Feb 8, 8-10 pm. 4th Annual Rock and Roll Reading, The Vinyl Lounge, Rapid-fire Rock and Roll readings followed by music from La Guerre Featuring: Danielle Evans, Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib, Porochista Khakpour, Manuel Gonzales, Kevin Maloney, Beth Bich Minh Nguyen Justin Tussing, Ashley Strosnider, Michael Kardos, Karen Leona Anderson, Sian Griffiths, Matt Sailor. No cover.
Feb 9, 9-11 am. New Rivers Press table, book signing. AWP Book Fair.
Feb 10, 9-10:15 am. Panel Presentation: "I Survived--and Thrived: Conference Veterans Discuss the Benefits and Drawbacks of Writing Conferences" Marquis Salon 12 & 13, Marriott Marquis, Meeting Level Two. (Eric Sasson, Sian Griffiths, Todd Kaneko, Amina Gautier, Rosebud Ben-Oni) Ernest Hemingway said, “Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer’s loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing.” We’re not so sure he’s right. This panel assembles veterans of the Bread Loaf, Sewanee, Tin House, Kundiman, and other conferences to discuss what one can and cannot expect. Do the benefits outweigh the costs? Are these simply writing “summer camps," or can the writer anticipate tangible results to her craft, critique, and community?
Feb 10, 12-1:15pm. Panel Presentation: "Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Organizing and Structuring the Short Story Collection" Archives, Marriott Marquis, Meeting Level Four. (Sian Griffiths, Benjamin Hale, Marie-Helene Bertino, Michael Martone, Julia Elliott) Putting together a story collection can feel like assembling a jigsaw puzzle in which the pieces don’t quite fit and there is no one solution. Must the stories be interconnected or thematically connected? Can stories be linked by virtue of voice, tone, or style? How much does the marketplace influence the writer's approach? The panel presents writers of interconnected, thematically connected, and unconnected stories to provide insight for story writers seeking to build their collections.