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

To Sing the Idea of All: Walt Whitman in DC (1863-73). (Brian Brodeur, Cornelius Eady, David Kirby, Nickole Brown, Dorianne Laux)

The bard of democracy arrived in the Federal District to nurse his brother George, who was wounded at Fredericksburg in 1862. In the decade that followed, Whitman lived in the capital as civil servant, comforter of dying Union soldiers, and witness to the political upheaval of the end of the Civil War, the assassination of Lincoln, and Reconstruction. Join us for a discussion of this decade’s influence on Whitman, and the legacy of this poet’s life and work on American poetry and poetics.

To The Finish Line: Completing and Promoting the Novel. (Melissa X. Golebiowski, Cynthia Bond, J. Ryan Stradal, Natashia Deon, Katie Freeman)

From the first fifty pages to the last, the first novel, for most writers, takes years. What is the real process and faith it actually takes to complete and sell a novel? What are the tools that writers need years into the process of writing a novel? What can a writer do to make sure a book delivers on its promise? What contacts make a difference when it is time to tour, sell, and promote it? Three first time novelists and two publicists explore the different ways to get to “the end.”

Town and Gown: Building Connection Through Community Reading Programs. (Gwen Gray Schwartz, Elizabeth Bleicher, Paul Gaffney, Maria Judd, Kirsten Parkinson)

Academic institutions can forge valuable bonds with their surrounding communities by sponsoring or collaborating on reading programs focused on a single book. This panel, which includes representatives from both colleges and community partners, discusses the opportunities and potential pitfalls of such endeavors, including the challenges of book selection, the logistics of event planning, the availability of funding options, and the pleasures and mutual benefits of partnership building.

Transforming "Adverse" Audiences to “Verse": Lessons Learned from the NEA Big Read. (Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor, Kimiko Hahn, Amy Stolls, Kevin Young, Lisa Bowden)

What can poets and educators do to improve poetry’s public image? How can we engage members of our community who say they don’t read, like, or “get” poetry? The NEA Big Read celebrates its 10th anniversary as a federally-funded program designed to help communities read and discuss a single book of literary merit. Panelists, including NEA Big Read grantees, directors, and writers, discuss creative and activist strategies that are inclusive of and attract diverse audiences.

Translating Contemporary African Poetry. (Todd Fredson, John Keene, Janis A. Mayes, Kazim Ali, Hodna Nuernberg)

Ivorian poet Tanella Boni identifies fringe literature as work marginalized by dominant literary economies because it is written in a language with limited market potential, or because the work represents a social world that seems unimaginable for non-local readers. Five translators discuss their experiences accounting for the plurality of social worlds in African poetry—the convergence of languages, the nuances of ethnic and cultural difference—and read from their translations.

Translating Iraq. (Alana Levinson-LaBrosse, Neil Shea, Heather Raffo, Andrew Slater)

Since before the Iraq War began in 2003, Americans have worked to understand Iraq: a country incomprehensible to many of its own citizens. The major and minute divisions, the competing desires can overwhelm even the most conscientious observer. The participating American writers of this panel have lived and worked in Iraq. Bringing home Iraq's realities, whether through poetry, fiction, documentaries, Instagram, plays or operas, is an act of delicate artistic and cultural translation.

Translating Parts Unknown: Transforming American Landscapes by Recovering Neglected Poets. (Linwood Rumney, John Balaban, Wayne Miller, Rebecca Lindenberg, A'Dora Phillips)

Translation offers unique opportunities to recover and discover neglected poets who push against the boundaries of convention, enriching American traditions. Writers who translate previously under-appreciated Albanian, Vietnamese, Russian, Spanish, and French poets will discuss the challenges and joys associated with such work. To encourage more writers to translate as an act of creative discovery, they’ll explore professional opportunities and offer insights into craft and criticism.

Translation — Out of Context, Into the Wild. (Amalia Gladhart, Karen Emmerich, Brandon Rigby, Tze-Yin Teo, Kelly Lenox)

Translators translate context, Edith Grossman has written. Yet translation also rests on the belief that a work can be meaningfully understood in the absence of its original context, since translating literature typically involves shifts across geography, culture, and even time. These panelists, all translators from different language families and genres, will discuss how they define context, how they determine which contexts to carry forward, and whether some may be let go.

