Maryland at AWP

Tomorrow and Saturday, the AWP Conference will be in full swing!  And, this year, it's local.  Please check out how our wonderful Creative Writing Department will be involved.

The Association of Writers andWriting Programs (AWP) is a major force in collecting and encouraging folks of literary talent nation-wide.  AWP’s annual conference is being held in Washington DC this year, which ensures our Creative Writing program's faculty and students the chance to participate.  According to their website, AWP will include a collection of local “authors, teachers, writing programs, literary centers, and small press publishers.”  The AWP Conference also includes a massive bookfair, readings, lectures, panel discussions, forums, book signings, receptions, dances, and informal gatherings.  One such informal gathering occurred just last night at the Asylum Bar and Lounge on 18^th Street.  MFA students and Sakura Review contributors read works of fiction and poetry. 

Members of our Creative Writing department are among some 8,000 attendees, and University of Maryland is one of this year’s primary AWP sponsors.  The conference runs from February 2^nd to February 5^th and is being held at the Marriott Wardman Park & Omni Shoreham Hotels.  And our department’s bookfair booth is #109.

Make sure to check out our Creative Writing faculty in the Empire Ballroom of the Omni Shoreham Hotel, Saturday at noon!  And please take a look below to see other ways our wonderful faculty and alumni will be participating in this year’s Conference.

Thursday, 9-10:15 AM
Coolidge Room
Marriott Wardman Park, Mezzanine Level

R103. Tearing Down the Town/Gown Divide: Taking Writing Off Campus and into the Community. (Tim W. Brown, M.L. Liebler, April Naoko Heck, Gary Glazner, John Domini) This panel presents a diverse lineup of writers who have in varying ways traversed the town/gown divide by taking their literary and organizational expertise into the community. Each speaker will share insights into the process and offer realistic, achievable strategies for faculty and students alike to gain exposure for their writing, grow their audiences, and obtain real-world experience, while expanding appreciation for writing in ways that are both entertaining and enlightening.

Thursday, 9-10:15 AM
Harding Room
Marriott Wardman Park, Mezzanine Level

R105. Faith and the Writer: Inspiration and Practice. (Dinah Lenney, Askold Melnyczuk, Brenda Miller, Dani Shapiro, David Biespiel) Panelists will discuss the link between faith and creativity in both secular and nonsecular work. There is no question that writers and readers are looking for larger meanings and resonances: but can art be accomplished without mysterious influences? Are we hard-wired to seek divine inspiration, or is writing a spiritual practice in and of itself? And is doubt a necessary component to the art? To faith? To faith in art? Must we be absolute believers to carry on?

Thursday, 9-10:15 AM
Diplomat Ballroom
Omni Shoreham Hotel, West Lobby

R117. Strategic Thievery. (Katy Didden, Victoria Anderson, Joanne Diaz, Leslie Harrison, Shara Lessley, Katie Peterson) True to Eliot’s adage that great writers steal, poets read the work of other writers to acquire new rhythms, forms, and subject matter; occasionally, they stumble across less expected techniques. The poets on this panel will talk about the quirky writing tricks they’ve lifted from writers they love. Come hear writers discuss erasing Montaigne and decomposing and recomposing Petrarch, and learn about Marianne Moore’s interscoper, Annie Dillard’s sticky fingers, and the Larry Levis swerve.

Thursday, 10:30-11:45 AM
Thurgood Marshall North Room
Marriott Wardman Park, Mezzanine Level

R131. What They Didn’t Tell Us, We Will Tell You: Four First-Time Authors Discuss the Nitty Gritty of Publishing. (Michael David Lukas, Siobhan Fallon, Nomi Stone, Kevin Haworth, Rebecca Rasmussen, Alan Heathcock) This panel will feature four first-time authors discussing the publishing process, from submission to publication and beyond. Drawing from a wide range of personal experience—working with large houses and university presses on poetry collections, novels, and collections of short stories—the panelists will address and attempt to demystify the publishing process, from phoners to author questionnaires, book jackets to blurbs, and the elusive book tour.

Thursday, 10:30-11:45 AM
Thurgood Marshall West Room
Marriott Wardman Park, Mezzanine Level

R133. Washington Writers’ Publishing House Poetry Reading. (Jehanne Dubrow, Holly Karapetkova, Brandel France de Bravo, Carly Sachs, Bruce MacKinnon, Piotr Gwiazda) Celebrating a nearly forty year history, the Washington Writers’ Publishing House is a collective press run entirely by volunteers. Since 1973, WWPH has published over 50 volumes of poetry. Come hear six poets read from their prize-winning collections and discover the diversity of the DC-area literary scene.

