The Unsung Masters Reading Room 2502B, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2 Each year, the Unsung Masters Series publishes a book devoted to the life and work of a great but little known author. Volumes include large selections of the author's work printed alongside interviews, articles, drafts, photographs, and ephemera. This reading brings together the […]

Intro Forever: Mapping the Creative and Pedagogical Terrain of Community Colleges Room 2502A, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2 Though community colleges typically enroll around forty percent of United States undergraduates, they are seldom discussed as sites of knowledge production or expertise. Panelists—active writers and community college professors—will talk about the pedagogical and creative implications […]

Draft, Draft, Goose: The Thinking Behind Revising Room 2105, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level In this panel, five distinguished writers will each share a draft of a published piece along with its final version, and discuss the decisions made to get there. We’ll consider the cascading effects of the smallest changes, and how to […]

The Against Tradition Tradition: Contradiction & the Prose Poem Room 2504AB, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 2 Originating in nineteenth-century France as a subversive form “supple . . . and rugged enough to adapt . . . to the lyrical impulses of the soul,” prose poems are now taught in writing classrooms across the globe. […]

Women of New Fabulism and Speculative Literature: A Reading Room 3501AB, Kansas City Convention Center, Level 3 Fabulism and speculative literature have long employed the bizarre, unexpected, and impossible to better reflect human experience. Recent political and societal changes, such as anti-trans laws, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the attack on no-fault divorce […]

Not Just Surviving: Queer Poets Thriving in the Red Room 2103B, Kansas City Convention Center, Street Level When discussing what queer folks under attack in "red" states should do, one thing is always suggested: leave. While it may be ideal for some, for many, leaving means abandoning not only loved ones, but also their homes. […]