7:30am EDT
9:00am EDT
Welcoming Convocation + Keynote: "How to Stay a Writer"
Moderators
Muse Director
Sonya Larson joined GrubStreet in 2005, and helped to grow the organization from offering 80 classes a year to over 600. Since then she has managed GrubStreet's many and proliferating programs, and served as Program Director for several years.Now, as the Director of the Muse and Advocacy...
Read More →
Speakers
10:15am EDT
10:15am EDT
1B: Essentials of the Young Adult Novel
Speakers
Author, WISE LATINAS
Jennifer De Leon is the author of the YA novel, Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, forthcoming from Atheneum/Simon & Schuster (Caitlyn Dlouhy Books), and the editor of Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education (University of Nebraska Press, 2014). In 2017 De Leon was selected as a...
Read More →
10:15am EDT
1C: Navigating Your Novel’s Murky Middle
Speakers
Author, THE FIFTY-FIRST STATE
lisaborders.com.">Lisa Borders’ second novel, The Fifty-First State, was published by Engine Books in 2013. Her first novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land, was chosen by Pat Conroy as the winner of River City Publishing’s Fred Bonnie Award, and received fiction honors in the 2003 Massachusetts...
Read More →
10:15am EDT
1D: How to Get Media Attention for Your Book
Speakers
Author, Life Without Summer & Girl Sent Away
Lynne Griffin is the author of the novels Girl Sent Away (SixOneSeven Books), Sea Escape (Simon & Schuster) and Life Without Summer (St. Martin's Press), and the non-fiction guides, Let's Talk About it: Adolescent Mental Health (SixOneSeven Books) and Negotiation Generation (Penguin...
Read More →
Author, THE SECRET POWER OF MIDDLE CHILDREN
Katrin Schumann is the co-author of The Secret Power of Middle Children (Hudson Street, 2011), Mothers Need Time-Outs, Too (McGraw-Hill, 2008), and has written and edited numerous other nonfiction titles, both commercially and independently. Her debut novel, The Forgotten Hours...
Read More →
10:15am EDT
1E: Making the Most of Your Writing Time
Speakers
Author, BECOMING JINN
Lori Goldstein was born into an Italian-Irish family and raised in a small town on the New Jersey shore. She earned her bachelor's degree in journalism from Lehigh University and worked as a writer, editor, and graphic designer before becoming a full-time author and manuscript editor...
Read More →
10:15am EDT
1F: Networking for Reticent Writers
Speakers
Author, COTTONMOUTHS
Kelly J. Ford is the author of Cottonmouths, named one of 2017’s best books of the year by the Los Angeles Review. Her work has appeared in Black Heart Magazine, Fried Chicken and Coffee, and Knee-Jerk Magazine, and is forthcoming in Post Road Magazine. Kelly is an instructor for...
Read More →
10:15am EDT
1G: Telling a Story with Your Book Proposal
Speakers
Literary Agent, McKinnon McIntyre
Tanya McKinnon is the co-founder of the McKinnon McIntyre Literary Agency where she represents New York Times Bestselling non-fiction, award-winning public intellectuals, award-winning children's books, and New York Times bestselling graphic novels. She specializes in non-fiction...
Read More →
Author, CHANGE YOUR SCHEDULE, CHANGE YOUR LIFE
Michelle Seaton’s short fiction has appeared in One Story, Harvard Review, Sycamore Review, and The Pushcart Anthology among others. Her journalism and essays have appeared in Robb Report, Bostonia, Yankee Magazine, The Pinch and Lake Effect. Her essay, “How to Work a Locker Room...
Read More →
10:15am EDT
1H: The Blazing Thing: On Imagination in Fiction
Speakers
Author, THE THIRD HOTEL
Laura van den Berg is the author of two short story collections and two novels, most recently The Third Hotel, an ABA IndieNext Selection, a Powell's Indiespensable Pick, and an Amazon Best Book of the Month for August. Her honors include the Bard Fiction Prize, the Rosenthal Family...
Read More →
10:15am EDT
10:15am EDT
1J: When Your Memoir Goes Public
Speakers
Author, BOY ERASED
Garrard Conley is the author of a memoir on conversion therapy, Boy Erased, out from Riverhead (Penguin) May 2016. His work can be found in TIME, VICE, CNN, Buzzfeed Books, Virginia Quarterly Review, and others. He has received scholarships from the Bread Loaf, Sewanee, and...
Read More →
10:15am EDT
1K: Your First 100 Words: Grounding Readers in Your Fiction
Speakers
Author, WE MIGHT AS WELL LIGHT SOMETHING ON FIRE
Ron MacLean teaches writing at GrubStreet. His short fiction has been anthologized, and has appeared widely in magazines including GQ, Narrative, Fiction International, Night Train, Other Voices, Drunken Boat, Best Online Fiction 2010, and elsewhere. He is author most recently of...
Read More →
10:15am EDT
11:45am EDT
2A: A Man Walks into a...: Writing Compelling Scenes in Fiction
Speakers
Author, THE DEVOTED
Blair Hurley received her A.B. from Princeton University and her M.F.A. from NYU. Her stories are published or forthcoming in The Georgia Review, Ninth Letter, West Branch, Mid-American Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, and elsewhere. She received a 2018 Pushcart Prize and scholarships...
Read More →
11:45am EDT
2B: All-Conference Read in Fiction: PRIVATE CITIZENS by Tony Tulathimutte
Moderators
Author, THE TWELVE LIVES OF SAMUEL HAWLEY
Hannah Tinti is the author of the bestselling novel The Good Thief, which won The Center for Fiction’s first novel prize, and the story collection Animal Crackers, a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her new novel, The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley, is National bestseller...
Read More →
Speakers
All-Conference Read in Fiction, PRIVATE CITIZENS
Tony Tulathimutte’s novel Private Citizens was called “the first great millennial novel” by New York Magazine. A graduate of Stanford University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he has written for The New York Times, VICE, WIRED, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic...
Read More →
11:45am EDT
2C: Essentials of Characterization
Speakers
Fiction Writer
Stacy Mattingly is coauthor with Ashley Smith of the New York Times best seller Unlikely Angel, an Atlanta hostage story now a feature film, Captive. Stacy’s work has appeared in the Oxford American, EuropeNow, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and elsewhere. In 2012, she launched...
Read More →
11:45am EDT
2D: Get Your Essay Pitches Noticed
Speakers
Journalist, Forbes Under 30
Candace McDuffie is a dedicated journalist and teacher who holds a Master's Degree in Education specializing in Critical and Creative Thinking from the University at Massachusetts Boston. She is a monthly contributor for the Under 30 Section at Forbes. Her work has also been featured...
Read More →
11:45am EDT
2E: Getting Your Nonfiction Book Back on Track
Speakers
Author, THE SECRET POWER OF MIDDLE CHILDREN
Katrin Schumann is the co-author of The Secret Power of Middle Children (Hudson Street, 2011), Mothers Need Time-Outs, Too (McGraw-Hill, 2008), and has written and edited numerous other nonfiction titles, both commercially and independently. Her debut novel, The Forgotten Hours...