Translation and Power. (Jen Hofer, John Keene, Lucas de Lima, Erica Mena, Eunsong Kim)

Translators will discuss the power dynamics between translator and author, original and derivative, dominant language and non-dominant language, exploring questions of appropriation, exploitation, representation, and ethics. Thinking about how systems of exploitation and oppression are reproduced by cultural creation along lines of linguistic power, these practicing translators will consider the ethics at stake in acts of literary translation.

Translation as a Political Act. (Jennifer Kronovet, Aditi Machado, Pierre Joris, James Shea, Jen Hofer)

Translators often consider how their work influences the cultural landscape into which they translate, but equally important is how the translator creates political ripple effects, welcome or not, in the author’s home country. Panelists translating from Chinese, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish discuss their experiences navigating cultural politics, censorship, and nationalism, as they explore the political consequences and ethical burdens of serving as a medium between cultures.

Translation as/and Advocacy. (Antonio Aiello, Canaan Morse, Alta Price, Eric M.B. Becker, Jamie Burns)

Literary translation provides a unique and valuable window into the histories and narratives of other cultures. At PEN we believe that the act of literary translation can be a form of international advocacy, allowing readers to explore the literary and narrative trends of some of the world’s least translated territories. Translators and editors discuss the importance translation plays in cultural exchange and grapple with the question of what is lost when so many stories go untranslated.

Translation: Bringing Pakistani Writer Intizar Husain to the West. (Asif Farrukhi, Nishat Zaidi, Frank Stewart, Alok Bhalla)

Though acclaimed Pakistani writer Intizar Husain wrote primarily in Urdu, he was mourned by readers all over the world when he passed away in February 2016. An English translation of his novel Basti was published as a New York Review of Books Classics Original, and he was short-listed in 2013 for the prestigious Man Booker International Prize, given for lifetime achievement. Three of Husain's translators will discuss his significance and their efforts to bring his timeless writing to the West.

Tribute to Dave Smith. (Kate Daniels, Mary Flinn, T.R. Hummer, Molly McCully Brown, Ernest Suarez)

Twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry; the author of more than twenty five books of poetry, fiction, literary criticism, and essays; founding editor of poetry series for two university presses; editor of prominent literary journals; MFA faculty member at institutions spread across the country, Dave Smith has devoted his life to poetry and poets. On this panel, writers from all periods of his distinguished career of nearly fifty years will offer remarks and share a favorite poem.

Troubling Objects and Bodies: Experimental Women Writers Redefine The Archive. (Nicole Cooley, Amaranth Borsuk, Tisa Bryant, Rosa Alcala, Tracie Morris)

Our cross-genre panel looks at the archive, the library, and the collection through the work of five women writers and asks how we can rethink the way we write about history in this fraught moment where we are deeply aware of the ways it has been constructed. A diverse group of women panelists--poets and fiction and non-fiction writers from all over the country--will discuss how they redefine archival work, integrating new approaches involving digital images, photographs,and found text.

Two Year College Caucus. (Kris Bigalk, Denise Hill, Simone Zelitch, Marianne Botos, Mary Lannon)

Are you teaching at a two-year college, or interested in learning about two-year college teaching? Come to our annual caucus meeting, where we discuss the issues you want to talk about: diversity, job opportunities, creative writing programs, pedagogy, literary magazines, and more.

Uneasy Alliances: Poets Laureate & Government Agencies. (Patricia Clark, Fleda Brown, Jeff Knorr, Joyce Sutphen, L.S. Klatt)

Poets laureate of U.S. cities, a county, and two states will share projects and successful agendas as well as challenges. Are these roles merely official spokespersons for city, county or state? Or are there ways to be a subversive force for art, youth, and culture? Hear ideas of how these positions may be used as platforms for civic change. Panelists (various ages and geography) share plans for keeping poetry in the public eye--as diverse and inclusive platforms for the literary arts.

