Videos

#AWP23 Keynote Address by Min Jin Lee

 

Videos of our virtual events as well as select featured presentations from the events offered each year at the AWP Conference & Bookfair. Some recordings from 2013-2015 were produced by FORA.tv.. Some interviews from 2016–2019 were produced by PBS's Book View Now.

Video List:



  • YouTube | September 6, 2023

    Virtual AWP: Writer to Writer Conversations & Readings with Mentor Lara Lillibridge

    This panel explores the intersection of queerness and writing and the mentees’ experiences in the AWP Writer to Writer program. Mentees Robin Pickering, Mika Todd, and Ann Wilberton come together with mentor Lara Lillibridge for this insightful discussion.


  • YouTube | July 10, 2023

    Virtual AWP in Conversation: Divine Writing—Connections between Writing Practice, Craft, and Divination

    We’re back with another installment of Virtual AWP! Virtual AWP in Conversation: Divine Writing—Connections between Writing Practice, Craft, and Divination explores the link between writing and divinatory practices. Participants Teresa Carmody, Megan Kaminski, Hillary Leftwich, Kristen Nelson, Hoa Nguyen, and Selah Saterstrom join to discuss their experiences at the intersection of spirituality and writing craft, with moderation from Michele Battiste. Learn from these powerful writers and practitioners about how to incorporate tarot into your writing processes.


  • YouTube | May 19, 2023

    Virtual AWP Pedagogy: Content Warnings in the Classroom

    We are thrilled to release our first Virtual AWP Pedagogy discussion of 2023, featuring professors and authors Kevin Clouther, Ambereen Dadabhoy, Annabel Lyon, and John Vigna. Tune in to this lively discussion to learn various strategies for handling content warnings in the classroom, including how to adapt to different courses and how to integrate student feedback.


  • YouTube | April 3, 2023

    Virtual AWP Pedagogy: Content Warnings in the Classroom

    We are thrilled to release our first Virtual AWP Pedagogy discussion of 2023, featuring professors and authors Kevin Clouther, Ambereen Dadabhoy, Annabel Lyon, and John Vigna. Tune in to this lively discussion to learn various strategies for handling content warnings in the classroom, including how to adapt to different courses and how to integrate student feedback.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 National Book Foundation Presents: The Power of Poetry

    Join National Book Award-honored authors Donika Kelly (Bestiary, 2016 Poetry Longlist) and Danez Smith (Don’t Call Us Dead, 2017 Poetry Finalist) in a conversation about the power of poetry for both author and reader, and its influence on the evolution of their own writing across collections. Presented in partnership with the National Book Foundation, and moderated by the Foundation’s Executive Director Ruth Dickey.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 Celebrating Pacific Islander Literature with Kundiman

    Pacific Islander literature has a rich history, abundant with poetic styles and oral storytelling traditions, exploring sustainability, imperialism, climate change, decolonization, and so much more. It is vital to discussions of American literature to read and honor the work of Pacific Islanders. Join Kundiman for a reading and conversation encompassing the multiple genres our featured authors write in and celebrating the breadth of Pacific Islander literature today.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 Blue Flower Arts Presents Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Kwame Dawes, and Chigozie Obioma

    Join Blue Flower Arts for a reading and conversation featuring Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Kwame Dawes, and Chigozie Obioma. The work of these three writers spans the borders of the United States, Nigeria, Jamaica, Cyprus, and Ghana and the genres of fiction, short story, and poetry. Together they will discuss the intersections of craft and personal experience across generations, continents, and realities.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 Cave Canem Presents: Duende & The Harlem Arts Salon

    In 2004, the successful San Diego art gallerist, Margaret Porter Troupe returned to Harlem with her husband, the award-winning poet, Quincy Troupe. Inviting their extensive, international circle of friends as featured guests, Margaret opened their historic apartment, with its sumptuous collection of art, to the public.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 A Reading by Brenda Shaughnessy, Jenny Xie, and Kweku Abimbola, by Academy of American Poets

    A reading by three award-winning poets with recent work presented by the Academy of American Poets. Founded in 1934, the Academy is the nation’s leading champion of poets and poetry, with supporters in all fifty states. It annually awards more funds to individual poets than any other organization through its prize program; produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly funded website for poets and poetry; and established and organizes National Poetry Month each April.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 Milkweed Presents: A Celebration of Indigenous Voices

    A reading featuring Milkweed authors Debra Magpie Earling, author of Perma Red and The Lost Journals of Sacajawea; No’u Revilla, author of the National Poetry Series winning collection Ask the Brindled; and Sasha LaPointe, memoirist and author of the new collection of poems Rose Quartz. This chorus of voices enlivens Indigenous literature and deepens our understanding of lineage, pleasure, identity, agency, mythology, and the natural world.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 Mutant, Monster, Misfit, Myself: Writing the Disabled/Chronically Ill Body, Sponsored by AWP

    Five disabled and/or chronically ill writers of poetry and memoir talk about how their body influences the way they write, their subject matter, even how they impact their genres and efforts towards publicity. How do we claim/activate our disability or illness? What do we disclose? We’ll discuss how our work has changed over time, how our relationships with disability have changed, how we accommodate or resist the gaze of abled readers, and how disability/illness manifests in genre, line, and metaphor.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 The Changing Myths That Shape Our Culture, Sponsored by Red Hen Press

    If white men tell history, it’s a story of law, vengeance, and violence. If the story is told by women and writers of color, how does the story change? Point of view is everything. Through this reading and discussion featuring BIPOC poets, we include a view of history not seen before, the underneath, the dark, the wept on places where children find their way toward compassion.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 Keynote Address by Min Jin Lee

    Min Jin Lee is the author of the novels Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko, a finalist for the National Book Award, and runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Lee is the recipient of the 2022 Manhae Grand Prize for Literature from South Korea, the 2022 Bucheon Diaspora Literary Award, and the 2022 Samsung Happiness for Tomorrow Award for Creativity and fellowships in Fiction from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study at Harvard, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is an inductee of the New York Foundation for the Arts Hall of Fame and the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. Lee is a Writer-in-Residence at Amherst College and serves as a trustee of PEN America and a director of the Authors Guild. She is at work on her third novel, American Hagwon, and a nonfiction work, Name Recognition.


  • | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 Storytelling for Change, Sponsored by Literary Arts & The Lyceum Agency

    A conversation on storytelling, environmental racism, and activism. Set in a fictional African village being polluted by an oil company, Mbue's latest novel confronts environmental devastation, corporate colonialism, and activism. Laymon's multigenerational roots in Mississippi have led him to consider climate justice and the ways that extractive agriculture, corporate interests, and the legacy of slavery impact communities of color in the U.S.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 Writing Motherhood in Post-Roe America, Sponsored by Hugo House

    The choice to become a mother, in all its beguiling complexity, has long been a subject of writers. Following the Supreme Court decision overturning the right to abortions, how do we write about the value and essential work of mothering, teach antiracism to our children, and offer new narratives on motherhood towards a more equitable society? This panel draws together multidisciplinary writers to discuss parenting, identity, and what can be done to combat the latest crisis facing American women.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 PEN Presents: Kali Fajardo-Anstine and Leila Mottley

    Join us for a conversation featuring American Book Award-winner Kali Fajardo-Anstine and Booker Prize-nominee Leila Mottley, moderated by Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, PEN America’s chief program officer of Literary Programming. In their debut novels, Fajardo-Anstine’s Woman of Light and Mottley’s Nightcrawling, both authors center the experience of teenage girls and womanhood while weaving complex and multifaceted stories of survival, testimony, and triumph. Together they will discuss writing about the communities they love and the people they call home, and characters navigating lives shaped by love, personal loss, and small joys.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 Vital to Language and Living: Copper Canyon Celebrates its First Fifty Years

    Since 1973, Copper Canyon Press has exercised an unwavering commitment to the art of poetry, the creative lives of poets, the alchemy of publishing, and the belief that poetry is vital to language and living. This reading and conversation features poets and translators who represent different aspects of Copper Canyon’s dynamic and diverse mission, who will read from their work, speak to the necessity for poetic truths, and converse with the long-time editor who has championed their work.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 NBCC Presents Honorée Fannone Jeffers and Namwali Serpell, Moderated by Jane Ciabattari

    A literary partner featured event focused on two National Book Critics Circle's honorees who work in multiple genres, moderated by NBCC VP/Events Jane Ciabattari, featuring NBCC Fiction Award winner Honorée Fanonne Jeffers and NBCC Criticism finalist Namwali Serpell. They'll focus on writing in multiple genres (both write innovative fiction and cultural criticism; Jeffers also is a poet), inspiration and research for their work (both write novels with history, justice, surreal elements), the influence of NBCC and other awards, Afro-futurism and other evolving forms, the unique challenges of writing in these times, and the imaginative process that shapes their work. Since 1974, the National Book Critics Circle awards have honored the best literature published in English. These are the only awards chosen by the critics themselves.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 Everything All at Once: Readings & Conversation with Four AJB Poets

    Four principal poets debut new collections from Alice James Books and discuss the expansive nature of storytelling in poems. Expressing individuality via internal and external landscapes; disabling hierarchies; examining lineage and familial influences; uncovering how personal and collective histories collapse—and inform and obscure our memories, languages, and selves—the poets communicate collective visions of our myriad borders and query origins with an approach akin to transillumination.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 Stephen Graham Jones, Silvia-Moreno Garcia, Danielle Trussoni, Sponsored by Authors Guild

    Stephen Graham Jones is the New York Times bestselling author of nearly thirty novels and collections. His recent works include The Only Good Indians, My Heart is a Chainsaw, The Babysitter Lives, Earthdivers, and Don’t Fear the Reaper. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of a number of critically acclaimed novels, including Gods of Jade and Shadow, Mexican Gothic, and Velvet Was the Night. Her latest novel is The Daughter of Doctor Moreau. Jones and Moreno-Garcia will read from their work, followed by conversation with best-selling author and columnist Danielle Trussoni.


