Fairhope 2020 Panels
Panels for Fairhope 2020: Filled and Open
Note: All of the panels we have so far for 2020 are below. These topics have been accepted and many of the panels are filled. Where there is still space on a panel, we have indicated that. If you think you would be a good match for one of those, please request to join.
To submit a panel proposal, go here. (That page also has the reading request form.)
To submit a panel proposal, go here. (That page also has the reading request form.)
Panels for Fairhope 2020:
Open: Looking for additional panelists
USING CREATIVE WRITING TO FOSTER SELF-EXPRESSION And CONFIDENCE IN ADULT AND COMMUNITY EDUCATION STUDENTS
This panel will focus on using creative writing to teach students outside of a university/college setting, with a focus on adult education/GED programs, community centers, prisons and jails, and other settings. Panelists will share techniques for having students explore multiple genres and styles to express ideas and feelings, strengthen communication skills, and develop confidence. Panelists will also share strategies and suggestions for publishing student writing.
Panelist: Anne Meisenzahl, Adult & Community Education Tallahassee, Florida
Open to other panelists. Please request to join.
Note: this panel must take place on Saturday, March 14.
USING CREATIVE WRITING TO FOSTER SELF-EXPRESSION And CONFIDENCE IN ADULT AND COMMUNITY EDUCATION STUDENTS
This panel will focus on using creative writing to teach students outside of a university/college setting, with a focus on adult education/GED programs, community centers, prisons and jails, and other settings. Panelists will share techniques for having students explore multiple genres and styles to express ideas and feelings, strengthen communication skills, and develop confidence. Panelists will also share strategies and suggestions for publishing student writing.
Panelist: Anne Meisenzahl, Adult & Community Education Tallahassee, Florida
Open to other panelists. Please request to join.
Note: this panel must take place on Saturday, March 14.
MAKING ONLINE CREATIVE WRITING COURSES ENGAGING AND EFFECTIVE:
Pedagogical purists in the creative writing realm often criticize online instruction and workshop as being too distant and sterile to be effective at fostering creative exploration. However, by focusing on the unique qualities of online creative writing pedagogy, it is possible to develop an online learning environment that meets and, in many cases, exceeds quality standards of face-to-face creative writing courses. This panel will focus on specific online pedagogical strategies which can be used to enhance students’ learning experiences, such as: such as: building rapport and trust with students, developing a welcoming environment for "first-time" creative writers (meeting writers "where they are"), incorporating multimedia in online delivery, and facilitating a creative writing workshop model in an online environment.
Panelists:
Jonathan Peacock, University of West Florida
Jonathan Fink, University of West Florida
Open to an additional panelist with experience in teaching crw online
Note: Due to panelist availability, this panel must take place on Saturday.
INVENTED SPACES: FRAMING YOUR WORLD BUILDING:
Setting can sometimes take a backseat to plot and character. It’s understandable. Who thinks about the background when Frankenstein’s monster or Dracula is commanding your mind’s stage? Setting, however, is the frame upon which you sculpt your story. If it’s too weak, the story won’t stand. If it’s too strong, it’ll overwhelm your plot and characters. And when it comes to speculative fiction, setting is what makes your readers want to live in your invented world. Come and join us for a discussion on setting up your story’s framework by using the real world to inspire your invented spaces.
Panelists
Jessica Borsi
Ashlea Adams, University of West Florida
Jason Stuart, Burnt Bridge
Setting can sometimes take a backseat to plot and character. It’s understandable. Who thinks about the background when Frankenstein’s monster or Dracula is commanding your mind’s stage? Setting, however, is the frame upon which you sculpt your story. If it’s too weak, the story won’t stand. If it’s too strong, it’ll overwhelm your plot and characters. And when it comes to speculative fiction, setting is what makes your readers want to live in your invented world. Come and join us for a discussion on setting up your story’s framework by using the real world to inspire your invented spaces.
Panelists
Jessica Borsi
Ashlea Adams, University of West Florida
Jason Stuart, Burnt Bridge
CAPTURING PLACE AND HISTORY:
Writers of fiction and nonfiction can preserve local histories that would otherwise be lost—to sprawl, storms, pollution, or other transformations. By juxtaposing legend with fact, and by sharing personal pasts, writers can contradict or amplify the official record.
The panelists will share techniques for using memory, sense detail, storytelling, and research (via documents, interviews, places and objects) to craft memoir, narrative journalism, and fiction short and long that becomes part of how a place is known and understood.
Panelists:
Lyn Millner, Florida Gulf Coast University
Lynne Barrett, Florida International University
Leah Myers, University of New Orleans
Writers of fiction and nonfiction can preserve local histories that would otherwise be lost—to sprawl, storms, pollution, or other transformations. By juxtaposing legend with fact, and by sharing personal pasts, writers can contradict or amplify the official record.
