The MFA Program for Writers @ the 2024 AWP Conference & Bookfair
Kansas City Convention Center
Kansas City, Missouri
February 7–10, 2024
Faculty and alumni of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College will once again be represented on numerous panels at the upcoming AWP Conference in Kansas City, February 7-10, 2024. Refer to the schedule below for quality discussions of craft, and stop by our Bookfair booth #3225 for additional information.
We invite our Wally community to join us for a private reception
VIRTUAL EVENT
V106. VIRTUAL: Haunting, Healing, and Female Voice: Women Who Write Horror
Lauren Brazeal Garza, Jenn Givhan (poetry, 2015), Erika T. Wurth, Hailey Piper, Erin E. Adams
This multigenre panel explores ways in which women writers of horror, at various stages of their careers, uniquely interact with haunting, dread, healing, and conceptions of femininity in their work. Focuses include how “horror,” “haunting,” and “healing” intersect in each panelist’s writing, and in what ways the ever-changing female experience plays a role in her work. Panelists will also offer insight into how writers of any genre might approach haunting, horror, and dread in their writing.
This virtual event was prerecorded. It will be available to watch on-demand online starting on Wednesday, February 7, 2024 through Thursday, March 7, 2024.
Download event outline and supplemental documents.
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 8
9:00 – 10:15 a.m.
T126. A New Canon: Five Writers Remaking the American West
Elizabeth Gonzalez James, Tom Lin, Lauren Francis-Sharma (fiction, 2023), Robin McLean, Claudia Cravens
Room 2502A, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2
The myth of the American West—a place to be tamed, dominated by narratives centering white men—is one of our most stubborn national fantasies. But five novelists are correcting the record. Their West is peopled with Black, Mexican, Asian, Indigenous, and Queer characters whose untold stories and unheard voices create a rich and complicated landscape that reflects the real American frontier as it was and is. We’ll discuss research, resisting tropes, and fitting new stories into the canon.
T128. In Praise of Legacy: Writers of Color and the Challenge of the Canon
Enzo Silon Surin, Nathan McClain (poetry, 2013), Kenzie Allen, Michael Mercurio, Rita Banerjee
Room 2503AB, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2
The word “canon” in literary studies was intended to refer to humanity’s greatest writings—those which all “educated” people should know. Thanks to the work of critics and scholars of color, however, we are now able to recognize the exclusions, the silences, and the gaps that exist in the traditional concept of the canon. The four poets/professors on this panel will read poems and discuss how to explore, expand, and explode the literary canon in one’s work and in the classroom.
10:35 – 11:50 a.m.
T136. First Time’s the Charm: Debut Novelists on How to Debut
Jeremy Broyles, Holly M. Wendt, Kate Reed Petty, Sarah Cypher (fiction, 2019), Sarah Marian Seltzer
Room 2101, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
Debuting is a fraught process and the experience and advice varies seemingly year to year in a rapidly changing literary landscape. This panel of novelists from various genres shares tips, tricks, and hard-won lessons from the months before and after their debuts—on everything from publicity and marketing to questions we wish we’d asked. Whether attendees are debuting their own novels next year or still dreaming the book into being, they’ll find fresh, urgent discussion about the processes here.
T139. Where the Living Sit Talking About the Dead
Brandon Hobson, Diana Khoi Nguyen, Kaveh Akbar, Marie-Helene Bertino, Kristin Keane
Room 2103A, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
The pandemic was a collective experience of profound loss. Death is ubiquitous, yet the topic is avoided on the page and in life. What do we fear? Five acclaimed authors who think alongside the topic in genre-transcending ways that manifest as poem-films, martyrs, spirit lands, encyclopedias, and aliens, discuss why rendering death is crucial; its surprising humors, responsibilities, and joys. Their combined perspective includes social workers, poets, literacy researchers, and a death doula.
T155. Communing with James Baldwin: A Centennial Celebration
Wesley Rothman, Ed Pavlić, Airea Matthews, Khadijah Queen, Kiese Laymon
Room 2504AB, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2
One hundred years after his birth, Baldwin’s legacy, influence, and relevance cannot be overstated. Panelists writing in several genres share work guided by the critic, activist, novelist, playwright, and poet, and discuss how we as writers and a society can make our way into communion with him.
12:10 – 1:25 p.m.