  • YouTube | March 10, 2023

    #AWP23 Lindy West & Jane Wong in Conversation, Sponsored by Seattle Arts & Lectures

    Join Seattle-based writers Lindy West (author of Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman and Shit, Actually: The Definitive Guide, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema) and Jane Wong (poet and author of the forthcoming memoir, Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City) for a conversation about writing true-ish things and moving between genres. May also feature laughter, vulnerability, as well as hot takes on TV, fashion, feminism, and ceramic dumplings. Moderated by Rebecca Hoogs, Executive Director of Seattle Arts & Lectures.


  • YouTube | March 1, 2023

    Virtual AWP: Writer to Writer Conversations & Readings with Mentor Neil Aitken

    Virtual AWP is back with our first premiere of 2023! In this installation we’re welcoming mentor Neil Aitken and mentees Annette Wong and Megan Pinto for an insightful discussion about AWP’s Writer to Writer program. Hear about what each mentee took from the Writer to Writer program, how the program helped them develop as writers, and what they’re doing now.


  • | November 23, 2022

    Virtual AWP: 2021 Sue Silverman Prizewinner Anne-Marie Oomen

    In this installment of Virtual AWP we are highlighting Anne-Marie Oomen, 2021 Sue Silverman Prize for Creative Nonfiction winner. Anne-Marie reads from her novel As Long as I Know You: The Mom Book (University of Georgia Press), with Jason Gray, associate editor of The Writer’s Chronicle, joining in the conversation. Tune in as they discuss Anne-Marie’s writing and publication processes, the conjunction of memory and writing, and more.


  • YouTube | September 30, 2022

    Virtual AWP Pedagogy: On Workshop Culture and Addressing Inflammatory Pieces

    Join professors Sean Bernard, Venita Blackburn, Elena Passarello, and Prageeta Sharma in this installment of Virtual AWP Pedagogy focused on workshop culture and how to manage inflammatory pieces. Hear tips and tricks these professors use to cultivate and foster communication between students both inside and outside of the classroom. Many thanks go to Bloomsbury Publishing for sponsoring this event!


  • | August 31, 2022

    Virtual AWP: 2022 Intro Journals Project Winners Part 2

    Four 2022 Intro Journals Project winners read a selection of their work, discuss their creative process, the inspiration behind their winning piece, and where they are headed next. Intro Journals General Editor Dave Essinger of the University of Findlay leads the conversation with K Janeschek, John Kneisley, Kara Melissa, and Summer Wrobel.


  • | August 15, 2022

    Virtual AWP: 2022 Intro Journals Project Winners, Part 1

    Four 2022 Intro Journals Project winners read a selection of their work, discuss their creative process, the inspiration behind their winning piece, and where they are headed next. Intro Journals General Editor Dave Essinger of the University of Findlay leads the conversation with Kanika Ahuja, Jerilynn Aquino, Sam Burt, and Sandy Robertson.


  • | July 12, 2022

    Virtual AWP: Writer to Writer Conversations & Readings with Mentor Meg Eden Kuyatt

    Virtual AWP returns this September with another exciting installment in our Writer to Writer Conversations and Reading series. W2W mentor and children’s literature author Meg Eden Kuyatt reunites with past mentees Becky Ferrigno and Julie Zigoris to discuss writing for children and their experiences in the Writer to Writer program. Currently in Season 17, the program matches writers from all backgrounds with published authors for a three-month series of modules focused on craft, the writing process, publishing, and more.


  • Virtual | June 22, 2022

    Virtual AWP: Writer to Writer Conversations & Readings with Mentor Eileen Cronin

    Virtual AWP: Writer to Writer Conversations & Readings, featuring W2W mentor and disability activist Eileen Cronin in conversation with two of her mentees, Rachael Souza and T. K. Dalton. The Virtual AWP Writer to Writer events showcase discussions with former mentors and mentees of the Writer to Writer Mentorship Program. Currently in Season 16, the program matches writers from all backgrounds with published authors for a three-month series of modules focused on craft, the writing process, publishing, and more.


  • | May 16, 2022

    #AWP23 Event Proposal Webinar

    Join AWP Conference Events Coordinator, Aubrey Kamppila, for this short webinar on AWP's event proposal process for #AWP23. She will cover general information about event proposals, the different components of an event proposal, a timeline for proposals and what happens afterwards, what to do if your event is accepted for the 2023 AWP Conference & Bookfair, and where on the AWP website you should look for information about the event proposal system.


  • | May 9, 2022

    #AWP23 Proposal Walkthrough System

    AWP Events Coordinator Aubrey Kamppila gives an overview of the event proposal and selection process for the 2023 AWP Conference & Bookfair. The webinar covers event proposal deadlines, requirements, best practices, selection criteria, and acceptance rates.


  • Virtual | April 26, 2022

    "How The Water Holds Me" by Tariq Luthun

    Emmy Award-winning poet Tariq Luthun reads from his collection How The Water Holds Me for National Arab American Heritage Month. Enjoy his poems: "The Summer My Cousin Went Missing", "Al Bahr", and "I Go to the Backyard to Pick Mint Leaves for My Mother" in this video.

    Bio: Tariq Luthun is a Detroit-born, Dearborn-raised community organizer, data consultant, and Emmy Award-winning poet. The son of Palestinian Muslim immigrants from Gaza, he is a Kresge Arts in Detroit fellow that earned his MFA in Poetry from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Luthun’s work has earned him such honors as being named Best of the Net, in addition to fellowships through Kundiman, The Watering Hole, and the Kresge Foundation. His first collection of poetry, How The Water Holds Me, was awarded Editors' Selection by Bull City Press and is available now.


  • | March 25, 2022

    #AWP22 Since My Body Discovery and Embodiment of Disabled Voices, Sponsored by Zoeglassia

    Five pioneers of disability poetry in a reading and moderated Q&A that expresses different strains of disability poetics. From the anticolonial to the queer celebratory, disabled voices are charting a poetics of liberation that illuminates the intersectionality of body and identity and the forms of social control and oppression that seek to correct or silence disabled bodies. Together, these four poets will explore, to quote Kay Ulanday Barrett, “the potentiality in being multiple embodiments."


  • | March 24, 2022

    #AWP22 Writing Ourselves into Existence: Taiwanese American Voices

    Taiwan is the twentieth-largest economy in the world and a modern democracy, but it is blocked from membership in the United Nations and World Health Organization and can’t even compete in the Olympics under its own name. China thwarts Taiwan’s sovereignty not just through diplomacy but through language, by censoring perceived dissent and controlling the narrative. Taiwanese American writers can tell their stories from a safe distance; their words are urgent and necessary to counteract this erasure.


  • | March 24, 2022

    #AWP22 Celebrating the National Book Critics Circle's First Book Award

    A literary partner featured event focused on the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard award winners, introduced by NBCC VP/Events Jane Ciabattari, moderated by NBCC President David Varno, featuring Leonard award winners Raven Leilani, Carmen Maria Machado, and Kirstin Valdez Quade. They’ll focus on launching a literary career, inspiration and research for their work, the influence of Leonard and other awards, evolving forms, the unique challenges of writing in these times, and the imaginative process that shapes their work.


