UMD Creative Writing at AWP 2024

Creative writing faculty and alumni will discuss and sign their works at AWP in Kansas City.

MFA Program in Creative Writing/Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House Bookfair Table Location: T3032

Thursday, February 8, 2024

9:00 am to 10:15 am

Internationalism and Identity: A Need for Magazines to Transcend Borders

Abeer Hoque, Hananah Zaheer (MFA, 2003), Aditya Desai (MFA, 2012), Kamil Ahsan, Shubhanga Pandey

Room 2215C

When we discuss literature, literary communities clearly understand that going beyond national borders is integral. As writers we are inspired by works of translation, and many of us who are fluent in more languages read works in those languages. In this panel, editors of the South Asian Avant-Garde (SAAG), an internationalist magazine, South Asian-Americans hailing from four countries will discuss why literary magazines should aspire to be internationalist, and why that matters for representation.

12:10 pm to 1:25 pm

Writing Under the Influence: Accessing the Unknown through Divination

Michele Battiste, Kristen Nelson, Hoa Nguyen (BA, 1991), Megan Kaminski, Teresa Carmody

Room 2215C

Divination and writing are both processes that draw from archives of knowledge, but divination opens us up to sources often difficult to access: ancestral, somatic, elemental, natural, spiritual, unconscious, silenced. By accessing these sources to inform and guide writing, our writing, in turn, generates meaning and connections that alter the archives in structure, content, and accessibility. We will explore how divination creates new paths to hidden ways of knowing and writing.

Neurodiverse Sounds like Universe: Crafting Worlds Embracing Neurodiversity

Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach (BA, 2008), Oliver de la Paz, Eugenia Leigh, Diannely Antigua, Allison Blevins

Room 2504AB

Combating stigmas and shame culture surrounding mental health, writers share poetry, nonfiction, and cross-genre work that embraces autism spectrum disorder, Anxiety, ADHD, OCD, Bipolar, and depression. These writers refuse to hide from or mask within an ableist society and through content and form, call attention to the creative powers of neurodiversity. They will share their work and discuss how their craft choices transform neurotypical language into a neurodiverse universe.

4:00 pm to 4:30 pm

Author Signing: Sara R. Burnett (MFA, 2014); Organization Name: Autumn House Press; Spot: 1439

Friday, February 9, 2024

10:35 am to 11:50 am

Many Moseses, Many Promised Lands Unseen: A Lecture by Rion Amilcar Scott

Room 2503AB

Join Rion Amilcar Scott, a fiction writer and the creative advisor to AWP's HBCU Fellowship Program, currently in its second year. HBCUs have left an indelible mark upon the face of literature. This lecture discusses what it truly means to be a part of that legacy. This lecture will be followed by a book signing.

11:00 am to 12:00 pm

Author Signing: Anna Leahy (MFA, 1993); Organization Name: Laurel Review; Spot: T1825

1:00 pm to 2:00 pm

Author Signing: Julie R. Enszer (MFA, 2008; PhD, 2013); Organization Name: Sinister Wisdom; Spot: T1303

Author Signing: Mary Lynn Reed (MFA, 2013); Organization Name: Split/Lip Press; Spot: 842

1:30 pm to 2:30 pm

Author Signing: L.S. McKee (MFA, 2005); Organization Name: Zone 3 Press / Austin Peay State University; Spot: T3109

1:45 pm to 3:00 pm

How the Sausage Gets Made: Debut Poets on Making a First Book

Jocelyn Heath (MFA, 2011), Sara Burnett (MFA, 2014),Mary-Alice Daniel, Eileen G'Sell, Anne Myles

Room 2103B

We all dream of holding our first published book, bound and beautiful, in our hands. But how does that stack of printed-out pages on your desk turn into a finished book? Four debut poets from a range of backgrounds will offer detailed, transparent recounting of their journeys to a debut collection, addressing questions of manuscript preparation, publishing process, complications encountered, and post-publication advice. Audience Q&A will follow the presentations.

Ten Years of a Literary Series: Stories from the UPK New Poetry & Prose Series

Lisa Williams, Rion Amilcar Scott, Manini Samarth, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, Serkan Görkemli

Room 2215B

In celebration of the tenth anniversary of the University Press of Kentucky (UPK) New Poetry & Prose Series, which features award-winning books by unique voices, four authors will read from their short story collections in the series. Set in diverse locales from Africa to Middle East and North America, and ranging from realist to surrealist, their lyrical stories about ethnicity, gender, immigration, race, and sexuality highlight some of the stunning writing this acclaimed series has published. 

3:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Author Signing: Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach (BA, 2008); Organization Name: YesYes Books; Spot: 1302

Author Signing: Serkan G, Rion Amilcar Scott, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu; Organization Name: University Press of Kentucky; Spot: 1403

3:20 pm to 4:35 pm

Becoming a Debut Novelist: The Journey From Book Submission to Book Launch
Marcela Fuentes, Temim Fruchter (BA, 2002; MFA, 2019), Jon Hickey, Chin-Sun Lee, Denne Michele Norris

Room 2503AB

The path from selling a book to launching a debut novel into the world is thrilling and exciting, but it is also long and full of twists and turns. This panel of debut novelists—with publication dates from late 2023 through early 2025—will discuss all aspects of this journey, including selling the book, working with an editor, and navigating marketing and publicity. The aim of the panel is to be transparent and to provide helpful advice for all debut novelists to come.

