Voices of the Middle West: Event Information / Schedule
2015 Event Schedule
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM: Bookfair
The bookfair will showcase literary journals and presses from all over the Midwest selling their latest issues and books—panelists’ and featured writers’ books will be available as well.
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Storytelling as Community
Join university professors and writers as they discuss how they see their role as storytellers not only in the college community, but in the literary community at large. How do writers engage with other writers, as well as with their readers? Does the writer have any obligation to nurture a storytelling community?
Panelists: Matthew Kirkpatrick, Airea D. Matthews, Anne-Marie Oomen, and Jared Yates Sexton
Moderator: Aaron Burch
11:15 AM – 12:15 PM: Author Panel: Personal Histories: Where Memoir and Fiction Meet
Featured writers discuss walking the line between autobiography and fiction. How do writers fictionalize “real” life, and what, if any, fictional techniques do memoirists use in their work?
Panelists: Matthew Gavin Frank, Emily Schultz, Amber Sparks, and Ben Tanzer
Moderator: Kelly Fordon
12:15 – 1:00 PM: Lunch Break
1:15 PM – 2:15 PM: Publishing Panel: Unheard Voices
Publishers, editors, and writers discuss publishing historically dispossessed voices and the importance of showcasing diversity in publishing.
Panelists: Melissa Faliveno (Poets & Writers), Naomi Huffman (Curbside Splendor), Christina Olson (Midwestern Gothic), Jim Warner (Citizen Lit Podcast), Erika T. Wurth
Moderator: Elizabeth Schmuhl
2:30 PM – 3:30: Author Panel: Local Color: Is there a Midwestern Character?
Acclaimed writers debate whether the Midwest has inspired character types in fiction, or whether the region’s diversity of people and landscape plays against literary type.
Panelists: Fred Arroyo, Angela Flournoy (a 2015 National Book Award finalist), Peter Geye, and Phong Nguyen
Moderator: Jeremiah Chamberlain
3:45-4:45 PM: Open Mic
Students and community writers are invited to share their work with an audience.
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Keynote
A talk from our special guest, poet Ross Gay, author of the Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude (2015 National Book Award finalist), Against Which, and Bringing the Shovel Down.
6:00 PM – 6:30 PM: Keynote Reception
for Ross Gay (6-6:30 pm). Light refreshments will be served.
Directions and Parking
East Quadrangle
701 East University Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1245
Map it
East Quadrangle is a co-ed residence hall located near the South University shopping area in Ann Arbor, Michigan. East Quad is home to the Residential College.
The entrance to East Quad is located on East University Avenue.
Parking garages can be found nearby on Forest Avenue and Church Street. There is also metered street parking found nearby as well.
Download a map of Central Campus. Please note that East Quad is located in section H8.
February 11th, 2014 at 11:34 am
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February 27th, 2014 at 12:54 pm
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January 9th, 2015 at 12:49 pm
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March 12th, 2015 at 4:10 pm
[…] come to the “Voices of the Middle West” book fair, where we will have a table! Visit here for more information. Finally, you can also come visit our table at AWP in Minneapolis, MN. Visit […]
January 6th, 2016 at 3:37 pm
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