T170. Toward a Poetics of Tenderness: Hegemonic Masculinity & the Poetic Imagination
Hayan Charara, Matthew Olzmann (poetry, 2009; faculty), Taylor Johnson, Ross Gay, Issam Zineh
Room 2105, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
The culturally-dominant conceptualization of masculinity is characterized by intermale dominance, relentless competition, emotional inexpressivity, and attendant violences (interpersonal, ecological). This damaging, hegemonic masculinity impacts every aspect of daily life, from the personal to the geopolitical. This panel confronts masculinity narratives, explores craft strategies to subvert destructive notions of “manhood,” and considers what it means to embody a poetics of tenderness.
T173. Queer As In: A Reading of Debut Trans and Nonbinary Poets
Sebastian Merrill (poetry, 2021), Jennifer Conlon, Tennison Black, jason b. crawford
Room 2209, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
Experience the transformative power of four trans and nonbinary poets in a poignant reading of debut poetry collections. Amid rising anti-trans legislation and violence, these writers navigate the complexities of identity, resilience, and self-discovery. With vulnerability and strength, their diverse voices challenge societal norms and inspire change. Join us to celebrate and amplify marginalized perspectives, fostering empathy and understanding in a time when existence itself is a radical act.
T180. The Unsung Masters Reading
Kevin Prufer, Niki Herd, Michael Peterson, Kazim Ali, Dana Levin
Room 2502B, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2
Each year, the Unsung Masters Series publishes a book devoted to the life and work of a great but little known author. Volumes include large selections of the author’s work printed alongside interviews, articles, drafts, photographs, and ephemera. This reading brings together the editors of four recent volumes who will read from the work of poets Shreela Ray, Tom Postell, Bert Meyers, and Laura Hershey. This event should lead to great discoveries for those who attend.
T189. Naugatuck River Review and Wordpeace Reading!
Lee Desrosiers, Subhaga Crystal Bacon (poetry, 1995), Sarah Browning, David W. Janey, Robin Michel
Bookfair Stage, AWP Bookfair, Exhibit Halls D & E, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 3
Naugatuck River Review, a print journal of narrative poetry and Wordpeace.co, an online multi-genre journal dedicated to social justice issues present a reading of NRR’s fifteenth annual contest winners and featured Wordpeace contributors from our issues celebrating bodily autonomy and LGBTQ+ writers and issues.
1:45 – 3:00 p.m.
T193. Embodied Prosody, Embodied Sentences: Coping Mechanisms
Brian Teare, Jenny Johnson (poetry, 2011), torrin greathouse, Oliver de la Paz
Room 2103A, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
torrin a. greathouse asks, “What tools can prosody provide us with for cultivating an embodied poetics of disability?” Jenny Johnson suggests “Prosody can be a space for wrestling with and wrestling off old scripts, and also for generating the new ones that we need.” Oliver de la Paz argues that prose poems offer a specific vantage point for the “political” gesture of sentence making, while Brian Teare suggests that a collage-based prose practice can wire our sentences to our nervous systems.
T212. A Reading and Conversation with Sarabande Anthology Poets on Writing & Addiction
Kaveh Akbar, Paige Lewis, Sherwin Bitsui, Joy Priest
Grand Ballroom A, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2
Death to the old cliché of the lush poet who destroys themselves and others in pursuit of their tortured genius. Here, four nationally-acclaimed poets from the Sarabande anthology, Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction & Deliverance, read their work and speak to writing and their experiences with (and near) addiction. This event celebrates the work of writers who have grappled, or are grappling with this disease, who do not glamorize addiction but instead live beside it, around it, through it.
This event will take place in person in the Kansas City Convention Center and will be livestreamed for virtual audiences.
3:20 – 4:25 p.m.
T235. (Re)Vision: Creating a Sustainable Writing Community
Tiana Nobile (poetry, 2017), Sarah Audsley (poetry, 2019), Tamiko Beyer, Dharani Persaud
Room 2502B, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2
Writers are not only writers. They are parents, teachers, and organizers, among others. As a result, it can be a challenge to carve out dedicated time for the page, and when we do, a piece can sit untouched for months. A group of Asian American writers created a space to exchange work that requires minimal time while maximizing community building amid life’s other commitments. Panelists discuss the significance of safe writing spaces and how their mixed genre grouping allows for unique dialogue.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 9
9:00 – 10:15 a.m.