  • | March 24, 2022

    #AWP22 Keynote Address by Toi Derricotte, Sponsored by Wilkes University Creative Writing

    Toi Derricotte is the recipient of the 2020 Frost Medal from Poetry Society of America. Her sixth collection of poetry, "I”: New and Selected Poems, was published in 2019 and shortlisted for the 2019 National Book Award. Other books of poetry include The Undertaker’s Daughter, Tender, Captivity, Natural Birth, and The Empress of the Death House. Her literary memoir, The Black Notebooks, won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Nonfiction and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her numerous literary awards include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She was awarded the 2012 Paterson Poetry Prize for Sustained Literary Achievement, a Distinguished Pioneering of the Arts Award from the United Black Artists, the 2012 PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry, and the Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America. With Cornelius Eady, Derricotte cofounded the Cave Canem Foundation in 1996. They are corecipients of the Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, the City of Literature Paul Engle Prize, and the MLA Phyllis Franklin Award. She is professor emerita from University of Pittsburgh and a former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Support the #AWP22 featured presenters by purchasing their recent published titles on our Bookshop list: https://bookshop.org/lists/awp22-featured-presenter-books


  • | March 23, 2022

    #AWP22 Keynote Address by Toi Derricotte, Sponsored by Wilkes University Creative Writing

    Toi Derricotte is the recipient of the 2020 Frost Medal from Poetry Society of America. Her sixth collection of poetry, "I”: New and Selected Poems, was published in 2019 and shortlisted for the 2019 National Book Award. Other books of poetry include The Undertaker’s Daughter, Tender, Captivity, Natural Birth, and The Empress of the Death House.

    Her literary memoir, The Black Notebooks, won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Nonfiction and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her numerous literary awards include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She was awarded the 2012 Paterson Poetry Prize for Sustained Literary Achievement, a Distinguished Pioneering of the Arts Award from the United Black Artists, the 2012 PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry, and the Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America. With Cornelius Eady, Derricotte cofounded the Cave Canem Foundation in 1996. They are corecipients of the Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, the City of Literature Paul Engle Prize, and the MLA Phyllis Franklin Award. She is professor emerita from University of Pittsburgh and a former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

    Support the #AWP22 featured presenters by purchasing their recent published titles on our Bookshop list: https://bookshop.org/lists/awp22-featured-presenter-books


  • | March 23, 2022

    In The Cosmopolis of Memory Women on Cultural Selfhood in a Globalized World

    Setting and place are at the center of our stories and identities—yet globalization and territorial violences create a complicated spatial “belonging." How do we place ourselves in our writing? Braving political strife, war, and displacement coupled with traumas of misrepresentation by dominant narratives, five women grounded in (global) Lebanese, Azerbaijani, Palestinian, and Pakistani cultures write and/or translate poetry, fiction, and memoir to recast histories and cultures in our own voices.


  • | February 15, 2022

    Virtual AWP in Conversation: Celebrating Black Poetry with Cave Canem, Sponsored by The Givens Foundation for African American Literature

    Celebrate Black poets this month and all months! Join us on Tuesday, February 22, 2022, at 6:00 p.m. ET as poets Linda Susan Jackson, Maya Marshall, and Afaa Weaver read a selection of their poems and discuss Cave Canem throughout its fruitful twenty-five years. Linda, Maya, and Afaa relate the influence Cave Canem has had on their own work and the work of others as a safe haven for Black creators to realize their full potential. With introduction by Dante Micheaux, Cave Canem’s twenty-fifth anniversary curator and artistic advisor. Thank you to The Givens Foundation for African American Literature for sponsoring this Black History Month event.


  • Virtual | February 7, 2022

    #AWP22 Poetry & Disability Justice, Sponsored by Cave Canem & Zoeglossia

    Adapted from Patty Berne’s "Disability Justice - A Working Draft," a disability justice framework understands that: all bodies are unique and essential; all bodies have strengths and needs that must be met; we are powerful, not despite the complexities of our bodies, but because of them; and all bodies are confined by ability, race, gender, sexuality, class, nation state, religion, and more, and we cannot separate them. Disability justice holds a vision born out of collective struggle, drawing upon legacies of cultural and spiritual resistance.” Cave Canem and Zoeglossia invite you to join Raymond Antrobus, Khadijah Queen, and L. Lamar Wilson in a discussion on how poets of color work within and without that framework, including readings from the poets.


  • | January 13, 2022

    Virtual AWP Pedagogy: Reclaiming Genre Fiction for the Creative Writing Classroom, Sponsored by Bloomsbury Publishing

    AWP board member and creative writing professor DeMisty D. Bellinger moderates as authors and teachers Tara Campbell and Julie Iromuanya discuss the tools genre fiction provides to explore social problems and the lived experiences of writers of color. They examine redefining the canon and rediscovering existing BIPOC and women genre writers, and Tara and Julie offer book recommendations and champion the importance of reading and teaching what you love.


  • | January 6, 2022

    American Harvest and White Flights: Marie Mockett and Jess Row in Conversation

    This event originally premiered on March 5, 2021 as part of the #AWP21 Conference & Bookfair and is now available for all to enjoy.

    Acclaimed authors Marie Mutsuki Mockett and Jess Row read from and discuss their latest works of nonfiction. Engaging with race, religion, agriculture, and contemporary fiction, these two authors are at the center of ongoing conversations of vital importance to us all. Introduced and moderated by Graywolf Press director and publisher Fiona McCrae.


  • | December 3, 2021

    Disability’s Influence on Literature: Realism As A Craft Concept, Sponsored by AWP

    This event originally premiered on March 3, 2021 as part of the #AWP21 Conference & Bookfair and is now available for all to enjoy.

    Literature has long defined disability erroneously. Movements started by disabled people have shifted the narrative. With false, manipulated, or erased narratives surrounding us in a 24/7 news cycle, the truth is more important than ever. Disability literature offers a deeper exploration of adaptation, survival, and humanity. (With Marlena Chertock, Eileen Cronin, T.K. Dalton, and James Tate Hill.)


  • | October 26, 2021

    Tribute to June Jordan, Sponsored by Copper Canyon Press

    This conversation originally premiered on March 7, 2021, as part of the #AWP21 Conference & Bookfair and is now available for all to enjoy!

    “I am not wrong: Wrong is not my name / My name is my own my own my own.” A panel of poets and editors will read and discuss iconic works by June Jordan, including the electric, revolutionary “Poem About My Rights.” In her too-short career, Jordan boldly, lyrically, and overtly called out the harms caused by anti-Black police violence, sexual abuse, and heterosexism, lighting a way forward for other writers. Each poet will offer one poem of their own to honor Jordan’s literary influence.


  • | October 12, 2021

    Fierce L.A. Women Writer Stories that Change the Paradigm, Sponsored by Red Hen Press

    This conversation originally premiered on March 6, 2021, as part of the #AWP21 Conference & Bookfair and is now available for all to enjoy!

    Los Angeles women writers who bend the way stories are written in the slanted coastal light, who throw shadows. World builders and magical thinkers, these writers will discuss how living on the edge of the world makes story telling fierce, wild, and edgy.


  • | September 10, 2021

    A Reading & Conversation with Mira Jacob & Monique Truong, Sponsored by Kundiman

    This conversation originally premiered on March 4, 2021, as part of the #AWP21 Conference & Bookfair and is now available for all to enjoy!

    Join Kundiman for a conversation with Monique Truong and Mira Jacob, two masterful multi-genre authors of lyrical and vital work. Each author will give a reading, followed by a moderated discussion about their work and its engagement with family, food, identity, and history. Kundiman's Kyle Lucia Wu will introduce, and Crystal Hana Kim will moderate. Kundiman is a national nonprofit dedicated to nurturing generations of Asian American literature.


  • | August 27, 2021

    A Reading & Conversation with Shira Erlichman, Sumita Chakraborty, and Taylor Johnson, Moderated by Cortney Lamar Charleston, Sponsored by Alice James Books

    This conversation originally premiered on March 4, 2021, as part of the #AWP21 Conference & Bookfair and is now available for all to enjoy!

    Alice James Books presents three exciting writers of excellence to share their most recent work: Chakraborty’s Arrow is "full of life and joy even when she is thinking through violence and grief." In Odes to Lithium, Erlichman pens a love letter to lithium, her medication for Bipolar Disorder. In Inheritance, Johnson writes poems about everyday moments in Washington D.C. and the self’s struggle with definition and assumption. Introduced and moderated by poet, editor, and critic Cortney Lamar Charleston.


  • | August 6, 2021

    Virtual AWP: 2021 Intro Journals Winners, Part 2

    Five more 2021 Intro Journals winners read a selection of their work and discuss their creative process, the inspiration behind their winning piece, and where they are headed next. Intro Journals General Editor Dave Essinger of the University of Findlay leads the conversation with Danielle Harms, Jonathan Winston Jones, Ae Hee Lee, Emily Anne Standlee, and Steven Vineis.


  • | August 3, 2021

    Virtual AWP: 2021 Intro Journals Winners, Part 1

    Five 2021 Intro Journals winners read a selection of their work and discuss their creative process, the inspiration behind their winning piece, and where they are headed next. Intro Journals General Editor Dave Essinger of the University of Findlay leads the conversation with Cassandra Caverhill, J.P. Grasser, Skye Jackson, Nathaniel Ricketts, and Sydney Vogl.