United Artists: Creative Writers in the Trenches of the American Education System. (Paula Whyman, Ellen Hagan, Luis Rodriguez, David Mura)

How is creative writing taught and celebrated in the American school system? Before MFAs and undergraduate literature programs analyzing the likes of Chaucer and Baldwin, how does the K-12 community incorporate creative writing and its literary giants in the curriculum and beyond? Four award-winning writers and teaching artists, from East to West Coasts, discuss the triumphs and challenges of keeping creativity in education and the artistic cultivate of America’s youth.

Untangling the Web: Lessons Learned from Publisher Website Redesigns, Sponsored by CLMP. (Montana Agte-Studier, Bud Parr, Erika Goldman, Dan Machlin, Minna Proctor)

Publishers and web designers reflect on the challenges and surprises of migrating to a new website, from how to better serve multiple constituents (authors, readers, booksellers, educators, funders) to how best to create a compelling presence that invites repeat visits.

US/Pacific Poets Confronting US Empire. (Collier Nogues, Brenda Shaughnessy, Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis, Lehua Taitano, Lyz Soto)

US military infrastructure in the Pacific enables both global US imperialism and the militarization of local communities there and throughout the US. Join five poets with ties to Okinawa, Guåhan (Guam), Vietnam, the Philippines, and Hawai‘i to explore how writers can resist the linguistic and cultural violence of military imperialism. In modes ranging from spoken word to erasure, from community collaboration to editing and curatorial work, these poets refuse US empire’s rationalizing narratives.

Us & Them: A Writer/Translator Reading. (Todd Portnowitz, Peter Cole, Jennifer Grotz, Geoffrey Brock, Susan Bernofsky)

This Brooklyn-based reading series comes to AWP. Four authors celebrated for their translations and original writing read from both sides of their work.

Variations on Audionarrative: The Next Wave of Literary Podcasting. (Harry Marks, Melissa Faliveno, Ben Tanzer, Jim Warner, Aubrie Cox)

In the last several years, the literary podcast has evolved from the traditional interview to a burgeoning forum for writers and editors to engage a larger audience, explore ideas of craft and writing. Five producers of ongoing literary podcasts will discuss various methods, technologies, and challenges involved in developing a concept, as well as branding, promotion, social media strategy, and maintaining momentum in crafting a compelling audionarrative.

VIDA Voices & Views: Exclusive Interview with Joan Naviyuk Kane, Ada Limón & Alicia Ostriker. (Sheila McMullin, Melissa Studdard, Joan Naviyuk Kane, Ada Limón, Alica Ostriker)

Calling attention to a plurality of voices by interviewing writers and dedicated members of the literary community about their work, vision, concerns, and topics at the forefront of literary activism, this panel contributes to a better understanding of craft, the literary landscape, and issues facing artists. Panelists seek to foster nuanced conversation about gender parity, race, and other crucial issues impacting writers today as well as speak to how their work expands this conversation.

Voices out of Place: Creative Writing in Foreign Languages and Foreign Lands. (Julia Velasco, Ellen Litman, Mario Bojórquez, Alí Calderón, Sam Slaughter)

Writing programs in the U.S. are becoming increasingly less homogeneous with new voices bringing new perspectives into the conversation. Five writers from Mexico, Russia, Spain and New Jersey will discuss their experiences writing fiction and poetry in English and Spanish, in the US, Europe and Mexico, and how the challenge of writing in other languages and other cultures ultimately served to enrich their work.

Wayfaring Stranger--Writing Away from our Experience. (Michael Croley, Richard Bausch, Brad Watson, Megan Mayhew Bergman, Anne Valente)

Fiction that goes beyond the self--the kind that strays from one's own gender, ethnicity, class, and personal experience--may be the truest form of storytelling and our greatest act of empathy as artists. Five writers will discuss and share the challenges posed both in writing and publishing wayfaring stories and the process they used to allow themselves the courage to write about what they don't know.

We All Have to Start Somewhere: How Bad Writing Gets Good. (Melissa Stein, Matthew Zapruder, Ada Limon, Richard Bausch, Tayari Jones)

Five intrepid poets and fiction writers will defy shame to share work they thought they'd put far behind them, at the same time exploring: What does it mean to outgrow our own writing, and what can we learn from the writers we used to be? How do we know what’s good or bad, in our writing or in others’? What leads us to write dreadful stuff, even now? And what alchemy turns cringeworthy words into strong, enduring work? Warning: This panel will be immensely entertaining.