The panelists will share techniques for using memory, sense detail, storytelling, and research (via documents, interviews, places and objects) to craft memoir, narrative journalism, and fiction short and long that becomes part of how a place is known and understood.
Panelists:
Lyn Millner, Florida Gulf Coast University
Lynne Barrett, Florida International University
Leah Myers, University of New Orleans
FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC: COLLABORATIONS WITH POETS TRAVELLING OR NOT:
Join us for a discussion for the pleasures, shifts in consciousness and perception, and the increased output of collaborating while traveling, or collaborating with a traveler, or any iteration of collaborating with a fellow poet. What worked, what crashed? How could you shape your collaboration to benefit both participants. open to other participants/proposed by Lynne Knight and Mary Jane Ryals
Panelists:
Lynne Knight, Anhinga Press
Mary Jane Ryals
Note: Due to panelist availability, this panel must take place on Saturday, March 14
Join us for a discussion for the pleasures, shifts in consciousness and perception, and the increased output of collaborating while traveling, or collaborating with a traveler, or any iteration of collaborating with a fellow poet. What worked, what crashed? How could you shape your collaboration to benefit both participants. open to other participants/proposed by Lynne Knight and Mary Jane Ryals
Panelists:
Lynne Knight, Anhinga Press
Mary Jane Ryals
Note: Due to panelist availability, this panel must take place on Saturday, March 14
SPACING OUT: FINDING A PLACE TO WRITE
It’s no secret that the space between place and writing can lead to some fantastic writing. But how do you go about finding that creative space that allows you and your students the best possible means of tapping into their creativity? This panel will explore the meaning of “space” in relation to writing, and how space can sometimes make or break a writer’s motivation and workflow. As both students and teachers of creative writing, the four panelists are well versed in finding “space” to write even when overwhelmed or limited by physical place. This panel will conclude with an example activity that writers can do on their own or apply to a lesson for creative writing students.
Panelists:
Courtney Clute, University of South Florida
Stephanie Karakochuk Hardy, University of South Florida
Macey Sidlasky, University of South Florida
Note: This panel will take place on Saturday
It’s no secret that the space between place and writing can lead to some fantastic writing. But how do you go about finding that creative space that allows you and your students the best possible means of tapping into their creativity? This panel will explore the meaning of “space” in relation to writing, and how space can sometimes make or break a writer’s motivation and workflow. As both students and teachers of creative writing, the four panelists are well versed in finding “space” to write even when overwhelmed or limited by physical place. This panel will conclude with an example activity that writers can do on their own or apply to a lesson for creative writing students.
Panelists:
Courtney Clute, University of South Florida
Stephanie Karakochuk Hardy, University of South Florida
Macey Sidlasky, University of South Florida
Note: This panel will take place on Saturday
KEEP GOING BACK: Panel explores ways of helping writers access the past: through research into ancestors, by returning to the scene of the crime, by exploring connections to places that have been horribly altered. Panel participants will discuss work with a variety of writers, including first-year and advanced writers, elders writing for the first time, and those who collaborate while exploring connections.
Patti White, University of Alabama
Karen Gardiner, University of Alabama
Jeff Newberry, ABAC
Patti White, University of Alabama
Karen Gardiner, University of Alabama
Jeff Newberry, ABAC
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Examples from previous years:
Editors Panel
What editors want, and the inside scoop on editing literary magazines, anthologies, and more.
Ralph Adamo (Xavier Review), Lynne Barrett (Florida Book Review), Mary Jane Ryals (Apalachee Review)'
Micro, Fragmented, & More: The New Memoir
Short nonfiction is in vogue. Recent years have seen more book-length publications and literary journals dedicated to the form. This panel will discuss the craft aspects of these newly popular memoirs (what’s the difference between a fragmented memoir and a micro-memoir collection, and how do I teach them?) and why marginalized voices may be particularly attracted to these inventive narrative structures. Bianca Hernandez, Sarah Basil
Preparing Pedagogy for Poetry: A Millennial Perspective
As poets and academics in different stages of our 20s, this panel focuses on the literary facets of poetry in contemporary society. As MFA candidates, who are also millennials, we aim to create discourse around the ways poetry has evolved in public and private social spaces (e.g. print and social/online-media, underground/ local literary scenes). Our aim for this panel is to allow our identities to influence an analytical approach to contextualizing contemporary “popular” literature/ poetry in the current state of curriculum. The purpose of this panel is to focus on the millennial perspective with an emphasis on young writers and academics being the future of this academic field. Carmin Wong, Skye Jackson, “Swiss” McCall
Make Your Readings as Good as Your Writing
Are you worried about putting your audience to sleep? We will discuss presentation techniques often neglected by writers during their readings. The discussion will aim to address dealing with anxiety, mastering your nonverbals, choosing the best pieces for performance, and connecting with your audience. The panelists will give tips and perspectives based on instructing both writing and speech delivery.