Thursday, 1:30-2:45 PM
Thurgood Marshall North Room
Marriott Wardman Park, Mezzanine Level

R173. Beyond Psychobabble: Finding Effective Language for Workshop Critiques. (Susan Hubbard, John Hales, Liza Wieland, Anna Leahy, Darlin’ Neal) What constitutes effective feedback in a creative writing workshop? Why do students often speak like psychological counselors? Four teachers/writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry discuss strategies for shaping discussions that are provocative, not overly emotive or unduly self-reflexive. Borrowing criteria and terminology from other art forms, and avoiding psychobabble, can be useful first steps in fostering students’ fluency in making critical statements in and out of the classroom.

Thursday, 3-4:15 PM
Virginia C Room
Marriott Wardman Park, Lobby Level

R201. America’s Next Top (Literary Center) Model. (Charles Jensen, Gail Browne, David Biespiel, Jordan Hartt, Andrea Dupree) Whether for-profit, nonprofit, or in the academy, literary centers can take many forms, approaches, and business models. While writers have a good sense of developing strong content, business approaches can sometimes be confounding to us. These panelists, who represent various center business models, will discuss the strengths and limitations of each design based on their own perspectives and experiences.

Thursday, 4:30-5:45 PM
Virginia B Room
Marriott Wardman Park, Lobby Level

R222. Building LGBT Literary Traditions. (Julie R. Enszer, Eloise Klein Healy, Jason Schneiderman, Tony Valenzuela, Reginald Harris, Duriel E. Harris) What are LGBT literary traditions? What institutions, publications, practices, and ideas nurture and develop new writing from emerging and established LGBT writers? What strengths exist in the landscape of LGBT literature and what opportunities are there for more growth and development? From the sexy and sensuous to the mundane and sublime, this panel explores these questions and more with perspectives on LGBT literature from publishers, writers, critics, arts administrators, and activists.

Thursday, 5:00-7:00PM
Happy Hour Reading from the Painted Bride Quarterly and Saturnalia Books
Location: Bardeo, Private Room (upstairs), 3311 Connecticut Ave., NW, 10 minute walk from the Marriott
Cost: FREE
Website: http://pbq.drexel.edu/

Description: Join the Painted Bride Quarterly and Saturnalia Books for wine, cocktail, appetizer specials, and a poetry reading by seven hot poets. Bring your friends and loved ones, and get your wild night out in D.C. started while listening to awesome new work by Star Black, Jennifer Knox, Ada Limon, Derek Mong, Jason Schneiderman, Martha Silano, and Sarah Vap. For more info, visit: http://saturnaliabooks.org/

Thursday, 6:30-8:30PM
Debut Fiction By Recent Bread Loaf Waiters
Location: Busboys & Poets restaurant/bar (NOTE: 5th and K location)
Cost: FREE
Website: http://www.busboysandpoets.com/about_5th.php

Description: Come out for a reading by recent Bread Loaf waiters with recent/forthcoming debut books of fiction. Featuring: Tiphanie Yanique, Alexi Zentner, Peter Mountford, Jennine Capo Crucet.*Emceed by Michael Collier* NOTE: This event is at the 5th and K location of Busboys & Poets, near Chinatown, not to be confused with their V Street location.

Thursday, 7:30-10:30PM
3 Dollar Bill (AWP Queer Reading)
Location: Human Rights Campaign Equality Forum, 1640 Rhode Island Avenue NW, Washington, DC
Cost: Free
Website: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=170152696349960

Description: Join us for a night of rapid-fire readings by some of the LGBT community's most talented and dynamic writers. Thirty readers of poetry and prose will each read two minutes of their work: Francisco Aragón, Ilse Bendorf, Tamiko Beyer, Regie Cabico, Cynn Chadwick, Julie Enszer, Danielle Evennou, Gina Evers, Reginald Harris, Natalie E. Illum Charles Jensen, Saeed Jones, Eloise Klein Healy, Rickey Laurentiis, Paul Lisicky, Michael Montlack, Eileen Myles, Kristin Naca, Achy Obejas, Christa Orth, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Radclyffe, Douglas Ray, Jason Schneiderman, Joseph Shapiro, Ely Shipley, Justin Torres, Dan Vera, and V Wetlaufer. Sponsored by Arktoi Books, BLOOM Literary Journal, Human Rights Campaign, Knockout Literary Magazine, The Lambda Literary Foundation, A Midsummer Night’s Press, The Publishing Triangle, Sibling Rivalry Press/Assarcus Journal, Sinister Wisdom Literary Journal, White Crane Institute, and The Writer’s Center.

Thursday, 8:00 PM          
Tidal Basin Review Reading and Reception
Location: Thurgood Marshall Center, 1816 12th Street N.W., Washington, DC 20009
Cost: Free
Website: http://www.tidalbasinpress.org

Description: Tidal Basin Review will host a reading at the Thurgood Marshall Center, 1816 12th Street N.W., Washington, DC 20009. No charge. Donations welcomed. Featuring Reginald Dwayne Betts, Iman Byfield, Ching-In Chen, Michela Costello, DéLana R.A. Dameron, Kyle Dargan, Elizabeth Fogle, Brian Gilmore, and Douglas Kearney. Music by DJ AJ and refreshments to follow.