Read More →
11:45am EDT
2F: Novels: Writing the Opening Pages
Speakers
Author, THE UNMADE WORLD
Steve Yarbrough is the author of eleven books, most recently the novel The Unmade World, due out in January 2018. His other books are the non-fiction title Bookmarked: Larry McMurtry’s The Last Picture Show, the novels The Realm of Last Chances, Safe from the Neighbors, The End...
Read More →
11:45am EDT
11:45am EDT
11:45am EDT
2I: Race, Identity & Craft in Fiction and Nonfiction
Speakers
Author, A STRANGER'S JOURNEY: RACE, IDENTITY & NARRATIVE CRAFT IN WRITING
David Mura is a poet, creative nonfiction writer, fiction writer, critic, and playwright. His newest book is A Stranger’s Journey: Race, Identity & Narrative Craft in Writing.A Sansei or third generation Japanese American, Mura has written two memoirs: Turning Japanese: Memoirs...
Read More →
11:45am EDT
2J: Shut Up and Listen: Crafting Literary Voice from Literal Voices
Speakers
Author, BRASS
Xhenet Aliu is the author of the novel Brass (Random House, 2018) and the short fiction collection Domesticated Wild Things and Other Stories (Univ. Neb. Press, 2013), winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction. Her stories and essays have appeared in journals such as Glimmer...
Read More →
11:45am EDT
2K: Subversion: Writing YA Novels That Upend Expectations
Speakers
Author, IN HER SKIN
Kim Savage is the author of three critically acclaimed young adult novels, After the Woods, Beautiful Broken Girls, and In Her Skin (releasing March 27, 2018), all with Farrar, Straus, Giroux/Macmillan. Her novels have been published in Spain, Brazil, and Turkey, and In Her Skin has...
Read More →
11:45am EDT
2L: The Dark Art of Description
Speakers
Author, THE ART OF THE WASTED DAY
Patricia Hampl first won recognition for A Romantic Education, her Cold War memoir about her Czech heritage. This book and subsequent works have established her as an influential figure in the rise of autobiographical writing in the past 30 years. The Art of the Wasted Day (Viking...
Read More →
11:45am EDT
2M: The 3-Step Formula for Building an Author Platform
Speakers
Consultant, FSB Associates
Fauzia Burke is the founder and president of FSB Associates, an online publicity and marketing firm specializing in creating awareness for books and authors. She’s also the author of Online Marketing for Busy Authors (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, April 2016). Fauzia worked for Wiley...
Read More →
1:00pm EDT
2:15pm EDT
3A: A Rockstar Editor's Perspective on Revision
Speakers
Editor, Pamela Dorman Books / Viking Penguin
Pamela Dorman is Vice President and Publisher of Pamela Dorman Books, Viking Penguin. In her more than twenty-five years as an editor, she has acquired and edited numerous multi-million copy #1 bestsellers, including The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Me Before You by Jojo...
Read More →
Author, EVERYTHING HERE IS BEAUTIFUL
Mira T. Lee's debut novel, Everything Here is Beautiful, was selected as a Top 10 Debut title for 2018 by the American Booksellers Association, and named a Top Winter/2018 Pick by more than 30 news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, O Magazine, Poets & Writers...
Read More →
Author, THE LATE BLOOMERS CLUB
Louise Miller is the author of The City Baker's Guide to Country Living (Viking/Penguin 2016) and the forthcoming The Late Bloomers Club (Viking/Penguin/2018). She is a graduate of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator program, a yearlong workshop for novelists. Louise is a professional pastry...
Read More →
2:15pm EDT
3B: Dreams, Visions, and Hallucinations in Fiction
Speakers
Author, A FIELD GUIDE TO MURDER & FLY FISHING
Tim Weed's first novel, Will Poole's Island (2014), was named one of Bank Street College of Education's Best Books of the Year. His short fiction collection, A Field Guide to Murder & Fly Fishing (2017), has been shortlisted for the International Book Awards, the New Rivers Press...
Read More →
2:15pm EDT
3C: Essentials of Submitting Your Work
Speakers
Fiction & Nonfiction Writer
A Chicago native, Angie writes both fiction and nonfiction and earned her MFA from Queens University in Charlotte. She’s the Book Reviews Editor for Fifth Wednesday Journal, the Managing Editor for Linden Avenue Literary Journal, and a Fellow of the Kimbilio Center for African American...
Read More →
Author, TOGETHER TEA
Marjan Kamali is the author of the novel Together Tea (EccoBooks/HarperCollins) which was a Massachusetts Book Award Finalist, an NPR/WBUR Good Read, and a Target Emerging Author Selection. She has lived in seven countries across five continents and earned an MBA from Columbia University...
Read More →
2:15pm EDT
3D: Getting Noticed, Read and Understood on Sensitive Topics
Speakers
Columnist, ROLL CALL
Mary C. Curtis, a columnist at Roll Call, is an award-winning journalist and educator based in Charlotte, N.C. She has contributed to NBC News, NPR, The Washington Post, The Root, ESPN's The Undefeated and talks politics on WCCB-TV in Charlotte. Curtis has worked at The New York Times...
Read More →
2:15pm EDT
3E: Hybrid Publishing: How It Works and What It's Like
Speakers
Author, EDEN: A Novel
A graduate of Smith College, Jeanne began her career in finance, making stops on Wall Street, Macy’s and eventually Harvard Business School where she wrote case studies and business articles. In order to nurture her creative impulses, Jeanne turned to memoir writing and later fiction...
Read More →
2:15pm EDT
3F: Imagining the Gaps in Memoir: How to Write a Story When the Story Runs Out
Speakers
Author, THE FACT OF A BODY
Alex Marzano-Lesnevich is the author of The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir, recipient of the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir and the 2018 Chautauqua Prize. Named one of the best books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Audible.com, Bustle, Book Riot, The Times...
Read More →
Author, Dogs Run Wild Here
Caitlin McGill’s work has been supported by the Bread Loaf Writers’ conference, The Ragdale Foundation, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and has appeared or is forthcoming in Blackbird, The Chattahoochee Review, Consequence, Iron Horse Literary Review, The Southeast...
Read More →
2:15pm EDT
3G: Query Letter 101
Speakers
Literary Agent, Janklow & Nesbit
Allison Hunter began her publishing career in 2005 working for the Los Angeles-based literary publicity firm Kim-from-L.A, and was an agent at InkWell Management and the Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency before joining Janklow & Nesbit in 2016. Allison's clients include novelists...
Read More →
Literary Agent, P.S. Literary Agency
Eric Smith is an associate literary agent with P.S. Literary, focusing mostly on Young Adult fiction, with a bit of non-fiction and literary fiction in the mix. He loves YA books that make him cry, non-fiction that challenges him, and literary novels that are hard to define.He also...
Read More →
2:15pm EDT
3H: Keynote "Carryover" Conversation: On How to Stay a Writer
Speakers
Fiction & Non-Fiction Writer
Eson Kim serves as Youth Programs Manager at GrubStreet, and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Her stories have appeared in Calyx Journal, Denver Quarterly, The Massachusetts Review, among others. She received a Writing Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council...
Read More →
2:15pm EDT
3I: Saying the Unsayable
Speakers
Author, THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
Brendan Mathews is the author of The World of Tomorrow, published by Little, Brown & Co. His fiction has twice appeared in The Best American Short Stories and in Glimmer Train, Virginia Quarterly Review, Salon, Cincinnati Review, and other publications in the US and UK. He was a Fulbright...
