Awp conference & Bookfair 2018 Tentative Accepted Events

Humanizing “the Enemy”: Veterans Share Poetry of Reconciliation (Toni Topps, Kevin Basl, Anthony Torres, Nicole Goodwin)

Veterans and service members have received a lot of attention over the past decade, with politicians and media focusing on themes of sacrifice, heroism and trauma. But what about those countries attacked and occupied by the U.S.? Inspired by the work of Maxine Hong Kingston, Warrior Writers and others representing the Veteran Art Movement will read original poetry of reconciliation and cross-cultural understanding, turning the focus towards Iraqis, Afghans and others affected by U.S. militarism.

Inanna Publications: Fortieth Anniversary Reading: Disrupting Realities in Feminist Fiction (Luciana Ricciutelli, Ami Sands Brodoff, Jocelyn Cullity, Huey Helene Alcaro, Carole Giangrande)

Inanna Publications is one of very few independent feminist presses remaining in Canada. Founded in 1978, we publish visionary books that reflect the depth, breadth and diversity of women’s lives in Canada and around the world. Just as Inanna was established to disrupt the realities of women’s marginalized voices in writing and publishing, in celebration of Inanna’s 40th anniversary, four Inanna authors will read from and discuss disruptive realities in their recent works of feminist fiction.

Iowa Poetry Prize 30th Anniversary Poetry Reading (Susan Wheeler, Lindsay Tigue, Samuel Amadon, Cole Swensen, Timothy Daniel Welch)

The Iowa Poetry Prize celebrates its thirtieth anniversary with a reading by five past winners from different points in their careers, each of whom represents the prestigious lineage of aesthetic diversity and rich history indicative of the University of Iowa Press. First awarded in 1987, the Iowa Poetry Prize has continued its commitment to the vital role played by university presses and publishers of scholarly and creative works that may not attract commercial attention.

Islands and Borderlands: Reconceptualizing and Imagining the Boundaries of the Poetry of the Black Diaspora (Frank X Walker, Christopher Rose, Shauna Morgan, Shayla Lawson, Jonterri Gadson)

What does it mean to be a Black poet residing in a region characterized as having a homogeneous population? In 1991, Frank X Walker coined the term Affrilachia to highlight the multicultural spectrum of the Appalachian region and challenge its constructed identity. This panel seeks to honor this legacy by extending it to its natural progression, as Black Poets present work that explores the relationship between poet and spaces including Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon, Germany, and the Philippines.

It's the Season of the Hmong Writers (Mai Neng Moua, Khaty Xiong, Soul Vang)

Twenty eighteen is the year of the Hmong writers. Mai Neng Moua from Minnesota will read from her memoir, The Bride Price: A Hmong Wedding Story (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2017). Soul Vang from California will read from his new book of poems, Song of the Cluster Bomblet (forthcoming from Blue Oak Press), and Khaty Xiong from Ohio will read from her book of poems, Poor Anima (Apogee Press, 2015). From memoir to poetry, participants will enjoy the varied songs of Hmong writers.

Literary Noir (Daniel Manuel Mendoza, Ron Cooper , Eric Williamson, Joseph Haske, Vicki Hendricks)

Literary noir has a long history in this country. From Edgar Allen Poe’s detective fiction, to the hardboiled fiction of Dashiell Hammett, literary noir has been a mainstay in American literary fiction. Today, aspects of noir fiction can be seen in writers whose topics are heavily focused on the working-class. From America’s west coast, to the Appalachians, and everywhere in between, this group of writers will read fiction that has been shaped by the noir tradition.

MFA of the Americas: Faculty Reading (Teresa Carmody, Terri Witek, Urayoán Noel, Rosa Alcalá, Jena Osman)

How can writing bridge real and imagined borders: cultural, geographic, generic, literary? This reading by faculty from the MFA of the Americas at Stetson University showcases writers whose cross-cultural, cross-medium work traverses such spaces and liminal in-betweens. They also teach in this new low-residency program, which draws on Florida’s multicultural heritage by rotating summer residencies throughout the Americas and establishing ties with local and indigenous writers at residency sites.

