Ashland MFA faculty members, alumni, and students are represented on a dozen panels at the AWP Conference in Minneapolis, April 8--11, 2015.
Below is a list of conference sessions involving our Ashland writing community. Know of a book signing, reading or other event that we’ve missed? Please let us know so we can add it to the list: mfa@ashland.edu.
We’ll be at Booth #308, so stop by and say hello. See you in Minneapolis!
Accents Publishing
To kick off AWP, join poets Brandel France de Bravo, Sarah Freligh, Lynnell Edwards, Lori A. May, and Bianca Spriggs at Subtext as they read from their Accents Publishing books.
8:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Location: 165 Western Avenue North, Saint Paul, MN 55102.
http://www.subtextbooks.
Also, stop by Sycamore Review's space (1523) to pick up a postcard with Sarah's winning flash story.
R106. AWP Program Directors’ Plenary Assembly.
Thursday, 9:00-10:15 a.m.
All AWP program directors should attend and represent their programs. The executive director of AWP will report on AWP’s new projects and on important statistics and academic trends that pertain to creative writing programs and to writers who teach. A discussion with the AWP board’s regional representative will follow. The plenary assembly will be followed by regional breakout sessions
R134. AWP Program Directors’ Midwest Council.
Thursday, 10:30-11:45 a.m.
Jill Christman, AWP board member and chair of the Professional Standards Committee and the Midwest Council, will present during this assembly.
If you are a program director or co-director of an AWP member creative writing program in the following regions you should attend this session: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Ontario, and Wisconsin. This breakout session will begin immediately upon the conclusion of the Program Directors Plenary Assembly, so we recommend that you attend the Plenary Assembly first. Your regional representative on the AWP board of trustees will conduct this meeting.
OFF-SITE READING:
New Rivers Press Book Launch & Readings
Leila Phillip will be one of many New Rivers Press readers at this event.
4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Location: Kieran's Irish Pub, Poet's Corner, 85 6th Street N., Minneapolis
BOOK SIGNING: Steve Harvey at Ovenbird Books Table
Thursday, 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Steve Harvey will be at the Ovenbird Books Table (#1450) to sign copies of his new memoir "The Book of Knowledge and Wonder." Stop by and say hello!
"OFF-SITE" READING
HEAT 2015, A reading to benefit VIDA (Women in Literary Arts award)
This event goes from 11:30 - 6 p.m. ($5 donation)
Kate Hopper will be reading in the 3 p.m. slot
Location: Minneapolis Convention Center, Rm M101BC
Below is a list of conference sessions involving our Ashland writing community. Know of a book signing, reading or other event that we’ve missed? Please let us know so we can add it to the list: mfa@ashland.edu.
We’ll be at Booth #308, so stop by and say hello. See you in Minneapolis!
Wednesday, April 8
OFF-SITE READINGAccents Publishing
To kick off AWP, join poets Brandel France de Bravo, Sarah Freligh, Lynnell Edwards, Lori A. May, and Bianca Spriggs at Subtext as they read from their Accents Publishing books.
8:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Location: 165 Western Avenue North, Saint Paul, MN 55102.
http://www.subtextbooks.
Also, stop by Sycamore Review's space (1523) to pick up a postcard with Sarah's winning flash story.
Thursday, April 9
R112. More than a Family Affair: Using Family History in Creative
Nonfiction.
Thursday, 9:00-10:15 a.m.
Thursday, 9:00-10:15 a.m.
Room 205 A&B, Level
2.
Jeremy Jones, Bonnie Rough, James McKean, June Melby
We all have those oft-repeated stories of larger-than-life uncles and of the courtship of great-grandparents and of closeted skeletons in the old homeplace. But how do we take these passed-around stories and move them beyond family reunions? How do we determine what is the stuff of literary nonfiction and what is best relegated to family history? Panelists whose books come from presses large and small discuss effective techniques for collecting and crafting—and publishing—family lore.
Jeremy Jones, Bonnie Rough, James McKean, June Melby
We all have those oft-repeated stories of larger-than-life uncles and of the courtship of great-grandparents and of closeted skeletons in the old homeplace. But how do we take these passed-around stories and move them beyond family reunions? How do we determine what is the stuff of literary nonfiction and what is best relegated to family history? Panelists whose books come from presses large and small discuss effective techniques for collecting and crafting—and publishing—family lore.
R106. AWP Program Directors’ Plenary Assembly.
Thursday, 9:00-10:15 a.m.