F119. Defining Environmental Fiction: Writers and Editors Discuss
Michelle Donahue, Megan Giddings, Allegra Hyde, Michael Mejia, Erin Swan
Room 2104B, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
Many have a narrow view of environmental fiction; they imagine lyrical encounters with nature or speculative, apocalyptic tales. However, this genre can and should be a capacious, varied genre where writers and readers reimagine place, reflect on our climate crisis, and imagine possibilities for sustainable living. In this panel, editors and writers discuss their definitions of this genre, how all fiction might be environmental, and craft strategies for engaging with the more-than-human world.
F123A. Diasporic Poetics: Reading by Debut Asian American Poets
Jay Gao, Megan Pinto (poetry, 2018), Jimin Seo, Simon Shieh, Susan Nguyen
Room 2210, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
Join four award-winning Asian diasporic poets for a celebratory reading of their debut poetry collections. Whether excavating diasporic grief; reckoning with masculinity and violence; questioning the role of faith and belonging; complicating the translator’s agency—these unique poets question and challenge what it means to write as part of the contemporary Asian American diaspora. Their reading will be followed by a conversation about their writing journeys and publishing as a debut poet.
F124A. I Published My First Book After Age Fifty: A Reading and Conversation
Anne Elliott (fiction, 2021), Karen Schubert, LeTonia Jones, Louise Marburg, Jimin Han
Room 2215B, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
The publishing world can be discouraging for middle-aged beginners or vocational pivoters—but also for those who’ve been writing diligently for a long time and still don’t have a book. This panel will showcase four writers who published their first book after age fifty, with a short reading of these debut works (poetry and fiction) followed by a discussion of the advantages/challenges of debuting as an older writer.
10:35 – 11:50 a.m.
F138. How to Be Your Own Agent
Pedro Ponce, Anne Elliott (fiction, 2021), Joanna Sit, Ariel Gore, Thaddeus Rutkowski
Room 2103A, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
How can you place your manuscript with a good publisher if you don’t have a literary agent? A group of writers from diverse backgrounds will explain their process. This discussion will identify presses that consider unsolicited manuscripts and will explain how to find reading periods and contests. The focus will be on narrowing targets and submitting at low cost. Panelists are prose writers or poets who have successfully placed one or more books with a reputable independent publisher.
This event will take place in person in the Kansas City Convention Center. In addition to the in-person event at the conference, a prerecorded version of this event will be available to view on-demand.
F153. Many Moseses, Many Promised Lands Unseen: A Lecture by Rion Amilcar Scott
Room 2503AB, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2
Join Rion Amilcar Scott, a fiction writer and the creative advisor to AWP’s HBCU Fellowship Program, currently in its second year. HBCUs have left an indelible mark upon the face of literature. This lecture discusses what it truly means to be a part of that legacy. This lecture will be followed by a book signing.
F154. The Against Tradition Tradition: Contradiction & the Prose Poem
Leslie Sainz, Dana Levin, Sophie Klahr , Jose Hernandez Diaz, Olatunde Osinaike
Room 2504AB, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2
Originating in nineteenth-century France as a subversive form “supple . . . and rugged enough to adapt . . . to the lyrical impulses of the soul,” prose poems are now taught in writing classrooms across the globe. Has their popularity changed their capacity for surprise, radicalism, and (non)sense? How are contemporary poets troubling the contradictions inherent in the form’s name? This diverse panel of poets will consider these questions and trace their relationships to the indefinable prose poem.
F159. The Happy Family: The Craft of Domestic Horror
Elinam Agbo, ‘Pemi Aguda, Gerardo Sámano Córdova, Akil Kumarasamy, Annesha Mitha
Room 3501 GH, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 3
Ghosts. Sacrifices. Monsters. Mothers. What do we hide inside our houses, and what do our houses hide from us? How do we tell the same family stories in new ways? In this panel, five writers of literary horror discuss the domestic as a place of invention, myth-making, and witnessing. Drawing upon examples from their own novels and short stories, the panelists share strategies and tools from graphic novels, manga, films, and other mediums that have helped them bring their hauntings to life.
12:10 – 1:25 p.m.
F164. More Than Our Tongues: Women of Color Writing with Arabic, Chinese, and Korean
Su Cho, Anni Liu, Alycia Pirmohamed, Zeina Hashem Beck
Room 2102B, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
How do we decide when to fold in the language we grew up with in our poetry? What effects do the use of our “other” languages have, and what does it make possible? This often becomes a question of negotiation and balance. We’ll shift that paradigm into one that puts not the audience, but the poet first. We’ll discuss the joys and unanswered questions we have about this process, how we’ve learned and changed our view on this, and, of course, the delightful surprises that come along the way.
