Below you'll find the complete guide to everything nonfiction at Lit Fest 2021, including craft seminars and readings from headliners Hanif Abdurraqib, Jaquira Díaz, Leslie Jamison, T Kira Madden, and Emily Rapp Black. Choose intensives, seminars, and events á la carte or sign up for one of our festival passes for the full experience.
TWO-WEEKEND INTENSIVES
- Two-Weekend Intensive: Beyond Plot—Taking Your Writing to the Next Level with William Haywood Henderson
- Two-Weekend Intensive: Reading as a Writer—Alain de Botton’s Lived and Lyrical Nonfiction with Lisa Kennedy
ONE-WEEKEND INTENSIVES
- Queer Forms with Serena Chopra (June 12–13)
- One-Weekend Intensive: Listening to Images with Diana Khoi Nguyen (June 5-6)
CRAFT SEMINARS
To view all of the Lit Fest craft seminars, visit this page.
Friday, June 4
- Mooching from Munro with Amanda Rea
- Milieu: The World of Your Story with Dino Enrique Piacentini
- What Is a "Platform" and Why Do I Really Need One? with Wendy J. Fox
- Nature Writing in the Anthropocene with Evelyn Hampton
- Composition as Assemblage with Diana Khoi Nguyen
- Surviving the Rejection Blues with Vicki Lindner
- Humor Writing for People Who Are or Aren’t Funny (Yet) with Elissa Bassist
Saturday, June 5
- Truth into Fiction with John Cotter
- How To Identify (and Fix) the Boring Parts with Rachel Weaver
- Creating Art in Dark Times with R. Alan Brooks
- Tuning in to Your Characters: Using Music as Characterization with Anthony D'Aries
- I Thought I'd Be Done by Now with Rachel Weaver
- Maintaining a Consistent Writing Practice with Steven Dunn and Suzi Q. Smith
- Information Wars: From Dazed to Amazed with Helen DeWitt
Sunday, June 6
- The Genre Toolbox: Tropes, Archetypes, and Cliché with Traci Groff-Jones
- Lemons and Lemonade: Writing Your Pandemic Story with Daniel Levine
- Using Time in Narrative with Amanda Rea
- The Hidden Powers of Setting with Andrea Bobotis
- Punctuate Your Love with John Cotter
- Writer as Cartographer with Poupeh Missaghi
- The Element of Surprise with Elisa Gabbert
Monday, June 7
- The Living Object in Prose with Andrea Bobotis
- Do Your Research—Documentary Poetics with Abigail Chabitnoy
- Generating Inspiration with Alyse Knorr
- History into Narrative with Joel Warner
- Beyond Punditry with Steve Almond
- The Mind Outside the Head with Sheila Heti
- The Memoir Toolkit: Five Best Practices for Writing Your Book with Karen Auvinen
- Writing What You Don't Know with Linda Hogan
- Writing for Healing and Change with Joy Roulier Sawyer
Tuesday, June 8
- Bad to the Bone: Writing Villains with Erika Krouse
- Writing the Real and Surreal with José Olivarez
- Far-Flung Points of Light: Constellating Prose with Sasha Geffen
- It Only Hurts When I Laugh: Writing with Humor with Erika Krouse
- The Actor's Guide to Backstory with Susan Knudten
- Hermit Crabbing Your Prose: Moving Narrative into a New Structures with Chip Livingston
- Essential Self-Care for Writing Memoir with Tanja Pajevic
- Synesthesia with Sarah Elizabeth Schantz
- Writing the Active Setting with Tiffany Quay Tyson
Wednesday, June 9
- Using the Blank Space: Writing Nontraditional and Experimental Formats with Liz Breazeale
- The Full Swoop with T Kira Madden
- Multilingual Writing with Poupeh Missaghi
- Better Sorry Than Safe: Transcending Cliché with Jennnifer Wortman
- Speculative Nonfiction with Jaquira Díaz
- Dissecting the Frog: Humor in Writing with Nick Arvin
- Graphic Prose: Comics and Prose Writing with R. Alan Brooks
- The Art of Constraints: Setting Limits to Set Ourselves Free with Alexander Lumans
- Writing with the Moon Cycles with Courtney E. Morgan
- Boundaries and Strategies for Nonfiction Writers of Trauma with Cinelle Barnes
- Personal Archives with Leslie Jamison
- From the Beginning: Notes on Writing Prose Memoir and Book-length Works of Poetry with Carolyn Forché
Thursday, June 10
