017 awp conference & Bookfair February —11, 2017 • Washington, dc

Beyond “Show, Don’t Tell”: How to Give (and Get) Truly Dynamic Feedback. (Neil Connelly, Cheryl Klein, Jill Santopolo, Shawn K. Stout)

From workshop to marketplace, everyone agrees that constructive criticism is crucial. But what are the secrets to more meaningful feedback? Editors from two major publishing houses join with three of their writers to share the approaches and winning techniques that have worked best for them—in the industry and in the classroom. Whatever your experience or preferred genre, you'll hear specific strategies for offering criticism with a keener eye and listening with a more receptive ear.

Beyond Accommodation: Supporting Disabled Writers at Conferences and Residencies. (Leigh Stein, Camisha Jones, Ryan Walsh, Sheila Black)

While people with disabilities are the largest minority group in America (20% of the population), writers with disabilities are vastly underrepresented at conferences and residencies that are so often essential to career advancement. Join the founders and directors of Zoeglossia, BinderCon, Vermont Studio Center, and Split This Rock, for a discussion on best practices for ensuring an event or residency is not only accessible (financially and logistically), but also inclusive.

Beyond Free Books: The Surprising Perks of Book Reviewing. (Art Edwards, Stephanie Cha, Louis Bayard, Courtney Maum, David Gutowski)

This panel explores some of the less obvious benefits of reviewing books for publication, from artistic fulfillment to landing paid gigs to getting to know people in publishing to just being a good literary citizen. Our panelists each writes reviews for esteemed publications—sometimes for pay, other times not—and they draw from their experiences to pass along what others might not know or understand about the various upsides of the practice.

Beyond Rags to Riches: New Approaches to Writing about Class. (Michael Noll, Tristan Ahtone, Kelli Jo Ford, Rene S. Perez II, Natalia Sylvester)

Narratives about class often resort to familiar storylines: getting rich, dying trying, and becoming sanctified by poverty. The truth is more complex. Wealth and the lack of it shape lives, but those lives are also larger than their bank accounts and the assumptions that we make based upon them. Covering a range of genres, including fiction, literary criticism, and journalism, this panel will explore strategies for writing stories that reveal aspects of class that may be hidden in plain sight.

Beyond Sex: The Poetics of Desire. (Sarah McCall, Remica Bingham-Risher, Tim Seibles, Timothy Liu, Carrie Fountain)

From sex and spirituality to metaphysics and politics, desire often dictates the poet’s language. While this notion of wanting seems rooted in eroticism, it can be explored as something beyond somatic pleasure—a broader investigation of world and self. With that, how desire can produce attachment, and even suffering. Five poets wrestle with the intricate notion of desire in their own work, and the influential work of other writers; how desire informs craft and aesthetic, and addresses audience.

Beyond the Book Deal: What Really Happens When a Publisher Signs Up Your Book. (Maria Gagliano, Erin Harris, Matthew Daddona, Rakesh Satyal, Sarah Bowlin)

So much energy goes into landing an agent and publisher that it’s easy to forget the journey truly begins when a book deal is signed. Your book may look unrecognizable by the time it’s in readers’ hands. The title may change. The cover can go through countless iterations. Your editor may suggest several rounds of manuscript revisions. Publishing professionals reveal what really happens on the journey from acquisition to printed book, and how much input an author has along the way.

Beyond the Classroom: Teaching Outside Academia. (Stuart Horwitz, Julie Duffy, Jane Friedman, Andi Cumbo-Floyd, Gabriela Pereira)

The rise in remote learning now offers many opportunities for writers who want to teach outside the classroom setting. This panel features author-entrepreneurs who have devised creative ways to teach writing and serve their students. Panelists will discuss pedagogical and business considerations for various teaching channels, including: touring workshops, conference presentations, online communities, and digital products.

Beyond the Deadline: Surviving (and Thriving) in Magazine Publishing. (Katelyn Belyus, Stephen Elliott, Roxane Gay, Sy Safransky, Art Stupar)

Editors and publishers from print and web-based publications address the myriad challenges of keeping a magazine alive: from finding good material and meeting deadlines to reaching new readers and paying the bills. The panelists discuss the nitty-gritty tasks as well as the larger visions that help sustain their creative efforts.