Read More →
2:15pm EDT
3J: Simultaneity (or Queering Time)
Speakers
Author, THE NARROW DOOR
Paul Lisicky is the author of five books: The Narrow Door, Unbuilt Projects, The Burning House, Famous Builder, and Lawnboy. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, BuzzFeed, Conjunctions, Fence, The New York Times, Ploughshares, Tin House, and in many other magazines and anthologies. A...
Read More →
2:15pm EDT
2:15pm EDT
2:15pm EDT
3M: Writing the Past to Speak of the Present
Speakers
Author, THE SLEEPING WORLD
Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes is the author of The Sleeping World (Touchstone, 2016). She has received fellowships from Yaddo, the Millay Colony, Willapa Bay AiR, and the Blue Mountain Center. Her work has appeared in One Story, Cosmonauts Avenue, Slice, Pank, and elsewhere. Her story...
Read More →
3:15pm EDT
Break
Friday April 6, 2018 3:15pm - 3:45pm EDT
TBA
3:45pm EDT
4A: Essentials of Humor
Speakers
Nonfiction Writer
Steve Macone is a former headline contributor at The Onion. His essays, humor writing, and reporting have also appeared in the American Scholar, New York Times, Atlantic, New Yorker, Boston Globe Magazine, Morning News, VICE and Salon. His work has been featured on NPR, Longreads...
Read More →
3:45pm EDT
4B: Essentials of Style
Speakers
Fiction and Non-fiction Writer
Nicole Miller has published essays in New Letters (Dorothy Cappon Prize, 2014; Best American Essays, Notable 2016) and Arts & Letters. Her fiction has appeared in The May Anthologies, edited by Jill Paton Walsh and Sebastian Faulks, and Abundant Grace, ed. Richard Peabody. After...
Read More →
3:45pm EDT
4C: Find the Skeleton of Your Story: Using Structure to Gain Propulsion
Speakers
Author, THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER
Emily X.R. Pan is the author of The Astonishing Color of After. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, but was originally born in the Midwestern United States to immigrant parents from Taiwan. She received her BS in marketing and international business from the NYU Stern School...
Read More →
3:45pm EDT
3:45pm EDT
4E: How to Pitch Young Adult Novels to Agents & Publishers
Speakers
Literary Agent, Serendipity Literary Agency LLC
Regina Brooks is the founder and president of Serendipity Literary Agency LLC, in New York, New York. Her agency has represented and established a diverse base of award-winning clients in adult and young adult fiction, nonfiction, and children's literature. The agencies authors have...
Read More →
3:45pm EDT
4F: How to Write Long—But Not Long-Winded—Sentences
Speakers
Author, UNDERSTORIES
Tim Horvath is the author of Understories (Bellevue Literary Press) and Circulation (sunnyoutside). His stories have appeared in Conjunctions, Harvard Review, Fiction, and many other journals, and he is the recipient of a Yaddo Residency. He teaches in the BFA and MFA programs in...
Read More →
3:45pm EDT
4G: Introducing Unforgettable Characters
Speakers
Author, SHORECLIFF
Ursula DeYoung is a novelist and editor living Cambridge, MA. Her first novel, Shorecliff, a family drama set in 1920s Maine, was published by Little, Brown in 2013. In 2017, she founded the literary journal Embark, which features the openings of unpublished novels. She has greatly...
Read More →
3:45pm EDT
4H: Queerer Than Fiction: The Importance of Realistic, Integral LGBT Characters
Speakers
Poet
Before Karina van Berkum was an instructor at Grubstreet, she was a Poetry Teaching Fellow at Boston University where she was awarded the 2016 Hurley Prize in Poetry. She was also the co-organizer for Brookline Booksmith’s Breakwater Reading Series and has worked to teach young...
Read More →
Author & Senior Editor, INEVITABLE AND ONLY / Barefoot Books
Lisa Rosinsky was selected as the 2016-2017 Associates of the Boston Public Library Writer-in-Residence. Once upon a time, she was half of a two-person traveling production of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe–which was almost as fun as her current job, Senior Editor at Barefoot...
Read More →
3:45pm EDT
3:45pm EDT
4J: The Changing Face of Publishing: What All Authors Need to Know
Speakers
Literary Agent, April Eberhardt Literary
April Eberhardt is a literary change agent and author advocate passionate about helping authors be published in the most effective and satisfying way. After 25 years as a corporate strategist and consultant, Ms. Eberhardt joined the literary world, where she saw strategic opportunity...
Read More →
3:45pm EDT
4K: Who Am I Really: Reporting the Self in Writing
Speakers
Author, HOW TO WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL
Alexander Chee is the bestselling author of the novels Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night, and the essay collection, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. He is an associate professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College. He is a recipient of the Whiting Award...
Read More →
3:45pm EDT
4L: World Building in Historical Fiction
Speakers
Author, BACHELOR GIRL
Kim van Alkemade is the author of two historical fiction novels, Orphan #8 (William Morrow 2015) and Bachelor Girl (Touchstone 2018). Her creative non-fiction essays have appeared in literary journals including Alaska Quarterly Review, CutBank, and So To Speak. Born in New York, NY...
Read More →
3:45pm EDT
4M: Writing Great Artist Statements for Fellowships, Residencies, MFA programs, & More
Speakers
Fiction Writer
Jonathan Escoffery is the recipient of a 2017 Somerville Arts Council Artist Fellowship, the 2017 Ivan Gold Fellowship from The Writers' Room of Boston, a 2017 Kimbilio Fiction Fellowship, and a 2017-2018 Wellspring House Fellowship. His fiction publications include Passages North...
Read More →
Fiction Writer
Shubha Sunder's fiction has appeared in numerous journals, among them Crazyhorse, where it won the 2015 Crazyhorse Fiction Prize; Narrative Magazine, where it was a winner of "30 Below," Michigan Quarterly Review, and The Bangalore Review. Two of her stories were named "Distinguished...
Read More →
5:00pm EDT
5:30pm EDT
6:45pm EDT
7:00pm EDT
Spotlight: Race and Power in Boston
Moderators
Morning Anchor & Host of THIS IS NEW ENGLAND, NBC10 Boston
Latoyia Edwards is an Emmy Award-winning anchor on NBC 10 Boston and necn. She joined the NBC Boston and necn family as a morning reporter in 2005, arriving from WWLP-22 in Springfield, Massachusetts, where she had been a weekday anchor. A native of Boston's Dorchester neighborhood...
Read More →
Speakers
Reporter, Boston Globe Spotlight Team
Andrew Ryan joined The Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team in 2017. His previous work for the newspaper included collaborating with a team of reporters and editors in 2012 on a five-part series about the Bowdoin-Geneva neighborhood of Boston. He was part of the metro staff that won the...
Read More →
Columnist, Boston Globe
Adrian Walker is a Boston Globe columnist, focusing on politics and social issues. He began at the paper in 1989 as a general becoming a columnist in 1998. A native of Miami, he attended Florida International University and began his career at the Miami News. Walker was a general...
Read More →
Editor, Boston Globe Spotlight Team
Patricia Wen is the editor of the Boston Globe Spotlight Team. She took over this six-member investigative unit after several decades as a reporter at the Globe, with a special emphasis on social service, legal and medical issues. Her work focused largely on investigative and long-term...