We are here because you were there - United States' Military Intrusion and The Shifting Landscape of American Poetry. (Mai Der Vang, Monica Sok, Javier Zamora, Anthony Cody, Andre Yang)

Four emerging poets discuss the impacts of American military intrusion across the globe within their writing. With a history of military involvement, America has left countries and ethnic groups with the burden of piecing together existences across diasporas. Poets will read from their work and examine how, through the act of writing poetry, they reclaim their exiled lands, as well as explore trauma, honor lineage, shift the literary landscape, and resist erasure from United States war history.

We Go On Saying Thank You: A Tribute to W.S. Merwin. (Michael Wiegers, Naomi Shihab Nye, Maurice Manning, Chase Twitchell)

A celebration of W.S. Merwin, whose poetic works have won praise and high honors over seven decades. Poets will pay tribute to Merwin with a discussion of his work and career, including readings from two new books: Garden Time, a new collection which Merwin composed via dictation to his wife after losing his sight, and a new edition of Merwin’s 1967 collection The Lice.

We Need Diverse Books: Celebrating Children's Literature. (Emily XR Pan, Heidi Heilig, Dhonielle Clayton, Ellen Oh)

From picture books and middle grade to young adult, these books and their authors deserve the same respect given to books written for adults. Many think writing children's books is easy, when it is as challenging and complex as children themselves. We Need Diverse Books aims to set the record straight in this discussion.

What Journalists Can Teach Literary Writers. (Yi Shun Lai, Valerie Boyd, Steven Levingston, William Gray, Moni Basu)

In nonfiction, is it ever okay to fudge facts, timing, or quotes? For journalists, the answer is no, but literary authors can struggle with the balance of craft and facts. Nonfiction storytelling is an increasingly hybrid form, yet few creative writing students learn the journalism basics—how to interview people, attribute sources, or successfully incorporate research. This panel of print and broadcast journalists emphasizes the magic combination of accurate reporting and literary technique.

What Women Want: Writing Female Desire. (Chinelo Okparanta, Jane Alison, Rebecca Schiff, Nicole Dennis-Benn, Sarah Gerard)

Five writers discuss the challenges of writing about female desire and reflect on its changing representation in contemporary fiction. Topics include techniques for writing good (and bad) sex; writing love between women; writing lust post-menopause; and capturing the experience of desire under the pressure of the male gaze and cultural standards of beauty. In this lively and honest discussion, writers grapple with how—and why—they chose to investigate female desire and sexuality in their work.

What Writers of Color Want White Editors to Know. (Jennifer Niesslein, Deesha Philyaw, Patrice Gopo, Dennis Norris II, Lisa Factora-Borchers)

In 2017, what message does an all-white masthead send to writers of color? Beyond the content of their work, what issues must these writers contend with in publishing? Four writers of color and one white editor explore real and perceived tokenism, the pressure to change a story or voice to fit an editor’s racialized assumptions, the continued erasure of writers of color in the canon and awards systems, and the highs and lows of working with editors in the face of these and other challenges.

What's Found in Translation. (Jennifer Grotz, Susan Bernofsky, Geoffrey Brock, Bill Johnston, Karen Emmerich)

While many lament what they fear is "lost in translation," this panel considers what is actually discovered in the act of literary translation. Four veteran translators and faculty of the Bread Loaf Translators' Conference reflect on what literary translation has the potential to introduce into a given culture and language while meditating on their own practices as writers and translators.

WHEN MEMOIR MOVES ONSTAGE. (mimi schwartz, Adam Immerwahr, June Ballinger, David White, Erica Nagel)

Memoir, as documentary theater, is being performed in theaters, senior centers, libraries, prisons, churches and schools. Some “scripts” are gathered from interviews in local communities; others are shaped by the craft of one writer performing. Five writer/actors, directors, and teachers will discuss their experience in gathering, writing, acting, and directing first person nonfiction to promote tolerance and understanding in diverse audiences that respond, often with more stories.