  • | July 29, 2021

    Writer to Writer Conversations & Readings with Mentor Shikha Malaviya

    In our latest installment of Writer to Writer Conversations & Readings, we spotlight perennial W2W poetry mentor Shikha Malaviya and four of her mentees: Preeti Parikh, Muhammad Salimi, Manisha Sharma, and Sunita Theiss. Shikha moderates as they discuss what prompted them to participate in the program, the mentor-mentee matching process, and the importance of a shared cultural connection that allowed them to write and speak freely.


  • | June 29, 2021

    Virtual AWP Pedagogy: Supporting LGBTQ Students in the Creative Writing Classroom

    This Virtual AWP Pedagogy discussion focuses on supporting LGBTQ students in the creative writing classroom. AWP and the Creative Writing Studies Organization welcome Anel I. Flores, Alexa Garvoille, and Ruben Quesada as they discuss solutions to structural problems in creative writing workshops and programs that marginalize LGBTQ and BIPOC writers. AWP Board Member Stephanie Vanderslice moderates as they cover the importance of being visible as queer educators, contextualizing queer writers of the past, and collaborating with other teachers and students to ensure the inclusion of all voices.


  • Virtual | April 15, 2021

    Virtual AWP: Writer to Writer Conversations & Readings

    Just in time for National Poetry Month, the Writer to Writer Conversations & Readings series kicks off with a poetry reading by the mentees of poet and literary translator J. Kates, who has returned each year as a mentor since joining in 2017. He has guided four mentees through the program: Lucas Jacob, Lynn Pattison, Joyce Schmid, and Susan Tatiner.


  • Virtual | April 6, 2021

    A Reading & Conversation with Ada Limón, Jake Skeets, and Rick Barot, Sponsored by Milkweed Editions

    Milkweed Editions presents three critically-acclaimed poets in conversation: Ada Limón, author of the National Book Critic Circle Award-winning collection The Carrying; Diné poet Jake Skeets, author of Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers, a National Poetry Series-winning collection; and Rick Barot, author of The Galleons, as well as three previous collections of poems, The Darker Fall; Want, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and won the 2009 Grub Street Book Prize; and Chord.


  • Virtual | March 7, 2021

    Legacy Conversations C. S. Giscombe and Nathaniel Mackey, Sponsored by Cave Canem

    Established in 2001, Cave Canem's Legacy Conversations features pre-eminent poets and scholars who have played historic roles in Black poetry. These discussions address historical, aesthetic, political, and personal influences on craft and thought. In this edition, poets C. S. Giscombe, known for his meditations across geography and time, and Nathaniel Mackey, noted for his experiments with language and music, are led in conversation by Cave Canem fellow Jari Bradley.


  • Virtual | March 6, 2021

    NBCC Award Winners Edwidge Danticat and Sarah M. Broom on Finding Home

    Two National Book Critics Circle award-winning writers, Haitian-born Edwidge Danticat and New Orleanian native Sarah M. Broom, read from their work and engage in a conversation about finding home, their inspiration, research, evolving forms, the unique challenges of writing in these times, the imaginative process that shapes their originality, and what awards mean to writers. Consider this a double master class in the art of storytelling.


  • Virtual | March 4, 2021

    #AWP21 Keynote: Joy Harjo

    Poet Laureate Joy Harjo's #AWP21 keynote address was given on March 4, 2021, as part of the 2021 AWP Conference & Bookfair. Her unique blend of poetry and jazz is now available for all to enjoy. AWP thanks the University of Iowa for sponsoring this event.


  • | March 1, 2021

    #AWP21 Latin American Women Writers in Translation

    Hear five women writers, academics, publishers, editors, and educators give insight into the importance and scope of translation. Learn about both American and Latin American publishing systems, gain understanding from the founder of recently established Charco Press, and explore the complex, ever-changing processes of writing and translation. Panelists include Adriana Pacheco, Isabel Zapata, Carolina Orloff, and Robin Myers, with moderation from Liliana Valenzuela.


  • | March 1, 2021

    #AWP21 Raising the Volume, Women in Translation

    Join moderator Nancy Naomi Carlson and award-winning translators Aviya Kushner, Andrea Jurjevi?, Katherine E. Young, and Sharon Dolin for a vigorous conversation centered on their experiences in the world of translation, the realities of modern translation, and the expectations imposed on women and nonbinary writers across different cultural communities, countries, and continents. In addition to these topics, the panelists will discuss advocacy work they have performed on behalf of the women and nonbinary authors they translate. Hear shocking statistics about women writers worldwide, an inspiring story of a woman poet who became a published author in her nineties, and learn about what actions must be taken to actively support women writers from across the globe.


  • | January 12, 2021

    Virtual AWP Pedagogy: Diversity & Inclusion in the Creative Writing Classroom

    Felicia Rose Chavez, Caleb Lee González, and Matthew Salesses discuss creative writing teaching practices that value all voices and experiences. AWP Board Member Stephanie Vanderslice moderates.


  • | December 8, 2020

    Virtual AWP Pedagogy: Moving the Creative Writing Classroom Online with Lucy Biederman, Tamara Girardi & Lex Williford; moderated by Stephanie Vanderslice

    Three creative writing professors, Dr. Lucy Biederman, Dr. Tamara Girardi & Professor Lex Williford, exchange ideas on how to provide the most meaningful feedback in virtual workshops. AWP Board Member Stephanie Vanderslice moderates their conversation.


  • | November 20, 2020

    VBC featuring Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

    For AWP's November Virtual Book Club, David Heska Wanbli Weiden discusses his crime thriller, Winter Counts, with AWP Director of Conferences Colleen Cable. Weiden is an enrolled member of the Sicangu Lakota nation, holds an MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts, and is a professor of Native American studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Winter Counts has received rave reviews from the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Washington Post, Shelf Awareness, Booklist, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and many more, which can be viewed on Weiden’s website.


  • Virtual | October 28, 2020

    VBC featuring Horsepower by Joy Priest

    AWP Virtual Book Club welcomes a discussion on the newly-released Horsepower (Pitt Poetry Series, 2020) by Joy Priest, winner of the 2019 Donald Hall Prize for Poetry. Priest and Chelsea McLin, Registration and Diversity & Inclusion Coordinator for AWP, discuss Horsepower, Louisville, and Breonna Taylor. Also included is the poem “Nightstick."


  • Virtual | September 24, 2020

    VBC featuring Felon by Reginald Dwayne Betts

    Virtual Book Club returns this September, featuring Reginald Dwayne Betts and his poetry collection Felon, winner of a 2020 NAACP Image Award. Interview by Sheila Black, AWP Director of Development, the two will discuss Felon and The Million Book Project, Betts’ ongoing initiative to distribute Freedom Libraries, a curated 500-book collection, to 1,000 prisons in the United States and Puerto Rico.


  • Virtual | September 17, 2020

    Virtual AWP: The Evolution of a Writer: Before, During, and Hopefully After the Pandemic

    Virtual AWP: Conversations with Writers presents The Evolution of a Writer: Before, During, and Hopefully After the Pandemic. Courtney Maum (Before and After the Book Deal), Parneshia Jones (Vessel), and Paulette Perhach (Welcome to the Writer’s Life) discuss branding, finances, and author availability before diving into deeper concerns including preserving your unique voice, making yourself a priority when choosing a publisher, and supporting women in publishing before, during, and hopefully after the pandemic. Books from this event can be purchased on the AWP & Bookshop affiliate website.


  • Virtual | August 27, 2020

    Virtual AWP: Conversations with Writers featuring Maurice Carlos Ruffin & Regina Brooks

    We are thrilled to share this Virtual AWP event featuring author of We Cast a Shadow, Maurice Carlos Ruffin interviewed by Regina Brooks, AWP Board Member and CEO of Serendipity Literary Agency. We Cast a Shadow, published by One World Random House, named a Best Book of the Year by NPR and a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, has been described as “an incisive and necessary debut…a chilling, unforgettable cautionary tale and one we should all read and heed,” by Roxane Gay. The interview delves into themes of race, white supremacy, and social injustice as Maurice shares the influences behind his writing.


  • Virtual | August 18, 2020

    Virtual AWP: Conversations with Writers featuring Alexandra van de Kamp and Sheila Black

    We welcome to our virtual programming A Conversation with Alexandra van de Kamp and Sheila Black. Watch as they take time to discuss moving forward with a formal and intentional presence, developing strategies for building community in the virtual classroom, and addressing boundaries to prevent burnout.


  • Virtual | June 26, 2020

    June 2020 Virtual Book Club with Aimee Liu

    Bestselling author Aimee Liu discusses the craft of writing and her latest book, Glorious Boy, published by Red Hen Press.