Beyond the Hospital: The Memoirist on Writing about Health, Illness and Injury. (Elizabeth L. Silver, Porochista Khakpour, Christine Hyung-Oak Lee)

"Beyond the Hospital" will explore the tragedies, pitfalls, miracles, and realities of living in a world of evolving medicine, as panelists contribute varying perspectives on how their journeys in and out of the medical establishment have impacted their work. What makes us embrace or reject modern medicine? What terrifies us about it? It is through the symbiotic relationship between memoir and medicine that we can begin to understand how to interact in this transforming world.

Beyond the Spoken Word: Black Poets in and on Performance. (Samiya Bashir, Duriel E. Harris, Erica Hunt, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Rosamond S. King)

Black poets who also perform are too often lumped into one “spoken word” category. Two generations of Black poets tracing their lineage to different parts of the USA, Africa, and the Caribbean discuss the process of bringing poems to life and the benefits and challenges of collaboration. Speakers have performed with musicians, singers, video, dancers, and in theatre, club, site-specific, and nontraditional settings, drawing on oral, lyrical, musical, and (post)modern traditions.

Bite Hard: a tribute to Justin Chin. (Jeffrey McDaniel, Timothy Liu, Beth Lisick, David Daniels, Adrienne Su)

Five poets/teachers engage Chin’s work from a wide range of angles, including

his association with Performance Art and Slam Poetry, his tangling with issues of Asian identity and sexuality through his poetry and hybrid prose, his tactical use of humor to disarm the reader as he explored illness and living with AIDS, his zeroing in on where the personal becomes political, and his Baudelaire-like blending of the elegant and profane.
Black Girl Magic, Blues, Beauty in Young Adult Literature. (Dhonielle Clayton, Ibi Zoboi, Renee Watson, Tiffany Jackson)

Four Young Adult authors will discuss the importance of the recent hashtag movement Black Girl Magic and its connection to Young Adult literature featuring black girls. From stories that tackle gentrification, magical realism, and pregnancy, black girls are at the center of these narratives that provide both mirrors and windows into their inner lives. Authors will also discuss the aesthetic power of black girls featured on YA covers, and the significance of black women telling their own stories.

Black Magic Women: Black Women Examine Creativity in Digital Spaces. ( Renée Alexander Craft, Jacqueline Bishop, Michele Simms Burton, Rochelle Spencer, Audrey T. Williams)

Five black women examine different forms of creative expression--poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and film--in digital spaces. The presentation, which will feature both sounds and images, will explore the different ways that artists can navigate digital spaces and push their vision forward. It will also discuss some of the challenges women and people of color may face in garnering an audience for their work and offer strategies for overcoming these challenges.

Body of Work: Exploring Disability, Creativity, and Inclusivity. (Sheila Black, Eileen Cronin, TK (Tim) Dalton, Anne Finger, Laurie Lindeen)

What is the physical body’s relationship to the creative mind? Four writers with disabilities will discuss their writing lives, and how social progress and technology are transforming representations of the human body. What effect has this had on literature? Where do we read ourselves in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry? Our panelists will discuss whether or not literature is representing the current climate and how they have represented their own bodies in writing over time.

Book Publicity Round Table: Working with an Independent Publicist. (Angela Pneuman, Laura Gianino, Caroline Casey, Michelle Blankenship)

This round table discussion includes three publicists, one from a major New York publisher, one from an independent press, and one who works independently, as well as an author who has used both in-house and independent publicists to promote two books of fiction. We’ll discuss what to expect from publicity, how to make the most of a publication window, and how to build strategic approaches that extend far beyond submitting your book for review.

Breaking the Fourth Wall: Tips and Tools for Immersion Writing. (Jessica Wilbanks, Kimberly Meyer, Joni Tevis, Chris Feliciano Arnold)

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 will 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.