Modern Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers: A Reading (Tod McCoy, Camille Griep, Lettie Prell, Nancy Hightower)

Where science fiction and fantasy was once dominated by men, the field has been evolved by women in a way that has allowed their voices heard now more than ever. More women than ever have been nominated -- are are winning -- awards in this arena, and their impact is changing the shape of science fiction and fantasy. Come listen as contemporary women speculative fiction writers read from their work.

Muslim Writers Speak Out (Sobia Khan, Kazim Ali, Hayan Charara, Randa Jarrar)

This reading panel boasts of Muslims writers of different nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, genders and gender expressions, sexualities and backgrounds. Writers on this panel are both practicing and non-practicing Muslims and their writings employ and exhibit an Islam which embraces a multidimensional approach to Muslim identity and writing. The readings at this panel will expand the audience’s perception of Muslim writings. The writers will also discuss what it means to be a Muslim in America.

My Speaker, My Self: Navigating the Limits and Intersections of Persona and Identity in Feminist Poetry (Amie Whittemore, Ruth Awad, Raena Shirali, Shelley Wong, Claudia Cortese)

In blending the found with the invented, and the researched with the lived, poets inhabit speakers that both approximate and diverge from their experiences. Five women poets will share their work and situate their speakers on a spectrum from near self to complete persona.In doing so, they will explore identity and appropriation, examining how to access otherness responsibly in persona poems and how to distill art from mere biography when the speaker is an avatar of the self.

National Book Critics Circle Presents: Jeffrey Eugenides, Lorrie Moore, Dana Spiotta (Kate Tuttle, Jeffrey Eugenides , Lorrie Moore , Dana Spiotta)

Three National Book Critics Circle honored novelists--Jeffrey Eugenides, Lorrie Moore and Dana Spiotta--read from their work and talk with NBCC President Kate Tuttle about inspiration, research, awards,evolving forms, the unique challenges of novels and short stories, and the imaginative process that shapes their 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.

New England Review 40th Anniversary Reading (C. Dale Young, Patrick Rosal, Cate Marvin, Kathryn Davis, Kate Lebo)

New England Review celebrates forty consecutive years of publishing new in voices poetry, fiction, and essays. Featuring writers who appeared in NER as early as 1978 and as recently as last year, this event offers a range of voices and genres, styles and viewpoints. Come hear some of the authors who have distinguished and sustained NER through the past four decades, making it one of the nation’s most reliably inventive cross-genre literary journals.

New Fiction from Atlanta (Tony Grooms, Gray Stewart, Anna Schachner)

During the past thirty years, Atlanta, the Southeast’s largest metropolitan, has seen an explosion in the literary arts. It is home to prize-winning writers, journals and centers. This panel presents new works from novelists Anna Schachner (You and I and Someone Else), Gray Stewart (Haylow), and Anthony Grooms (The Vain Conversation), three diverse voices. With fresh insight and innovative form, they explore family, the South’s racial tensions, and storytelling itself

New Prizewinning Short Story Collections from University and Independent Presses (Anthony Varallo, Venita Blackburn, Malinda McCollum, Marian Crotty, Emily Geminder)

Join us for a reading from five recent prizewinning short story collections from university and independent presses.  Readers will include recent winners of the Juniper Prize in Short Fiction, the Elixir Press Fiction Award; the John Simmons Short Fiction Award, the Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Prize, and the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction.  Panelists will read a selection from their book and offer insights into the contest submission process. A Q/A will follow.

Old School Slam (Jason Carney, Bill Schneider)

AWP welcomes students to return to the roots of Slam! Open mic, special guests, and then undergraduate and graduate students partake in a hardcore-break-your-heart-strut-out-the-good-stuff slam competition. Students are welcome to sign up to participate on Thursday, March 8, 2018 and Friday, March 9, 2018 at the Wilkes University/Etruscan Press booth and read original pieces (three minutes or less with no props) at the Slam later that night. Sponsors: Wilkes University/Etruscan Press.

Out From Under the Influence: Irish Writers Reach Beyond Post-colonialism (Kathy D'Arcy, Niamh Prior, Eibhear Walshe, Colin Barrett)

Writers feel their way into new worlds. Just how ingrained can one culture be with that of another country? This panel showcases a selection of contemporary voices from Ireland forging identity, through poetry and fiction in a rapidly changing country. A recent upsurge in new writers in Ireland coupled with the emergence of creative writing programs has raised questions to be grappled with - what does it mean to be an Irish writer and how important is national identity to any writer?

