Jim McKean
Creative Research and the Art of Facts
In their book Lifespan of a Fact, John D’Agata and Jim Fingal debate the role of facts in the essay, arguing on one hand that "facts" should flex in the service of art and on the other, holding that "facts" should honor their verifiable place in history. In this talk I’d like to address creative ways to approach research for the poet, storyteller, and memoirist; and how the gathered "facts" might inform the writing process and how they might serve our final compositions.
Fred Leebron
From Page to Screen
Fred will talk about adaptation, and in particular how his own novel was transformed into a feature film.
Dan Mueller
Turning to Literature for Writing Prompts: An Exercise in Reading as a Writer
In this 50-minute talk, the audience and I will explicate a single story not for its meaning but for the narrative and poetic strategies it reveals. Everything we say about Mary Gaitskill's "The Girl on the Plane," the story I'm intending to use, having had the opportunity to discuss Nabokov's "Spring in Fialta" with her once over a very long dinner, will be coded as a technique to be lifted and put in the service of one's own literary endeavors. No one will need to have read the story ahead of time as I will direct the audience to select passages and provide synopses when necessary. That the same approach may be taken to virtually any poem, story, or essay will be emphasized repeatedly throughout, probably to the point of distraction, thus appealing to writers of all three genres.
Thorpe Moeckel
Looking At You
Notes on the Second Person A survey of the uses of second person point of view in poetry, the pleasures, risks, and surprises.
Pinckney Benedict
Things Writers Can Write Besides Just Stories and Novels
A multimedia presentation of some of the venues available to skilled writers: graphic fictions (comics), screenplays, stage plays, teleplays, songwriting, blogs, Facebook posts, and tweets.