1:45 – 3:00 p.m.
F202. You Say ‘Narrative’ Like it’s a Bad Thing
Sonia Greenfield, Chloe Martinez (poetry, 2009), Abby E. Murray, Felicia Zamora, Amanda Moore
Room 2210, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
The term “narrative” has sometimes been used pejoratively to describe poetry that is lacking in innovation, just as “feminine” has been used to describe language that is indirect or internal. This panel challenges these notions, exploring narrative as a radical poetic technique that gives voice to complexity and the lived experience of women. Panelists will discuss how they use storytelling in their poetry, suggest approaches to narrative poetics, and read from their work.
F205. Ten Years of a Literary Series: Stories from the UPK New Poetry & Prose Series
Lisa Williams, Rion Amilcar Scott, Manini Samarth, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, Serkan Görkemli
Room 2215B, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
In celebration of the tenth anniversary of the University Press of Kentucky (UPK) New Poetry & Prose Series, which features award-winning books by unique voices, four authors will read from their short story collections in the series. Set in diverse locales from Africa to Middle East and North America, and ranging from realist to surrealist, their lyrical stories about ethnicity, gender, immigration, race, and sexuality highlight some of the stunning writing this acclaimed series has published.
F208. The Life-Changing Power of Memoir: Welcoming Learner’s Voices
Marion Winik, Joseph Bathanti (poetry, 1991), Tyrese Coleman, Wayetu Moore, Jamie Brickhouse
Room 2502B, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2
Guiding others on their memoir journey is an act of profound importance for social change and inclusion, with the potential to end silences and heal individuals and communities. In sharing the art of creative nonfiction with students of all ages and identities around the world, the writer/educators on this panel have transformed their personal creative processes into conceptual frameworks and powerful prompts that illuminate the path for others. Attendees receive a packet of exercises discussed.
3:20 – 4:35 p.m.
F219. Transforming the Imagination: Asian American Poets Redefine Hybrid Poetry
Tina Chang, Victoria Chang (poetry, 2005), Mai Der Vang, Cynthia Dewi Oka (poetry, 2019), Sahar Muradi
Room 2101, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
Hybrid poetry embraces cross disciplinary work, combining poetry, prose, plays, visual art, collage, documents, to address and challenge dominant narratives. This panel focuses on the ways in which Asian American poets have invigorated hybrid forms to respond to uneven distributions of power, relay experiences of marginalization, oppression, and injustice as well as uphold joy, kinship, and devotion through the examination of cross-genre and interdisciplinary work as a practice of survival.
F229. What Did I Know? The Poetry of Black Fatherhood in Theory and Practice
Iain Haley Pollock, Nathan McClain (poetry, 2013), Quintin Collins, Geffrey Davis
Room 2208, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
Black poets who are fathers are currently asserting their voices against historical silences. Examining poetic theory and practice through the lens of Black fatherhood, this panel examines the effect of a poet’s race, gender, and parental status on poetic form, content, and process. How do Black father-poets reflect on and speak back to generations of denigrating rhetoric surrounding Black masculinity and fatherhood to carve out healthier, more joyful spaces for their families and themselves?
F236. The Braided Essay as Change Agent
Candace Walsh (fiction, 2019), Nicole Walker, Anna Chotlos, Sarah Minor
Room 2502A, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2
How is the braided essay form innately subversive, in realms of interiority, the classroom, society? It can be a “social justice action” for marginalized/minoritized writers; an assertion of queer lives’ complexities; a feminist refusal of linear hero’s journeys; and a way for students to weave empowering threads (i.e., memoir, research, cultural critique) together in one piece. Three innovative essayists who also teach will showcase braided essays’ dynamic, hegemony-undermining possibilities.
F241. Personal Best: A New Kind of Canon, Sponsored by Copper Canyon Press
Adrian Matejka, Jennifer Foerster, Erin Belieu, Eduardo C. Corral, Dana Levin
Grand Ballroom A, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2
Who chooses what poems will ultimately be remembered—editors, prize committees, the collective force of social media? This unique reading puts the decision with the artists themselves. Four award-winning poets consider their body of work and bring forward the poems they think matter most. Offering an intimate window onto intrinsic measures of success and failure, this reading—and the anthology that inspires it—upends notions of canon and curation by putting the poet front and center.