Thursday, 10:00PM-11:30PM       
Alice James Books Poetry Reading
Location: DC Arts Center
Cost: FREE
Website: http://www.dcartscenter.org/index.htm

Description: Don't feel like shaking your booty at the AWP dance? Then come on over to the very hip DC Arts Center theatre at 2438 18th St NW to hear poetry by recent Alice James Books authors including Reginald Dwayne Betts, Nicole Cooley, Frank Giampietro, Daniel Johnson, Lesle Lewis, Laura McCullough, Chad Sweeney, and Brian Turner.

Friday, 10:30-11:45 AM
Regency Ballroom
Omni Shoreham Hotel, West Lobby

F141. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Poetry Reading. (Andrew Hudgins, Linda Gregerson, Rodney Jones, Maurice Manning, Leslie Harrison) To celebrate Michael Collier’s first ten years editing the poetry series at HMH, five of his authors will read. Hudgins will moderate. Michael, a professor at the University of Maryland, also directs the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Under his editorship, the press has produced a National Book Award Finalist, and won three Kingsley Tufts Awards, the Poets’ Prize, a Pulitzer Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Friday, 1:30-2:45 PM
Maryland Suite Room
Marriott Wardman Park, Lobby Level

F168. Whitman for Writers: Walt Whitman in Washington. (David Baker, Linda Gregerson, Stanley Plumly, Ann Townsend) In 1862, Walt Whitman traveled to the hospital camps of Washington, DC to find his brother George, wounded in the Civil War. The poet stayed for the next decade in the nation’s capital, volunteering as a nurse, writing hundreds of letters for soldiers, clerking in government offices, and writing poems. This panel considers Whitman as witness, healer, and worker, tracing how the Civil War’s grim actuality and the assassination of Lincoln transformed the great poet’s life and work.

Friday, 3-4:15 PM
Harding Room
Marriott Wardman Park, Mezzanine Level

F189. Does the Writing Workshop Still Work? (Dianne Donnelly, Graeme Harper, Anna Leahy, Patrick Bizzaro, Mary Ann Cain, Katharine Haake) This panel reexamines the effectiveness of the workshop, reaching beyond the question of whether it works to consider altered pedagogical models. In visualizing what else is possible in the workshop space, the participants cover a wide range of theoretical and pedagogical topics, and explore the inner workings and conflicts of the workshop model. The needs of a growing and diverse student population are central to the panelists’ consideration of non-normative pedagogies.

Friday, 7:00-8:30PM        
COPPER NICKEL ISSUE 15 RELEASE
Location: The Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW
Cost: $10 (includes a copy of the new issue)
Website: http://www.copper-nickel.org/awp/

Description: Copper Nickel will mark the release of its 15th issue with readings by SANDRA BEASLEY, KYLE G. DARGAN, MERRILL FEITELL, ANNA JOURNEY, DAVID KEPLINGER, MICHAEL MARTONE, and WAYNE MILLER on Friday, February 4th at 7pm at The Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW in Washington DC. A $10 donation is requested for entrance and a copy of the issue. All contributors to the issue are our guests for the night.

Saturday, 10:30-11:45 AM
Virginia A Room
Marriott Wardman Park, Lobby Level

S134. The Mezzo Cammin Women Poets Timeline Project. (Anna Evans, Kim Bridgford, Erica Dawson, Jehanne Dubrow, Kathrine Varnes) In March 2010 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Kim Bridgford launched the Mezzo Cammin Women Poets Timeline Project, an online database of essays about women poets and their work. The Timeline Project aspires to become a comprehensive resource of women poets, spanning all periods, countries, and schools of poetry. This panel will discuss the need for, and importance of the timeline, along with its ongoing development, such as handling copyright issues and contributing essays.

Saturday, noon-1:15 PM
Empire Ballroom
Omni Shoreham Hotel, West Lobby

S164A. University of Maryland MFA Faculty Reading: Maud Casey, Michael Collier, Merrill Feitell, Howard Norman, Stanley Plumly, and Joshua Weiner.

(Followed by a book signing at our program's bookfair booth in the Marriott from 1:45-2:15 PM)

Saturday, 3-4:15 PM
Thurgood Marshall East Room
Marriott Wardman Park, Mezzanine Level

S193. Elizabeth Bishop Birthday Celebration. (Joelle Biele, Jonathan Galassi, Jeffrey Harrison, Lloyd Schwartz, Jane Shore, Sarah Vap) At the centenary of her birth, we remember Elizabeth Bishop and celebrate her work with the release of three new books, expanded editions of her collected poetry and prose and her forty-year correspondence with the New Yorker. This intensely private woman wrote some of the best-loved poems of the 20th century and is a major figure in American letters. This panel will offer personal stories, readings, and critical assessments of Bishop’s literary achievements and wide-ranging influence.