What Are Emersonians Talking About at the AWP Writing/Book Conference?

Nearly two dozen Emerson alums or faculty will descend upon Los Angeles March 26-29 for this year’s AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) Conference & Bookfair, a gathering of writers, editors, publishers, students, and teachers.

The panel “Beyond Tiger Moms and Model Minorities: Imagining the Asian American Family” is a very Emersonian affair. The session features panelists Kirsten Chen, MFA ’09 (Counterfeit) and Matt Salesses, MFA ’10 (The Sense of Wonder), and is moderated by Kim Liao, MFA ’09 (Where Every Ghost Has a Name: A Memoir of Taiwanese Independence). Salesses will also present on Our Voices Make a Movement: Storytelling as Anti-Racist Pedagogy.

Essayist Caitlin McGill, MFA ’15 is moderating “Perspective & Perseverance in Writing Sobriety: Hemingway Is Not the Only Way,” which features Paul Haney, MFA ’17, executive editor of the Dylan Review, as a panelist.

Anna Lena Phillips Bell, MFA ’07 (Ornament) will present on “Beyond the Slush: Engaging Students in Literary Publishing”.

“Resistance, Refusal, Silence & Life: When We Don’t Write,” will feature poet Sophie Cabot Black ’80 (Marlboro) (Geometry of the Restless Herd).

Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, MFA ’10 (The Fact of a Body) is a panelist on “What Is and What If: The Speculative in Creative Nonfiction”.

Annie Cardi, MFA ’09 (Red, The Chance You Won’t Return) will present on “Outspoken: Accurately & Sensitively Representing Sexual Assault in YA Fiction.”

Poet Denise Duhamel ’84 (Pink Lady, Second Story) is a panelist on “When I Was Straight: A Tribute to Maureen Seaton”.

“From Dusk ‘til Dawn: Exploring Nocturnes and Aubades,” will feature Tatiana Johnson-Boria, MFA ’21 (Nocturne in Joy) as a panelist.

Assistant Professor Kirsten Imani Kasai (The House of Erzulie) is a panelist on “The Virtual Workshop: Tips for Teaching Creative Writing Online”.

“Hybrid Selves, Hybrid Form: Queer & Feminist Possibilities of the Prose Poem,” will feature Sophie Klahr ’06 (Two Open Doors in a Field, Meet Me Here at Dawn) as a panelist.

Essayist Lorena Hernandez Leonard, MA ’11 is a panelist on “Beyond the Linear: Supporting ‘Non-Traditional’ Memoirs by BIPOC Voices”.

Nicole Graev Lipson, MFA ’22 (Mothers and Other Fictional Characters) will moderate “Crafting the Memoir in Essays”.

Novelist, poet, and editor Kathleen Rooney, MFA ’05 (Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, Where Are the Snows)is moderating “Creative Confinement: Using Constraints to Amplify Your Work”.

Poet and book designer Mary Austin Speaker ’99 is a panelist on “Judging by the Cover: Trends & Strategies for Designing Beautiful, Market-Worthy Books”.

Viktoria Valenzuela-Pennington ’11, associate publisher with Conocimientos Press and executive director at Voices de la Luna in San Antonia, Texas, is a panelist on “Fragmentos: Reclaiming Hybridity & Fragmentation Through Latine Narratives”.

“The Name Game: Literary Journals that Have Changed Names and Flourished” will feature writer/editor Katie Mihalek, MFA ’24 as a panelist.

Jessamyn Violet ’05 (Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar) will moderate “Bad to the Bone? Crafting Deviant Characters”.

And Laura Warrell ’95 (Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm) is a presenter on “Only Connect! Innovative & Effective Online Teaching in the Age of Distraction”.