be translated? Are interactions with e-texts across cultures the same? What happens when social codes become dislocated? This panel places an MIT electronic literature translation project—from English into Russian, and from Spanish into English—in conversation with one computer programmer’s thoughts about what a computer can and cannot read. As an expansion of the discussion about social codes, the panel also asks how Vanessa Place’s inversions of male and female pronouns in the Boycott project can help traditional translators of poetry and prose consider cultural interactions across virtual and contextual realms. By providing a counterpunctual space to discuss emergent problems in translation, the panel proposes to refresh and expand translation’s spheres of concern.

Room 110, Plaza Level

S244. Levity and Gravity. (Hannah Fries, Afaa M. Weaver, Alberto Ríos, Katrina Vandenberg, Alison Hawthorne Deming) In an essay on the literary quality of lightness, Italo Calvino writes of “the sudden agile leap of the poet-philosopher who raises himself above the weight of the world, showing that with all his gravity he has the secret of lightness.” What is that secret? To Calvino, it’s not about subject so much as style and prosody—a way to levitate or make carry-able (bearable) “heavy” material. This panel explores the elusive concept of lightness, how it’s achieved, and why it might be vital in our time.

Room 111, Plaza Level

S245. The Dying, Essential Art of the Interview. (David Everett, Ron Capps, William Loizeaux) No, it’s not like TV. And it shouldn’t use email or Facebook. As the best way to gather writerly information, interviewing is being lost to its shady digital cousins. This unusual, interactive panel preaches tips on interviewing, then demonstrates the techniques live in a public Q&A with a wounded war veteran. Asking the questions is an award-winning fiction and creative nonfiction author and a journalist who has interviewed everyone from presidents to murderers. Even the audience will join in.

Room 200, Level 3

S246. Town and Gown: Partnerships between Literary Centers and University Creative Writing Programs. (Gregg Wilhelm, Thea Temple, Linda Ketchum, Kendra Kopelke, Ellen Waterston) Representatives of nonprofit literary centers and university writing programs discuss new models of collaboration that not only break down community-campus barriers, but also make for a richer literary scene. Mutual benefits include graduate interns who learn arts administration, student-teaching experience in nonacademic environments, quality programming space, cross-pollination of audiences, and co-branding opportunities.

Room 201, Level 2

S247. ¡Bi, Bi, Monolingualism! (Sasha Pimentel Chacón, Rosa Alcalá, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Sylvia Aguilar, Jonathan Nehls) Professors and students from a bilingual MFA argue why monolingual programs will become passé when writers are coming more and more from non-English speaking traditions. We’ll discuss our international scope and how we recruit and fund students from all over the Americas for programs who want to go bilingual too. We’ll engage issues of bilingualism between English and Spanish that we’ve encountered in teaching and learning, and how working in multiple languages has affected our writing and our poetics.

Room 202, Level 2

S248. Hearing Voices. (Kate Daniels, Steven Cramer, Jean McGarry) Three writers of prose and poetry discuss how psychoanalysis relocates the muse in the unconscious, ways that writers can tap into this rich, murky source, and their discoveries of alternative texts borrowed from the realms of psychoanalysis and psychiatry that have influenced—directly or indirectly—their own work.

Room 203, Level 2

S249. Uprising: Writers Call the Energy Forth. (Laurie Kutchins, Ravi Shankar, Kalela Williams, Elmaz Abinader, Brian Turner) The writer’s sense of witness and imagination has always forged a kind of uprising, as a generative act, as a creation of something from nothing. In light of the Arab Spring and other politically charged movements, this cross-genre panel will discuss how radical and constructive acts of language can help transform traditional paradigms of power, and how writers can enlighten new communities and empower marginalized groups.

Room 204, Level 2

S250. Celebrating Your Own Backyard: How Regional Literary Magazines Engage and Build Writing Communities. (Carla Spataro, John Henry Fleming, Chris Haven, Maureen Alsop, Christine Borne) This panel, with representatives from regional literary magazines from across the country, will explore the joys of celebrating what they know and how regionally focused literary journals help build writing communities through workshops, professional development events for writers, and readings.

Room 206, Level 2

S251. The Making of a Cooperative Press: A Retrospect. (Marie Harris, Suzanne Matson, Patricia Cumming, Lee Rudolph, Betsy Sholl) A colloquium on the origins and formative years of Alice James Books. From the beginnings, when author-board members typeset books by hand and burned the midnight oil at MIT, to the penny-pinching Harvard Square days on Brattle Street, founders Betsy Sholl, Patsy Cummings, and Lee Rudolph, and former board members Suzanne Matson and Marie Harris reflect on AJB’s nascent years in Cambridge and how an unlikely cooperative grew to be at the forefront of American poetry publishing.