All AWP program directors should attend and represent their programs. The executive director of AWP will report on AWP’s new projects and on important statistics and academic trends that pertain to creative writing programs and to writers who teach. A discussion with the AWP board’s regional representative will follow. The plenary assembly will be followed by regional breakout sessions
R134. AWP Program Directors’ Midwest Council.
Thursday, 10:30-11:45 a.m.
Jill Christman, AWP board member and chair of the Professional Standards Committee and the Midwest Council, will present during this assembly.
If you are a program director or co-director of an AWP member creative writing program in the following regions you should attend this session: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Ontario, and Wisconsin. This breakout session will begin immediately upon the conclusion of the Program Directors Plenary Assembly, so we recommend that you attend the Plenary Assembly first. Your regional representative on the AWP board of trustees will conduct this meeting.
R176. The Book Problem: Innovative Programs for Writers of Long
Projects.
Thursday 12-1:15 p.m.
Thursday 12-1:15 p.m.
Room 211 A&B, Level
2.
Andrea Dupree, Chris Castellani, Erika Krouse, Michelle Hoover, William Haywood Henderson
Andrea Dupree, Chris Castellani, Erika Krouse, Michelle Hoover, William Haywood Henderson
Typically, writers of book-length projects receive workshop feedback on
chapters from instructors and peers, a process that works for some, but traps
others in a cycle of endlessly revising small sections, never getting the full
draft. Two innovative programs, Grub Street's Novel Incubator and Lighthouse
Writers Workshop's Book Project, have developed ways of supporting authors in
getting their full works drafted and refined. Lessons learned and processes to
be replicated will be forthcoming.
R188. “Fashioning a Text”:
Discovering Form and Shape in Literary Nonfiction.
Thursday 12-1:15 p.m.
Room L100 H&I, Lower
Level
Structure in nonfiction
is often regarded as tandem or secondary to other concerns (voice, content,
subject matter). Five writer/teachers--essayists, memoirists, and journalists
maintain that “fashioning a text,” that is, discovering a work's shape, is
central to the drafting process. Citing theirs and others' work, panelists will
discuss the essential connection between their material and the forms they
choose. In addition, they will explain when and how they decided what
those forms would be.
R201. A Tribute to Charles Baxter.
Thursday, 1:30 – 2:45 p.m.
Room 200 B&C, Level 2.
Matthew Pitt, Michael Byers, Valerie Laken, Porter Shreve, Joan Silber
This panel celebrates Charles Baxter's prolific, multifaceted, enduring career. For over three decades, Baxter has produced signal achievements in short fiction, novels, poetry, and provocative criticism and craft essays, challenging the stale and shopworn in modern letters. He has also cemented a reputation as an esteemed and beloved mentor. This assemblage of peers, colleagues, and former students will offer testaments to Baxter's tremendous contributions and influence on and off-page.
Thursday, 1:30 – 2:45 p.m.
Room 200 B&C, Level 2.
Matthew Pitt, Michael Byers, Valerie Laken, Porter Shreve, Joan Silber
This panel celebrates Charles Baxter's prolific, multifaceted, enduring career. For over three decades, Baxter has produced signal achievements in short fiction, novels, poetry, and provocative criticism and craft essays, challenging the stale and shopworn in modern letters. He has also cemented a reputation as an esteemed and beloved mentor. This assemblage of peers, colleagues, and former students will offer testaments to Baxter's tremendous contributions and influence on and off-page.
R252. Mr. Capote's Nonfiction Novel: A 50th Anniversary
Retrospective of In Cold Blood.
Thursday, 3:00 – 4:15 p.m.
Room L100 F&G, Lower Level.
Kelly Grey Carlisle, Ned Stuckey-French, Joe Mackall, Bob Cowser, Dinah Lenney
2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the serial publication of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, a seminal work in the genre we now recognize as creative nonfiction. Writers, editors, and critics assess the book's legacy, as well as the aesthetic and moral issues it raises. How did nonfiction writing change as a result of the book? In what ways does the book continue to influence contemporary writers? How has the experience of reading it changed since its first publication?
Thursday, 3:00 – 4:15 p.m.
Room L100 F&G, Lower Level.
Kelly Grey Carlisle, Ned Stuckey-French, Joe Mackall, Bob Cowser, Dinah Lenney
2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the serial publication of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, a seminal work in the genre we now recognize as creative nonfiction. Writers, editors, and critics assess the book's legacy, as well as the aesthetic and moral issues it raises. How did nonfiction writing change as a result of the book? In what ways does the book continue to influence contemporary writers? How has the experience of reading it changed since its first publication?
OFF-SITE READING:
New Rivers Press Book Launch & Readings
Leila Phillip will be one of many New Rivers Press readers at this event.
