The Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference is just days away. People may have even started packing and scrolling Yelp for the best Seattle eats. Whether you go to the AWP Conference to promote your latest title, to catch up with friends, or to fangirl on your favorite author, between the panels, bookfair, and evening events there is enough for everyone. And if you’re like us and get overwhelmed by too many options, let WWS help you narrow down where to spend your time and money. Below is a list of events where you can find WWS members and some of our allies. Stop by one of these places and say hi!
THURSDAY, MARCH 9
PANEL: Too Small to Fail: The Indie Press Prerogative in Advancing Diverse Voices
10:35 AM – 11:50 AM
Rooms 431-432, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 4
Panelists: Krishna Narayanamurti, Marcus Clayton, Viva Padilla, AJ Urquidi, Amanda Orozco
Description: The Western US is one of the world’s most diverse regions, but the literary scene remains a “mainly white room.” In what ways is it the duty of West Coast indie journals and micro presses to find and publish writing that upends the norms of institutional gatekeeping? LA-based editors from sin cesar (formerly Dryland) and Indicia discuss their experiments with equity, intersectionality, and digital collaboration to publish crucial work that challenges hidden biases of audiences and the editors themselves.
PANEL: Demystifying the Application: Fellowships, Residencies and Grants
12:10 PM – 1:25 PM
Signature Room, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 5
Panelists: Julayne Lee, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Angela Franklin, Janice Sapigao, Amanda Galvan Huynh
Description: Have you ever applied for a fellowship, residency, or grant and wondered if your application has what it takes to be a top contender? This is a rare chance to hear from a diverse group of authors who’ve served on selection committees for state and national grants as well as fellowships and residencies. You will gain a better understanding of what judges are looking for, what goes into the selection process and how you might identify which fellowships, residencies, and grants are the best fit.
PANEL: Minding the Gaps and Mining Landscape in Linked Short Story Collections
1:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Rooms 343-344, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 3
Panelists: Toni Ann Johnson, Ramona Reeves, Rion Amilcar Scott, Leslie Pietryzk
Descrition: Linked short story collections have become more popular, perhaps in part because of their hybrid nature. They can employ recurring themes, characters, and settings to situate readers in worlds that move beyond the borders of many short stories while stopping short of the breadth and propulsion of a novel. Minding the gaps, or the spaces, is key in writing linked story collections. How does space function between and within linked collections, and what stories does one choose to tell and why?
READING: WWS Happy Hour & Community Mic Hosted by Noriko Nakada
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Clock-Out Lounge: 4864 Beacon Ave S, Seattle, WA 98108
Features: Suhasini Yeeda, Carla Sameth, Elizabeth Galoozis, Jamie Asaye Fitzgerald, Sakae Manning, Alixen Pham, Maria Caponi, Michelle Otero, Amy Shimhon-Santo, Jane Muschenetz.
READING: Storyknife AWP Reading & Gathering
5-7 pm
Vermillion Gallery & Bar, 1508 11th Ave
Features: Rowena Alegria, Jasmin An, Sandra Beasley, Jan Beatty, Kim Blaeser, Ching-in Chen, Lydia Conklin, Rebeca Flores, Minda Honey, Amanda Galvan Huynh, Casandra Lopez, Zenique Gardner Perry and others.
READING: #AWPSeattle Off-site Reading
6 pm
Seattle Public Library
Description: Join Veliz Books, Noemi Press, and BOA Editions at the beautiful Seattle Public Library for an in-person reading featuring 10 writers.
READING: Queerly Beloved: An Evening with Foglifter Press
7:00 PM
Corvus and Company, 601 Broadway E, Seattle, WA 98102, USA
ASL interpretation and live-streaming provided
Features: Michal ‘MJ’ Jones, author of HOOD VACATIONS, Joy Priest, author of HORSEPOWER, Miah Jeffra, author of American Gospel, Kazim Ali, author of Inquisition, Dior Stephens, author of CRUEL/CRUEL, Xan Phillips, author of Hull
READING: Nightboat Books Reading
9:00 PM
The Rendezvous Theatre: 2322 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98121
Features: Allison Cobb, Andrew Abi-Karam, Dior J. Stephens, Douglas A. Martin, Emily Lee Luan, Gillian Conoley, Gillian Osborne, imogen xtian smith, Janice Lobo Sapigao, Joyelle McSweeney, Kay Gabrial, Kevin Holden, Lindsay Turner, Ronaldo V. Wilson, Rosie Stockton, Samiya Bashir, Tiff Dressen, Wo Chan
FRIDAY, MARCH 10
Panel: Inlandia social justice literature reading
10:35 AM – 11:45 AM
Bookfair Stage, Sponsored by the Dramatists Guild, Exhibit Hall 1 & 2, Summit Building
Panelists: Nikia Chaney, James Coats, Stephanie Barbé Hammer, Juanita E. Mantz, & Cati Porter
Description: Inland Southern California, aka Inlandia, is a sprawling geographic region, the logistics capital of the west, and one of the few majority-minority regions. As writers, we have a responsibility to take an active role in addressing the most pressing social justice issues of our time. Listen to works confronting issues of LBTQ rights, racial inequities, the criminal injustice system, mental health discrimination, and more.