Room 207, Level 2

S252. Because That’s the Way It’s Always Been Done: When Literary Journals Face Necessary Change. (Michael Nye, Anna Schachner, Cara Blue Adams, Lydia Ship, Andrew Ciotola) Literary journals must respond to changing readerships, budgetary constraints, evolving aesthetics, and limited staffing resources. The Chattahoochee Review, the Missouri Review, the Southern Review, and West Branch editors will address achieved results through editorial restructuring, website redesign, press partnerships, increased print and online content, social media outreach, and digital formatting.

Room 208, Level 2

S253. Beyond Borders. (Paul Perry, John Balaban, Ilya Kaminsky, Siobhan Campbell) Many countries have arrived at post-conflict states and cross-border movement, and co-operation is more and more common, while other regions either remain enmeshed or become involved in political and combative conflict. Beyond Borders is an international panel of cross-genre writers that asks how writers negotiate shifting political terrain in their work and how we engage with a country’s changing political plight. Can a writer’s words transcend borders and cultures?

Room 209, Level 2

S254. Červená Barva Press Poetry Reading. (Gloria Mindock, Andrey Gritsman, Lucille Lang Day, John Minczeski, Susan Tepper) Four poets published by Červená Barva Press will read from their work. The reading will be moderated by Gloria Mindock, Červená Barva editor and publisher. Located in West Somerville, Massachusetts, the press solicits poetry, fiction, and plays from writers around the world and holds open contests regularly for its chapbooks, postcards, broadsides, and full-length books.

Room 210, Level 2

S255. Come Celebrate with Us: The Multiple Legacies of Lucille Clifton. (Peter Conners, Kevin Young, Sonia Sanchez, Cornelius Eady) This panel honors the poetic legacy of Lucille Clifton (National Book Award, Robert Frost Medal, Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize) and the publication of The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010 (BOA Editions, 2012). Distinguished poets, friends, and colleagues Kevin Young, Michael S. Glaser, Cornelius Eady, and Sonia Sanchez discuss Clifton’s impact as a poet, teacher, mentor, and guiding spirit. Attendees are encouraged to share their Lucille Clifton stories at the end of the discussion.

Room 302/304, Level 3

S256. Smart Girls. (Terry Ann Thaxton, Terese Svoboda, Bobbie Ann Mason, Kelly Cherry, Kelle Groom) Girl does not denote age but power—no men in it. No ladies-first either. A girl’s got gumption. A pre- and post-feminist name for great girl lit. Different from the chick kind, the just-hatched; we’ve been around, we’re serious. This is for women and men who go for it, featuring readings from our books that qualified us for The Smart Girls club. We represent a diversity of age, region, and genres.

Room 303, Level 3

S257. Love Thy Neighbors: How Secondary Characters Can Save Your Work. (Cynthia Reeves, Steven Schwartz, Robin Black, Edward Porter) Secondary characters are often characters of convenience: sketchily drawn figures who serve only the direct needs of a story’s protagonist and central conflict. This oversight may stem from fear that a too-vivid supporting cast might be distracting or worse, irrelevant. Panelists will explore the frequently overlooked power of secondary characters to deepen a too-tidy work by reimagining them as forces of transformation, creators of world and metaphor, and arbiters of a story’s obsessions.

Room 305, Level 3

S258. Writers in the Boonies: Creating a Regional/Rural Literary Hub. (Ellen Meeropol, Patricia Lee Lewis, Jacqueline Sheehan) Literary arts centers have been successful in cities, but what about in nonmetropolitan areas? Three western Massachusetts authors discuss the challenges and benefits of developing Straw Dog Writers Guild, a community literary arts organization in a rural/small town region. Starting with a vision but no money or backers, presenters explore strategies to build a new organization to engage and connect writers without infringing on existing workshops and programs.

Room 306, Level 3

S259. Hating Your Writing: A Love Story. (Melissa Stein, Molly Peacock, Richard Bausch, Daniel Nester, Adrian Matejka) We’ve all been through it: we write the last euphoric word of our draft, but by the next morning, somehow brilliance has plummeted to dross. Are such literary mood swings a destructive deterrent, or a natural part of the creative process? Can periods of avoidance and dejection actually lead to breakthroughs and better writing? Five award-winning poets and prose writers weigh in on the ups and downs of creative endeavor and share insights, strategies, and tools they’ve gained along the way.