    More Information:
    News: https://www.awpwriter.org/magazine_media/writers_news_view/4704
    Purchase the Book: https://aerbook.com/maker/productcard-5210740-1458.html
    Author's Website: https://aimeeliu.net/
    Survival International: https://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/jarawa
    Origins Essay on LitHub: https://lithub.com/finding-my-story-in-the-colonial-past-of-the-andaman-islands/


  • Virtual | June 12, 2020

    Virtual AWP: Frontextos (border/texts)—Process, Image, Text, & Resistance

    Poets Octavio Quintanilla and Connie Voisine discuss their latest projects with an eye toward looking at individual process and how the poet adapts their process to tackle issues of social and historical urgency—from border and sectarian conflict to defining what art means to us in these pandemic times.


  • Virtual | May 21, 2020

    May 2020 Virtual Book Club with Sue William Silverman

    Who wants to live forever? Sue William Silverman discusses her book, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences, a collection of essays tackling the knotty question of how we should best live in the ever-present shadow of death. Join along as Sue William Silverman answers questions about her attempt to confront her fears of death, as well as her desire to survive it.


  • Virtual | May 11, 2020

    Virtual AWP: "Some Days" Community Poem Project Conversation

    Presented in honor of National Nurses Week 2020. David Hassler, director of the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University, is joined by Katie Daley, a teaching artist for the Wick Poetry Center, Dr. Mary K. Anthony, professor and associate dean for research at Kent State University College of Nursing, and Taryn Burhanna, RN. In this conversation they share their work on the “Some Days” Community Poem Project, a prompt scripted from the Wick Poetry Center in partnership with Kent State University. The focus of the “Some Days” community poem project was to work with health care providers in Northeast Ohio to create a “community poem” that reflected on their experiences as health care providers. In these pandemic times of COVID-19, “Some Days” shows us the resilience, stresses, and guiding values of health care providers as they use the lens of poetry to capture and reflect on their many experiences of caregiving. Listen in to the discoveries made through this communal creative process.


  • Virtual | May 8, 2020

    Virtual AWP Event Beyond Sunrise, There Is a Song We Follow: A Conversation with Joy Harjo and Rob Casper

    What can poetry bring us in this time of crisis? What might poets laureate do in such a moment? Joy Harjo, the 23rd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress, talks about her work in the position as well as the role poets and poetry can play right now.


  • San Antonio, Texas | March 7, 2020

    My Heart Is Not Blind: On Blindness and Perception, Sponsored by Trinity University

    Trinity University presents My Heart Is Not Blind: On Blindness and Perception. Vision loss and the broader idea of perception is something we struggle to understand. Its causes range from genetic predispositions to disease and external circumstances such as accidents or violence. Michael Nye has photographed visually impaired people who differ not only in their particular conditions and losses but also in their cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds—also affording them the opportunity to tell their deeply moving and enlightening personal stories. Taken as a whole, their accounts are bound by a common theme of resilience and empowerment. Moderated by Michael Nye with a panel discussion including participants from the book.


  • San Antonio, Texas | March 6, 2020

    National Book Critics Circle Presents: Louise Erdrich

    NBCC Presents: Louise Erdrich. (Louise Erdrich, Marion Winik) National Book Critics Circle honored novelist Louise Erdrick will read from her work and talk with NBCC Treasurer Marion Winik about inspiration, research, awards (Erdrich has also won a National Book Award), evolving forms, the unique challenges of writing in these times, the imaginative process that shapes their work. A double master class in the art of fiction.


  • San Antonio, Texas | March 6, 2020

    A Reading & Conversation with Ambassador Rick Barton, Alex Dehgan, Lee Gutkind, & Lola Shoneyin

    This event will feature a moderated discussion with authors of recent books related to international development. Many in the international development world have lived and traveled extensively, engaged with people from all parts of the world and in a broad range of situations, have encountered countless challenges, witnessed success and failure, and learned from it all. And some have been able to corral their experiences, insights, and ideas into books. Our panel of authors will look at their varied experiences and stories. Lee Gutkind, the “godfather behind creative nonfiction,” will moderate the discussion with Amb. Rick Barton, author of Peace Works: America's Unifying Role in a Turbulent World, Alex Dehgan, author of The Snow Leopard Project and other Adventures in Warzone Conservation, and Lola Shoneyin, author of The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives.


  • San Antonio, Texas | March 6, 2020

    Ada Calhoun in Conversation with Kristen Young

    Ada Calhoun will read from her forthcoming novel and will be interviewed by Kristen Millares Young. Ada Calhoun is the author of the memoir Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give, named an Amazon Book of the Month and one of the top ten memoirs of 2017 by W magazine; and the history St. Marks Is Dead, one of the best books of 2015, according to Kirkus and the Boston Globe. She has collaborated on several New York Times bestsellers and freelanced for the New York Times, New York, and The New Republic.


  • San Antonio, Texas | March 5, 2020

    #AWP20 Keynote Address by Helena María Viramontes, Sponsored by Texas State University

    Helena María Viramontes is the author of The Moths and Other Stories (1985) and Under the Feet of Jesus (1995), a novel. Her second novel, Their Dogs Came with Them (2007), published in paperback by Washington Square Press, focuses on the dispossessed, the working poor, the homeless, and the undocumented of East Los Angeles, where Viramontes was born and raised. Her work strives to re-create the visceral sense of a world virtually unknown to mainstream letters and to transform readers through relentlessly compassionate storytelling. In the 1980s, Viramontes became co-coordinator of the Los Angeles Latino Writers Association and literary editor of XhistmeArte Magazine. Later in the decade, Viramontes helped found Southern California Latino Writers and Filmmakers. In collaboration with feminist scholar Maria Herrera Sobek, Viramontes organized three major conferences at UC-Irvine, resulting in two anthologies: Chicana Creativity and Criticism: Charting New Frontiers in American Literature (1988) and Chicana Writes: On Word and Film (1993). Named a USA Ford Fellow in Literature for 2007 by United States Artists, she has also received the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature, a Sundance Institute Fellowship, an NEA Fellowship, a Spirit Award from the California Latino Legislative Caucus, and a 2017 Bellagio Center Residency from the Rockefeller Foundation. In 2015, California State University at Long Beach inaugurated the Helena María Viramontes Lecture. Viramontes is Goldwin Smith Professor of English at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, where she is at work on a new novel.


  • San Antonio, Texas | March 5, 2020

    Aimee Liu and Ellen Meeropol in Conversation with Kristen Young, Sponsored by Red Hen Press

    Powerful female authors read their work and discuss their shared themes of families torn apart by history and war. Each work quests to find lost siblings and daughters and sons, each story a heartwrenching tale of the strength of family against life's cruel obstacles. These four women discuss the importance and necessity of telling these stories, and the impact these stories have on our lives right now, in the real world.


  • San Antonio, Texas | March 5, 2020

    10 Years of CantoMundo: Founders, Faculty, and Fellows

    Join CantoMundo for a discussion on contemporary Latinx letters, the history of CantoMundo, and what’s ahead for us. Each poet will also do a short reading.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Rebecca Makkai on The Great Believers at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    PBS Books chatted with Chicago-based author Rebecca Makkai, whose third novel won both the Andrew Carnegie Medal and the Stonewall Book Award. Amy Poehler's Paper Kite Productions optioned the novel for a potential TV series last December.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Keith S. Wilson on Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    PBS Books was in Portland with Keith S. Wilson, who is not only an acclaimed poet; he’s also a game designer with Resilient Game Studios. His debut collection of poems, Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love (Copper Canyon Press), comes out this May. He also serves as Assistant Poetry Editor at Four Way Review and Digital Media Editor and Web Consultant at Obsidian Journal.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Amber Tamblyn on Era of Ignition at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    Amber Tamblyn is an actress, writer, filmmaker, and is a co-founder of the Time's Up movement; her latest book, Era of Ignition, comes just a year after her debut novel Any Man. In her career as an actress, she has been nominated for Emmy, Golden Globe, and Independent Spirit awards.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Cheryl Strayed and Lidia Yuknavitch on Wild at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    Cheryl Strayed's second book, the 2012 memoir Wild, went on to win the Barnes & Noble Discover Award and the Oregon Book Award, and would be adapted into a major motion picture in 2014, starring Reese Witherspoon. Lidia Yuknavitch is an author, editor, and teacher; her 2016 TED Talk, 'The Beauty of Being a Misfit' has more than 2.6 million views, and pawned her 2017 novel The Beauty of Being a Misfit. She also founded the workshop series, Corporeal Writing, in Portland.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Sue William Silverman on Because I Remember Terror... at the 2019 AWP Book Fair