Read More →
7:30am EDT
9:00am EDT
Mid-Muse Keynote: "Appropriation: Uh-oh, No-no, or #Appropro?"
Moderators
Author, LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE
Celeste Ng is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You. The recipient of a Pushcart Prize, the Massachusetts Book Award, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, she earned an MFA from the University...
Read More →
Speakers
Author, THE FORTUNES
Peter Ho Davies is the author of four books. His most recent novel, The Fortunes, was a New York Times Notable Book, winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Award and the Chautauqua Prize, and a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. His first novel, The Welsh Girl, was long-listed for...
Read More →
10:30am EDT
10:30am EDT
10:30am EDT
5C: Conjuring Mystery in Fiction
Speakers
Author, THE ART OF MYSTERY
Maud Casey is the author of three novels, most recently The Man Who Walked Away; and a short story collection, Drastic. Her book of non-fiction, The Art of Mystery: The Search for Questions, was published by Graywolf Press in January 2018. Her stories and essays have appeared in...
Read More →
10:30am EDT
10:30am EDT
5E: Essentials of Dialogue
Speakers
Author, THE BODY PAPERS
Grace Talusan is a writer and writing teacher. As a child, she immigrated to the United States from the Philippines with her parents. She grew up in New England with a strong Boston accent and enjoyed an all-American childhood. She has published essays, longform journalism, fiction...
Read More →
10:30am EDT
5F: Keynote "Carryover" Conversation on Cultural Appropriation
Speakers
Author, THE FORTUNES
Peter Ho Davies is the author of four books. His most recent novel, The Fortunes, was a New York Times Notable Book, winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Award and the Chautauqua Prize, and a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. His first novel, The Welsh Girl, was long-listed for...
Read More →
Author, LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE
Celeste Ng is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You. The recipient of a Pushcart Prize, the Massachusetts Book Award, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, she earned an MFA from the University...
Read More →
10:30am EDT
5G: Multilingual Writing: Code Switching and Language Games
Speakers
Fiction & Nonfiction Writer
Denise’s fiction and critical essays have appeared in Inch; Dossier; Hinchas de Poesía; the anthology Florida Flash; edited by Lynne Barrett; Gean Moreno & Ernesto Oroza's Tabloid Project; Jai-Alai Magazine; the artist’s monograph Frances Trombly: Paintings; Fiction Writers Review...
Read More →
10:30am EDT
5H: Problem Solving for Novels-in-Progress
Speakers
Author, THE CHEF'S SECRET
Crystal King is the author of The Chef's Secret and Feast of Sorrow, which was long-listed for the Center of Fiction's First Novel Prize. Her writing is fueled by a love of history and a passion for the food, language, and culture of Italy. She has taught classes in writing, creativity...
Read More →
10:30am EDT
5I: Query Clinic: Live Feedback on Query Letters
Speakers
Literary Agent, Fairbank Literary
A small, selective agency and member of AAR, the Author's Guild, the Agents Round Table, PEN, and Grub Street's Literary Advisory Council, Fairbank Literary Representation is happily in its seventeenth year. Clients range from first-time authors to international best-sellers, prize...
Read More →
Nonfiction Writer
Steve Macone is a former headline contributor at The Onion. His essays, humor writing, and reporting have also appeared in the American Scholar, New York Times, Atlantic, New Yorker, Boston Globe Magazine, Morning News, VICE and Salon. His work has been featured on NPR, Longreads...
Read More →
Literary Agent, Pande Literary
Ayesha Pande has worked in the publishing industry for over twenty years. Before launching APL, Ayesha held editorial positions at Farrar Straus & Giroux, HarperCollins and Crown Publishers. She is a member of AAR (Association of Author’s Representatives), PEN, the Asian American...
Read More →
10:30am EDT
5J: The Fine Art of Investigation
Speakers
Author, THE MAP THIEF
Michael Blanding is a Boston-based investigative journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Slate, The Nation, The Boston Globe Magazine, and Boston. His latest book, The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing...
Read More →
10:30am EDT
5K: Working with a Publicist: Understanding the Relationship and Getting the Most Out of It
Speakers
Founder, BookSavvy Public Relations
Sharon Bially is founder and president of the BookSavvy Public Relations, named a "Best Firm for Book Launches, Publicity and Authors" by Everything PR. A lapsed novelist, she's the author of Veronica's Nap (SixOneSeven Books, 2011).In an earlier life, Sharon was an economic policy...
Read More →
Publicist, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Taryn Roeder is the Associate Director of Publicity at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She manages Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Boston-based publicity team and works on the publicity campaigns for dozens of books a year. Her favorite part of the process is figuring out how to translate...
Read More →
10:30am EDT
5L: Writing Like a Parent, Parenting Like a Writer
Speakers
Fiction Writer & Marketing Coach
Allison Pottern Hoch is a writer and event coach with over eight years of experience in marketing, publicity, sales, and event planning. She spent four years promoting academic titles at The MIT Press before she went to work for Wellesley Books as a bookseller and event coordinator...
Read More →
10:30am EDT
11:45am EDT
12:45pm EDT
6A: "But You're So Inspirational!" Writing Authentically About Disability
Speakers
Founding Director, Fund for Community Reparations for Autistic People of Color's Interdependence, Survival, & Empowerment
Lydia X. Z. Brown is an advocate, educator, and attorney addressing state and interpersonal violence targeting disabled people living at the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, faith, language, and nation. Lydia is Policy Counsel for Privacy & Data at the Center for Democracy...
Read More →
12:45pm EDT
6B: Agents and Editors of Color Roundtable
Moderators
Author, WISE LATINAS
Jennifer De Leon is the author of the YA novel, Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, forthcoming from Atheneum/Simon & Schuster (Caitlyn Dlouhy Books), and the editor of Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education (University of Nebraska Press, 2014). In 2017 De Leon was selected as a...
Read More →
Speakers
Author, THE VEINS OF THE OCEAN
Patricia Engel is the author of Vida, which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Fiction Award and the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, winner of Colombia’s national prize in letters, the Premio Biblioteca de Narrativa Colombiana, and named a New York Times Notable...
Read More →
Editor, Simon & Schuster
Christine Pride joined Simon and Schuster in 2016. She spent more than a decade as an editor at various corporate imprints including Doubleday, Broadway, Crown and Hyperion, and then, most recently, struck out on her own for a wonderful three year stint as a freelance editor and ghostwriter...
Read More →
Editorial Director, 2040 Review
Asata Radcliffe is a writer and independent filmmaker. She is the founder and Editor for the 2040 Review. She writes fiction, speculative & science fiction, essays, and is a reviewer for Kirkus Reviews. Asata has writing that has appeared or is forthcoming in anthologies and literary...
Read More →
Literary Agent, P.S. Literary Agency
Eric Smith is an associate literary agent with P.S. Literary, focusing mostly on Young Adult fiction, with a bit of non-fiction and literary fiction in the mix. He loves YA books that make him cry, non-fiction that challenges him, and literary novels that are hard to define.He also...
Read More →
Literary Agent, Bradford Literary
Jennifer Chen Tran has been an agent at Bradford Literary since September 2017. She represents both fiction and non-fiction. Originally from New York, Jennifer is a lifelong reader and experienced member of the publishing industry. Prior to joining Bradford Literary, she was an Associate...
