AWP is almost upon us!
Next week, over 12,000 attendees—writers, editors, publishers, teachers, students, and book lovers—will descend upon Tampa, Florida for four days of literary madness. The conference features presentations; readings; panel discussions; craft lectures; a bookfair with over eight-hundred presses, journals, and literary organizations from around the globe; and numerous offsite events and readings in the nearby area.
This is wonderful, and also terribly overwhelming. The best part of AWP is being surrounded by every writer you’ve ever followed on social media. This is also the worst part; us writers are known to be alternately social and reclusive, so make sure to find yourself some quiet time.
Below, we offer a selection of panels, readings, and events that we are especially excited for (including our own offsite event!). We suggest these as a starting point, along with remembering to drink a lot of water, tossing some granola bars in your tote bag of choice, getting some sleep, and stopping by The Rumpus bookfair tables (T720 & T722) for all your Rumpus merchandise needs, including our limited-edition Dear Sugar WLAMF mug AND a brand-new, limited-run mug in celebration of the Rumpus matriarchy!
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Wednesday, March 7
The Fifth Annual Rock and Roll Reading
Reservoir Bar
1518 East 7th Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33605
6 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
Rapid-fire rock and roll readings! First reader at 6 p.m.! No cover! Lots of exclamation points!
Emceed by Amy Silverberg. Readers include Kristen Arnett, Tasha Lamberto Coryell, Mo Daviau, Emily Geminder, Megan Giddings, Lyz Lenz, Jennifer Maritza McCauley, Daniel Nester, Edward Skoog, Brandon Taylor, Jason Tougaw, and Jim Warner!
Thursday, March 8
The Body’s Story: On Writing Narratives of Illness
Room 5 & 6, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
9 a.m.–10:15 a.m.
When a writer’s body asserts its story, the writer must respond. How can we truthfully represent illness on the page? What are political and philosophical concerns, particularly when readers might expect a “cure” or other reassuring resolution? Nonfiction writers talk frankly about composition process, and suggest authors for further investigation and modeling. This panel addresses practical realities of navigating teaching and publishing as a writer with disability, disease, or chronic illness.
Panelists include Sonya Huber, Suleika Jaouad, Porochista Khakpour, and Esmé Weijun Wang. Moderated by Sandra Beasley.
Writing/Motherhood: Difficulty, Ambivalence, and Joy
Room 20 & 21, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
9 a.m.–10:15 a.m.
The fear of a “bad poem with a baby in it,” as Joy Katz puts it, is just one of the challenges of writing about mothering. There’s also the practical difficulties of writing while raising children. The poets on this panel speak back to cultural narratives about motherhood and writing, which often position motherhood as an all-consuming, joyous state at odds with art-making. Panelists will read poems and share ideas and experiences about navigating the intense work of writing and mothering.
Panelists include Carolina Ebeid, Chanda Feldman, Emily Pérez, and Chelsea Rathburn. Moderated by Nancy Reddy.
The Pleasures and Pains of Small Press Publishing
Florida Salon 4, Marriott Waterside, Second Floor
9 a.m.–10:15 a.m.
Small presses offer unique advantages and challenges for writers. This panel seeks to help writers successfully navigate the world of indie publishing across genres, especially as additional work falls on writers’ shoulders, from hiring outside editors to generating publicity. Poets, playwrights, fiction writers, essayists, and editors discuss the practices that helped them foster high quality books and connect with readers while addressing the limitations of the small press world.
Panelists include Conner Bassett, Olivia Kate Cerrone, Peg Alford Pursell, and Monica Wendel. Moderated by Thaïs Miller.
It’s (Not) All About Me: Personal Writing in an Age of Narcissism
Florida Salon 6, Marriott Waterside, Second Floor
10:30 a.m.–11:45 a.m.
People who write about themselves are often accused of being self-absorbed, but is that true? Five contributors to The Sun talk about the perils and potential of personal writing. How do you construct a narrative about yourself that touches other people’s lives? We’ll explore the craft of personal essays as well as issues related to class, gender, and race. We’ll also ask: in these fraught times, should the personal also be political?
Panelists include Jaquira Diaz, Sy Safransky, Heather Sellers, and Crystal Williams. Moderated by Krista Bremer.
Destruction and Creation: Addiction, Recovery, and Writing
Room 22, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
12 p.m.–1:15 p.m.
