Lit Fest 2023 Cheat Sheet

Craft Seminars 

Friday, June 9th
Morning Session (9:00-11:00 AM)

Desire and Power with William Haywood Henderson

Rediscovering Our Forgotten Tongues (Virtual) with Oso Guardiola

Talismans: Using Objects to Convey Emotion with Paula Younger

The Emily Dickinson Experience with Lynn Wagner

The Stranger Self (Livestream) with Leslie Jamison

The Stranger Self with Leslie Jamison

Afternoon Session (1:30-3:30 PM)

Writing Detective Stories with Poupeh Missaghi

The Laundry Line (Virtual) with Natalie Hodges

The Poetry of Spirituality with Joy Roulier Sawyer

Genre Becoming Shape: Hybrid Forms in Creative Nonfiction with Hillary Leftwich 

Ekphrastic Poetry with Carolina Ebeid

Early Evening Session (4:00-6:00 PM)

Poetic Revision and Praxis with Carmen Giménez 

Letters as a Literary Form with Teow Lim Goh

Let’s Get Weird: Mining Your Obsessions for Fiction with Tiffany Quay Tyson

Saturday, June 10th
Morning Session (9:00-11:00 AM)

Picture Books: Keeping the Illustrator in Mind with Denise Vega

Acting for Writers (Virtual) with Raeann Giles

Making Words Flesh: How Objects Accumulate Meaning in Fiction (Virtual) with Oso Guardiola 

Desire and Power with Dino Enrique Piacentini 

Building Your Own Emotional Thesaurus with Jenny Shank 

The Nonfiction Query Letter (Virtual) with Natalie Hodges 

Afternoon Session (1:30-3:30 PM)

Rev Up for Revision: Strategies to Elevate Your Next Draft with Alexander Lumans

Queering Plot with Selah Saterstrom

Stepping Out of Self: Using Fiction as a Memoir-Writing Tool (Virtual) with Morgan Sjogren 

Getting Published: Stories, Essays, Articles and Books with Jenny Shank 

Writing Historical Fiction: Findings Gems to Enrich Your Story with Kase Johnstun 

Cut-Up and Remix with Teow Lim Goh

Early Evening Session (4:00-6:00 PM)

Exploring the Various Schools of Prose Poetry (Virtual) with Jose Hernandez Diaz 

The Language We Inherit with Suzi Q. Smith

Art of the Interview with Joe Fassler

Sunday, June 11th
Morning Session (9:00-11:00 AM)

What We Don't, What We Can't, What We Never, What Is Not with Peter Markus

The Poetic Line: From Breath to Lineation with Radha Marcum

Beating the Blank Screen: Strategies to get Unstuck with Joe Fassler

Intro to Screenwriting (Virtual) with Raeann Giles

Afternoon Session (1:30-3:30 PM)

Reading and Writing Displacement with Poupeh Missaghi

And Then I Woke Up: Writing Endings for Short Fiction & Nonfiction with Jenny Shank 

Vulnerability, Voice, and Authenticity in Your Memoir's First Page with Kase Johnstun 

Sounds + Visions: How We Work Together (Virtual) with Maw Shein Win

Let's Get Practical: How To Write (and Sell) a Book In Two Years with Simone Stolzoff

Openings and Omens (Virtual) with Oso Gaurdiola 

Monday, June 12th
Afternoon Session (1:30-3:30 PM)

Getting it Done: 3 Hours Towards a Finished Draft with Sarah Elizabeth Schantz 

Object Lessons with Jonathan Escoffery 

Let’s Learn Writing from Translators with Poupeh Missaghi 

The Monster’s Tail: Writing Nightmares, Demons, and Other Fiends with Alexander Lumans 

Literary Archeology: Discovering Our Truth in Hybrid Memoir with Hillary Leftwich 

Shame On Me with Michelle Tea

Ruining All the Fun We Can with Patricia Smith

The Pitch: Placing Your Nonfiction in Magazines and Online with Joe Fassler

In the World: Writing Parenthood Beyond the Domestic with Emily Perez

Early Evening Session (4:00-6:00 PM)

Living in the Layers: Mindfulness & Writing (Virtual) with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Just Two Poems with Lynn Wagner

Reimagining "Truth" in Historical Fiction with Andrew Hernández

Seeing It Again: The Agonizing Necessity of Revision (Livestream) with Andre Dubus III

Birth of Style with John Cotter

Inspiration and Techniques for Older Writers with Cynthia Swanson

The Poetic Line with Suzi Q. Smith

Using Google Images to Enhance Your Nonfiction with Kase Johnstun 

Seeing It Again: The Agonizing Necessity of Revision with Andre Dubus III

Tuesday, June 13th 
Afternoon Session (1:30-3:30 PM)

