R155. Chaotic Good: Genre Fiction as a Tool for Political Resistance

B117-119, Oregon Convention Center, Level 1
Thursday, March 28, 2019
10:30 am to 11:45 am

 

This panel will explore how genre fiction, or fiction that uses genre elements, can address politics and even be an act of resistance. Genre allows writers to broach political topics, take chances, advocate change, and take stands that “straight” fiction sometimes can't. Panelists will discuss how use of genre can be political; how writing genre fiction can free writers to #resist; what “genre" means and how to expand it; and craft advice in using the formal elements of genre in political ways.


Participants

Moderator:

Danielle Dutton

Gregory Howard's fiction and essays have appeared in WebConjunctions, The Collagist, Harp & Altar, and Tarpaulin Sky, among other places. He teaches Fiction Writing, Contemporary Literature, and Film at University of Maine. His novel Hospice was published by FC2.

Porochista Khakpour is the author of the forthcoming memoir Sick, and the novels Sons & Other Flammable Objects and The Last Illusion. She received fellowships from the NEA, Ucross, Yaddo, and more. She writes for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Bookforum, WSJ, VQR, and more.  

Rion Amilcar Scott's story collection Insurrections won the 2017 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction. He earned an MFA from George Mason University, and he teaches English at Bowie State University.

Daniel José Older is the New York Times bestselling author of the Bone Street Rumba urban fantasy series from Penguin’s Roc Books and the Young Adult novel Shadowshaper, a New York Times Notable Book of 2015, which was shortlisted for the Kirkus, Mythopoeic, and Norton awards.

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