    PBS Books chatted with award-winning author Sue William Silverman at AWP 2019. Silverman's newest poetry collection, 'If The Girl Never Learns,' is available next week (April 2) from Brick Mantel Books. She teaches writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts and is the author of three memoirs, two other poetry collections, and a craft book on writing.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Rebecca and Floyd Skloot on The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    PBS Books talked to Rebecca Skloot, and her father (and poet), Floyd. Rebecca is the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,’ while Floyd is a creative nonfiction writer, novelist and poet whose work has won three Pushcart Prizes, a Pen USA Literary Award, two Pacific NW Book Awards, and two Oregon Book Awards.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Lilliam Rivera on Dealing in Dreams at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    Lilliam Rivera and her novel The Education of Margot Sanchez was nominated for the 2017 Best Fiction for Young Adult Adults (by #YALSA) and has been a featured speaker in countless schools and at several book festivals. Also a teacher of creative writing workshops, Rivera's latest book, Dealing in Dreams, was just released by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Aja Gabel on The Ensemble at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    PBS Books started our Saturday with author Aja Gabel; her debut novel, The Ensemble, peeks into the competitive and precision-demanding world of professional orchestral musicians. Gabel is an award winning writer who holds a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Houston.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Ross Gay on The Book of Delights at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    PBS Books spoke to Ross Gay, a writer of three books of poetry and winner of both the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. The American Bookseller's Association listed Gay's newest work, The Book of Delights on their annual Indie Next List.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Mira Jacob on Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversation at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    PBS Books chatted with Mira Jacob about her new book, Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversation, which came out earlier this week and uses visual content and collages to work through a prevailing atmosphere of divisiveness. Based in Brooklyn, Jacob is also the author of the critically acclaimed novel The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Mitchell Jackson on Survival Math at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    PBS Books sat down with author Mitchell S. Jackson, whose debut novel, The Residue Years, won The Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence and was a finalist for the PEN / Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction. Jackson's new book chronicles four generations of his family, and takes its name from the calculations necessary to navigate gangs, guns, and near-death experiences, while, advancing a crucial conversation about race and class in America.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Morgan Parker on Magical Negro at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    PBS Books spoke to Morgan Parker, who was recognized by the Los Angeles Times as a "Writer to Watch," and Publisher's Weekly included her book in its Best Poetry of 2019 list. Parker's poetry collection considers the everyday experience of black womanhood, while pushing past a curtain-like trope, often a plot-device in Hollywood films, where black characters are limited in the dimension of their identity.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Sassafras Lowrey on Lost Boi at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    Sassafras Lowrey's 2015 novel Lost Boi is a queer punk reimagining of Peter Pan, resituating a classic children's fantasy tale within a subversive alternate reality. Lowrey has won the Lambda Literary Foundation Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award, and has been featured on the American Library Association Rainbow Book List. She recently relocated here to Portland.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Ada Limón on The Carrying at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    PBS Books spoke with Ada Limón about her latest poetry collection, The Carrying, which was featured on PBS Books' Best of 2018 List, and it recently won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry. Limón is the author of five books of poetry, including Bright Dead Things, which was named a finalist for the National Book Award. She also works as a freelance writer in Lexington, Kentucky.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Lucia LoTempio and Karla Lamb on City of Asylum at the AWP 2019 Bookfair

    Lucia LoTempio is a program manager at City of Asylum, along with Karla Lamb who serves as its senior program manager and volunteer coordinator; they're working to offer sanctuary for exiled or threatened writers. The Pittsburgh-based grassroots organization provides refuge for writers and helps them build a join a community of writers, readers, and neighbors.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Lisa Ko on The Leavers at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    PBS Books was in Portland with Lisa Ko, talking about her novel, The Leavers, which won the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Sociall Engaged Fiction. Born in Queens (and currently based in Brooklyn), her writing has appeared in The New York Times, O Magazine, and in the Best American Short Stories collection (2016).


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Natalie Diaz and Nikky Finney on Aerts for Justice at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    PBS Books were speaking with poets Natalie Diaz and Nikky Finney about Aerts for Justice, discussing issues like mass incarceration, civil rights, and poetics. Finney has written several books of poetry and is a recipient of a PEN America Open Book Award; she's on faculty at the Cave Canem Academy of American Poets. Diaz’ first poetry collection, When My Brother Was an Aztec, was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2012. She is 2018 MacArthur Foundation Fellow, a Lannan Literary Fellow and a Native Arts Council Foundation Artist Fellow.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2019

    Erica Jong on Fear of Dying at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    Erica Jong's groundbreaking 1973 debut Fear of Flying ascended her into literary icon status, particularly with its (at that time) controversial portray of female sexuality. She has written more than 20 books, including non-fiction and poetry, and has won the United Nations Award for excellence in literature. We’re here at AWP 2019 discussing her latest, Fear of Dying, a spiritual sequel to her debut.


  • Portland, Oregon | March 29, 2019

    The Strengths of Complexity and the Power of Limitations: Writers on Disability

    Naomi Ortiz, Esmé Weijun Wang, and Sandra Gail Lambert in conversation at #AWP19 in Portland, Oregon. Moderated by Sarah Einstein. This event was livestreamed and live-captioned on March 29, 2019.


  • Portland, Oregon | March 28, 2019

    #AWP19 Keynote Address by Colson Whitehead, Sponsored by Oregon State University

    Colson Whitehead delivers a speech at #AWP19 in Portland, Oregon. This event was livestreamed and live-captioned on March 28, 2019.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 10, 2018

    Nathan Hill Interview

    Host Rich Fahle talks with writer Nathan Hill about his book, The Nix, at AWP 2018.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Leni Zumas Interview

    Leni Zumas is on set to discuss her newest book, Red Clocks, which garnered starred reviews on both BOOKLIST and Library Journal and seems to be on everyone’s To-Read list.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Min Jin Lee Interview

    Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko, a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction in 2017 joins PBS Books. The New York Times and USA Today said Pachinko was one of the Top 10 books to read in 2017.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Chris Abani Interview

    Chris Abani, a poet and novelist, has won numerous awards and fellowships for both his poetry and his works of fiction. We talk with him today about his psychological literary thriller, The Secret History of Las Vegas.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    R.O. Kwon Interview

    Up now, R. O. Kwon, author of the soon to be published book, The Incendiaries. Kwon is a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow and has won numerous awards from writing colonies and conferences.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Tyehimba Jess Interview

    Tyehimba Jess, awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2017, is up next to talk with us about his book, Olio. Jess has won numerous awards, is also a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, as well as a TEDx poetry alum.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    David Haynes Interview

    Host Rich Fahle talks with the David Haynes, Chairman of AWP Board of Directors.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Gregory Pardlo Interview

    PBS Books talks with Gregory Pardlo, a Pulitzer Prize winning poet & Guggenheim fellow, who discusses his newest book, Air Traffic: A Memoir of Ambition and Manhood in America.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Jennifer Benka & Adrian Matejka Interview

    Host Rich Fahle talks with Jennifer Benka, Executive Director of The Academy of American Poets, and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Adrian Matejka.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Danez Smith Interview

    Danez Smith is here with PBS Books at AWP 2018 to talk with us about his book of poetry, Don’t Call Us Dead: Poems. Danez has won numerous awards and fellowships and was a finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry in 2017.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Carmen Maria Machado & Kelly Link Interview

    PBS Books welcomes to the set, Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties: Stories, as well as Kelly Link, author of Get In Trouble: Stories. Machado has been awarded fellowships and residencies from several foundations. Currently, she is the Artist in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania. Link was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction in 2016.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Sigrid Nunez Interview

    PBS Books welcomes Sigrid Nunez to our set to discuss her latest book, The Friend: A Novel. Nunez has written several books and has won numerous awards through the years, including a Whiting Award, the Rome Prize in Literature, and a Berlin Prize Fellowship.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Brit Bennett Interview

    Rich Fahle talks with Brit Bennett about her debut novel, The Mothers at the 2018 AWP Conference & Bookfair.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Kiese Laymon Interview

    At AWP 2018 talking with Kiese Laymon about his debut novel Long Division: A Novel.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Alexander Chee Interview

    Alexander Chee is with us at AWP 2018 talking about his newest book, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays. Mr. Chee has won numerous awards and fellowships, is an Associate Professor at Dartmouth College as well as being a contributing editor at The New Republic, an editor at large at The Virginia Quarterly Review and a critic at large at The Los Angeles Times.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Wiley Cash Interview

    Wiley Cash is here discussing his book, The Last Ballad: A Novel. Chicago Public Library and the American Library Association named The Last Ballad a Best Book of 2017.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Lesley Nneka Arimah Interview

    Lesley Nneka Arimah is joining us to talk about her book, What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky: Stories. Lesley was selected as a National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 honoree last year.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Lauren Groff Interview

    Lauren Groff, author of the New York Times best selling book, Fates and Furies, is with PBS Books to talk about her forthcoming book, Florida. Groff has been a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Kirkus Prize and the LA Times Book Prize.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Ada Limón Interview

    PBS Books welcomes Ada Limón to the set, author of Bright Dead Things: Poems. Limón was a finalist for the National Book Award, The National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kingsley Tufts Award. Limon’s next book, The Carrying: Poems is due to be released this summer.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Ishion Hutchinson Interview

    We’re sitting down with Ishion Hutchinson, author of House of Lords and Commons: Poems. Hutchinson won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry in 2016 for House of Lords and Commons.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Marcus Wicker Interview

    On set with Marcus Wicker talking about his second collection of poetry, Silencer. His first collection, Maybe the Saddest Thing, was a National Poetry Series winner as well as a finalist for an NAACP Image Award.


