R120. A More Deliberate (and Desperate) Life: How to Write and Publish a Book While Teaching Five Classes

Room M100 D&E, Mezzanine Level
Thursday, April 9, 2015
9:00 am to 10:15 am

 

A likely teaching job for a newly-minted MFA is at a community college. But how does one teach five classes per term (more if an adjunct), serve on committees, engage in scholarship, and find time to write and publish a book of poems, a novel, or a memoir? This panel of Midwestern community college faculty will discuss how they negotiate a life of writing while adhering to academic responsibilities and reflect on how they were able to write and publish their recent books amid the chaos.


Participants

Moderator:

Ryan Stone is the author of the short story collection Best Road Yet. His work has appeared in numerous publications, and he currently serves as the president of the Two-Year College Caucus. He teaches writing and literature at Danville Area Community College in Illinois.

Kathryn Kysar is the author of two books of poetry, Dark Lake and Pretend the World, and she edited Riding Shotgun: Women Write About Their Mothers. A previous AWP board member, she chairs the creative writing program at Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Minneapolis.

Kris Bigalk is the author of the poetry collection Repeat the Flesh in Numbers. Her awards include Minnesota State Arts Board grants in poetry and a residency at Banfll-Locke Center for the Arts. She serves as director of creative writing at Normandale Community College.

Tom Montgomery Fate is the author of five books of nonfiction, including Beyond the White Noise, Steady and Trembling, and Cabin Fever. His essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Orion, and Iowa Review. He teaches creative writing at College of DuPage in Chicago.

John Reimringer's first novel, Vestments, was named a best book of 2010 by Publishers Weekly, was featured on NPR's Midmorning, and won the 2011 Minnesota Book Award for fiction.

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February 7–10, 2024
Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City Convention Center