Breaking the Silence: Writing Infertility and Pregnancy Loss. (Molly Spencer, Donna Vorreyer, Marcene Gandolfo, Sally Rosen Kindred, Jennifer K. Sweeney)

There are losses for which language seems inadequate or risks being too sentimental, and this particular loss bears a history of silence. Join five writers of diverse backgrounds who will discuss poetry as a way to embody the ambiguity that makes this grief unlike other grief. Poetry often addresses death, but this is the poetry of threshold, of disrupted beginnings, and the darkness that also presides at the gates of life. A panel with readings explores the remarkable language for this loss.

Bringing LGBTQ Folk Forms into Our Literature. (Tom Cho, Derrick Austin, Juliana Delgado Lopera, Michelle Tea, Sassafras Lowrey)

Zines, drag performance, oral history, feminist spoken word, and even 1950s and 1960s men's physique magazines are among the "folk forms" that infuse LGBTQ writing. How can we reappraise these uncelebrated forms and draw on them to energize the words we write today? This panel’s writers – invigorated by engagements around race, immigration, DIY and queer punk ideologies, gender nonconformity, and other considerations – show how we can reimagine and recast these vital forms in our own work.

Bringing Up Baby: How Community-Based Writing Programs Survive Their First Year. (Mallory Hellman, Maya Nussbaum, Dora Malech, Jonathan Tucker, James Kass)

The inaugural year of a nonprofit’s life is vital to its future development, but shepherding an organization through its infant stage comes with substantial challenges. How do community-based writing programs transform their seminal vision into a sustainable reality? Join us as panelists from diverse literary outreach organizations—both new and established—share successes, discuss pitfalls, and offer best practices for surviving the first year of existence, from securing funding to staying sane.

But Do You Have A Novel? How and Why Short Story Writers Transition into Novelists. (Susan Perabo, David James Poissant, Caitlin Horrocks, Kirstin Valdez Quade, Amina Gautier)

Even the most successful short story writers face this daunting question: "Is there a novel coming?" Agents and publishers contend that the market simply does not exist for story collections. Thus many story writers embark on novels in part to secure publishing contracts, and then struggle with a new form they have promised to deliver. We will take on a practical questions of transitioning to a new genre, and also consider the issue of navigating the professional complexities of this transition.

But That’s Not How It Was: Memoir Writers on Pushing Back Against Expected Narratives. (Alice Anderson, Wendy Ortiz, Laurie Cannady, Lynn Hall, Zoe Zolbrod)

When we’re writing about hot button topics such as sexual assault, domestic abuse, and poverty there are often expectations about how the story should go. These common archetypes can be deeply held not just by general readers and publishing’s gatekeepers, but also by our inner selves. The writers on this panel share strategies for sorting out how society thinks we ought to have responded to trauma from how we actually did, and when and how to resist the pressure to conform to an expected line.

Can You Go Home Again? (Alice Eve Cohen, Gayle Brandeis, Caroline Leavitt, Julie Metz, Christa Parravani)

Acclaimed memoirists and fiction writers will read excerpts from their recent work and discuss the challenges and rewards of writing about where they grew up. Discussion will include an exploration of techniques writers can use to re-enter the emotionally charged territory of childhood and recreate the sensory memories and experiences of time and place in an authentic voice. Panelists will also address the ethical questions and conflicts in presenting one’s family and neighborhood of origin.

Cat Painters: Contemporary Serbian Poetry in Translation. (Zvonko Karanović Karanović, Dubravka Djurić, Snežana Žabić, Nenad Jovanović, Biljana Obradović)

The panelists, among seventy contemporary Serbian poets, appear in the anthology, Cat Painters, which was co-edited by Biljana D. Obradović (who is one of its major translators) and Dubravka Djurić, and prefaced by Charles Bernstein. These accomplished Serbian and Serbian-American poets will give a reading from the anthology and also from their recently published books translated into English.These west-oriented poets look to the future, and are not preoccupied with the past.

