S121. Breaking the Fourth Wall: Tips and Tools for Immersion Writing

Archives, Marriott Marquis, Meeting Level Four
Saturday, February 11, 2017
9:00 am to 10:15 am

 

Drawing on the techniques of immersion journalism allows us to enrich our prose by embedding ourselves in our subject matter. In this roundtable panel, four memoirists, essayists, and narrative nonfiction writers discuss the practical, philosophical, and ethical aspects of immersion writing. Attendees will walk away with ideas for incorporating research trips, archival work, interviews, and participatory experiences into their writing process, along with pedagogical best practices.


Participants

Moderator:

Kimberly Meyer’s memoir, The Book of Wanderings, recalls the journey she and her daughter made by retracing a medieval pilgrimage route to the Holy Land and St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai Desert in the days after the Arab Spring. She teaches at the University of Houston's Honors College.

Jessica Wilbanks is the author of On the Far Side of the Fire, a forthcoming memoir about life after faith. She has received national awards for her nonfiction, including a Pushcart Prize, the VanderMey Nonfiction Prize, and Ninth Letter’s inaugural creative nonfiction award.

Joni Tevis is the author of two books of essays, most recently The World Is on Fire. Her essays have appeared in Orion, Oxford American, Poets & Writers, the Pushcart Prize anthology, and elsewhere. She teaches at Furman University in Greenville, SC.

Chris Feliciano Arnold is the author of The Third Bank of the River: Life and Death in the 21st Century Amazon. A 2014 NEA fellow, he has published fiction and journalism in Harper's, The Atlantic, Playboy, Outside, Sports Illustrated, The Los Angeles Times, and more.

#AWP24

February 7–10, 2024
Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City Convention Center