S172.

Writing Abortion in the Wake of Roe

Rooms 440-442, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 4
Saturday, March 11, 2023
12:10 pm to 1:25 pm

 

Abortion narratives have existed long before laws controlled the procedure. By investigating abortion as already documented through creative writing, this panel proposes to reassess the direction discourse might take in an unfolding legal and linguistic landscape. The panel will emphasize the responsibility to keep telling abortion stories; how genre, language, and exigencies of the marketplace shape those stories; and how to maintain the conversation in spite of the chilling effect of stigmas.



Outline & Supplemental Documents

Event Outline: DraftJaneAWPpresentjanuarytwenty.pdf

Participants

Moderator:

Jane Rosenberg LaForge worked as a journalist for more than a decade on both coasts, before enrolling in the master of fine arts program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. A retired adjunct, she has published a memoir, novels, and poetry, including a book on her aunt's illegal abortion.

Desiree Cooper is a 2015 Kresge Artist Fellow, lawyer, and Pulitzer-nominated columnist. She is the author of an award-winning, flash fiction collection, Know the Mother. Her first children's book, Nothing Special, was released in 2022. Her writing on women's issues is widely anthologized.

Manisha Sharma is a poet and fiction writer. Her work explores feminist and social issues. Sharma is also a yoga, mindfulness expert.

Alina Stefanescu was born in Romania and lives in Birmingham, Alabama. Recent books include Ribald (Bull City Press), Dor Wandering Aengus Press Prize, 2021), and Every Mask I Tried On (Brighthorse Books Prize 2018). Co-President of PEN Birmingham and on the board of Magic City Poetry Festival.

Annie Finch’s six books of poetry include The Poetry Witch Little Book of Spells and Spells: New and Selected Poems. Awarded the Robert Fitzgerald Award for her lifetime contribution to versification, she is editor of Choice Words: Writers on Abortion and founding director of Poetry Witch Community.

#AWP24

February 7–10, 2024
Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City Convention Center