The Fiction Writer's Guide to Lit Fest 2023

Below you'll find the complete guide to everything fiction at Lit Fest 2023, including craft seminars and readings from headliners Steve Almond, Jonathan Escoffery, Sheila Heti, and more. Choose intensives, seminars, and events á la carte or sign up for one of our festival passes for the full experience.

Two-Day Intensives

June 10-11
Breaking Rules (Safely) 
John Cotter, 9:00am - 12:00pm
Anyone can smash rules recklessly. We’ll do something harder and better—we’ll break rules carefully, in subtle and insinuating ways that will make our fiction not just daring, but moving, elusive, fresh. In this generative workshop, we’ll study examples from Julie Otsuka, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, and Steven Millhauser. We’ll tell instead of showing, we’ll base our characters on stock types, we’ll not trust the reader, and we’ll let all our darlings live. We’ll try lots of in-class exercises, and we’ll leave iconoclasts.

Obsessions
William Haywood Henderson, 9:00am - 12:00pm
All writers have a particular lens on the world, a way of seeing, a way of understanding, and certain questions that they return to time and again across their writing career. It’s interesting to discover what you’re obsessed with and why—you can use this knowledge to dig deeper into what matters to you, and it’s only through exploring your obsessions (and fears and desires) that you’ll find your most individual and compelling voice and vision. In this intensive, we’ll dig into your brain and see what’s hidden there, and then we’ll explore how your material shapes itself on the page.

The Ghost, The Glimmer: A Generative and Experimental Workshop
Sarah Elizabeth Schantz, 1:00 - 4:00pm
Using divination techniques like bibliomancy, Tarot, and other oracles, we’ll borrow from Pam Houston's “glimmer” to draw down the muse. Thinking about what haunts us, we’ll rummage in the etymology of words, excavate the archives, and call upon our ancestors. We’ll explore the zeitgeist and the overlap of past, present, and tomorrow in narrative. We’ll throw the stones, write down the bones, and wrap our fingers around our roots. Considering the power of the invisible (subtext, secrets, the arcane, the “truth,” or even God), this intensive is generative while focusing on the art of revision as resurrection for some of the darlings we had to kill.

June 12-13
Strange Story Structures
Erika Krouse, 4:00 - 7:00pm
Freytag, get lost! In this two-day intensive, we’ll read, explore, and try a variety of short story structures that range from the alternative to the bizarre: the montage, the list, the instructional, the backward story, metafiction, the “Rashomon,” the floater, and much more! Emphasis will be on mass generation rather than perfected and read-aloud-able work. Prose writers of any genre can expect example readings, brief discussions, and lots of exercises focusing on techniques you’ve never tried before. Come to class with one idea or fifteen; leave with exciting new writing and your mind on fire.

June 13-14
Humor Writing for People Who Are or Aren't Funny (Yet)
Elissa Bassist, 4:00 - 7:00pm
We’ll break down a short comedy piece in order to write/publish our own in venues like NewYorker.com’s Daily Shouts. We’ll discuss premise, structure, speaker, target, deviating from reality, and other tricks that apply to all writing, including personal essays, novels, and dating profiles. There will be readings, handouts, and brainstorming exercises to bring out what you have to offer as a writer. After day one, each participant will write a short (150-500 words) piece (parody, satire, character monologue) to share/workshop the next day. After two days, everyone will have new skills, but if not, it's not the instructor’s fault.

 

Craft Seminars

Friday, June 9
Morning Session (9:00 to 11:00 AM MDT)

Afternoon Session (1:30 to 3:00 PM MDT)

Early Evening Session (4:00 to 6:00 PM MDT)

 

Saturday, June 10
Morning Session (9:00 to 11:00 AM MDT)

Afternoon Session (1:30 to 3:00 PM MDT)

 

Sunday, June 11
Morning Session (9:00 to 11:00 AM MDT)

Afternoon Session (1:30 to 3:00 PM MDT)

 

Monday, June 12
Afternoon Session (1:30 to 3:00 PM MDT)

Early Evening Session (4:00 to 6:00 PM MDT)

 

Tuesday, June 13
Afternoon Session (1:30 to 3:00 PM MDT)

Early Evening Session (4:00 to 6:00 PM MDT)

 

Wednesday, June 14
Afternoon Session (1:30 to 3:00 PM MDT)

Early Evening Session (4:00 to 6:00 PM MDT)

 

Thursday, June 15
Afternoon Session (1:30 to 3:00 PM MDT)

Early Evening Session (4:00 to 6:00 PM MDT)


Friday, June 16
Afternoon Session (1:30 to 3:00 PM MDT)

Events and Parties
Friday, June 9

Lit Fest Soft Opening - 6:00 to 8:00 PM MDT


Saturday, June 10

Poetry Collective Celebration - 4:30 to 6:00 PM MDT
Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Grace M. Cho, Jonathan Escoffery, Carmen Giménez, Leslie Jamison - 7:00 to 8:15 PM MDT


Sunday, June 11

Queer Creatives Brunch - 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM MDT
The Kickoff Party* - 6:00 to 9:00 PM MDT


Monday, June 12

Friday 500: Book Project Spotlight - 4:30 to 6:00 PM MDT
Writing in Color Presents: Happy Hour and Film Screening/Discussion - 6:00 to 9:00 PM MDT


Tuesday, June 13

Lit Fest Fellows Reading and Find Your Collective - 4:30 to 6:00 PM MDT
Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Sheila Heti, Katie Kitamura, Amitava Kumar, Rachel Kushner, Claire Messud - 7:00 to 8:15 PM MDT


Wednesday, June 14

A Night of Culinary Storytelling* - 4:30 to 6:00 PM MDT
Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Steve Almond, Forrest Gander, Rebecca Makkai, Nadia Owusu, Akhil Sharma - 7:00 to 8:15 PM MDT


Thursday, June 15

Queer Creatives Presents: Game Night - 4:30 to 6:00 PM MDT
Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Dean Bakopoulos, Andre Dubus III, Patricia Smith, Michelle Tea - 7:00 to 8:15 PM MDT


Friday, June 16

Closing Party - 6:00 to 9:00 PM MDT
 

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