Celebrating the Hurston/Wright Foundation: Twenty-Seven Years of Literary Legacy. (Laurie Jean Cannady, Yona Harvey, Darlene Taylor, A. Van Jordan)

Before articles decrying limited opportunities for writers of color in publishing, there was Hurston/Wright, discovering, mentoring, and honoring African American writers. For more than a quarter of a century, Hurston/Wright has fostered a rigorous, nurturing space for writers at varying stages. This celebratory panel will include Hurston/Wright award winners, former workshop participants and faculty, and the current board chair, as they honor the legacy of this essential D.C. organization.

Children's Authors in the Academy. (Virginia Zimmerman, Lisa Rowe Fraustino, Claudia Milla, Susan L Meyer, Anne Nesbet)

All authors struggle to find time and support for their writing. Those based in colleges and universities enjoy some advantages, but children’s writers do not have a traditional place in the academy. On this panel, five authors will discuss their hybrid identities as scholars and children’s authors. Mindful of the difficulty of work/life balance faced by every author, they will pay particular attention to how academic work and writing for children contest and sometimes sustain each other.

CLMP & SPD Annual Publisher Meeting. (Brent Cunningham, Laura Moriarty, Jeffrey Lependorf, Montana Agte-Studier, Paul Legault)

The staffs of the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) and Small Press Distribution (SPD) discuss issues facing publishers, organizational goals, and upcoming programs. Both new and longstanding members, as well as those contemplating joining either organization, should plan to attend.

Come Firewalk With Me: The Black Mind. (Morowa Yejide, Jeffrey Renard Allen, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Jason Reynolds)

Black storytelling is a trip down the rabbit hole of the American experience, a complex odyssey of myth and reality. The psychological landscape of African American literature is one of mental captivity, boundless genius, and reinventions of the self. How can the labyrinths of this inner world be brought to the page with authenticity and depth? Panelists examine the black mind in story as both sojourn through darkness and flight of the phoenix.

Coming of Age: The Blurry Line Between Adult and YA Literature. (Jason Reynolds, Jennifer Smith, Daniel José Older, Katherine Howe, Jay Asher)

The coming of age tale depicting teens struggling to better understand the world around them has a rich history from the classics to contemporary fiction. Today, some of these novels are categorized as YA and others as Adult fiction. Who defines these markets and what distinctions in the writing or storytelling direct a novel into one category or another? Why do some novels work for both markets? A group of writers and an editor familiar with both markets discuss these questions.

Committing to Inclusion: What Does It *Really* Mean? (Sonya Larson, Jonathan Escoffery, Deborah Plummer, Eson Kim)

So your writing organization believes that race, gender, sexual orientation, and other dimensions of diversity are integral to artistic excellence. But what does that really mean? What vision and work does it entail? Since 2012, GrubStreet has been reckoning with its own shortcomings in this area, and working toward real and meaningful change. Come hear from board members, staff, and instructors about our ongoing structural efforts to ensure that our community is fully inclusive to all.

Contemporary Mythopoetics. (James Allen Hall, Jennifer Chang, Sarah Blake, Jehanne Dubrow, Gary Jackson)

Reginald Shepherd wrote that myths "are a reservoir of cultural knowledge, hopes, fears, and passions..., charged materials that each poetic generation can mine and remake." By remaking these "charged materials," the poet reforges the cultural forces that delineate what it means to be human. The panel explores the craft of myth and archetype in our own work and in poems we love, to better understand how re/making myths can change and expand our concept of the mythopoetic and of the self.

Contemporary Translation and Performance in the Americas. (Kristin Dykstra, T. Urayoán Noel, Achy Obejas, Rosa Alcalá, Jacqueline Loss)

Contemporary writers in every nation explore eclectic forms. How can performance impact strategies and contexts for translation in our hemisphere? Along with altering words, translation complicates factors central to performance: the identity of the performer, communities/sites associated with meaning, ephemerality. Examples reference translation as script, use of digital technologies, musical and theatrical influences, translation in/as archive, the manifesto as a performative form, and more.