When Safe Spaces Aren't: (Re-)Imagining for a MultiCultural Creative Space. (Alyss Dixson, Jennifer Baker, Amy Lam, Metta Sama)

The term safe space has become the new buzzword for nurturing or supporting. This panel will describe how structural bias and inequity can mask the architecture of Whiteness by unpacking the term and decoding the cultural ideologies underpinning these spaces. It will seek to help writers of color and allies (re-)imagine multicultural creative spaces. Ample time given for discussion with audience and panelists on how to develop guidelines and best practices.

When Writers Move in and Out of their Countries and Genres. (Garth Greenwell, Dina Elenbogan, Idra Novey, Harriet Levin Millan)

Seeking to expand their borders, four published poets who have published debut works of fiction or nonfiction this year, will discuss their attempts to cross the cultural divide between landscapes and genres, The four U.S. panelists who, among them, have written books set in Israel, South Sudan, Bulgaria and Brazil, will discuss what they have learned in their journey to overcome ascribed attitudes and identities.

Which Comes First, Activism or Artist? (George Higgins, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Martin Espada, Airea D. Matthews, Eleanor Wilner)

Confronted with social wrongs should we, as writers, feel obligated to use our art to advocate for our gender, race or a political cause? What goes into that choice and what is at stake? If we do so use our art, how do we face inhumanity and still craft poems that are artistically valid? Five poets explore the question raised at Fisk in 1966 between Robert Hayden and the Black Arts movement--Am I a poet first, or am I a black poet?--and explore how this question applies to all of us today.

Who Runs the World? Women with Power and Purpose. (Lori Pourier, Jen Benka, Mahogony Browne, Norma Cantu, Amy King)

Despite longstanding inequity and gender gaps, women are succeeding as nonprofit literary leaders. Panelists will share the political and theoretical stories that propel them with purpose, as well as the personal journey toward their visions. Additionally, they will provide insight on how women can attain leadership roles, find and become mentors, and be successful agents of change.

Why Can’t We Be Friends?: Confronting the Creative Writing/Literature/Comp and Rhetoric Divide. (Kristen Gentry, Jose Torres, Tonya Hegamin, Stephanie Vanderslice, Erin Murphy)

It’s been twenty years since the publication of The Elephants Teach and the hostile exchanges between scholars and writers persist “in the hallways of English departments.” How can we find common ground and move beyond what often feels personal to reach solutions to this widespread problem? Writing faculty, both junior and senior, including program directors and department chairs, explore the possible sources for this divide and discuss strategies for moving forward.

WHY EVERY WRITER SHOULD CONSTRUCT AT LEAST ONE PLAY. (Jean Klein, Gregory Fletcher, Lori Myers)

Two playwrights and two prose writers probe the ways in which mastering dramatic structure has improved their craftsmanship in other genres, primarily fiction and non-fiction by drilling down on the nitty-gritty of plot construction, dialogue, and showing characters rather than explaining them. Their goal is to de-mystify the art of dramatic writing and demonstrate its role as a literary genre.

Women Directing Creative Writing Programs: Navigating the Red Tape. (Julia Johnson, Cathryn Hankla, Valerie Boyd, Lisa Williams, Jewell Parker Rhodes)

An all-women panel of current and former directors of creative writing programs—from low-residency to new and residential, to established undergraduate programs at liberal arts colleges--will discuss individual experiences and offer advice on navigating bureaucracy in male-dominated upper administrations. Panelists will suggest ways to successfully navigate the system—from lobbying for graduate assistantships and support for visiting writers, to arguing for small classes in the workshops.

Women Poets Write What History Silenced: Crafting the Feminist Historical Lyric. (Cynthia Hogue, Monifa Love, Tess Taylor, Nicole Cooley, Patricia Jabbeh Wesley)

This panel focuses on women poets who have written historical poems that investigate history’s repressed. These poets—spanning generations and backgrounds, but sharing strong regional roots—discuss the process of excavating stories lost by time, addressing questions of genre, gender, and creative method. How to bear witness to dangerous and painful subjects? Is it the poet’s responsibility to tell the tale? Is a capacity for empathy necessary? Each poet will finish by reading a poem.