This schedule is subject to change. The best way to make
sure you see everything is to register for the whole weekend!
Tickets for the whole weekend ($160, including two lunches and all programs): http://bit.ly/1ilVdm8
Tickets for Friday night only: http://bit.ly/1ilVdm8
Tickets for Saturday only (includes daytime workshops, Critics, Playwrights & Literary Death Match): http://bit.ly/1ilVdm8
Tickets for Sunday only: http://bit.ly/1ilVdm8
Tickets for the Critics' Panel: http://bit.ly/1ilVp50
Tickets for the Playwrights' Panel: http://bit.ly/1ilVp50
Tickets for Literary Death Match: http://bit.ly/1ilVp50
Tickets for the whole weekend ($160, including two lunches and all programs): http://bit.ly/1ilVdm8
Tickets for Friday night only: http://bit.ly/1ilVdm8
Tickets for Saturday only (includes daytime workshops, Critics, Playwrights & Literary Death Match): http://bit.ly/1ilVdm8
Tickets for Sunday only: http://bit.ly/1ilVdm8
Tickets for the Critics' Panel: http://bit.ly/1ilVp50
Tickets for the Playwrights' Panel: http://bit.ly/1ilVp50
Tickets for Literary Death Match: http://bit.ly/1ilVp50
Friday, April 25th
6:00 pm: Welcome Reception
7:00 pm: Keynote Conversation with Meg Wolitzer
Meg Wolitzer's novels include The Interestings; The Uncoupling; The
Ten-Year Nap; The Position; and The
Wife. She is also the author of a novel for young readers, The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman.
Wolitzer's short fiction has appeared in The
Best American Short Stories and has won a Pushcart Prize. Woltizer has been
reviewed with raves in the The New York
Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, the Atlantic, People,
and many more prestigious publications. She is a New York Times bestselling author. She will speak on the subject of
her writing life and her works.
8:00 pm: Book Signing with Meg Woltizer
Saturday, April 26th
ALL DAY: Buy the books of your favorite authors and get
them signed after each session
10:00 am: Workshops
Tim Parrish: In Tension: Conflict in Fiction and Memoir
Conflict/tension/friction--whatever
you want to call it--is the engine of good, dramatic, imaginative writing.
Conflict can be writ large or writ small in a single word. We'll talk about the
nature and role of conflict, complication, and resolution by first looking at
examples of conflict at the start of some published memoirs, novels, and short
stories. Then we'll identify and discuss what the conflicts are and how they're
created through event, prose style, and characterization. Don't expect much
lecturing. We'll be talking.
Susan Campbell: Ferreting Out the Facts
Non-fiction writing doesn't have to be boring. In fact, it
shouldn't be, so long as you subscribe to the notion that truth is stranger
(and richer) than fiction. In this workshop we’ll discuss how to research and
present reality.
Susan Schoenberger: Finding
an Agent
What does an agent
do for you? Do you even want one in today's ever-changing publishing world? If
you decide that you do, how do you go about finding one? We'll explore these
issues and leave plenty of time for individual questions about the often
mysterious and reliably complicated process of finding an agent.
11:00 am: Workshops
Bessy Reyna: Poetry as Memoir
According to poet Mark Doty,
"The great power of Poetry is the preservative. The ability to take a
moment in time and attempt to hold it." In this workshop divided
into 3 short segments, we will examine poems from Richard Blanco, Marilyn
Nelson and others, which illustrate how poetry can provide the
perfect gateway to our memories to transform them into beautifully
constructed short and intense narratives.
Mary Sharnick: Making A Scene: Jump Start
Your Novel
Novels are written
one scene at a time, each scene linking to the next and echoing the
former. In this hands-on class,
participants will draft one scene, conflating a particular context, a specific protagonist,
and a singular action. Doing so will
both advance plot and develop character. Materials will be provided by the
instructor.
Wayne English: Writing for the Web
Writing for the web
is not like writing for print. On the web brevity is paramount. Here you will
learn how to write clearly and succinctly. From the gritty to the sublime, this
program ranges from sentence and paragraph length to the nuances of effective
communication. The immense power of the published written word is in your
hands. Here you learn how to wield it.
Patrice Fitzgerald: Self-Publishing: The Reality of Doing It
Yourself
Join us for a workshop on self-publishing. We will explore
the indie musts: a good book, an appealing cover, whistle-clean editing,
and professional-level formatting. We will also talk about up-front
costs, marketing, and the pros and cons of traditional versus independent
publishing. "Hybrid" and assisted self-publishing will also be
discussed. You'll come away from this session with a clear-eyed view of
the possibilities for going it on your own rather than waiting… and waiting...
for the perfect query letter to appeal to just the right agent.
12:00 pm: Critics’
Panel
Three world-class
literary and cultural critics will discuss their work as critics, the
importance of literary critics today, and our current literary landscape. With
John Freeman (former editor of Granta),
Carole Goldberg (former Books Editor of the Hartford
Courant), and David Bromwich (a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences).
1:00 pm: Lunch break!