  • Tampa, Florida | March 9, 2018

    Nathan Englander Interview

    Nathan Englander is with PBS Books to talk about his latest novel, Dinner at the Center of the Earth. Englander was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2013. He’s also a Guggenheim fellow and was selected as one of “20 Writers for the 21st Century” by The New Yorker.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Viet Thanh Nguyen on The Refugees

    Viet Thanh Nguyen talks with PBS Book View Now's Jeffrey Brown about his latest novel, The Refugees at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Terrance Hayes on How to Be Drawn

    Terrance Hayes talks with PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle about his latest novel, How to Be Drawn at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Amy Stolls

    PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle talks with Amy Stolls, Literature Director of National Endowment for the Arts.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Colum McCann on Letters to a Young Writer

    PBS NewsHour correspondent Jeffrey Brown interviews Colum McCann about his novels, Letters to a Young Writer and Thirteen Ways of Looking: A Novella and Three Stories at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    David Fenza

    PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle talks with David Fenza, Executive Director of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Kevin Young on Blue Laws: Selected and Uncollected Poems

    Kevin Young talks with PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle about his latest novel, Blue Laws: Selected and Uncollected Poems, 1995-2015, at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Margot Livesey on Mercury: A Novel

    Margot Livesey talks with PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle about her latest novel, Mercury: A Novel, at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Krisen Radtke on Imagine Wanting Only This

    Kristen Radtke discusses Imagine Wanting Only This with PBS Book View Now at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Jason Reynolds on Ghost and All American Boys

    PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle talks with Jason Reynolds about his books, Ghost and All American Boys at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Lidia Yuknavitch on The Book of Joan: A Novel

    Lidia Yuknavitch talks with PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle about her latest novel, The Book of Joan: A Novel at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Brendan Kiely on The Last True Love Story

    Brendan Kiely talks with PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle about his latest novel, The Last True Love Story, at the 2017 AWP Book Fair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Rahul Mehta on No Other World: A Novel

    Rahul Mehta talks with PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle about his latest novel, No Other World: A Novel, at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Sonia Sanchez and Eileen Myles

    Sonia Sanchez and Eileen Myles talk with PBS Book View Now's Jeffrey Brown about their latest novels at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Monica Youn on Blackacre: Poems

    Monica Youn talks with PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle about her latest novel, Blackacre: Poems at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Tracy K. Smith on Ordinary Light: A Memoir

    Tracy K. Smith discusses her novel, Ordinary Light: A Memoir, with PBS Book View Now at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Rowan Ricardo Phillips on Heaven: Poems at the 2017

    Rowan Ricardo Phillips discusses Heaven: Poems with PBS Book View Now at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Jennifer Egan on A Visit from the Goon Squad

    PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle talks with Jennifer Egan about her book, A Visit from the Goon Squad, at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Carolyn Forché on Poetry of Witness: The Tradition in English, 1500-2001

    Carolyn Forché discusses Poetry of Witness: The Tradition in English, 1500-2001 with PBS Book View Now at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Garrard Conley on Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family

    Garrard Conley discusses Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family with PBS Book View Now at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Rita Dove on Collected Poems, 1974 - 2004

    Rita Dove discusses her collection, Collected Poems, 1974 – 2004, with PBS Book View Now at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Rakesh Satyal on No One Can Pronounce My Name: A Novel

    Rakesh Satyal discusses his new novel, No One Cn Pronounce My Name, with PBS Book View Now at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Mimi Lok

    PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle talks with Mimi Lok, Co-founder and Executive Director of Voice of Wtiness at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Hannah Tinti on The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley: A Novel

    PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle talks with Hannah Tinti about her novel, The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley: A Novel.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Ann Patchett on Comonwealth & Emma Straub on Modern Lovers

    Ann Patchett discusses Commonwealth and Emma Straub talks with host PBS Book View Now Rich Fahle about her book, Modern Lovers, at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Ashley C. Ford

    PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle talks with writer and editor Ashley C. Ford.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Azar Nafisi on The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books

    Azar Nafisi talks with PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle about her latest novel, The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books, at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Washington, DC | February 11, 2017

    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on We Should All Be Feminists

    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks with PBS Book View Now host Rich Fahle about her latest novel, We Should All Be Feminists at the 2017 AWP Bookfair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Helen MacDonald on H Is For Hawk

    Helen MacDonald talks with host Rich Fahle about her latest book, H Is For Hawk, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Alex Gilvarry on From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant

    Host Rich Fahle talks with Alex Gilvarry about his novel, From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Kristin Valdez Quade on Night at the Fiestas

    Kristin Valdez Quade discusses her collection of stories, Night at the Fiestas, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Juan Felipe Hererra on Notes on the Assemblage

    Host Rich Fahle talks with Poet Laureate of the U.S., Juan Felipe Hererra, about his latest work, Notes on the Assemblage, at the 2016 AWP Conference & Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Laura Kasischke on Mind of Winter and The Infinitesimals

    Laura Kasischke talks with Rich Fahle about her latest literary work, Mind of Winter and The Infinitesimals at the 2016 AWP Conference & Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Matt Bell on Scrapper

    Matt Bell discusses his novel, Scrapper, at the 2016 AWP Conference & Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Mary Norris on Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen

    Mary Norris talks with host Rich Fahle about her new book, Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Reginald Dwayne Betts on Bastards of the Reagan Era

    Reginald Dwayne Betts discusses his latest work, Bastards of the Reagan Era, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Gregory Pardlo on Digest

    Gregory Pardlo discusses his book of poetry, Digest, at the 2016 AWP Conference & Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Edward Hirsch on Gabriel: A Poem

    Edward Hirsch discusses his book of poetry, Gabriel, at the 2016 AWP Conference & Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Jonny Diamond of Literary Hub

    Jonny Diamond, Editor in Chief of Literary Hub, joins host Rich Fahle at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Paul Lisicky on The Narrow Door

    Paul Lisicky discusses his novel, The Narrow Door , at the 2016 AWP Conference & Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Jennifer Gilmore on The Mothers, We Were Never Here

    Host Rich Fahle talks with Jennifer Gilmore about her novel, The Mothers, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Megan Kruse on Call Me Home

    Megan Kruse discusses her novel, Call Me Home, at the 2016 AWP Conference & Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Ross Gay on Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude

    Ross Gay discusses his book, Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Jamaal May on The Big Book of Exit Strategies

    Jamaal May talks with host Rich Fahle about his new collection of poetry at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 2, 2016

    Jonathan Lethem on Lucky Alan and Other Stories and Dissident Gardens

    Author Jonathan Lethem discusses his latest, Lucky Alan and Other Stories and Dissident Gardens at the 2016 AWP Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    Ruth Ozeki on A Tale For the Time Being

    Ruth Ozeki talks with host Rich Fahle about her novel, A Tale For the Time Being, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    Emily St. John Mandel on Station Eleven

    Rich Fahle interviews Emily St. John about her novel, Station Eleven, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    Kelly Link on Get in Trouble

    Kelly Link on her new collection of short stories, Get in Trouble, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    Mitchell Jackson on the Residue Years

    Mitchell Jackson discusses his novel, Residue Years, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    Viet Thanh Nguyen on The Sympathizer

    Viet Thanh Nguyen discusses his book, The Sympathizer, at 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    Jess Walter on Beautiful Ruins

    Rich Fahle interviews Jess Walter about his latest book, Beautiful Ruins, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    Roxane Gay on Bad Feminist

    Roxane Gay discusses her collection of essays, Bad Feminist, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    Cheryl Strayed on Wild

    Cheryl Strayed joins host Rich Fahle to discuss her novel, Wild, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    David Means on Hystopia

    David Means discusses his latest novel, Hystopia, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    Brian Castner and Phil Klay

    Authors Brian Castner and Phil Klay discuss their latest novels at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    Amy Wilentz on Farewell, Fred Voodoo: A Letter from Haiti

    Amy Wilentz talks with Rich Fahle about on her latest, Fred Voodoo: A Letter from Haiti, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    Ada Limon on Bright Dead Things

    Ada Limon talks with Rich Fahle about her novel, Bright Dead Things, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    Elizabeth Alexander and Robin Coste Lewis

    Elizabeth Alexander and Robin Coste Lewis join host Rich Fahle to discuss their latest literary works.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    Garth Greenwell on What Belongs to You

    Host Rich Fahle talks with Garth Greenwell about his debut novel, What Belongs to You, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    Patricia Engel on The Veins of the Ocean

    Host Rich Fahle talks with Patricia Engel about her book, The Veins of the Ocean at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    Amber Tamblyn on Dark Sparkler

    Amber Tamblyn talks with host Rich Fahle about her book, Dark Sparkler, at the 2016 AWP Conference and Book Fair.