Contested Histories: Portraying the Complexity of the Past for Teen Readers. (Ann Angel, Lyn Miller-Lachmann, Anne Westrick)

Historical fiction and nonfiction takes readers of young adult literature beyond the superficial consensus of textbooks. In doing so, these books delve into the messy truths of the past and puncture comfortable myths. How do authors portray past conflicts still being fought today such as sexual mores, post-Civil War race relations, and Cold War authoritarianism? How do books preserve rebellious individual memory in the face of conventional accounts that depict history that has become myth?

Creating Space for Marginalized Voices: How to Create a Diverse Programming Lineup. (Jael Richardson, Léonicka Valcius, Camille Rankine, Kathleen Fraser, Nailah King)

What does it take to execute a literary event that reflects diversity? What does it take to be truly inclusive as a festival organizer, literary event programmer, or publishing professional? Join the organizers of Canada's inaugural Festival of Literary Diversity in discussion with publishing professionals on how to promote and support a diverse lineup of authors. Discover how targeted initiatives and intentional approaches can effectively address the diversity gaps in the publishing industry.

Creative Writing and Social Justice. (Terry Ann Thaxton, Terry Ann Thaxton, Debra Brenegan, Lee Gulyas, Joanna Eleftheriou)

How might creative writing instructors empower students and advocate social change while maintaining a focus on the artistic integrity of their literary craft? Panelists will discuss their experiences with gender-based violence survivors, prison inmates, study-abroad students, and underserved community groups to explore the challenges and strategies of working with writers who write not only for literary expression, but to create social change. A detailed reading list will also be provided.

Criticism or Chronicle? Poetry Reviewing Today. (Andrew Ciotola, Kyle Dargan, Shara Lessley, Kaveh Akbar, Kelly Forsythe)

Sometimes it is hard to criticize, one wants only to chronicle, wrote the mid-century poetry critic Randall Jarrell. What is the function of poetry reviewing today? This panel proposes to examine the culture and politics of poetry reviewing, addressing such matters as the responsibilities of the poetry reviewer, how poetry reviewing intersects with issues of race and gender, its role as community-builder, and the ways in which new media are transforming evaluative commentary on poetry.

Crossing the Line: Writing as a Healing Practice. (Joan Baranow, Alicia Ostriker, Veneta Masson, Dawn McGuire, David St. John)

Neurologist Dr. Michael Okun says, “People always talk about, ‘Are you going to step over the line or not step over the line?’ Everybody’s over the line.” In this panel poets speak from both sides of the medical experience, from a patient confronting breast cancer to a neurologist exploring her treatment of war veterans. Caregivers, patients, and loved ones are crossing the line, taking their stories back from the medical charts, using poetry to explore the meanings wrested from illness.

Current Trends in Literary Publishing, Sponsored by CLMP. (Michael Reynolds, Katie Freeman, Porter Anderson, Jonny Diamond, Dawn Davis)

A panel of industry experts shaping literary publishing discuss how the field is addressing current challenges and hurdles, as well as creating new opportunities. Hear these literary leaders of publishing and reader engagement reveal how they reimagine traditional forms of publishing while integrating innovative new trends. Find out what those in the know are thinking about tomorrow today.

Daddy’s Little Girl, and Other Misfortunes in Young Adult Books. (Lilliam Rivera, Laura Ruby, I. W. Gregorio, Isabel Quintero, Sonia Manzano)

For so long, parents in young adult novels were non-existent but not anymore. These five young adult authors write complex, three-dimensional parental characters that push the boundaries. In this panel, authors will speak on the structural choices made in tackling youth and adult relationships while avoiding common tropes. Whether it’s daddy issues, mommy, or both, panelists will discuss one another’s work and the choices that have inspired theirs, through the lens of contemporary YA and memoir.

Declaring Independence: Surviving Outside Academia. (Colette Sartor, Angela Mitchell, Vanessa Blakeslee, Racquel Henry, Myfanwy Collins)

As permanent academic positions become harder to find and keep, what should the writer who loves to teach do? Five writers from across the U.S. present their experiences with creating independent teaching and writing opportunities in their own communities. Panelists will discuss the pros and cons, focusing on practical matters such as determining legal structure, insurance & liability, obtaining space, maintaining personal safety, and designing strategies for promotion.