Read More →
12:45pm EDT
6C: Consider the Sentence: A Love Story
Speakers
Author, AMATEUR BARBARIANS
Robert Cohen's books include the novels Amateur Barbarians, Inspired Sleep, The Here and Now, and The Organ Builder, as well as a collection of stories, The Varieties of Romantic Experience, and a recent anthology, The Writer's Reader. His awards include a Whiting Writers Award...
Read More →
12:45pm EDT
6D: First Page Clinic: Making the Most of It
Speakers
Social Media Consultant, OXFAM
Michael Borum has been working in digital media since 1994, holding in leadership positions at agencies and non-profits in technical, marketing, and creative roles. In addition to his extensive corporate experience, he established his own digital marketing agency, etherweave, in 2002...
Read More →
Author, GOOD RIDDANCE
Elinor Lipman is the author of 13 books of fiction and nonfiction, including Then She Found Me, The Inn at Lake Devine, Isabel's Bed, I Can't Complain: (All Too) Personal Essays, The View from Penthouse B, and On Turpentine Lane. Her rhyming tweets were published in 2012 as Tweet...
Read More →
Author, MY EX-LIFE
Stephen McCauley is a Cambridge-based award-winning author of four novels and numerous short stories, articles and essays.
Author, OF MEN AND THEIR MOTHERS
Mameve Medwed--Bangor, Maine's other writer--is the author of five novels, Mail, Host Family, The End of an Error, How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life, Of Men and Their Mothers. Her short stories, essays, book reviews have appeared in, among others, the New York Times, Boston...
Read More →
Author, THE MENTOR
Sebastian Stuart's novels include: The Mentor, a Book of the Month Club selection; The Hour Between, winner of the Ferro-Grumley Award and an NPR Season's Reading selection; and To the Manor Dead. He has co-written a national bestseller published in 8 languages, 24-Karat Kids; and...
Read More →
12:45pm EDT
6E: How to Get *Really* Personal in Your Personal Essay
Speakers
Author, FANTASY FREAKS AND GAMING GEEKS
A GrubStreet instructor since 2005, Ethan Gilsdorf is a journalist, memoirist, essayist, critic, poet, teacher, performer and nerd. He is the author of the travel memoir investigation Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and...
Read More →
12:45pm EDT
6F: Lessons from the Novel Incubator
Speakers
Author, BOTTOMLAND
Michelle Hoover is the Fannie Hurst Writer-in-Residence at Brandeis University and teaches at GrubStreet, where she leads the Novel Incubator program. She is a 2014 NEA Fellow and has been a Writer-in-Residence at Bucknell University, a MacDowell Fellow, and a winner of the PEN/New...
Read More →
12:45pm EDT
12:45pm EDT
12:45pm EDT
12:45pm EDT
12:45pm EDT
6J: Social Media Hack: Utilizing Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to Authentically Engage (But Not Annoy) Readers
Speakers
Author, THE LOST FAMILY
Jenna Blum is The New York Times and # 1 international bestselling author of novels Those Who Save Us (Harcourt, 2004) and The Stormchasers (Dutton, 2010); novella “The Lucky One” in the postwar anthology Grand Central (Penguin, 2014); and audio course “The Author At Work...
Read More →
Author, WHERE IN THE OM AM I?
Sara DiVello is a national yoga teacher, speaker, and the author of the best-selling book, "Where in the OM Am I? One Woman’s Journey from the Corporate World to the Yoga Mat," NIEA-winner for Best Memoir, selected by Shape Magazine as a best book, and named a must-read for anyone...
Read More →
12:45pm EDT
6K: The Nonfiction Narrator
Speakers
Author, THE FACT OF A BODY
Alex Marzano-Lesnevich is the author of The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir, recipient of the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir and the 2018 Chautauqua Prize. Named one of the best books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Audible.com, Bustle, Book Riot, The Times...
Read More →
12:45pm EDT
6L: The Novelist as Dramatist: Action in Fiction
Speakers
Author, THE PLAYWRIGHT'S GUIDEBOOK
Stuart Spencer is a playwright and novelist. His play Resident Alien was originally produced at the Humana Festival of New Plays, and has had numerous productions in regional theatres across the country. A three-play anthology (Plays By Stuart Spencer) is published by Broadway Play...
Read More →
12:45pm EDT
2:15pm EDT
Break
Saturday April 7, 2018 2:15pm - 2:45pm EDT
TBA
2:45pm EDT
7A: All-Conference Read in Non-Fiction: ANIMALS STRIKE CURIOUS POSES by Elena Passarello
Moderators
Author, INVENTOLOGY
Pagan Kennedy tells stories about iconoclasts, humanitarian inventors, and scientific visionaries. Her eleven books include The First Man-Made Man, a study of the transgender pioneer Michael Dillon. Kennedy's journalism has appeared in dozens of publications including The New...
Read More →
Speakers
All-Conference Read in Non-Fiction, ANIMALS STRIKE CURIOUS POSES
Elena Passarello is an actor, writer, and recipient of a 2015 Whiting Award. Her first collection Let Me Clear My Throat (Sarabande, 2012), won the gold medal for nonfiction at the 2013 Independent Publisher Awards and was a finalist for the 2014 Oregon Book Award. Her essays on...
Read More →
2:45pm EDT
2:45pm EDT
7C: Editing: Love It, Hate It, Just Delete It
Speakers
Literary Agent, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment
Eve Attermann has worked in WME's Literary Department since 2011, representing a varied list of literary and commercial fiction writers, musicians, chefs, journalists, and historians. Her clients include Rachel Barenbaum, Melissa Scrivner Love, Hollie Overton, Elizabeth Plank, Snowden...
Read More →
Author, A BEND IN THE STARS
Rachel is a graduate of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator. Her debut novel, A Bend in the Stars, is forthcoming from Grand Central Publishing (May 2019). In a former life she was a hedge fund manager and a spin instructor. She has degrees from Harvard in Business, and Literature and Philosophy...
Read More →
2:45pm EDT
2:45pm EDT
7E: Non-Fiction Idea Clinic
Speakers
Literary Agent, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret
Jessica Papin first joined DG&B in 2003, after spending eight years as an editor at Warner Books (now Grand Central). In 2004, she moved to Egypt, where she spent three years working for the American University in Cairo Press. Upon her return to the United States, she rejoined DG&B...
Read More →
Author, KICKFLIP BOYS
Neal Thompson is the author of Kickflip Boys: A Memoir of Freedom, Rebellion, and the Chaos of Fatherhood (5/15/18), and four previous books, including the critically acclaimed biography, A Curious Man: The Strange & Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not" Ripley. Thompson has...
Read More →
Literary Agent, Bradford Literary
Jennifer Chen Tran has been an agent at Bradford Literary since September 2017. She represents both fiction and non-fiction. Originally from New York, Jennifer is a lifelong reader and experienced member of the publishing industry. Prior to joining Bradford Literary, she was an Associate...
Read More →
Editor, Graywolf Press
Steve Woodward is an editor at Graywolf Press, where he has edited books of literary fiction and nonfiction by authors including Anna Burns, Jamel Brinkley, Daisy Johnson, Esmé Weijun Wang, Mark Doten, Angela Palm, Benjamin Percy, Susan Steinberg, and others. Authors he has worked...