- Difficult Personas with Teow Lim Goh
- Turning Your Obsessions into Books with Steve Almond
- Writing the Lost Loved One with Ellen Blum Barish
- True (or Untrue) Confessions with Erika Krouse
- Getting Published: Stories, Essays, Articles, and Books with Jenny Shank
- How to Make the Ordinary Extraordinary with Mario Acevedo
- Blocking a Scene with William Haywood Henderson
- Memoir in a Time of Disaster with Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman
- Shut Up and Tell Me You Love Me: Dialogue Do's and Don'ts with Erika Krouse
- What's Wrong with My Book? Craft and Plotting Tips to Get You Submission-Ready with Courtney Maum
- Interiority Complex with Rebecca Makkai
- The Language of Love with Patrick Cottrell and Sarah Gerard
Friday, June 11
- The Way of the Artist Is a Surrender: Writing Hybrid, Crossing Genres with Addie Tsai
- Three Ways of Telling the Same True Story with Emily Rapp Black
- No Ideas but in Things with William Haywood Henderson
- Literature of Witness with Poupeh Missaghi
- What Oulipo Knows: How Constraint-Based Writing Can Push Your Work into Uncharted Territory with Jesse Morse
- Prompt Party with Joy Roulier Sawyer
- Live in the Layers: Mindfulness and Writing with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg
- Going Out in Style with Sarah Elizabeth Schantz
- Dream Weaving: Working with Dreams in Narrative with Jennifer Wortman
- Kill Your Darlings with Cynthia Swanson
Saturday, June 12
- Emotional Landscapes with Karen Auvinen
- The Multitudes: Scope, Organizing Principles, and Playing with Form in Essay Collections with Cinelle Barnes
- Discovering the Metaphor(s) with Chip Livingston
- Oh So Little Time with Paula Younger
- Echo Chamber: Poetics of Space with Abigail Chabitnoy
- Digging Up Your Ghosts: Vulnerable Writing and the Tools to Write Beyond the Grave with Hillary Leftwich
- A Roadmap to Publishing with Rachel Weaver
Sunday, June 13
- City, Town, Countryside: Making a Place's Story Your Own with Jenny Shank
- What to Write Next: In Search of Ideas with Traci Groff-Jones
- Breathing into Being: Crafting Atmospheres in Prose with Alexander Lumans
- The Breaking Point with Paula Younger
- Writing from the Family Archive with Carolina Ebeid
- Two Hours, Two Thousand Words with BK Loren
BUSINESS PANELS
- Friday, June 4: Business Panel: The Big Four
- Saturday, June 5: Business Panel: State of the Indies—Independent Publishing in 2021
- Sunday, June 6: Business Panel: Lit Mag Insights—What Are Editors Looking For?
- Monday, June 7: Business Panel: Nuts and Bolts—Money in Publishing
- Tuesday, June 8: Business Panel: Publishing Today
- Wednesday, June 9: Business Panel: Story of a Book—The Agent-Writer Partnership
- Thursday, June 10: Business Panel: Query Letters 101
- Saturday, June 12: Business Panel: Writing Responsibly
- Sunday, June 13: Business Panel: Freelancing in the Real World
EVENING EVENTS
- Lit Fest Kickoff Party with emcee Adam Cayton-Holland, live music, and more on June 4
- Inspiration Tour with Alex McElroy, Tarfia Faizulla, Alexander Lumans, and Diana Khoi Nguyen on June 6
- The Lit Fest Virtual Spelling Bee, hosted by The Spelling Bee Company on June 12
VISITING AUTHOR READINGS
- Monday, June 7: Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Hanif Abdurraqib and Layli Long Soldier
- Tuesday, June 8: Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Carolyn Forché and Gregory Pardlo
- Wednesday, June 9: Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Steve Almond and Rebecca Makkai
- Thursday, June 10: Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Emily Rapp Black, Jaquira Díaz, T Kira Madden
- Friday, June 11: Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Helen DeWitt, Sheila Heti, and Sarah Ruhl
- Sunday, June 13: Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Leslie Jamison, Mat Johnson