The addiction story, though centuries old, is a breaking one. Five authors who write from the edges present addiction perspectives and offer their approaches, both practical and emotional, to writing about addiction and recovery and the role addiction plays in their creative lives. The addiction myth operates in profound ways both historically and presently in the lives of writers. How do vocation and addiction intersect? How do we write in and through addiction spaces, images, and narratives?
Panelists include Melissa Febos, Rob Roberge, and Vanessa Mártir. Moderated by Kelly Thompson.
Writing the Body in the 21st Century
Room 18 & 19, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
12 p.m.–1:15 p.m.
Writing about the body is part of a long tradition, and today’s rapidly shifting social and political landscape has given a new urgency to discussions about how bodies are perceived across boundaries of race, class, and sexual orientation. Graywolf Press brings together four writers of fiction and poetry with very different approaches to writing about the body. They will read from their latest books and Graywolf Press editor Steve Woodward will moderate a discussion about these approaches.
Panelists include Steph Burt, Tarfia Faizullah, Carmen Maria Machado, and Danez Smith. Moderated by Steve Woodward.
The Historical Women: Reimagining Past Narratives Through the Contemporary Female Perspective
Room 15, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
12 p.m.–1:15 p.m.
“Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul,” said Coretta Scott King during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. What can we learn from reimagined female historical narratives? What is their timely relevance in the current political climate? This panel will also discuss the craft of shaping a nonfiction tale to a modern day story, and how to create female characters that break barriers and make a history of their own.
Panelists include Amelia Gray, Min Jin Lee, Megan Mayhew , and Lidia Yuknavitch. Moderated by Chanelle Benz.
Out of Our Head and Into the World: Writers on Live Performance
Room 12, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
12 p.m.–1:15 p.m.
The flow of language. The urgency of subject matter. An honest response from an immediate audience. We know that reading aloud benefits our writing, but what about our lives? How does performing our work lead to the next career step? How does it build our communities? How does it help us heal? In this lively conversation, five writers working in multiple genres will examine how, as Francine Prose said, “reading your work aloud will not only improve its quality but save your life in the process.”
Panelists include Fatimah Asghar Lindsay Hunter, Samantha Irby, and C. Russell Price. Moderated by Megan Stielstra.
Writing from Privilege: Who Can Write What and Why?
Room 25, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
1:30 p.m.–2:45 p.m.
What does it mean to write from a position of privilege? How should white writers navigate their privileged positions? Are writers of color exempt, or are all writers inherently privileged by way of having the opportunities to pursue literary careers? In this panel, writers of a diversity of backgrounds and formats will discuss the question of who has permission to write what, and how it influences their willingness to write outside the confines of their race, gender, economic class, and more.
With panelists Kirstin Chen, Vanessa Hua, Kim Liao, and Kelly Luce. Moderated by Kaitlin Solimine.
Broad Humor, FunnyGrrls, Excellent Women: Fiction Writers on Gender and Comedy
Room 12, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
1:30 p.m.–2:45 p.m.
How does comic fiction addressing gender become distinctive and sustain its humor? What different strategies and forms can literary writers deploy to make their fiction funny, and how does gender factor into this work being taken… seriously? What lessons can we learn from the rise of women performing comedy? How do parody and satire register on the page? Women writers of fiction with distinctive humorous styles consider approaches to questions of form, genre, pacing, and laughs.
Panelists include Mo Daviau, Eileen Pollack, Julie Schumacher, and Asali Solomon. Moderated by V.V. Ganeshananthan.
Gathering Crumbs from the Lost Cake: Channeling Mood, Melancholy, and the Muse
Room 22, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
3 p.m.–4:15 p.m.
Of his depression, the poet Robert Lowell wrote, “Most of the best poems, the most personal, are gathered crumbs from the lost cake.” While mental illness can have a debilitating impact on the writer’s temperament and output, it can also push the work to extraordinary places. Exploring the myth of the tortured artist, five writers will share how they have channeled turmoil, stigma and shame into works of insight, compassion and deeply meaningful expressions of the human condition.
Panelists include Colette Arrand, Morgan Parker, Linda Gray Sexton, and Brandon Taylor. Moderated by Lisa Mecham.