Read More →
2:45pm EDT
2:45pm EDT
7G: The Art of Perspective
Speakers
Author & Artistic Director, GrubStreet, LEADING MEN
Christopher Castellani is the Artistic Director of GrubStreet and Founder of the Muse and the Marketplace conference. He is the author of three critically-acclaimed novels, A Kiss from Maddalena (Algonquin Books, 2003)—winner of the Massachusetts Book Award in 2004— The Saint...
Read More →
2:45pm EDT
2:45pm EDT
7I: The People-Pleaser's Guide to Plot
Speakers
Author
Diana Renn is the author of three YA mysteries: Tokyo Heist, Latitude Zero, and Blue Voyage, all published by Viking / Penguin Random House, and a MG mystery, TROUBLE AT TURTLE POND, coming from Fitzroy Books / Regal House April 2022. Diana also writes essays and short stories, which...
Read More →
2:45pm EDT
7J: Violent Delights & Violent Ends: What to Consider When Writing Violence in Fiction and Nonfiction
Speakers
Author, COTTONMOUTHS
Kelly J. Ford is the author of Cottonmouths, named one of 2017’s best books of the year by the Los Angeles Review. Her work has appeared in Black Heart Magazine, Fried Chicken and Coffee, and Knee-Jerk Magazine, and is forthcoming in Post Road Magazine. Kelly is an instructor for...
Read More →
Author, IDYLL THREATS
Stephanie Gayle writes the Chief Lynch mystery series, including Idyll Threats and Idyll Fears, and is the author of My Summer of Southern Discomfort. She's twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Stephanie graduated Grub Street's Novel Incubator program and she co-founded the...
Read More →
Author, HALF IN LOVE WITH DEATH
Emily Ross is the author of Half in Love with Death, a young adult novel inspired by a true crime from the 1960s. Half in Love with Death was named a finalist in the International Thriller Writers 2016 Thriller Awards. Emily received a 2014 Massachusetts Cultural Council finalist...
Read More →
2:45pm EDT
7K: When Do I Need An Author Website and What Belongs On It?
Speakers
Author, CHANGES IN LATITUDES
Jen Malone is the author of contemporary Young Adult road trip novels with Harper Collins and humorous "girl power" Middle Grade adventures with Simon & Schuster. Her latest release is The Art of the Swap (coauthored with Kristine Asselin). Other published titles include Changes in...
Read More →
2:45pm EDT
7L: Word by Word: An Exercise in Close Reading
Speakers
Author, AN EMPIRE OF WOMEN
Karen Shepard is a Chinese-American born and raised in New York City. She is the author of four novels, An Empire of Women, The Bad Boy’s Wife, Don’t I Know You?, and The Celestials, which was short-listed for the Massachusetts Book Award and the William Saroyan International...
Read More →
Author, THE BOOK OF ARON
Jim Shepard is the author of seven novels, including most recently The Book of Aron, which won the Sophie Brody Medal for Achievement in Jewish Literature from the American Library Association and the PEN/New England Award for fiction, and five story collections, including his new...
Read More →
4:15pm EDT
4:15pm EDT
8B: Avoiding the Common Pitfalls of Writing About Black Life
Speakers
Author, HAVE YOU MET NORA?
Nicole Blades is a novelist, speaker, and journalist who has been putting her stories on paper since the third grade. Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, by Caribbean parents, Nicole moved to New York City and launched her journalism career working at Essence magazine. She later...
Read More →
4:15pm EDT
8C: Beyond Conflict: Sources of Narrative Drive in Fiction
Speakers
Author, A FIELD GUIDE TO MURDER & FLY FISHING
Tim Weed's first novel, Will Poole's Island (2014), was named one of Bank Street College of Education's Best Books of the Year. His short fiction collection, A Field Guide to Murder & Fly Fishing (2017), has been shortlisted for the International Book Awards, the New Rivers Press...
Read More →
4:15pm EDT
8D: Creating Pictures with Words: How and Why Visual Writing Works
Speakers
Author, ALL WE HAD
Annie Weatherwax is a writer and an artist. Winner of the Robert Olen Butler Prize for Fiction, her short stories have appeared in The Sun Magazine, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. She has written extensively on the synergy between the mind and the eye, and the link between language...
Read More →
4:15pm EDT
8E: Experimental Writing for Non-Experimental Writers
Speakers
Author, SICK: A MEMOIR
Porochista Khakpour is the author of the forthcoming memoir Sick (Harper Perennial, June 2018), and the novels The Last Illusion (Bloomsbury, 2014)—a 2014 "Best Book of the Year" according to NPR, Kirkus, Buzzfeed, Popmatters, Electric Literature, and more — and Sons and Other...
Read More →
4:15pm EDT
4:15pm EDT
8G: Laughing at a Funeral: Mixing Emotional Tones in Writing
Speakers
Fiction Writer
E. Thomas Finan is the author of the short story collection The Other Side. In addition to academic journals, he has also published work in The Atlantic, The Millions, and Prairie Schooner. He teaches at Boston University.
4:15pm EDT
4:15pm EDT
8I: Rage Is a Red Lesson: How to Turn Anger into Charged Prose
Speakers
Author, BAD STORIES
Steve Almond is the author of ten books of fiction and non-fiction, including The New York Times Bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football. His most recent short story collection, God Bless America won the Paterson Prize and his short stories have been widely anthologized in The...
Read More →
4:15pm EDT
8J: Should I Do an MFA?
Speakers
Author, THE BOOK OF WONDERS
Douglas Trevor is the author of the short story collection The Book of Wonders (2017), the novel Girls I Know, which was the recipient of the 2013 Balcones Fiction Prize, and the short story collection The Thin Tear in the Fabric of Space, which won the 2005 Iowa Short Fiction Award...
Read More →
4:15pm EDT
8K: Social Justice Story Telling
Speakers
Author, THE FACT OF A BODY
Alex Marzano-Lesnevich is the author of The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir, recipient of the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir and the 2018 Chautauqua Prize. Named one of the best books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Audible.com, Bustle, Book Riot, The Times...
Read More →
4:15pm EDT
4:15pm EDT
8M: Writing a Winning Nonfiction Proposal
Speakers
Literary Agent, McKinnon McIntyre
Tanya McKinnon is the co-founder of the McKinnon McIntyre Literary Agency where she represents New York Times Bestselling non-fiction, award-winning public intellectuals, award-winning children's books, and New York Times bestselling graphic novels. She specializes in non-fiction...
Read More →
5:15pm EDT
5:30pm EDT
7:00pm EDT
Spitballing...Returns!
Speakers
Non-Fiction Writer
Sari Boren’s essays have been published in Copper Nickel, Lilith Magazine, The Southeast Review, Alimentum, Hobart, and Pangyrus, among others. She’s a member of the Totally New Theater Playwrights’ Collective of the Marblehead Little Theater, and has been awarded grants...
Read More →
Fiction Writer
Sean Van Deuren is the Communications and Marketing Manager at the Engagement Lab, an applied research and design lab dedicated to reimagining civic engagement for a digital culture. He earned his BFA in Writing, Literature & Publishing from Emerson College. His short story chapbook...