Lunch will be provided.
2:00 pm: Workshops
TJ Jarrett: Poetry
What are the six characteristics of great poems? This workshop addresses the methodologies employed by great poets and the personal desire to enjoy a poem instead of reading every one like an English major. We will compare and contrast methods employed by poets (Eavan Boland, Martha Collins, Ellen Bryant Voigt,and Natasha Trethewey) who are harnessing experience to achieve truth in creative work.
John Casey: What’s Funny
Since we'll be a the Mark Twain House, I think a session on what's
funny. One of the essays in my new book is called What's Funny. There's a lot
more to be said, and I hope that the participants will add some humor of their
own and/or reflections on how and why some things are funny. This wouldn't be
primarily a how-to workshop but an exploration, with some concentration on
written humor--how the requirements are different from those of spoken or
acted-out humor. I'll forward the essay to you, the one that could be the
jumping-off point for discussion.
Mike Morin: Pitching for Publicity
You've written the next Fifty Shades of Grey. Now what?
Nobody knows who you are and your publisher is counting on you to create some
buzz. As a radio host for over four decades, Mike shares what to say and to
whom to get that much-coveted free interview time that will get the public
excited about your book. He's also an author, so he knows how to work both
sides of this process. He'll show you how to reach tens of thousands of
listeners in three hours with radio tours. Buzz words to get a host or
producer interested in you as a guest. You'll learn to be an engaging
guest. Those who are game can try these ideas out in short mock interviews.
He'll cover public speaking and even tell you about celebrities who were trainwreck
interviews. Writing the book was easy. Getting publicity is the real work! Even
if you don't have a book, you're probably an expert in something as a writer
and the better you are at telling the world, the larger audience you'll
have.
3:00 pm: Workshops
Vivian Shipley: Revising for Publication
If you have submitted your work for publication and it has been rejected a couple of times, that may be an indication that it is not quite ready for publication. Based on my experience as Editor of Connecticut Review, I’ll give suggestions about what you might do in terms of revision to improve your chances of having your work published. The advice I give will be applicable to any genre of writing.
Patricia Chaffee: Freelancing for Local
Markets
Designed with the
emerging writer in mind, (and those seasoned folks who need a jump start) this
one- hour workshop will give writers the know-how to get that coveted first
byline and those much needed published clips. Learn about generating compelling
story ideas, approaching editors, finding your niche market, and more.
Susan Schoenberger: The Fiction Writer’s
Mindset
How does a fiction
writer look at the world, and how does that differ from a nonwriter or a
nonfiction writer? We'll talk about using your unique set of experiences and
your personality to bring your characters to life, to convey your insights
about the human experience, and to leave your readers nodding and saying,
"Yes, that's exactly how it feels."
Mary-Ann Tirone Smith: The Art of the Memoir: The Remembered Life
Autobiography skirts
the surface of a life without allowing the reader access to the messy,
conflicted and unapologetically subjective material of a memoir. Let us speak
of that subjective mess and learn how to embellish everything but the truth
through the creation of an irresistible and compelling narrative voice.
4:00 pm: Playwriting Panel
For the third year in a row, be
dazzled by incredible playwrights in conversation with one another. This year,
we welcome Edwin Sánchez (Barefoot Boy
With Shoes On), Ken Ludwig (Lend Me a
Tenor), and Douglas Carter Beane (Lysistrata
Jones; The Little Dog Laughed), in conversation with the Hartford Courant’s
Frank Rizzo.
5:30 pm: Dinner break!
Find a great meal out on the
town in Hartford.
6:30 pm: Literary
Death Match
Literary Death Match, co-created by
Adrian Todd Zuniga, marries the literary and performative aspects of Def
Poetry Jam, rapier-witted quips of American Idol’s judging
(without any meanness), and the ridiculousness and hilarity of Double Dare.
Each episode of this competitive, humor-centric reading series
features a thrilling mix of four famous and emerging authors (all representing
a literary publication, press or concern — online, in print or live) who
perform their most electric writing in seven minutes or less before a lively
audience and a panel of three all-star judges. After each pair of
readings, the judges — focused on literary merit, performance and
intangibles — take turns spouting hilarious, off-the-wall commentary about each
story, then select their favorite to advance to the finals.
The two finalists then compete in the Literary Death Match finale,
which trades in the show’s literary sensibility for an absurd and comical
climax to determine who takes home the Literary Death Match crown.
Sunday, April 27th
ALL DAY: Connecticut Authors and Publishers Book Fair
& Signing
10:00 am: Workshops
Steve Courtney: Telling Someone Else’s
Story
When your interest
in another person -- whether historical or contemporary -- goes over the line
into the pursuit of writing biography, a sort of alchemy takes place. Unusual
things happen, and you tread unexpected paths. It's the art of developing a
friendship of sorts with your subject -- but then again, not quite a
friendship, because strict honesty is an important part of the task. Great
biographies -- such as the late Justin Kaplan's Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain
-- set aside comprehensiveness and extraneous detail in the interest of
presenting a rounded portrait of a human being that continues to resonate. We
will hear from participants about their own biographical projects if they have
them; study New York Times obituaries, which are usually gemlike examples of
the biography form; and do a quick written exercise or two in personal
portraiture.