Wesleyan University Press Poetry Reading
Room 18 & 19, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
3 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
Politically aware poets read from their latest work, reacting to our political climate and reflecting on our place, as individuals, in an unsettled world. Exploring the anxieties and isolation of our troubled times—these voices ponder how we can care for ourselves and each other. We ask, is it possible to break free from a seemingly endless, soul-numbing cycle of emotions, moving through outrage, mourning, and despair, again and again?
Panelists include Kazim Ali, Brenda Hillman, Evie Shockley, and Kerri Webster. Moderated by Sarah Blake.
Writing Before You Write: How to Write a Book Proposal
Florida Salon 5, Marriott Waterside, Second Floor
4:30 p.m.–5:45 p.m.
The nice thing about nonfiction is you can sell it on proposal. The challenging thing about nonfiction is that you must write a book proposal. But how can you envision and communicate an entire book’s narrative arc before you’ve even written it? This diverse panel of prominent writers with a successful track record of pitching book proposals will detail and provide insights into what it takes to get a nonfiction book deal while exploring topics of professional etiquette and artistic integrity.
With panelists Elizabeth Isadora Gold, Marie Mockett, Ashley C. Ford, and Ayesha Pande. Moderated by Christine Hyung-Oak Lee.
Avoiding the Sunken Place: On Blackness, Selfhood, and the MFA
Grand Salon B, Marriott Waterside, Second Floor
4:30 p.m.–5:45 p.m.
What is it like to earn your MFA as a Black writer? What are the benefits? What are the pitfalls? Five multigenre writers of the African diaspora discuss what they fought or fear losing about their identity while pursing their MFA and the subtle and not so subtle ways Black narratives are dissolved into the literary mainstream. Panelists will also reflect on how their MFA experience shaped their self-hood and their sense of community on the page and off.
Panelists include Tara Betts, Yahdon Israel, Jessica Lanay, and Dennis Norris II. Moderated by Dianca London Potts.
AWP Offsite Reading: Barrels Grimly Crashing into the Sun
C.1949 Florida Beer Garden
6905 North Orleans Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33604
5 p.m.–6:30 p.m.
Join Always Crashing, Barrelhouse, Grimoire, and Vestiges/Black Sun Lit at C.1949 Florida Beer Garden for beer, readings, and a generally lovely time. Readers include Elise Blackwell, Gabriel Blackwell, Dan Brady, Emily Corwin, Safia Elhillo, Andy Farkas, Erin Fleming, Virginia Konchan, Evan Lavender-Smith, Michael Martone, Vi Khi Nao, and Chris Tonelli.
AWP Reading: University of Akron Press and Gold Wake Press
Chez Faby
500 N. Tampa Street, Tampa, FL 33602
6 p.m.–8 p.m.
The University of Akron Press and Gold Wake Press will be teaming to bring you a lineup of twelve writers, including Aimée Baker, Anne Barngrover, Justin Bigos, Nick Courtright, Eileen G’Sell, Matthew Guenette, Kyle McCord, Jennifer Moore, Emilia Phillips, Glenn Shaheen, Sandra Simonds, and Erin Stalcup.
Wine & Words: AWP18 Offsite Reading
Jet City Espresso & Wine Cafe Seminole Heights
5803 North Florida Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33604
7:30 p.m.–11 p.m.
AWP Tampa offsite reading event sponsored by Alternating Current Press. Featured readers include Ruth Awad, Tabitha Blankenbiller, Alexander Chee, Paul Lisicky, Steph Post, Rion Amilcar Scott, Jared Yates Sexton, and Eric Shonkwiler. This is a free event, and will have free swag and a free raffle to win autographed books and prizes throughout the night. Readers will sign books. Specialty coffees, craft beer, wine, champagne, homemade sangria, smoothies, food, and snacks available for purchase.
AWP: 32 Poems, Adroit, AGNI, Denver Quarterly, Quarterly West
Jackson’s Bistro Bar & Sushi
601 S Harbour Island Boulevard, Tampa, Florida 33602
An invigorating, inspiring evening of food, drink, and good writing, featuring contributors of 32 Poems, The Adroit Journal, AGNI, Denver Quarterly, and Quarterly West! This event is free, and will provide the perfect conclusion for the first day of AWP! Readers include Hadara Bar-Nadav, Michael Bazzett, Kai Carlson-Wee, Sumita Chakraborty, Victoria Chang, Cortney Lamar Charleston, Ye Chun, Megan Fernandes, Jess deCourcy Hinds, John Jodzio, Stephen Kampa, Paige Lewis, Wayne Miller, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Paisley Rekdal, Raena Shirali, Maggie Smith, Brandon Thurman, Michael Wasson, and Kathleen Winter.
