AWP highlights for Thursday, March 7, 2013

Here are my very personal and individual picks for this day at the conference of the Associated Writers and Writing Programs (AWP).

9:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.

Room 109, Plaza Level

R110. Poetry Readings in the Age of Social Media. (Steven Karl, Christie Ann Reynolds, Emily Kendal Frey, Jared White, Ben Mirov) I don’t know the panelists, but the topic is current and important.

Room 210, Level 2

R121. The Transatlantic Disconnect. (Eric McHenry, Philip Hoy, Adam Kirsch, Mary Jo Salter, Rosanna Warren) Interesting topic, worth exploring—why the U.S. and the U.K. literary worlds are so out of touch with one another.

10:30 to 11:45 a.m.

Room 207, Level 2. R144.

Breaking Silence: The Interior Life of the Poet. In Homage to Adrienne Rich. (Melissa Hammerle, Marie Howe, Kimiko Hahn, Kathleen Graber, Malena Morling) I’d be glad to hear Marie Howe talk about her Trader Joe shopping list, but to hear her and others talk about Adrienne Rich is a true gift.

Room 309, Level 3

R153. Writing the Ends of the Earth: Women Writers on the Arctic and Antarctica. (Camille T. Dungy, Elizabeth Bradfield, Leslie Carol Roberts, Kelsea Habecker, Joan Kane) Good panel, unusual topic.

Alice Hoffman Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall D, Level 2

BF10. Cornelius Eady, Book of Hooks: Readings and Music, Presented by Kattywompus Press. (Sammy Greenspan, Cornelius Eady, Robin Messing) “Who tells the story to the teller?” Cornelius Eady presents readings and music from his new double-CD/double-chapbook, Book of Hooks (Kattywompus Press, 2013). Cornelius Eady is always one step ahead. Find out where he’s going this time.

Noon to 1:15 p.m.

Room 107, Plaza Level

R162. A Monster for Your Bridegroom: Jewish Mysticism in Contemporary Poetry. (Sheri Allen, Tony Barnstone, Jacqueline Osherow, Joy Ladin, Yehoshua November) It’s Jewish, it’s contemporary. What could be bad?

Room 302/304, Level 3. R177. I Essay to Be. (David Shields, Phillip Lopate, Elena Passarello, Amy Fusselman) Phillip Lopate is always worth hearing, and the topic is interesting.

]Level 3. Room 306. R180. Cooperative Publishing and the Future of the Small Press. (Martin Woodside, Derick Burleson, Jacqueline Kudler, Chris Baron, Geoffrey Gatza). Important topic, good panel.

Room 308, Level 3. R181. Varieties of Historical Experience: Turning History into Theatre. (Andrew Pederson, Deborah Brevoort, Sheila Curran Bernard, Jayme McGhan, Craig Thornton). Don’t know the panel, but I like the topic.

1:30 to 2:45 p.m.

Room 302/304, Level 3

R206. Copper Canyon Press: The Next 40 Years. (Matthew Zapruder, Brenda Shaughnessy, Valzhyna Mort) Good line-up for this reading, and Copper Canyon is a high quality publisher.

Room 310, Level 3

R212. Literary Boston: A Living History. (Ladette Randolph, Matthew Pearl, Megan Marshall, Michael Lowenthal, Paul Lewis) If you’re in Boston, it’s worth finding out about the local literary history.

3:00 to 5:45 p.m.

Room 210, Level 2. R264. Staggered Tellings: Immediacy, Intimacy, and Ellipses in the Verse Novel. (Kevin Clark, Wendy Barker, Rita Dove, Jonathan Galassi, Kevin Young) Rita Dove! Say no more. OK, I will say more: the verse novel is an intriguing form.

Room 302/304, Level 3

R265. An Afternoon with Adonis, Sponsored by Poets House. (Stephen Motika, Khaled Mattawa, Adonis) Adonis is one of the leading poems in the Middle East. Rare chance to hear him in the U.S., and Khaled Mattawa is also a force in his own right.

Room 305, Level 3

R267. Contemporary Chinese Literature in Translation. (Lucas Klein, Xi Chuan, Jonathan Stalling, Eric Abrahamsen, Eleanor Goodman) I don’t know the panelists, but this is such an important poetic tradition, it would be interesting to learn something about its current incarnation.

6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Offsite event: Al Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Anthology Reading & Artist Books Exhibit; Cambridge Arts Council City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway, Cambridge MA.

Reading and reception. Contributing Editor Persis Karim usually makes good picks.

6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Offsite event: upstreet magazine reading, Map Room, Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston St. Last year’s upstreet event was the best offsite event I’ve ever attended at AWP. I’m sure this one, with Alan Feldman, Jeffrey Harrison, David Jauss, and Jodi Paloni, will also be good.

8:30 to 10:00 p.m.

Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Level 2

R277. AWP 2013 Keynote, A Conversation Between Nobel Laureates Seamus Heaney and Derek Walcott, Moderated by Rosanna Warren, Sponsored by Bath Spa University. (Rosanna Warren, Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott)  Fabulous line-up!

AWP LINKS:
BACK TO ZACK'S AWP MAIN PAGE
AWP Boston 2013: What's New
Suggestions on How to Network at AWP
Highlights for Friday, March 8, 2013
Highlights for Saturday, March 9, 2013

Zack Rogow will be reading at an offsite event at AWP on Wednesday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m. as part of the launch of Cornelius Eady's new chapbook/CD in the community room of Cambridge Cohousing, 175 Richdale Avenue in Cambridge MA. He'll also be speaking on two panels at AWP on Friday, March 8: Things We Know We Love: The Poems and Influence of Nazim Hikmet, from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., room 305, Level 3; and  What Poets Learn When They Translate, from 1:30 to 2:45 p.m., room 204, level 2. He'll be signing copies of his latest book of poems, My Mother and the Ceiling Dancers, on Saturday, March 9, from noon to 1:15 at the Kattywompus Press table, booth 1111.

Other recent posts about writing topics: 

How to Get Published: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 

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