Oy Vey es Florida: Poetry on the Jewish-American Experience (Robin Becker, Richard Chess, Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor, Alicia Ostriker, Phillip Terman)

From Borsht belt to sitcom humor, Jews have long traditions of making comedy from tragedy, including in the stand-up house of poetry. Jews compose over 50% of many Florida cities such as the oft' ridiculed "Boca," where portraits of Jewish shoppers overwhelm images of Jewish thinkers or writers. This panel brings poets of all ages, sexualities, and regions to kvetch and kvell through verse about the Jewish American experience. Secular or religious, righteous or salacious--all tucheses welcome

Page Meets Stage hosted by Taylor Mali (Taylor Mali, Aja-Monet Bacquie, Ross Gay, Mahogany L. Browne, Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz)

In the 13 years since Page Meets Stage first paired a literary poet with a more performative spoken word poet and had them read back and forth, poem for poem, the line between page and stage has become wonderfully fluid. No one really claims that “page poets can’t read, and stage poets can’t write” anymore, but Taylor Mali has returned with four more poets to keep it that way. “Where the Pulitzer Prize meets the poetry slam.”

Persea Books: Poetry of Protest (Randall Mann, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Molly McCully Brown, Mitchell L.H. Douglas, Heather Derr-Smith)

The American cultural landscape has shifted radically in the wake of the 2016 presidential campaign, with the rights and dignity of so many groups of people under attack. In such times, poetry is more important than ever in its capacity to both resist and connect memorably, potently, and portably. Join Persea poets Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Heather Derr-Smith, Mitchell L.H. Douglas, Molly McCully Brown, and Randall Mann as they discuss crafting political poems and read from their newest work.

Persona of the Personal: A Reading and Roundtable (David Welch, Ada Limón , Jaswinder Bolina, Hannah Pittard, Barrie Jean Borich)

How do memoirists maneuver masks to represent the real world? When do novelists invoke their own lives through their characters? How do poets vary the voices of their speakers for personal ends? Join a memoirist, a novelist, and two poets as they read and discuss the use of persona in their work. As each panelist also mentors other writers, the resulting conversation will explore the experiences of approaching persona as a teacher, reader, and writer inside as well as outside of the workshop.

Pitt Poetry Series Reading: The Florida Connection (Denise Duhamel, Shauna Barbosa , Michael Waters , Peter Meinke, Barbara Hamby)

Five poets with recent books in the Pitt Poetry Series read from their work. They are Shauna Barbosa, Denise Duhamel, Barbara Hamby, Peter Meinke, and Michael Waters.

The Places America Forgot: A Reading of Rural Fiction (Joseph Haske, Jodi Angel, Daniel Mendoza, Michael Gills, Ron Cooper)

Writers from distinct, poor and working-class backgrounds read stories and novel excerpts set in the unique, underrepresented, rural areas that helped shape their respective work. These places, often ignored as literary settings, enrich the nuance and individual styles of these writers, informing the literary and artistic philosophy of their fiction.

Poems and Poets from Between the Coasts (Jenny Xu, Linda Gregerson, Keith Leonard, Marcus Wicker, Rodney Jones)

Living and working away from the East and West coasts, regional voices can complicate conversations about art, politics, current events, race, and class in illuminating and unexpected ways. What does verse coming out of the Midwest and South sound like today? What does a life in poetry look like there? Four Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Mariner poets—with roots in states including Illinois, Michigan, Alabama, and Indiana—read and discuss place and inspiration.

Poetry Mixtape (Emily Gris, Natalie Diaz, Natalie Shapero, John Freeman, Tomas Morín)

Four dynamic poets and one publicist collectively DJ this event that is one part reading, one part listening session, by sharing the soundtracks to their poetry—whether those songs directly inspire or appear in the poems, were listened to during composition or editing, or simply make for a perfect sonic pairing. Featured songs will span decades and genres, and are sure to disappear your conference blues.