BOOK SIGNING: Imagine Us, The Swarm with Muriel Leung
12 PM PST
Nightboat Books Table: 1024
PANEL: Languages of Belonging: Transcending Borders in Life and on the Page
1:45 PM – 3:00 PM
443-444, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 4
Panelists: Sehba Sarwar, Torsa Ghosal, Emmy Pérez, Tameka Latrece Cage Conley, Gemini Wahhaj
Description: Five women writers of color incorporate personal and global histories—of India, Pakistan, and the Netherlands, and within the U.S., California, Louisiana, and the Texas-Mexico border—into their prose, poetry, and hybrid texts. Each writer will discuss her process of transcending literal and figurative borders separating nations, generations, and identities. How do we resolve the conflicts that arise from having histories in multiple places? Where are we traveling from and to in our writing?
PANEL: Writing the Land: Inspiration and Perspiration to Create Poetry
1:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Room 337, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 3
Panelists: Catalina Marie Cantú, Erica Reid, Leona Sevick, Diana Raptosh, CMarie Fuhrman
Description: What if you were paired with a conserved land for a year to visit and create three poems inspired by place and preservation? In this panel, five diverse, emerging, and established poets from east, central, and northwest regions will share their writing process and poems. Their protected lands ranged from protected habitats, sanctuaries, farms, and ranches, to ecosystems and wilderness preserves. Their poetry and the methodologies used to create their poems will challenge and inspire you.
PANEL: BIPOC Women/Nonbinary Writers Cultivating Community and Safe Writing Spaces
1:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Seattle Convention Center, Level 3, Room 327
Panelists: Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo (she/her), Janaka Bowman Lewis, PhD (she/her), LaCoya Katoe Gessesse (she/her), and Mahtem Shiferraw (she/her), Sakae Manning (they/them)
Description: Panelists share modes and methods towards creating safe space through considering intention as liberatory groundwork for BIPOC women and nonbinary writers, creating intersectional spaces beyond physical boundaries, identifying and becoming part of a writing community, and understanding how intergenerational racial and gender-based trauma impacts amplifying our own work. Join Janaka Bowman-Lewis, PhD, LaCoya Katoe Gessesse, and Mahtem Shiferraw, as we navigate writing and sustaining writing communities.
READING: Feminist Press Presents: Readings by Louise Meriwether First Book Prize Winners
3:20 PM – 4:35 PM
Room 430, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 4
Panelists: YZ Chin, Cassandra Lane, Claudia D. Hernández, Melissa Valentine, Annell Lopez
Description: The Louise Meriwether First Book Prize seeks to honor the groundbreaking legacy of Meriwether’s Daddy Was a Number Runner by creating debut publication opportunities for women and nonbinary authors of color. The 2022 winner of the prize will be joined by past winners YZ Chin, Claudia D. Hernández, Melissa Valentine, and Cassandra Lane to read from their work, including a reading from the 2022 Prize winner’s manuscript in progress.