Panelists: Michael Trammell, Mary Jane Ryals, Lynne Barrett.
Teaching Small Forms
We will focus on teaching short poetry, flash fiction, and flash nonfiction/micromemoir to undergraduate students of creative writing, as well as English Composition. Short forms give students lower stakes in creative writing and can encourage them to develop writing practices and styles without the anxiety of creating longer works. Short form writings are also uniquely poised in our current societal structure to deliver meaning and emotion in a limited space, working with the attention and expectation of contemporary readers. Thus, we have also founded Hunnybee Lit to publish and celebrate short form writing and the growing role it has in American society. Stephanie Karakochuk Hardy, Macey Sidlasky, Ashleigh Ray
Song and Story, Story and Song: Panelists will discuss ways that being a musician or an appreciator of music connects to and affects their writing of fiction. Topics may include: how music composition, song writing, or performance influences prose writing, the use of musicians as characters or musical elements in fiction, using music as a writing prompt, and other connections between story and song. Presenters: Lynne Barrett and Jessica Borsi.
A Discussion of Current American Poetry: Jeff Newberry, Ralph Adamao, and Tom Holmes will discuss what they see as new, changing, not changing, and the trends in the ever-widening landscape of today's American poetry. While it's not possible to cover everything that is happening in poetry, these editors and teachers of poetry will focus on current aesthetic tendencies, as well as some or all of the following: cultural, political, social, and technological forces shaping the poetry of today, and where America’s poetry might be heading in this young century with its increasing diversity of new and established voices.
NEGATIVE CAPABILITY PRESS POETS: This panel will consist of short readings by three or four poets published by Mobile's literary press, Negative Capability. We will then entertain Q&A about the press and about poetry publishing in general.
Teaching What You Love: In this panel, teachers of creative writing will bring examples of poems, stories, essays, or comics that they love to teach. The panel will expand on the talk of creative writing pedagogy and offer firm examples of what has worked and why they work in the classroom.
A Bigger Tent: University and Community Collaboration For Public Readings: It can be easy for MFA programs to remain self-contained in their respective colleges, but literary communities often exist beyond campus in the city at-large. Off-site readings can be an excellent means for creative writing teachers to build their artistic presence and work experience while creating a more inclusive literary community in their area. Creative writing teachers may also include undergraduates or other mentees in the organization process as a way of building their experience and preparing them for graduate school. For this panel, University of South Florida MFA students Adam Carter, Alison Missler, Patrick Templeton, and Casey Clague will discuss their experience organizing Blank Pages, Writer’s Harvest, and the Read Herring reading series in Tampa, FL and offer practical suggestions for teachers and students who wish to establish similar events.
Hybrid works. In the midst of cross-genre and post-genre trends, writers and writing teachers alike are exploring hybrid works. Three University of South Florida writers who teach writing will present their own poetry comics, video essays, and creative work that takes its forms from the natural sciences. The panel will encompass a brief overview of each genre, a guide to getting started, and suggestions for incorporating these hybrid works into the creative writing classroom.
Strutting Our Stuff
In a matter of minutes, a good spoken word performance can unveil a writer’s essence and be a transformative experience for both author and audience. Though publishing is a familiar aspect of the business, live performance is another way word artists have of getting our oeuvre "out there". We’ve been doing it for centuries. Elements of a successful turn at the mic include a writer’s voice, timing, image and, of course, the host or person controlling the mic. Regardless of form – poetry or prose --writers have an opportunity and obligation to give the audience what it is looking for: a good story.
Culture & Writing--From Teaching Creative Writing to Instructing Required Writing
We will emphasize the importance of understanding and observing all aspects of "culture" to strengthen students' work. Culture will be defined broadly, from the "culture" of a group of friends to regional and national cultures. We will describe how making learners think about culture can enliven everything from class discussion to journal entries to poems, etc.
Under the Influence: Imbibing writers on writers who imbibed
Our panel will celebrate Southern writers who had a proclivity for drink. We will explore how the consumption of alcohol spurred creativity while also complicating the lives of its authors. A group of UNO MFA CWW graduating students will read their favorite passages and talk about the influence on their own work.
Readings and Muse-ings on Peauxdunque
The Peauxdunque Writers Alliance is a ten-year-old writers’ group based in New Orleans but with members in six states, each focused on bringing their particularized narratives and their personal podunks into the larger conversation. This year the PWA launches the Peauxdunque Review, to foster this same vision on an editorial level. In this proposed reading/panel, members of the Review’s editorial staff discuss writer-group longevity, publishing, launching a new journal, and then read from their work.
Women in the Literary World
This panel will discuss the presence of women in the literary world, with a focus on the VIDA statistics over the past few years, what we mean when we say "women's writing," and how to promote the work of women and minorities through writing and publishing. Feminism and intersectionality in publishing will be a concern, though not strictly a focus.
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