The Poetics and Meanderings of Travel Writing with Juan J. Morales 

How to Write Riveting Scenes with Steve Almond

The Anatomy of a Standout Poetry Manuscript with Radha Marcum 

The Poetics of Childhood with Peter Markus

Working with Beta Readers with Cynthia Swanson

Picture Book Endings: Wow Your Readers with Denise Vega

The Familiar Stories: Using Myths, Legends, and Fairy Tales to Inspire Your Fiction with Tiffany Quay

Tyson

Persona and the Poem (Virtual) with Elizabeth Robinson

Contemporary Ekphrasis with Forrest Gander

Early Evening Session (4:00-6:00 PM)

Free Indirect: A Notorious P.O.V with John Cotter

The Origins of the Original (Livestream) with Rebecca Makkai 

The Origins of the Original with Rebecca Makkai

Poetry is For the Birds (Virtual) with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg 

Exploring Surreal Prose Poetry Through Generative Prompts (Virtual) with Jose Hernandez Diaz

Love Your Villains, Hate Your Heroes with Andrew Hernández

Temporal Mechanics: What Speculative Fiction Can Teach Us about Writing Time with Ted McCombs

What To Do When You Don't Know What To Do with Akhil Sharma

Wednesday, June 14th
Afternoon Session (1:30-3:30 PM)

Your Visual Poetics (Virtual) with Cindy Juyoung Ok

Crappy Jobs and Weird Food: Creating Your Setting and Culture with Erika Krouse

Interiority Complex with Rebecca Makkai 

Interiority Complex (Livestream) with Rebecca Makkai

Minding the Gap: On Memory, Bias, and the Blind Spot (Virtual) with Angelique Stevens 

Spoiler Alert with Paula Younger

Using Epistolary Form to Jump Start a Poem with Emily Perez

A Whole Vibe: Mood, Tone, and Atmosphere in Fiction with Andrea Bobotis

Early Evening Session (4:00-6:00 PM)

Creating a Fiasco with Paula Younger

The Rancidity of the Butter: Big Ideas and Actual Writing with Amitava Kumar

Imagination Station with Erika Krouse

Insects and Poetic Inspiration (Virtual) with Jodie Hollander

When News Breaks in Your Backyard: How to Craft and Pitch a Timely Essay with Jenny Shank

Ask Me Anything: Sheila Heti and Rachel Kushner in Conversation with Rachel Kushner and Sheila Heti

Ask Me Anything: Sheila Heti and Rachel Kushner in Conversation (Livestream) with Rachel Kushner and Sheila Heti

Ekphrastic Writing (Virtual) with Chip Livingston 

Telling Time with Sarah Elizabeth Schantz

Thursday, June 15th
Morning Session ( 9:00-11:00 AM)

Get Out Of Your Own Way (Virtual) with Alyse Knorr

Afternoon Session (1:30-3:30 PM)

How to Write a Tragicomic Memoir with Elissa Bassist

Writing Your Obsessions with Steve Almond

Writing the Workplace with Katie Kitamura

Writing the Workplace (Livestream) with Katie Kitamura 

Seeing the Big Picture: Techniques for Revising Books with Jenny Shank

The Sequence Poem with Sawnie Morris

Writing Place (Virtual) with Ellen Blum Barish 

Writing About Race and Identity in Children's/YA (Virtual) with Rachel Werner

Crash Course to Hybrid Writing (Virtual) with Alyse Knorr

Early Evening Session (4:00-6:00 PM)

Fate and Chance with Sheila Heti

Hermit Crabbing the Essay (Virtual) with Chip Livingston

Writing in Response (Virtual) with Cindy Juyoung Ok

Casting Characters with Sarah Elizabeth Schantz

Outsmarting Your Outlines with R. Alan Brooks

Creatures of Impulse with Dean Bakopoulos 

The Personal and Political in Nonfiction with Nadia Owusu

Mining Memories (Virtual) with Alyse Knorr

Friday, June 16th
Afternoon Session (1:30-3:30 PM)

Creating Character Through Voice with William Haywood Hendserson

Poetry and Punctuation with Sawnie Morris 

Travel Writing with Poupeh Missaghi 

Significant Detail: Making Meaning with Claire Messud

​​Significant Detail: Making Meaning (Livestream) with Claire Messud

Failure Is an Option with Steve Almond 

Creating Art in Dark Times with R. Alan Brooks

The Essay In Ten Types (Virtual) with Ellen Blum Barish 

List Poems (Virtual) with Elizabeth Robinson 

Found Poetry: Creating the New from the Now with Grace Wagner