4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Location: Kieran's Irish Pub, Poet's Corner, 85 6th Street N., Minneapolis
BOOK SIGNING: Steve Harvey at Ovenbird Books Table
Thursday, 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Steve Harvey will be at the Ovenbird Books Table (#1450) to sign copies of his new memoir "The Book of Knowledge and Wonder." Stop by and say hello!
Friday, April 10
F123. Eye on the (Book) Prize: Submitting Short Story Collections
to Contests.
Friday, 9:00 – 10:15 a.m.
Room M100 D&E, Mezzanine Level.
Steven LaFond, E.J. Levy, Nathan Poole, Kate Milliken, Alden Jones
Contests have become an essential avenue for short story writers aiming to publish a book. With hundreds of people vying for the prize, what can you do to make your story collection stand out? Recent winners of the New American Fiction Prize, Flannery O'Connor Award, Iowa Short Fiction Award, and McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction discuss their approach to writing, revising, and compiling a winning submission and suggest what you can do to prepare your manuscript before sending it to the judges.
Friday, 9:00 – 10:15 a.m.
Room M100 D&E, Mezzanine Level.
Steven LaFond, E.J. Levy, Nathan Poole, Kate Milliken, Alden Jones
Contests have become an essential avenue for short story writers aiming to publish a book. With hundreds of people vying for the prize, what can you do to make your story collection stand out? Recent winners of the New American Fiction Prize, Flannery O'Connor Award, Iowa Short Fiction Award, and McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction discuss their approach to writing, revising, and compiling a winning submission and suggest what you can do to prepare your manuscript before sending it to the judges.
F139. Boston Review 40th Anniversary Poetry Reading.
Friday, 10:30 – 11:45 a.m.
Friday, 10:30 – 11:45 a.m.
Room 101 D&E, Level
1.
Rickey Laurentiis, Carmen Giménez Smith, Robyn Schiff, John Koethe, Susan Wheeler
Gathering five outstanding poets whose work has appeared in Boston Review's pages in the course of its forty-year history, this reading features performances of poetic work that draw on diverse aesthetics and influences. A celebration of the rigor and range of Boston Review's contributors, the event showcases the eclectic vitality of contemporary poetry. Poetry editors Timothy Donnelly and BK Fischer will make brief opening remarks, and copies of the current issue will be offered to all who attend.
Rickey Laurentiis, Carmen Giménez Smith, Robyn Schiff, John Koethe, Susan Wheeler
Gathering five outstanding poets whose work has appeared in Boston Review's pages in the course of its forty-year history, this reading features performances of poetic work that draw on diverse aesthetics and influences. A celebration of the rigor and range of Boston Review's contributors, the event showcases the eclectic vitality of contemporary poetry. Poetry editors Timothy Donnelly and BK Fischer will make brief opening remarks, and copies of the current issue will be offered to all who attend.
F156. University of Minnesota Press 90th Anniversary.
Friday, 10:30 -11:45 a.m.
Room M100 F&G, Mezzanine Level.
Sarah Stonich, Kate Hopper, Karen Babine, Erik Anderson
Founded in 1925, the University of Minnesota Press is among the most distinctive American university presses, with an international reputation for publishing boundary-breaking work. Since its inception, the Press has also maintained a commitment to publishing important books on the people, culture, history, and natural environment of Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. Please join this group of regionally-based fiction and nonfiction writers in celebration of the Press's ninety years of publishing.
Friday, 10:30 -11:45 a.m.
Room M100 F&G, Mezzanine Level.
Sarah Stonich, Kate Hopper, Karen Babine, Erik Anderson
Founded in 1925, the University of Minnesota Press is among the most distinctive American university presses, with an international reputation for publishing boundary-breaking work. Since its inception, the Press has also maintained a commitment to publishing important books on the people, culture, history, and natural environment of Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. Please join this group of regionally-based fiction and nonfiction writers in celebration of the Press's ninety years of publishing.
F228. Bravery and Bearing Witness: The Power of Vulnerability in
Nonfiction.
Friday, 1:30 – 2:45 p.m.
Room L100 J, Lower Level.
Sarah Wells, Bonnie Rough, Kate Hopper, Marilyn Bousquin, Brenda Miller
Reader response to scenarios where a writer has made herself vulnerable on the page often manifests itself as "Wow, you're brave!" The writer, however, may not feel anything close to brave. Is it bravery we're feeling when we tell our stories? Do we need courage to bear witness? Is it enough to share a personal story, or is there more at stake in the writing process? Panelists will speak to the power of vulnerability and necessity of craft in writing to transform the self and the culture.
Friday, 1:30 – 2:45 p.m.