Please note: Seating is limited. Please RSVP as soon as possible to guarantee your seat. (A livestream link will be available to those who RSVP via Eventbrite and Facebook.)
AADOREE/Apogee/No Tokens Offsite Marathon Reading at AWP18
715 N Franklin Street, Tampa, FL 33602
10 p.m.–11:30 p.m.
Join three independent literary journals and an assemblage of writers for a marathon reading during AWP 2018 in Tampa! All three magazines produce online content and print issues and will have merchandise on sale at the event. The reading is free and open to the public, but we will be “passing the hat” or asking for optional donations at some capacity during the reading—which will go immediately back into paying our readers for their time. Readers include Reem Abu-Baker, Colette Arrand, Kayleb Rae Candrilli, Shelley Feller, Tony Fu, Sheree Greer, Yuki Jackson, Tim Jones-Yelvington, Muriel Leung, Natalie Lima, Dantiel W. Moniz, Gloria Muñoz, Deesha Philyaw, Dawn Raffel, Tatiana Ryckman, Benjamin Schaefer, Paul Tran, and Vanessa Angélica Villarreal.
PLEASE NOTE: this is a special Lector Literary Wine Bar Pop-Up and is not at the main location on Florida Avenue. Our event will be located downtown at 715 North Franklin Street, on the second floor. The entrance is right beside The Hub Package Store. The second floor is up a walk-up of stairs, and there is no elevator available.
Friday, March 9
Past as Present: The Relevance of History in Fiction
Room 18 & 19, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
9 a.m –10:15 a.m.
Historical fiction may conjure an image of a swooning Victorian lady or hardscrabble homesteader, but the contemporary meaning and urgency of novels set in the past is complex and often overlooked. This panel explores how the prism of history enables reflection that’s impossible in contemporary settings; how the subjectivity of interpreting history leads to innovation and discovery; the line between revising history and reimagining lives; and whether history may “belong” to anyone.
Panelists include Allison Amend, Alexander Chee, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, and Yoojin Grace Wuertz. Moderated by Amy Brill.
Forthcoming: Debut Novelists on What They Wish They’d Known Before Publication
Florida Salon 1, 2, & 3, Marriott Waterside, Second Floor
9 a.m.–10:15 a.m.
You have a book contract—now what? What can you expect and how can you make your book stand out in a noisy, crowded market? Recent debut novelists—of adult and YA, published by large and small houses—share advice on the run-up to publication, from the nuts and bolts of the process to savvy marketing. Topics include: publication timeline; navigating editorial and marketing conversations; websites; blurbs; reviews; independent publicists; creative promotion; book tours; and finding your readers.
Panelists include Tiffany D. Jackson, Lisa Ko, Rachel Lyon, and Patricia Park. Moderated by Jessie Chaffee.
More Than Just a Magazine: Literary Community Building in the Digital Age
Room 20 & 21, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
12 p.m.–1:15 p.m.
In recent years, online “magazines” have become much more than just literary repositories, thanks to subscriber engagement at multiple levels and the flexibility and immediacy of social media. Editors from The Rumpus, Lit Hub, Guernica, Catapult, and Brevity will discuss how blogs, book clubs, live events, anthologies, classes, Facebook events, member-only content, and other creative innovations increase readership and expand literary community.
Panelists include Hillary Brenhouse, Jonny Diamond, Kirsten Reach, and Marisa Siegel. Moderated by Dinty W. Moore.
Flesh and Blood: Women Writing Our Bodies
Cody D. Todd Memorial Stage, Sponsored by USC, Exhibit Hall, Tampa Convention Center, Third Floor
12 p.m.–1:15 p.m.
Throughout history, women have been discouraged and even forbidden from articulating the realities of living in a female body. Join the International Women’s Writing Guild in a discussion of the issues women face when exploring their bodies as subject material including overcoming personal shame, fear of exposure, limited publishing options, and bullying in in the cyber-universe. We’ll discuss how giving voice to our body is both a political act and a way of taking back ownership of ourselves.