Read More →
Author, WE MIGHT AS WELL LIGHT SOMETHING ON FIRE
Ron MacLean teaches writing at GrubStreet. His short fiction has been anthologized, and has appeared widely in magazines including GQ, Narrative, Fiction International, Night Train, Other Voices, Drunken Boat, Best Online Fiction 2010, and elsewhere. He is author most recently of...
Read More →
Literary Agent, Nelson Literary Agency
Quressa Robinson joined the Nelson Literary Agency in 2017 after working at a previous agency and as an editor for five years. She is originally from San Francisco, but has been living in New York City for over a decade. As a New York-based agent, she is eager to build her YA and...
Read More →
Author, CHANGE YOUR SCHEDULE, CHANGE YOUR LIFE
Michelle Seaton’s short fiction has appeared in One Story, Harvard Review, Sycamore Review, and The Pushcart Anthology among others. Her journalism and essays have appeared in Robb Report, Bostonia, Yankee Magazine, The Pinch and Lake Effect. Her essay, “How to Work a Locker Room...
Read More →
Editor, Tin House
Rob Spillman was the Editor and co-founder of Tin House, the seminal literary magazine that published from 1999 to 2019. He is the 2017 recipient of the CLMP Energizer Award for Exceptional Acts of Literary Citizenship, the 2015 PEN/Nora Magid Award for Editing as well as the 2015...
Read More →
8:30am EDT
10:00am EDT
9A: Establishing Authority
Speakers
Editor, Tin House
Rob Spillman was the Editor and co-founder of Tin House, the seminal literary magazine that published from 1999 to 2019. He is the 2017 recipient of the CLMP Energizer Award for Exceptional Acts of Literary Citizenship, the 2015 PEN/Nora Magid Award for Editing as well as the 2015...
Read More →
10:00am EDT
9B: Fantastic Extremes: The Environments of Speculative Fiction
Speakers
Poet & Fiction Writer
Sara Daniele Rivera is a Cuban/Peruvian writer, artist, educator, and translator from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her poetry and speculative fiction have appeared in The Loft Anthology, Origins Journal, DIALOGIST, Storyscape Journal, Circuits & Slippers, The Green Mountains Review, in...
Read More →
10:00am EDT
9C: Literary Idol: Fiction Focus
Moderators
Nonfiction Writer
Steve Macone is a former headline contributor at The Onion. His essays, humor writing, and reporting have also appeared in the American Scholar, New York Times, Atlantic, New Yorker, Boston Globe Magazine, Morning News, VICE and Salon. His work has been featured on NPR, Longreads...
Read More →
Speakers
Literary Agent, Fairbank Literary
A small, selective agency and member of AAR, the Author's Guild, the Agents Round Table, PEN, and Grub Street's Literary Advisory Council, Fairbank Literary Representation is happily in its seventeenth year. Clients range from first-time authors to international best-sellers, prize...
Read More →
Literary Agent, Corvisiero Literary Agency
After receiving a BA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College, Kaitlyn refused to leave the concept of nightly homework behind. As well as being an apprentice agent for Corvisiero Literary Agency, she is also a freelance editor at her own company,
K. Johnson Ed...
Read More →
Literary Agent, Massie & McQuilkin
Rayhané Sanders is an agent at Massie & McQuilkin (
www.mmqlit.com)--where she represents literary, historical, and upmarket book club fiction; narrative non-fiction; and memoir--and an independent book editor available for hire (
rss.editorial@gmail.com). She began her career at Newsweek Magazine, before moving to book publishing a decade ago, working for Penguin's Dutton and Gotham Books and then for William Morris Endeavor, where she worked with New York Times bestselling authors and recipients of, among others, the PEN/Hemingway and...
Read More →
Literary Agent, Pande Literary
Anjali Singh is an agent at Ayesha Pande Literary. Before becoming an agent, she worked as an international literary scout, as an editor Vintage Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Simon & Schuster, and as Editorial Director at Other Press. She is is best known for having championed...
Read More →
10:00am EDT
9D: Researching and Choosing Agents to Query
Speakers
Author, THE LATE BLOOMERS CLUB
Louise Miller is the author of The City Baker's Guide to Country Living (Viking/Penguin 2016) and the forthcoming The Late Bloomers Club (Viking/Penguin/2018). She is a graduate of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator program, a yearlong workshop for novelists. Louise is a professional pastry...
Read More →
10:00am EDT
9E: Resuscitating Your Darlings
Speakers
Author, THE HEEBIE-JEEBIES AT CBGBs
Steven Lee Beeber is the author of The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB’s: A Secret History of Jewish Punk, the editor of AWAKE! A Reader for the Sleepless, and the associate editor of the literary journal, Conduit. His work has appeared in Harpers, The New York Times, The Paris Review...
Read More →
10:00am EDT
9F: Secrets and Lies
Speakers
Author, MAGPIES
Lynne Barrett's third story collection Magpies received the Florida Book Awards fiction gold medal. Her handbook What Editors Want guides writers through the submissions process, and she’s editor of the nonfiction anthology Making Good Time: True Stories of How We Do (and Don’t...
Read More →
10:00am EDT
9G: Shaping Time in Fiction and Nonfiction
Speakers
Author, FANTASY FREAKS AND GAMING GEEKS
A GrubStreet instructor since 2005, Ethan Gilsdorf is a journalist, memoirist, essayist, critic, poet, teacher, performer and nerd. He is the author of the travel memoir investigation Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and...
Read More →
10:00am EDT
9H: Structure, Risk, and Meaning in Memoir
Speakers
Author, THE FACT OF A BODY
Alex Marzano-Lesnevich is the author of The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir, recipient of the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir and the 2018 Chautauqua Prize. Named one of the best books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Audible.com, Bustle, Book Riot, The Times...
Read More →
10:00am EDT
9I: The 2nd Draft: Radically Re-Imagining Your Novel
Speakers
Author, TOGETHER TEA
Marjan Kamali is the author of the novel Together Tea (EccoBooks/HarperCollins) which was a Massachusetts Book Award Finalist, an NPR/WBUR Good Read, and a Target Emerging Author Selection. She has lived in seven countries across five continents and earned an MBA from Columbia University...
Read More →
10:00am EDT
9J: Writing (and Publishing) While Jewish: The Situation in 2018
Speakers
Author, The Weight of Ink
Rachel Kadish is the award-winning author of the novels From a Sealed Room and Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story, as well as the novella I Was Here. Her work has appeared on NPR and in the NY Times, Ploughshares, Salon, and Tin House, as well as in The Forward, Tablet, and anthologies such...
Read More →
10:00am EDT
9K: Writing the City
Speakers
Author, EVERYTHING HERE IS BEAUTIFUL
Mira T. Lee's debut novel, Everything Here is Beautiful, was selected as a Top 10 Debut title for 2018 by the American Booksellers Association, and named a Top Winter/2018 Pick by more than 30 news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, O Magazine, Poets & Writers...
Read More →
Author, BEIJING BASTARD
Val Wang is an author and multimedia storyteller interested in the intersection between the personal and the global. Evan Osnos has called her book Beijing Bastard “a memoir perfectly suited to the Beijing that she brings to life so well: heedless, pungent, and proudly insubordinate...