Saturday, February 10, 2024

9:00 am to 10:15 am

The Mean Season: Intolerance and Threats in the Classroom

Luanne Smith, Cherise Pollard, Dawn Reno Langley, Emily Chiles (MFA, 2006)

Room 2504AB

Faculty, particularly women and marginalized groups, are facing escalating misogyny, racism, intolerance, and outright threats in creative writing classrooms. In courses designed for self-expression, the current cultural climate is bringing out the worst in some students, causing a contentious and fearful behavior. Often institutions offer no support as first amendment rights come into play. This panel is a grassroots effort to spotlight this growing issue and offer possible ways forward.

10:35 am to 11:50 am

Collaboration in the Creative Writing Classroom

Joanna Luloff, Kate McIntyre, Katy Didden (MFA, 2003), Evan Williams, Dionne Irving Bremyer

Room 2208

Writing is often considered a solitary—even lonely—act. Years of Covid lockdown and Zoom classrooms exacerbated this sense of isolation for many students. This panel will demonstrate how multi-genre, collaborative writing exercises can build community and unlock new creative possibilities through shared process, dialogic risk taking, and experimentation. Panelists will share their favorite collaborative exercises and discuss how their own work has been shaped by artistic partnerships.

Poetry on the Plains: Laureateship in the Midwest
Traci Brimhall, Nicholas Gulig, Matt Mason, Christine Stewart-Nunez (MFA, 2003), Mary-frances Wagner

Room 2209

Midwestern states cover large geographic areas, and people who serve as state poet laureates must find a way to serve as arts ambassadors across these large and diverse states. How can state laureates—and state arts organizations—reach both the urban and rural populations of their states? How can they offer the arts to historically underserved communities? And how are these roles being shaped by the state arts organizations that create them?

12:10 pm to 1:25 pm

The Writer-Mom: How Motherhood Changes and Influences Writing Habits and Subject

Laura Leigh Morris, Christine Stewart-Nuñez (MFA, 2003), Michelle Ross, Shannon Gibney

Room 2502A

Four writer-mothers, working in different genres and mothering circumstances, describe how motherhood influences their writing practices and subjects. From returning to the page after becoming a mother to parenthood’s place on the page to how their children’s life stages affect their writing, these four writer-mothers explore how their writing continues to evolve as their roles as mothers evolve and how they manage—or don’t—to make the two work in tandem.

Breaking Silence: The Ethics of Writing Inherited Trauma Across Genres

Sarah Beth Childers, Chet'la Sebree, Tyler Mills (MFA, 2008), Ivelisse Rodriguez, Clemonce Heard

Room 2503AB

Investigating inherited and historical trauma can provide abundant material, but mining the past requires ethical acuity. How might we research and write responsibly when the record is fragmented or erased? How do we care for our loved ones and ourselves while writing through our truths? How might we mitigate historical harm? How might we avoid causing further harm through appropriation? Multigenre writers discuss the ethics of breaking silence across creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry.

1:45 pm to 3:00 pm

Gathering the Loose Petals: A Celebration of the Work of Afaa Michael Weaver

Tara Betts, Enzo Silon Surin, Danielle Legros Georges, Bro. Yao Glover (MFA, 1997), Afaa Michael Weaver

Room 2211

This gathering of writers and scholars seeks to celebrate and honor the work of Afaa Michael Weaver and his storied career as a poet, essayist, playwright, mentor and much more. A number of presenters, including Dr. Tara Betts, Danielle Legros Georges, and Enzo Silon Surin will discuss poems by Weaver that have inspired them and facilitate a timely discussion about the impact that a writer can have off the page. Weaver will then close with brief remarks and a few new poems from his recent work.

3:20 pm to 4:35 pm

So You Want to Publish a Translation. A How-To Panel for Literary Magazines, Sponsored by ALTA

Susan Harris, Jafreen Uddin, Arthur Dixon, Gerald Maa (MFA, 2008), Jim Hicks

Room 2208

As translated literature commands greater interest in the United States, more literary magazines are looking to publish it. Words Without Borders Editorial Director Susan Harris will moderate a discussion on how to approach publishing and promoting literary translations in print and online magazines. The panel of editors and publishers from The Margins, Latin American Literature Today, and The Georgia Review will address editorial considerations, contracts, payments, and promotion and event opportunities.

Resurrection Not Erasure: When Poets Talk Back to History

Alyse Bensel, Nicole Cooley, Blas Falconer (MFA, 1997), Vandana Khanna, Paisley Rekdal

Room 2502A

Poets whose work complicates or writes against dominant narratives will discuss how the persona poem challenges historical erasure and revises both the past and present. Panelists will discuss the ethical implications of the personal poem, their decisions to use persona in their work, and their underlying methodologies and research in voicing the past.