Poetry, Myth, and the Natural World: A Reading with Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Jay Hopler, and Sherwin Bitsui, Sponsored by Blue Flower Arts (Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Sherwin Bitsui, Jay Hopler, Alison Granucci)

The layering of cultures; the complex wonder of the natural world; the riddle of faith; the deep resonance of mythology: what better place for these dimensions to wrestle and converse than in the poetic realm? The urgency inside the poems of Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Jay Hopler, and Sherwin Bitsui offer a complicated empathy with the world, one that grapples with loss and is tinged with sorrow: even beauty can hurt. Yet their language, resplendent with song, also sings into being a world of joy.

Poets of Color read Poetry on Parenting (Hayes Davis, Jennifer Chang, Teri Davis, Juliet Howard, Jon Pineda)

Hear poetry that navigates the ins and outs of race, gender, ethnicity, and religion all from poets who are also parents, juggling identities, professional careers, and raising children of color in an increasingly complicated world.

Pressure Points in the Language Contract: Text-based Performance (Sawako Nakayasu, Jai Arun Ravine, Ronaldo V. Wilson, Angela Penaredondo)

The performance of a text is in many cases embodied, enacted, and inhabited by the physical body of the artist. This quality of performance text, then, presents an important and exciting space through which to examine the role of hybrid and interdisciplinary texts in breaking out of traditional customs of art, literature, and society. Each writer will perform a selection of their work that speaks to these concerns.

Re-voicing the Real: the Poem as Passionate Investigator. A Reading. (Peter Balakian, Mary-Sherman Willis, David Gewanter, Jill McDonough, Joshua Weiner)

In an era when basic facts are disbelieved, how can poems represent the real and explore its several truths? Five poets read distinctly personal poems that incorporate public voices, hidden histories, and documents: poems using convict ledgers, journalism, and government files; military codes, memoirs, and graffiti. How do these poems turn their investigations into passionate versions of the real? How do they grapple with cultural materials, and “derange history into poetry”?

Real Writers, Real Parents: Literary Adventures in Adoptive Parenting (Janice Eidus, Ann Hood, Joanna Sit, Ernesto Mestre-Reed, Donna Baier Stein)

Five diverse writers read poems, essays, and fiction that challenge old views of adoptive parenting, once shrouded in secrecy and shame, now on the cutting edge of contemporary dialogues about race, gender, sexuality, class, identity, ethics, and more. Panelists will explore their unique joys and challenges, how they balance artistic integrity with their children’s privacy, the intersection of their work with the larger landscape of “parenting writing,” and their hopes for the future.

Reimagining America: Reading by Children of Vietnamese Refugees (Lauren Bullock, Nghiem Tran, Cathy Che, Vt Hung, Paul Tran)

Forty-three years after the Vietnam War, exile to the United States continues to haunt life for children of Vietnamese refugees. Five nationally award-winning poets and fiction writers will perform new work investigating how imperialism, migration, sexual violence, queerness, and our families’ silence about the War shapes our craft decisions and community activism. We’ll specifically examine the collision of longing and belonging, nostalgia and the imperative to imagine new definitions of home.

Saw Palm: Florida Literature and Art Reading (John Fleming, Chantel Acevedo, Jennine Capó Crucet, John Brandon, Shane Hinton)

Saw Palm: Florida Literature and Art, the University of South Florida’s literary magazine, celebrates 12 years of capturing the beauty, diversity, and literary fertility of Florida. Four recent contributors read from their work while a slideshow exhibits art featured in the magazine. A brief presentation of Saw Palm's ongoing "Places to Stand in Florida" map project invites an open discussion of literature and place.

Singing the Body Electric: Praise for the Disabled Body (Emily Rose Cole, Jess Silfa, Meg Day, Cade Leebron, Karrie Higgins )

In a culture saturated with harmful, ableist narratives about disabled people, it’s challenging to find positive representations of disability in fiction, poetry, and media. Worse, many of the popular (and often inaccurate) narratives that focus on disability are not written by or for disabled people. As a balm to this situation, this panel, composed entirely of disabled or neuroatypical authors, will read poetry and prose that praises the disabled body.