Ravi Shankar: Collaborate to Recreate; or How to use your Friends
to Make Yourself a Better Writer
We will trace the history of collaborative writing from the ancient
Japanese art of the renga to the Surrealists writing exquisite corpses, from
the practice of the Beats like Ginsberg and Kerouac to generating modern day
collaborations with computer programs, and we will look at the art of editing
and revision as an extension of collaborative thought. Finally we will put the
ideas we discuss into practice by generating a collaborative poem together,
playing off one another to write something that will both simultaneously
surprise us and that we still have some ownership over. If as Marcel Duchamp
said, "all art is a game played between people of different periods,"
then we will have fun with in rewriting the rules of our own writing practice.
Leslie Johnson: Fiction
Do you want inspiration for new story ideas? Do you need momentum to move forward with ideas you already have brewing? This interactive writing workshop will supply strategies for both. Leslie Johnson, short story writer, will share exercises using fictional voice and point of view to help you “find the way in” to your story idea and get it moving on the page. Participants will actively discuss, write, share, and leave with some specific tips and techniques for energizing the process of writing short fiction.
11:00 am: Workshops
Aisha Sabatini Sloan: The Architecture of the Essay
When drafting an essay, do you know the ending before you’ve begun? Or are you watching it unfold like a film? Following the life story of an ancient poet or charting the migration of a bird? Are you solving an epistemological mystery? The techniques used in film, photography, architecture, and other artistic traditions can help illuminate unforseen pathways for the essay to follow. During this workshop, we will explore some of the ways that an idea can be expanded in the drafting process— using maps, blueprints, collage, museum curation and other structural models—in order to facilitate the most elegant (and hopefully, surprising) final draft.
David Handler: Mystery
How does an author of whodunits actually figure
out whodunit? Find out this and many other secrets of the trade from one of
Connecticut's deftest practitioners of the gentle art of murder. We’ll
discuss crafting a mystery and answer all of your most pressing detective
fiction questions.
Christine Beck: What Writers Need to Know about the Law
The workshop will give an overview of three legal topics that
affect writers:
- Protecting your work against
unauthorized use or theft.
- Avoiding claims of defamation
by people you have written about either by name or in a way that makes
them recognizable.
- Avoiding claims that you have
used a trade name or product name without permission.
Vladimir Alexandrov: Researching and Writing a Forgotten Black American's Amazing Life
The Black Russian is Alexandrov’s recent biography of Frederick Bruce Thomas
(1872-1928), the remarkable son of Mississippi slaves who became a millionaire
entrepreneur in tsarist Moscow and the "Sultan of Jazz" in
Constantinople. Alexandrov will use the example of my book to discuss how
to do biographical research on people in the U. S., and on Americans who
went abroad, by using domestic and foreign archives, as well as libraries,
online data sources, and site visits. He’ll also describe the kinds of
surprise twists, turns, and discoveries that often accompany research of this
kind and that can make it into a highly enjoyable detective-like quest.
Other topics will include dealing with holes in your subject's life and how to
write and structure a biography for a trade press.
12:00 pm: Lunch break
A light lunch will be provided.
1:00 pm: Workshops
Matthew Dicks: A Sneak Peak Into the
Publishing Industry
The publishing industry is oftentimes a mysterious and impenetrable
realm. The road that a book follows from the writer's mind to the shelves of a
bookstore can be confusing, nebulous and uncertain. In this workshop, author
Matthew Dicks will discuss the path that a book travels from the first words
written on the page to its first appearance in a bookshop. Including in the
workshop will be the sale of the book, the author-editor relationship, the
complexities of publicity and marketing, the finances of publishing and much
more.
John Stanizzi: Synesthetic Poetry
A poetry writing workshop that attempts to abandon sense and theme and fact, and instead engages the imagination and intuition and association. No stress, and surprisingly fun!
Qais Akbar Omar: Case Study of a Memoir
The acclaimed author of “A Fort
of Nine Towers” will tell the story of fleeing warfare in Afghanistan, and
then discuss the writing of his memoir. Learn how one story became a publishing
phenomenon and how the act of writing transformed a horrifying experience into
a work of art.
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm: Closing program: Syllable Series!
The acclaimed Hartford reading
series, Syllable, brings the opportunity for workshop registrants to read 5
minutes of their work at a time to close out the program. Submit up to 2 pages
of work by lunchtime on this day and close out the program with presenting your
latest (or most polished) work to a crowd of peers. Readings will be curated by
Julia Pistell, Director of Writing at the Mark Twain House, in order to
showcase as wide a variety of writers as possible.
The mission of Syllable: A
Reading Series is to provide a space for Connecticut writers of all levels to
showcase their work, and to expose the public to a variety of writing styles.
Syllable aims to be another brick in the strong arts community in the Greater
Hartford area.