Room 309, Level 3

S260. Counterpoint Press Reading. (Dan Smetanka, David McGlynn, Dana Johnson, Susan Sherman, Ilie Ruby) A reading by prose writers who have had books published in 2012 by Counterpoint Press. Two memoirists and two novelists read work spanning a range of landscapes, time periods, and subjects. The editor who acquired the books moderates and discusses what drew him to each title, while the authors themselves read and reflect on their experience of working with one of the nation’s largest and most respected independent literary publishers.

Room 310, Level 3

S261. Addressing the Silence: Editing as a Political Act. (Kate Ver Ploeg, Suzanne Paola, Joy Castro, Sarah Fawn Montgomery, Nuria Sheehan) In response to the 2010 VIDA Count, which revealed the dramatic absence of female authors in literary publications, Brevity created an all-women’s issue that asked women to push against the silences, gaps and biases the Count exposed. Editors for this special issue discuss their editing process here and at other journals, including Prairie Schooner, Bellingham Review, Water~Stone, and Drunken Boat: what surprises them, and how personal aesthetic interacts with political mission in publishing.

Room 313, Level 3

S262. Community Writing Projects and MFA Programs. (John Trimbur, Jerald Walker, Mary Kovaleski, Sebastian Stockman, Tamera Marko) This panel explains how and why writing faculty and MFA students in the Writing, Literature & Publishing department at Emerson College developed five community writing projects: weekend creative writing classes for high school students, a writing center in one inner-city high school, master classes in creative writing at another, a bilingual writing course for Emerson maintenance workers, and a transnational writing project to bring emerging artists from Colombia to the United States.

Alice Hoffman Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall D, Level 2

BF40. CIIS & Mission at Tenth. (Carolyn Cooke, Edie Meiday, Margaret Rhee, Brynn Saito, Pireeni Sundaralingam) Mission at Tenth, the inter-arts magazine of the MFA programs at the California Institute of Integral Studies presents: San Francisco Bay Area writing and the Nexus of Innovation, Culture, and the Inter-Arts. Writers associated with the San Francisco Bay Area literary scene and the CIIS MFA programs in writing, consciousness, and creative inquiry read and discuss genre-defiant work and the zeitgeist, as we see it.

Patricia Olson Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall A, Plaza Level

BF41. A University of Kansas & Beecher’s Reading. (Stefanie Torres, Deb Olin Unferth, Louise Krug, Jenny Gropp Hess, Abayomi Animashaun) Sponsored by the University of Kansas and Beecher’s, the graduate journal out of KU, this multi-genre reading will feature writers affiliated with KU, published in Beecher’s, or with connections to the state of Kansas. This reading celebrates the rich literary community across Kansas and beyond. The reading will be moderated by Stefanie Torres, co-editor with Amy Ash. Beecher’s is dedicated to inimitable writing and design and the literary magazine as a physical object.

7:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.

Room 305, Level 3

Book Launch Reception for Lit from Inside: 40 Years of Poetry from Alice James Books. Join Alice James Books in celebrating the book launch of Lit from Inside: 40 Years of Poetry from Alice James Books..

Room 303, Level 3

Cross-Cultural Communications. Come celebrate with Cross-Cultural Communications at a reception.

Room 202, Level 2

Emerson College. The Writing, Literature & Publishing Department at Emerson College invites you to a reception in recognition of our nationally ranked MFA program.

Room 203, Level 2

NYU Creative Writing Program. Join the students and faculty from NYU Creative Writing Program for a reception.

Room 204, Level 2

Prairie Schooner. Join the editors and staff of Prairie Schooner for a reception.

Room 205, Level 2

Virginia Quarterly Review. Join the editors and staff of Virginia Quarterly Review for a reception.

Room 201, Level 2

WAMFEST After-Party. Join WAMFEST for an after-party.

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.

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.

10:00 p.m. to 12:00 midnight

Room 102, Plaza Level

S265. The All Collegiate Afterhours Slam. (Jim Warner, Phil Brady) The All Collegiate Afterhours Slam is open to all undergraduate and graduate students attending the conference. Participation is capped at ten slammers a night. Slam pieces must be no longer than three minutes in length. Prizes, judges, and the organization of the event will be handled by Wilkes University Creative Writing Program and Etruscan Press. A limited open mic will follow the slam (time permitting). Come visit the Wilkes University/Etruscan Press booth to register.

Sheraton Boston Hotel, Constitution Ballroom, Level 2

S266. AWP Public Reception & Dance Party, Sponsored by Columbia College Chicago Fiction Writing Department & Story Week. A dance party with music by DJ Neza. Free beer and wine from 10:00 to 11:00 p.m. Cash bar from 11:00 p.m. to midnight.