With panelists Tabitha Blankenbiller, Lisa Freedman, Dixie L. King, PhD, and Arielle Silver. Moderated by Janice Gary.
Go Home! Asian American Writers Imagine Home Beyond a Place
Room 11, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
1:30 p.m.–2:45 p.m.
For many immigrant writers, home is more and less than a place. Home might be found in a language that one is losing one’s grasp of. Home might have been lost in the aftermath of war. Home might be an impossibility. The writers on this panel, all contributors to the new anthology Go Home!, discuss how they navigate ideas of home in their writing. How can fiction, nonfiction, and poetry approach home? What does it mean to write for people with different ideas of home?
Panelists include Gina Apostol, Karissa Chen, Rajiv Mohabir, and Esmé Weijun Wang. Moderated by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan.
Stranger and Truthier Than Truth: Fiction in the Age of Trump
Ballroom A, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
4:30 p.m.–5:45 p.m.
There’s an increasing movement to combat the turbulent political climate with nonfiction essays and personally revealing hot takes. However, fantasy worlds can act as society’s mirror just as acutely. Part of resisting can be frivolity and a refusal to eschew whimsy. In a post-fact world, the most equipped soldiers can be those who deal in making it up. Award-winning fiction writers will talk about why the “lie” of fiction matters now, and how fiction can be truthier than truth.
Panelists include Kelly Link, Manuel Gonzales, Helen Phillips, and Toni Jensen. Moderated by Marie-Helene Bertino.
AWP ’18 Offsite: Sinking Ground, Rising Voices
CAVU
1601 North Franklin Street, Tampa, Florida 33602
7 p.m.–10 p.m.
Burrow Press, Catapult, Electric Literature, and The Rumpus proudly present SINKING GROUND, RISING VOICES, an AWP 2018 offsite event. With readings from Marie-Helene Bertino, Ben Gwin, Lisa Ko, Alicia Mountain, Safiya Sinclair, and Javier Zamora! Emceed by Tabitha Blankenbiller! Sponsored by Submittable and Aevitas Creative Management.
Doors open at 7 p.m., readings begin at 7:30 p.m., music and mingling to follow.
Tarpaulin Sky/Essay Press/Reality Beach AWP Offsite Reading
The Blind Tiger Cafe (Ybor City)
1901 East 7th Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33605
7 p.m.
Join Tarpaulin Sky Press, Essay Press, and Reality Beach for an evening of readings by some of the most exciting voices in literature! Featuring Mary-Kim Arnold, Jennifer S. Cheng, Piper Daniels, Shira Dentz, Kenning J.P. Garcia, Johannes Göransson, Dylan Krieger, Carrie Lorig, and Amie Zimmerman.
Gremlins 3: AWP
QUAID Gallery
5128 North Florida Avenue
Tampa, Florida 33603
7 p.m.–10 p.m.
Join Wonder, Ugly Duckling Presse, Civil Coping Mechanisms, and Theme Can for an AWP offsite reading. Readers include Ben Fama, Liz Bowen, Bianca Stone, Josef Kaplan, Bridget Talone, Ed Steck, Shy Watson, Amy Saul-Zerby, Rachelle Toarmino, Ben Pease, Kim Calder, and Vi Khi Nao.
Saturday, March 10
Only Connect: Building Literary Community Beyond the MFA
Florida Salon 1, 2, & 3, Marriott Waterside, Second Floor
10:30 a.m.–11:45 a.m.
Community is often touted as the best reason to get an MFA. But what happens when the program ends, or if an MFA isn’t right for you? Administrators from organizations changing the literary ecosystem discuss the opportunities for connection that exist in nonacademic settings. Topics include writing, publishing, and networking on- and offline; teaching and studying outside of academia; and how writers from every educational background can find and build their own sustaining, creative communities.
Panelists include Ken Chen, Saeed Jones, Alison Murphy, and Christine Texeira. Moderated by Julie Buntin.
Nevertheless, She Persisted: Writing Political Feminism in the Age of Trump
Florida Salon 6, Marriott Waterside, Second Floor
Saturday, March 10, 2018
10:30 a.m.–11:45 a.m.
Writing concerned with feminism is receiving unprecedented readership. This inclusive panel will discuss the role of political feminist writing/writers and the forms this writing takes, especially the political/personal essay, novel, and memoir. Discussion topics: the inherency of revolution in women writing the body/sexuality, the call to create change, and the writers’ recent works confronting topics such as being transgender, presidential politics, and parenting. There will be craft and publishing handouts.