READING: Macondo Writers Meetup & Readings
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Anxestral Gallery, 1302 5th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101
READING: Antioch’s MFA: A Night of Reading Hosted by Tim Cummings
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Graduate Hotel: 4507 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105
Features: Jazmine Aluma, Andrea Auten, Semaj Saint Garbutt, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Diana Hardy, Scott LaMascus, Malia Márquez, Ari Rosenschein, Kim Sabin, Mireya Vela
READING: Anaphora Arts & Pacific University Oregon Reading
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Little Saigon Creative, 1227 S. Weller St, Suite A, Seattle, WA 98144
Reading: Sundress Publications Reading
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Old Stove Brewing Co 600 W. Nickerson St. Queen Anne Seattle, WA 98119
Features: Barbara Fant, Kimberly Ann Priest, Stacey Balkun, Atena Nassar, jason b. Crawford, Sunni Wilkinson, Nicole Arocho Hernández, Amanda Galvan Huynh, Cynthia Guardado, Dani Putney, Donna Vorreyer
READING: Texas Review/DIAGRAM/Apogee Reading
7:30 PM
Alley Mic: 1922 Post Alley, Seattle, WA 98101
Features: Katie Jean Shinkle, Ginger Ko, PJ Carlisle, Ander Monson featuring Ananda Lima, Bryan Byrdlong, Angela Penaredondo, Mihee Kim, Tim Jones-Yelvington, Caridad Moro-Gronlier, Kanika Agrawal, Elizabeth Gonzales James, Danielle Pafunda, Jennifer Sperry Steinorth, Dao Strom, Eric Burger, and more.
READING: AWP ’23 Offsite: Coffee House Press, Feminist Press, and The Rumpus
7:30 PM – 10:00 PM PST
Structure Cellars 3861 1st Avenue South Seattle, WA 98134
$14.88 – $23.45
Features: Courtney Faye Taylor (CONCENTRATE), Eleni Sikelianos (YOUR KINGDOM, WHAT I KNEW, MAKE YOURSELF HAPPY), Joe Vallese (IT CAME FROM THE CLOSET), Marcelo Hernandez Castillo (CHILDREN OF THE LAND, CENZONTLE, DULCE), Tom Comitta (THE NATURE BOOK, 〇, AIRPORT NOVELLA), YZ Chin (THE AGE OF GOODBYES, EDGE CASE, THOUGH I GET HOME)
SATURDAY, MARCH 11
PANEL: Beyond Writing Well: Making Space for Professional Development in the Workshop
12:10 PM – 1:25 PM
Room 447-448, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 4
Panelists: Kathie Bergquist, Sheree L. Greer, & Sarah Browning
Description: While developing writing skills is justifiably central to workshop practice, students often emerge from the workshop with little practical knowledge of the praxis and processes necessary for establishing a viable writing career. Professional development can and should be an important component of creative writing workshops. This discussion will feature strategies and exercises you can easily integrate into your workshop to better prepare your students for the professional life of a writer.
PANEL: Double-Dipping? You Bet! Promote Your Book with Short Articles and Literary Essays
12:10 PM to 1:25 PM
Rooms 431-432, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 4
Panelists: Melissa Hart, Juanita Mantz Pelaez, George Estreich, Tanya Ward Goodman, Andrea Ross
Description: What if we told you that instead of spending thousands on a publicist, you could promote your books and find your ideal readers while building your writing portfolio and earning a paycheck? In this panel, we’ll talk about how we’ve perfected the art of identifying key themes and topics in our published books and writing about them for newspapers, magazines, and literary journals. We’ll teach you how to do the same with personal essays, book reviews, profiles, how-to pieces, and feature articles.
BOOK SIGNING: Light Skin Gone to Waste with Toni Ann Johnson
1:00 PM
University of Georgia Press: 928
PANEL: The ART of Infertility: Writing About Reproductive Choice, Loss, and Family
3:20 PM – 4:35 PM
Rooms 431-432, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 4
Panelists: Jennifer Berney, Robin Silbergleid, Carla Sameth, Cheryl Klein, Krys Malcolm Belc
Description: How do infertility memoirs rewrite the dominant family narrative? How do they grapple with issues of gender, sexuality, race, and the body? Reading from published memoirs about infertility, miscarriage, reproductive choice, and queer family building, panelists explore the emotional, practical, and legal complexities of infertility and family building outside cisgender and heteronuclear families, such as in vitro fertilization, third party reproduction, blended families, and adoption.
TABLES
Antioch University Los Angeles – 807
Apogee Press – T1203
CALYX, Inc. – T128
Cave Canem Foundation, Inc. – 929
Feminist Press – T405
Kaya Press – 1309
Kundiman – 728
Lambda Literary – 908
Mouthfeel Press – T1122
Nightboat Books – 1024
Santa Fe Writers Project (SFWP) – 1202 (Monica Prince will be selling advanced copies of her next book, Roadmap: A Choreopoem, along with other authors. Come say hi!)
Sundress Publications – T500
University of Georgia Press – 928
World Stage Press – 1309