Read More →
10:00am EDT
9L: Yes, You're an Expert: Op-ed Writing for Novelists and Nonfiction Writers
Speakers
Author, FAITH ED: TEACHING ABOUT RELIGION IN AN AGE OF INTOLERANCE
Linda K. Wertheimer is the award-winning author of Faith Ed, Teaching About Religion In An Age of Intolerance. While Linda is a veteran journalist and a former Boston Globe education editor, don’t confuse her with the Other Linda of NPR. During her nearly 30-year journalism career...
Read More →
11:30am EDT
10A: A Trip to the Playground: How to Make Writing Fun Again
Speakers
Author, RABBIT CAKE
Annie Hartnett's debut novel Rabbit Cake was published in 2017, and was a finalist for the New England Book Award, longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, and shortlisted for Crook's Corner Book Prize. Hartnett was the 2013-14 writer in residence for the Associates...
Read More →
11:30am EDT
10B: Demystifying Publishing Deals
Speakers
Literary Agent, Corvisiero Literary Agency
Marisa A. Corvisiero, Esq., is a literary agent and the founder of the Corvisiero Literary Agency. She is also an author coach, literary consultant, speaker, author, and attorney with more than 18 years of experience in corporate law and trusts and estates in New York City. She holds...
Read More →
11:30am EDT
10C: Essentials of Backstory and Flashback in Fiction
Speakers
Author, A FIELD GUIDE TO MURDER & FLY FISHING
Tim Weed's first novel, Will Poole's Island (2014), was named one of Bank Street College of Education's Best Books of the Year. His short fiction collection, A Field Guide to Murder & Fly Fishing (2017), has been shortlisted for the International Book Awards, the New Rivers Press...
Read More →
11:30am EDT
10D: How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
Speakers
Author, HOW TO WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL
Alexander Chee is the bestselling author of the novels Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night, and the essay collection, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. He is an associate professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College. He is a recipient of the Whiting Award...
Read More →
11:30am EDT
10E: I'll Build Me a World
Speakers
Author
Rion Amilcar Scott is the author of the story collection, The World Doesn't Require You (Norton/Liveright, 2019). His debut story collection, Insurrections (University Press of Kentucky, 2016), was awarded the 2017 PEN/Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction and the 2017 Hillsdale Award from...
Read More →
11:30am EDT
10F: Literary Idol: Non-Fiction Focus
Moderators
Nonfiction Writer
Steve Macone is a former headline contributor at The Onion. His essays, humor writing, and reporting have also appeared in the American Scholar, New York Times, Atlantic, New Yorker, Boston Globe Magazine, Morning News, VICE and Salon. His work has been featured on NPR, Longreads...
Read More →
Speakers
Literary Agent, Aevitas Creative Management
Rob Arnold is an Associate Agent at Aevitas Creative Management specializing in literary fiction and memoir. With over a decade of experience in literary publishing, he has worked with such authors as Denis Johnson, Lauren Groff, Rick Moody, Lydia Davis, Jim Shepard, Ottessa Moshfegh...
Read More →
Agent, Kneerim & Williams Literary Agency
LUCY CLELAND joined Kneerim & Williams in 2013, where she has worked with new and established authors on projects ranging from groundbreaking “big idea” nonfiction to literary fiction and memoir. A Southern transplant to Boston, Lucy graduated from Wellesley College where she...
Read More →
Literary Agent, Folio Literary Management
Originally from Los Angeles, Annie represents literary fiction and select nonfiction. As a former journalist, she possesses a keen editorial eye which she brings to her approach to agenting, taking an active role in helping clients reach their full potential. Since joining Folio Literary...
Read More →
Literary Agent, Liza Dawson Associates
Monica Odom is an agent at Liza Dawson Associates, where she represents a variety of non-fiction, as well as literary and upmarket fiction, and illustrators. Monica earned her Masters in Publishing: Digital & Print Media from New York University in 2014, and has a B.A. in English...
Read More →
11:30am EDT
10G: Reading Across Time: Literature, Exile, Revolt
Speakers
Author, CALL ME ZEBRA
Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Fra Keeler, and an assistant professor in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Notre Dame. She is the winner of a 2015 Whiting Writers’ Award, a National Book Foundation “5 Under 35...
Read More →
11:30am EDT
10H: The Psychology of Character: Digging to the Heart of Motivation
Speakers
Author, Life Without Summer & Girl Sent Away
Lynne Griffin is the author of the novels Girl Sent Away (SixOneSeven Books), Sea Escape (Simon & Schuster) and Life Without Summer (St. Martin's Press), and the non-fiction guides, Let's Talk About it: Adolescent Mental Health (SixOneSeven Books) and Negotiation Generation (Penguin...
Read More →
11:30am EDT
10I: The Whole Story
Speakers
Author, THE PATERNITY TEST
Michael Lowenthal is the author of four novels: The Same Embrace, Avoidance, Charity Girl (a New York Times Book Review “Editors’ Choice” and Washington Post “Top Fiction of 2007” pick), and The Paternity Test (an IndieNext List selection and a Lambda Literary Award finalist...
Read More →
11:30am EDT
10J: Writing and Selling the Money-Making Essay
Speakers
Non-Fiction Writer
Calvin Hennick is a journalist, an essayist, a fiction writer, a content marketer, and a teacher. His essays, stories, and journalism have appeared in publications including Bellevue Literary Review, Baltimore Review, Esquire, The Boston Globe Magazine, Yahoo Parenting, Runner's World...
Read More →
11:30am EDT
11:30am EDT
10L: You Know More Than You Think: Writing Past the Rational
Speakers
Author, ONLY THE LONGEST THREADS
Tasneem Zehra Husain is a theoretical physicist and a writer. Her work has appeared in Nautilus, as well as various anthologies of science writing for both adults and children. She is a regular columnist for 3quarksdaily.com, and the author of the popular science novel Only The Longest...
Read More →
1:00pm EDT
Marketplace Keynote: “Selling Out Without Selling Out”
Moderators
Literary Agent, Fairbank Literary
A small, selective agency and member of AAR, the Author's Guild, the Agents Round Table, PEN, and Grub Street's Literary Advisory Council, Fairbank Literary Representation is happily in its seventeenth year. Clients range from first-time authors to international best-sellers, prize...
Read More →
Speakers
Author, BAD STORIES
Steve Almond is the author of ten books of fiction and non-fiction, including The New York Times Bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football. His most recent short story collection, God Bless America won the Paterson Prize and his short stories have been widely anthologized in The...
Read More →
Author, THE LOST FAMILY
Jenna Blum is The New York Times and # 1 international bestselling author of novels Those Who Save Us (Harcourt, 2004) and The Stormchasers (Dutton, 2010); novella “The Lucky One” in the postwar anthology Grand Central (Penguin, 2014); and audio course “The Author At Work...
Read More →
Author, HOW TO WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL
Alexander Chee is the bestselling author of the novels Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night, and the essay collection, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. He is an associate professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College. He is a recipient of the Whiting Award...
Read More →
Author, 13 HOURS: THE INSIDE ACCOUNT OF WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN BENGHAZI
Mitchell Zuckoff is the author of seven books and a professor of journalism at Boston University. A New York native, Zuckoff spent two decades as a reporter, much of that time with The Boston Globe, where he was an investigative reporter and roving national correspondent. His work...
Read More →