Panelists include Elizabeth Isadora Gold, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Mischa Haider, and Anna March. Moderated by Allison Wright.
This Is Scary and Here We Go: Fear in the Driver’s Seat
Room 5 & 6, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
12 p.m.–1:15 p.m.
Our work as writers has never felt more urgent—or more terrifying. Fear is an inevitable part of the writing process—risk, rejection, impostor syndrome—but in our current political climate, it can feel almost paralyzing. How do we write under threats to our bodies, our livelihoods, our lives? How do we write through our own self-doubt? In this lively and honest conversation, five writers will examine how fear both holds them back and drives them forward, despite and sometimes because of it.
Panelists include Samantha Irby, Porochista Khakpour, Wendy C. Ortiz, and Megan Stielstra. Moderated by Michele Filgate.
Narrating the Intersections: Crafting Black LGBTQ Lives in Fiction
Grand Salon C, Marriott Waterside, Second Floor
12 p.m.–1:15 p.m.
How do race, gender, and sexuality shape the structures of contemporary fictional craft? How do they inflect our characters’ voices and the strategies we use to narrate their lives? In a historical moment when #BlackLivesMatter, trans visibility, and LGBTQ activism offer new possibilities for writers and readers interested in marginalized lives, this panel considers how voice, fictional form, and storytelling make space for important modes of critique and empathy, both on the page and beyond.
Panelists include Nicole Dennis-Benn, Kaitlyn Greenidge, and Mecca Jamilah Sullivan. Moderated by Marci Blackman.
Beyond Patriarchy: Changing Leadership, Changing Literary Landscapes
Room 24, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
3 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
This panel will discuss how and whether diversifying magazine mastheads, literary organizations’ leadership roles, and publishing industry top-level positions creates real change and allows for a truly inclusive literary community. We will look at what these changes in leadership might mean for both writers and readers. We’ll also consider how the current political administration has already impacted, and will continue to impact, various literary spaces.
Panelists include Raluca Albu, Hafizah Geter, Kima Jones, and Alexandra Watson. Moderated by Marisa Siegel.
Draining the Swamp: Writing as Resistance and Social Responsibility in a Post-Truth Era
Florida Salon 4, Marriott Waterside, Second Floor
3 p.m.–4:15 p.m.
Writing has always served as a form of social and political resistance. From the ghettos of war-torn Warsaw to the American civil rights movement, writers have historically been a voice for the unrepresented and catalysts for social change. This panel will explore how our current social and political landscape has galvanized this traditional role of the writer, ways to get involved with current movements, and the importance of writing as a political act.
Panelists include Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Ruben Quesada, and Arisa White. Moderated by Keith Kopka.
Writing Women’s Interior Lives
Room 13, Tampa Convention Center, First Floor
4:30 p.m.–5:45 p.m.
Five years ago, Meg Wolitzer wrote in the New York Times of “that close-quartered lower shelf where books emphasizing relationships and the interior lives of women are often relegated.” The five panelists here, all of whom recently published or will publish books emphasizing those very subjects, discuss their intentions, craft, and relegation (or not) to that lower shelf. What’s changed in the five years since Wolitzer’s essay was printed? What can we expect to change in the five years to come?
Panelists include Mia Alvar, Jessie Chaffee, Krys Lee, and Leigh Stein. Moderated by Julia Phillips.
GO HOME! AWP TAMPA LAUNCH
Inkwood Books
1809 N. Tampa Street
Tampa, FL 33602
4 p.m.
Celebrate the launch of Go Home!, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop collection published in collaboration with the Feminist Press. Writers imagine “home” in the twenty-first century through an array of fiction, memoir, and poetry. Both urgent and meditative, this anthology moves beyond the model-minority myth and showcases the singular intimacies of individuals figuring out what it means to belong. Editor Rowan Hisayo Buchanan and contributing writers, Jyothi Natarajan, Gina Apostol, Chaya Babu, Alexander Chee, Karissa Chen, T Kira Madden, and Jennifer Tseng, take the stage. There will be short readings from the book, followed by a discussion about the project, exploring the necessity of both expanding and challenging the immigrant narrative.
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Feature image via Creative Commons.