This event will take place in person in the Kansas City Convention Center and will be livestreamed for virtual audiences. All livestreamed events include open captions and ASL interpretation.
F243. Debuting with the Short Story Collection
Nina McConigley, Gothataone Moeng, Molly Gott, Lydia Conklin, Dantiel Moniz
Room 3501AB, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 3
Many industry professionals counsel against debuting with a short story collection, and urge fiction writers to “wait until they have a novel.” The writers on this panel all had successful debuts with story collections. On this panel we will discuss the benefits and pitfalls of debuting with a collection, how to successfully market your first book, and what craft benefits came with debuting with a story collection.
F246. Too Small For the Patriarchy: Getting Girlhood Stories Past the Gatekeepers
Chaitali Sen, Natalia Sylvester, Rose Smith (fiction, 2022), Toni Ann Johnson
Room 3501 EF, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 3
Who has the right to grow up in American literature? On this panel, authors discuss the joys, challenges, and importance of writing and publishing diverse narratives about American girlhoods. Getting these stories past the gatekeepers, who often misunderstand and reject them for being “too quiet” or “too small,” requires courage and persistence. When our own inner critics tell us such stories don’t truly matter, how do we push beyond our doubt and continue writing on a path to publication?
Download event outline and supplemental documents.
Faculty, alumni, and current students of the MFA Program for Writers are invited to a private reception at Parlor KC.Friday, February 9 in the Living Room~Light refreshments and a cash bar will be available~ |
1707 Locust StreetKansas City, MO 64108 |
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 10
9:00 – 10:15 a.m.
S117. Writers Who Drag
Wo Chan , Addie Tsai (poetry, 2005), Elizabeth Hoover, Gabe Montesanti
Room 2103C, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
This queer, multigenre panel focuses on the art of drag and the ways in which concepts of hyperbole, metaphor, lyricism, and musicality can be directly applied to literary work. Panelists will discuss their work as drag artists and the way it informs their writing practice, or the ways in which they participate in linguistic drag to render categories of gender and genre malleable. Focuses will include what drag can teach writers about persona, considering an audience, and “erotic havoc.”
S131. The Fine Art of Craft Talking
Barrie Jean Borich, Jenny Johnson (poetry, 2011), Geffrey Davis, Suzanne Berne, Brenda Miller
Room 3501AB, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 3
At some point in our careers, we might be called upon to give a craft talk. The prospect of such a task can inspire both excitement and trepidation. In this lively discussion, panelists will speak to their experiences devising craft talks, and we’ll explore nuances of this genre, addressing questions such as: What is a craft talk? How do you write one? Are there certain conventions? Do you subvert those conventions? We’ll also discuss how to repurpose a craft talk for publication.
10:35 – 11:50 a.m.
S138. Be Gay, Do Crime: Teaching Queer and Trans Poetics in Dangerous Times
Meg Day, Oliver Bendorf, Donika Kelly, Ching-In Chen, Melissa Crowe)
Room 2103A, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
Given our nation’s latest investment in suppressing both bodies and books, what is at stake—newly, historically—in the teaching of queer and trans poetics? Five seasoned poet-educators, working inside the classroom, libraries, and community centers, gather to discuss navigating threats on the poems they teach, the poems they make, and the bodies they occupy as they do both. Panelists will offer experiential commentary and strategies for protecting, generating, and sustaining queer and trans people and poems.
S143. Getting the Word Out: Poets on Publicizing their Debut Collections
Thierry Kehou, Morgan LaRocca, Ae Hee Lee, Caitlin Cowan, Sebastian Merrill (poetry, 2021)
Room 2105, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
Poets & Writers presents a conversation with the authors selected for the inaugural poetry cohort of Get the Word Out, a publicity incubator for debut authors. They will be joined by the publicist who led the cohort and will discuss the strategies they learned and used to maximize the exposure of their first collections, from reaching readers to generating media buzz, and planning memorable events. Join us to learn about this exciting new program and pick up top tips on publicity for poets.