Sound and Fury: Orality in Contemporary Literature (Andy Johnson, Jeffrey Renard Allen, Akwaeke Emezi, Renee Simms, Stephanie Han)

“Me a scream out lawd! Woi! Nonononononononono!” begins one chapter in A Brief History of Seven Killings. Although orality is expected in poetry, we are often surprised to encounter it in prose. This panel consists of writers and who use the tools of spoken speech and verse to great effect. After an overview of the tradition of speakerly texts, the panelists will read their work and discuss challenges of writing and 異汢獩楨杮琠敨物眠牯⹫䴠湁祤䨠桯獮湯‬敊晦敲

Speak Out: A Milkweed Editions Poetry Reading (Fady Joudah, Analicia Sotelo, Martha Collins, David Keplinger, Michael Bazzett)

Five award-winning debut and established poets read from new work and translations published by Milkweed Editions. These are poets working from a range of experiences, geographies, and styles, but what unites them is that they are all poets set on speaking out: about the body, inside and out; against “virgin” and “naïve” as insult; about mapping cities known and unknown and the slow burn of time passing, about ecological disaster and other horrors, personal and shared.

Spirit Through Form: A Poetry Reading by Vermont Studio Center Visiting Writers (Vievee Francis, Major Jackson, Dana Levin, Gabrielle Calcovoressi, Curtis Bauer)

For over two decades the Vermont Studio Center (VSC) has been featuring top-level writers from around the country. While at VSC, besides conducting conferences with residents, each Visiting Writer offers a reading and craft talk. At the ten-year mark of Maverick Writing Studio, we hope to celebrate VSC and its diverse programming by showcasing five amazing writers who have recently served as mentors and guides for our residents. Each poet will read then talk briefly about their time at VSC.

Split This Rock 10th Anniversary Reading! (Sarah Browning, Dan Vera, Patricia Smith, Ocean Vuong)

For 10 years, Split This Rock has cultivated, taught, and celebrated poetry that bears witness to injustice and provokes change! As more poets become engaged in writing and organizing for justice, Split This Rock leads the charge with festivals, publications, and programs that challenge power and sustain us in perilous times. The founding Director and long-time Board Chair are stepping down this year. They will read, joined by two poets whose work and spirit are central to Split This Rock.

Stitching Quilts: The Carolina African American Writers' Collective as the American Story (Lauri Ramey, L. Teresa Church, DéLana R. A Dameron, Lenard D. Moore, Lana Tyehimba)

African American quilting is as old as the history of the nation, yet, like African American people, it is often brushed aside. The quilt serves as vibrant revealer of stories in textile and thread and serves as a metaphor for the work of African American writers, stitching image and time. Our work is essential to the American story, in its thread, color, and fabric. In this session, writers defy the erasure of blackness and black excellence, through sharing poems, essays, and quilt images.

Subverting the Stereotypes: Performances by Warrior Writers and Combat Hippies (Anthony Torres, Lovella Calica, Toni Topps, Nicole Goodwin, Hipolito Arriaga)

Military veterans and service members are often used as commercial and political props. This reading will offer performances by two veteran-focused literary organizations challenging veteran stereotypes that not only stifle constructive dialogue about war and its consequences, but also fuel U.S. militarism. These poetic performances will present veterans as the diverse social group they are, while also encouraging other veterans to speak truth to power.

Superconductors: Poets & Essayists Channeling Science (William Stobb, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Michael Branch, Kimiko Hahn, Anna Leahy)

A generation of science writers emerged before fake news and overcame false divisions between scientific and creative inquiry. For these writers, the Voyager images, climatology, the human genome project, string theory, and other scientific ideas are part of the artistic palette, fully integrated with the stretch of literary imagination. Five leading essayists and poets forge connections between science and the literary arts.

Taking up the Quill: Queer Representation through Writing, Awards, and Publication (Tobi Harper, Celeste Gainey, Ryka Aoki, Martha K. Davis)

Though labels of identity can be alienating, they can also be empowering and community building. We discover identities within ourselves through the recognition of communities in visual and print media. This was the inspiration to launch Quill, a new queer imprint of Red Hen Press which publishes queer literary prose through award submissions. Hear Quill’s editor, judges, and award winners read their powerful works and discuss the need for representation through publication.

Tampa Review: Celebrating 54 Years of Poetry Publishing (Lance Larsen, Michelle Boisseau, Richard Chess, Nancy Chen Long, Matt Sumpter)

Florida’s oldest literary journal celebrates more than half a century of poetry publishing in the Sunshine State with readings by five poets who have current books from the University of Tampa Press: Michelle Boisseau, Richard Chess, Lance Larsen, Nancy Chen Long, and Matt Sumpter.