  • Los Angeles | April 1, 2016

    What is AWP?

    The Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) will hold their annual conference and book fair in Los Angeles this year. AWP’s bookfair is the nation’s largest marketplace for independent literary presses and journals, creative writing programs, writing conferences and centers, and literary arts organizations.


  • Minneapolis, MN | April 11, 2015

    Finding Voice with Roxane Gay, Pablo Medina, & Michael Thomas, Sponsored by Grove/Atlantic Press

    A panel featuring four incredible, diverse Grove voices: cultural critic, essayist, and novelist, Roxane Gay; poet and novelist Pablo Medina; IMPAC award winner Michael Thomas; and 2014 Pulitzer Prize finalist Bob Shacochis. Together, these authors will discuss their writing processes and read from new and/or forthcoming work. The conversation will be moderated by author, literary critic, and former Granta editor, John Freeman.


  • Minneapolis, MN | April 11, 2015

    A Reading by Carolyn Forché and Kevin Young, Sponsored by Academy of American Poets

    The Academy of American Poets presents award-winning poets Carolyn Forché and Kevin Young, who will read from their respective works. Forché is the 2013 recipient of the Academy of American Poets Fellowship for distinguished poetic achievement. Kevin Young is the recipient of a 2012 American Book Award and is a National Book Award finalist. Jennifer Benka, executive director of the Academy of American Poets, will introduce the poets.


  • Minneapolis, MN | April 11, 2015

    Ana Menéndez and Dani Shapiro: A Reading and Conversation

    Join two unique voices, Ana Menéndez and Dani Shapiro, as they share the stage to discuss their latest works. Prize-winning columnist and accomplished author, Ana Menéndez, is best known for her works in fiction based on real and historical events: The Last War, In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd, Loving Che, and Adios, Happy Homeland! Dani Shapiro is a best-selling writer and memoirist of Slow Motion, Devotion, and most recently, Still Writing. Acclaimed authors of fiction, nonfiction, and memoir, Menéndez and Shapiro will read from their work and examine the themes that influence their writing. The event will be moderated by author Bob Morris.


  • Minneapolis, MN | April 10, 2015

    Make It New(s): A Reading and Conversation with Jeffrey Brown, Ted Kooser, and Connie Wanek, Sponsored by Copper Canyon Press

    PBS correspondent Jeffrey Brown, Pulitzer Prize winner Ted Kooser, and Minnesota poet Connie Wanek are masters of narrative, image, and metaphor. Through their poetry they bring forth Ezra Pound’s famous statements: “Make it new” and “Poetry is news that stays news.” This reading and conversation is that rare arch from kitchen-window views to global news, from activities as common as sharing a sandwich and canoeing a remote lake to witnessing and reporting events that grip everyone’s attention.


  • Minneapolis, MN | April 9, 2015

    Keynote Address by Karen Russell, Sponsored by Concordia College

    Karen Russell’s novel, Swamplandia!, chosen by The New York Times as one of the “Ten Best Books of 2011,” was long-listed for the Orange Prize, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She is also the author of the celebrated short story collections, St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves and Vampires in the Lemon Grove. The recipient of fellowships from the American Academy in Berlin and the MacArthur Foundation, she has been featured in the New Yorker’s “20 Under 40” list, was chosen as one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists, and received the “5 Under 35” award from the National Book Foundation.


  • Seattle, WA | March 1, 2014

    A Reading and Conversation with Gish Jen & Tobias Wolff

    Gish Jen, author of The Love Wife and Typical American, and Tobias Wolff, author of This Boy’s Life and In Pharaoh’s Army, will present readings of their award-winning work, followed by a discussion moderated by Jess Walter.


  • Seattle, WA | March 1, 2014

    Song of the Reed: The Poetry of Rumi

    Thirteenth century Persian poet Rumi is now the most popular poet in the United States. In this event, leading Rumi interpreter Coleman Barks reads his beloved versions of the Sufi poet’s verse, biographer Brad Gooch shares research into Rumi’s lived experience, and poet Anne Waldman reflects on Rumi’s contribution to poetry’s ecstatic tradition.


  • Seattle, WA | February 28, 2014

    Robert Hass, Eva Saulitis, & Gary Snyder: Writing Nature

    Author and marine biologist Eva Saulitis joins legendary poets Robert Hass and Gary Snyder for a reading followed by a conversation, moderated by Peggy Shumaker, about the task of writing about nature in a culture that often prizes easily commodifiable academic achievement over messier ways of knowing: the lyric, the spiritual, the sublime.


  • Seattle, WA | February 28, 2014

    Image & Idea: Rachel Kushner & Colm Tóibín

    Colm Tóibín (The Testament of Mary) described Rachel Kushner's The Flamethrowers as, "an ambitious and serious American novel. The scope is wide. The political and the personal are locked in a deep and fascinating embrace." And in Tóibín's latest novel he takes on nothing less than the mother of Christ. Hear these two authors read and speak about the larger ideas that inspired them and the need for scope in the contemporary novel.


  • Seattle, WA | February 28, 2014

    National Book Critics Circle: Ben Fountain and Amy Tan

    Two National Book Critics Circle award honored novelists--Ben Fountain and Amy Tan--read from their work and talk with NBCC Vice President/Online Jane Ciabattari about inspiration, research, readers, awards, the unique challenges of first novels, and the imaginative process that gives their work originality. Since 1974, the National Book Critics Circle awards have honored the best literature published in English. These are the only awards chosen by the critics themselves.


  • Seattle, WA | February 27, 2014

    Keynote Address by Annie Proulx

    Sponsored by the University of Washington Creative Writing Program. Annie Proulx is the author of eight books, including the novel The Shipping News and the story collection Close Range. Her many honors include a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, the Irish Times International Fiction Prize, and a PEN/Faulkner award. Her story “Brokeback Mountain,” which originally appeared in the New Yorker, was made into an Academy Award-winning film. Her most recent book is Fine Just the Way It Is. She lives in Wyoming.


  • Boston, MA | March 9, 2013

    WAMFEST and Fairleigh Dickinson University Present: POEMJAZZ, A Conversation and Performance with Robert Pinsky, Laurence Hobgood, and Stan Strickland

    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.


  • Boston, MA | March 9, 2013

    Augusten Burroughs & Cheryl Strayed: A Reading & Conversation, Sponsored by the Wilkes University Low-Residency MA/MFA Program in Creative Writing

    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.


  • Boston, MA | March 8, 2013

    Language at the Breaking Point, Sponsored by Blue Flower Arts

    Pulitzer Prize-winner Jorie Graham and National Book Award-winner Terrance Hayes stretch language past the barriers of mind and limitations of personal experience to reinstate a kind of dignity to the world. Their creative tensions puncture the commonplace allowing the familiar to dislocate, laying bare our tenuous connection to life. Yet grace and a vivid, wakeful presence abide. Their poems demonstrate how the excavation of language itself can shape new possibilities for imagination to evolve.


  • Boston, MA | March 8, 2013

    Amy Bloom & Richard Russo: A Reading and Conversation, Sponsored by Lesley University

    Amy Bloom is author of the New York Times best-selling Away: A Novel, and Where the God of Love Hangs Out, a collection of short fiction. Richard Russo is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls, Straight Man, and Nobody's Fool. The reading will begin with an introduction by poet Steven Cramer, director of the Lesley University Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing, and will be followed by a discussion moderated by novelist and critic Leah Hager Cohen, author of The Grief of Others and House Lights.


  • Boston, MA | March 7, 2013

    Alice Hoffman & Tom Perrotta: A Reading and Conversation, Sponsored by Grub Street

    Internationally best-selling writers Alice Hoffman and Tom Perrotta, authors of over thirty books between them, read from their recent fiction. After the reading, Grub Street artistic director and novelist Christopher Castellani moderates a discussion that focuses on how these authors continually appeal to wide audiences with novels and stories of great depth, subtlety, and cultural relevance. The discussion will also touch on how these authors use humor and magic in their work, the creative roles they’ve played in their film adaptations, and other topics related to the craft of fiction.


  • Portland, Oregon | April 1, 2010

    Karen Russell on Orange World and Other Stories at the 2019 AWP Bookfair

    PBS Books spoke with Karen Russell about her debut novel (2011’s) Swamplandia, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A native of Miami, but currently based in Portland, Russell’s fiction has made an impression with readers for her balance of the outlandish and the profound, with a mix of magical realism.