S152. Body Terrorism: Poems of Resistance, Defiance, and Survival
Jennifer Martelli (poetry, 1995), Chavonn Williams Shen, Subhaga Crystal Bacon (poetry, 1995)
Room 2502B, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2
In the United States today many of us are under constant attack by both the state and individuals. Anti-Black, -Indigenous, -woman, -trans, and -Queer violence; bans on gender-affirming care for adults and youth, bans on abortion; systemic racism, sexism, and fear-based decision-making at all levels of our communities cause degrees of harm physically and psychically. This group of poets will read and speak to these and other forms of body terrorism. We use poetry to speak out, speak up, and speak truth.
S160. Singing Our Joy: A Reading by Neurodivergent Poets
Nathan Spoon, Addie Tsai (poetry, 2005), Leslie McIntosh, Angela Peñaredondo, Ina Cariño
Room 3501 EF, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 3
Neurodivergent poets face many challenges and still we hold joy. Our different rhythms are too often viewed as wrong, bad, inappropriate, uncaring, lazy, childish, pointless, and more. With our whole selves we disagree, and with our poems we resist and dismantle such negative framing. We sing our joy. This event features five neurodivergent poets who will be reading toward the depths of neurodivergent joy.
12:10 – 1:25 p.m.
S173. Teaching Literary Editing and Publishing in a Creative Writing Curriculum
Michael Dumanis, Sally Keith, Srikanth Reddy, Hasanthika Sirisena, James Allen Hall
Room 2209, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level
How can coursework in literary editing and publishing, combined with hands-on experience working on a national publication, best support an undergrad or graduate creative writing curriculum? Five editors of literary journals who teach editing share strategies to engage students in questions of collaborative literary assessment, aesthetic judgment, representation and equity, and distinctive curation as they become stronger readers and writers through the discussion of manuscript submissions.
S184. A Reading by Suji Kwock Kim, Sara Daniele Rivera, & Nicole Sealey
Sara Daniele Rivera, Nicole Sealey, Ricardo Maldonado
Grand Ballroom A, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2
Award-winning poets Suji Kwock Kim, author of Notes from the North (Smith/Doorstop, U.K., 2021) and Notes from the Divided Country (Louisiana State University Press, 2003); Sara Daniele Rivera, author of The Blue Mimes (Graywolf Press, forthcoming 2024); and Nicole Sealey, author of The Ferguson Report: An Erasure (Penguin, 2023) and Ordinary Beast (Ecco Press, 2017), read from their work. Ricardo Maldonado, Executive Director and President of the Academy of American Poets, will introduce the event.
1:45 – 3:00 p.m.
S218. Queer Parenthood and Family-Making: A Reading
Nomi Stone (poetry, 2017), JP Howard, Sunu Chandy, Keetje Kuipers, Blas Falconer
Room 3501 EF, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 3
What forms do poets summon to wrestle with and queer kinship? In this reading, five queer poets of diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and poetics will share recent work on their experiences of parenthood and family-making: reckoning with questions of adoption, genetics, belonging, community, and fertility technologies. World-building beyond discrimination and across differences of class, race, and orientation, these poems offer alternate dreams of futurity.
3:20 – 4:45 p.m.
S241. Building Bridges: Literature and Climate Justice
Nadia Colburn, Sarah Rose Nordgren, Jason Myers, Roger Reeves, Jake Skeets
Room 2505AB, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2
Literature itself can be a form of activism, but what is the relationship between literature and nonliterary activism? How is literature distinct? As the environmental and climate crisis threatens life as we know it, five writers explore the relationship between writing (sometimes across genres) and environmental justice. They’ll discuss ways writers can both celebrate their unique contributions and build bridges with other fields to form greater connection, community, engagement, and action.
S246. Tupelo Press: Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Reading, Transendence and Diversity
Jeffrey Levine (poetry, 1998), J Mae Barizo, Iliana Rocha, Rohan Chhetri, Kelly Webber
Bookfair Stage, AWP Bookfair, Exhibit Halls D & E, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 3
Recognizing Tupelo’s twenty-five-year commitment to diversity, we are proud to offer a reading by four exemplary poets, each offering poems from their recent Tupelo Press books: J. Mae Barizo, reading from Tender Machines, Iliana Rocha, reading from The Many Deaths of Inocencio Rodriguez, Rohan Chhetri, reading from lost hurt or in transit beautiful, and Kelly Weber, reading from We Are Changed to Deer at the Broken Place. Followed by Q&A, moderated by Jeffrey Levine, Artistic Director of Tupelo.
Visit us – or volunteer for a shift – at our AWP Bookfair Booth: #3225
Thursday-Saturday, February 8-10 from 9 am to 5 pm