Room L100 J, Lower Level.
Sarah Wells, Bonnie Rough, Kate Hopper, Marilyn Bousquin, Brenda Miller
Reader response to scenarios where a writer has made herself vulnerable on the page often manifests itself as "Wow, you're brave!" The writer, however, may not feel anything close to brave. Is it bravery we're feeling when we tell our stories? Do we need courage to bear witness? Is it enough to share a personal story, or is there more at stake in the writing process? Panelists will speak to the power of vulnerability and necessity of craft in writing to transform the self and the culture.
Ashland Poetry Press Book Signings
Friday, 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.
(Booth #308)
Laura Van Prooyen,
author of Our House Was on Fire, 2-3 p.m.
J. David Cummings,
author of 2013 Snyder Prize winner Tancho, 3-4 p.m.
Richard Jackson author
of Out of Place and Resonance, 4-5 p.m.
"OFF-SITE" READING
HEAT 2015, A reading to benefit VIDA (Women in Literary Arts award)
This event goes from 11:30 - 6 p.m. ($5 donation)
Kate Hopper will be reading in the 3 p.m. slot
Location: Minneapolis Convention Center, Rm M101BC
F292. But I Need My Day Job: Creating a Kick-Ass Writing Education
in Your Own Community.
Friday, 4:30 – 5:45 p.m.
Room L100 H&I, Lower Level.
Carrie Mesrobian, Jennifer Dodgson, William Haywood Henderson, Erika Krouse, Beth Nelson
Not everyone can pursue a writing degree or feels finished with their education once they have one. This panel brings students and teachers from the Loft Literary Center and Lighthouse Writers together to discuss models of writing education in community-based centers. Many writing careers have blossomed from such centers, into book deals, national awards, and more. Panelists will talk about how the programs work, how they can be replicated, and how efforts like these can help people make writing a lasting part of their lives.
Friday, 4:30 – 5:45 p.m.
Room L100 H&I, Lower Level.
Carrie Mesrobian, Jennifer Dodgson, William Haywood Henderson, Erika Krouse, Beth Nelson
Not everyone can pursue a writing degree or feels finished with their education once they have one. This panel brings students and teachers from the Loft Literary Center and Lighthouse Writers together to discuss models of writing education in community-based centers. Many writing careers have blossomed from such centers, into book deals, national awards, and more. Panelists will talk about how the programs work, how they can be replicated, and how efforts like these can help people make writing a lasting part of their lives.
Saturday, April 11
S123. Latina/o Poets as Publishers: A CantoMundo Roundtable.
Saturday, 9:00 - 10:15 a.m.
Saturday, 9:00 - 10:15 a.m.
Room M100 B&C,
Mezzanine Level.
Deborah Paredez, Carmen Gimenez Smith, Juan Morales, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Casandra Lopez
How are Latina/o poets occupying and transforming the roles of publishers and editors today? This panel convenes CantoMundo founders and fellows to discuss their work as publishers of small presses, editors of literary magazines and blogs, and founders of new media platforms. Our roundtable conversation explores the particular challenges, visions, and contributions of Latina/o publishers and editors.
Deborah Paredez, Carmen Gimenez Smith, Juan Morales, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Casandra Lopez
How are Latina/o poets occupying and transforming the roles of publishers and editors today? This panel convenes CantoMundo founders and fellows to discuss their work as publishers of small presses, editors of literary magazines and blogs, and founders of new media platforms. Our roundtable conversation explores the particular challenges, visions, and contributions of Latina/o publishers and editors.
S174. Oracles and Appetites: Three Decades of the FIELD Poetry
Prize.
Saturday, 12:00 – 1:15 p.m.
Saturday, 12:00 – 1:15 p.m.
Room 101 J, Level
1.
David Young, Mark Neely, Angie Estes, Jon Loomis, Mary Ann Samyn
For almost half a century, FIELD and Oberlin College Press have been publishing some of the most influential voices in contemporary poetry. In 1997 they began awarding the FIELD Poetry Prize to superlative books by both new and established authors. This reading by prizewinners from the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s will showcase the aesthetic diversity of this influential series. David Young, a founding editor at the press, will moderate and discuss the selection process.
David Young, Mark Neely, Angie Estes, Jon Loomis, Mary Ann Samyn
For almost half a century, FIELD and Oberlin College Press have been publishing some of the most influential voices in contemporary poetry. In 1997 they began awarding the FIELD Poetry Prize to superlative books by both new and established authors. This reading by prizewinners from the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s will showcase the aesthetic diversity of this influential series. David Young, a founding editor at the press, will moderate and discuss the selection process.