Lit Fest 2024

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Lit Fest 2024

Welcome to Lit Fest, eight days dedicated to you, our literary community.

9:00am MDT

Culturally Expansive Approaches to Plot and Story Structure 315Angie Chuang Narrative Strategy in Fiction and Memoir 216William Haywood Henderson Tapping Into Your Weirdness (V) ZoomAlexander Lumans Fiction for Nonfiction Writers 304Andrew Hernandez To Meander, Spiral, Explode 204Sarah Elizabeth Schantz Hey, I Can Be Fun! Reapproaching the Nonfiction Book Proposal 215Megan Nix Research As Writerly Practice: Nonfiction Writing from Inquiry and Fact (V) ZoomLauren Markham Common Blindspots in Poetry Manuscript Development (and How to Overcome Them) 316Radha Marcum Getting Published: Stories, Essays, Articles and Books Beacon HallJenny Shank

12:00pm MDT

Lunchtime Business Panel: Agents 101 Beacon HallPaige Terlip • Mira Landry • Rebecca Shaevitz • Renée Jarvis • Shana Kelly Lunchtime Business Panel: Agents 101 (Livestream) ZoomPaige Terlip • Mira Landry • Rebecca Shaevitz • Renée Jarvis • Shana Kelly

1:30pm MDT

I Love You, Jackass: Writing Complex Emotions 316Erika Krouse Writing Across Difference 204Vanessa Hua The Exquisite is in the Details 304Sarah Elizabeth Schantz Slaying the YA Novel (V) ZoomOlivia Chadha Poetic Voice: Finding Your Zone of Unique Genius 315Radha Marcum The Poetry of Play 215Joy Roulier Sawyer Freelance Writing: Getting Started and Building your Career 216Jenny Shank

4:00pm MDT

A Good Title Is Hard to Find 204Erika Krouse Draft a Short Story in Two Hours 216Amanda Rea Stealing from Suspense 304Tiffany Quay Tyson Hopeful Monsters Beacon HallAlexandra Kleeman Hopeful Monsters (Livestream) ZoomAlexandra Kleeman Inside Out: Turning Life into Compelling Nonfiction 316Sloane Crosley The Art of Speculation 315Teow Lim Goh Using Film Genre for Maximum Impact 316Jenny Taylor-Whitehorn

6:15pm MDT

Advanced Weekend Workshop Orientation Beacon Hall

7:00pm MDT

New Fiction Showcase: Our Yesterdays, Today Beacon HallDavid Wroblewski • Wendy Chen • Joel H. Morris

8:30am MDT

Advanced Weekend Fiction Intensive: Open Sesame with Vanessa Hua 315Vanessa Hua Advanced Weekend Nonfiction Intensive with Sloane Crosley 215Sloane Crosley Advanced Weekend Poetry Intensive with Jane Hirshfield 304Jane Hirshfield

9:00am MDT

Borrowing from the Greats: What Can Writers Learn from Other Artists? 316Dino Enrique Piacentini Clocking In: How to Write about Jobs (V) ZoomAlexander Lumans Writing the Minoritized Experience (V) ZoomNatalie Hodges Two-Day Intensive: The Unreliable Narrator—A Range of Reasons 216Sarah Elizabeth Schantz Two-Day Intensive: Building a Memoir 204John Cotter Two-Day Intensive: Funny Personal Essays (V) ZoomElissa Bassist

10:00am MDT

Queer Creatives Brunch Beacon Hall

12:00pm MDT

Lunchtime Business Panel: Debuts Beacon HallElizabeth DeMeo • Joel H. Morris • Gina DeMillo Wagner • Minda Honey • Christine Lai Lunchtime Business Panel: Debuts (Livestream) ZoomJoel H. Morris • Gina DeMillo Wagner • Minda Honey • Christine Lai

1:00pm MDT

Two-Day Intensive: Modulation—Your Voice and How to Use It (V) ZoomWilliam Haywood Henderson Two-Day Intensive: Two-Day Story/Essay 304Erika Krouse Two-Day Intensive: Entryway into Speculative Nonfiction 204Anna Qu

1:30pm MDT

Desire and Power 216Dino Enrique Piacentini The Burning Heart: Finding the Energy in Short Fiction (V) ZoomKaren Auvinen The First Twenty Pages 316Andrea Bobotis Sharpening Your Sentences Beacon HallJohn Cotter Indigenous Language Identity and the Poetic Voice 215Crisosto Apache Advanced Weekend Fiction Intensive: Making it Work with Alexandra Kleeman 315Alexandra Kleeman

4:00pm MDT

The Courage to Revise: Moving from 1st to 2nd Draft 304Gretchen Kurtz Image and Text: A Generative Craft Seminar 204Joanna Luloff Switching Gears, Jumping Genres 215Nazli Koca Hysterical: A Voice Finding Seminar 216Elissa Bassist On Writing Through the Lens of Not, Don’t, No, Never 316Peter Markus Voice, Motivation, and Plot in KidLit 315Jan Thomas

5:30pm MDT

Anthology Release Celebration and Reading—We Can See Into Another Place: Mile-High Writers on Social Justice Beacon Hall

7:00pm MDT

Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Jane Hirshfield, Vanessa Hua, Alexandra Kleeman, Meghan O'Rourke Beacon Hall Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Jane Hirshfield, Vanessa Hua, Alexandra Kleeman, Meghan O'Rourke (L) Zoom

9:00am MDT

The Necessity of Darkness 316Trent Hudley Homing in: Uncovering the Arc your Memoir (V) ZoomKaren Auvinen

12:00pm MDT

Lunchtime Business Panel: Contests, Residencies, and More—Ways to Get Out There Beacon HallAngie Chuang • Jenny Shank • Radha Marcum • Jenee Skinner Lunchtime Business Panel: Contests, Residencies, and More—Ways to Get Out There (Livestream) ZoomAngie Chuang • Jenny Shank • Radha Marcum • Jenee Skinner

1:30pm MDT

Milieu: The World of Your Story 215Dino Enrique Piacentini Birth of Style 216John Cotter The Laundry Line (V) ZoomNatalie Hodges Lattice as Ladder Beacon HallJane Hirshfield Lattice as Ladder (Livestream) ZoomJane Hirshfield Superhero Poetics (V) ZoomCynthia Manick

5:00pm MDT

Advanced Weeklong Workshop Orientation Beacon Hall

6:00pm MDT

Lit Fest Kickoff Party Lighthouse HQ

9:00am MDT

Taking the Pandemic to the Page (V) ZoomEllen Blum Barish Advanced Weeklong Fiction Workshop: Fiction Worth Writing with Maurice Carlos Ruffin TBAMaurice Carlos Ruffin Advanced Weeklong Fiction Workshop: Finding the Subterranean Story with Danielle Evans TBADanielle Evans Advanced Weeklong Fiction Workshop: How to Pay Attention with Jenny Offill TBAJenny Offill Advanced Weeklong Fiction Workshop: Truth in Fiction with Claire Messud TBAClaire Messud Advanced Weeklong Fiction Workshop: The BS Detector with Steve Almond TBASteve Almond Advanced Weeklong Prose Workshop: How to Be Authentic with Amitava Kumar TBAAmitava Kumar Advanced Weeklong Nonfiction Workshop: Mapping the Memoir with Emily Rapp Black TBAEmily Rapp Black Advanced Weeklong Nonfiction Workshop: Nonfiction Think Tank with Beth Nguyen TBABeth Nguyen Advanced Weeklong Nonfiction Workshop: The Self, The Selves, with T Kira Māhealani Madden TBAT Kira Māhealani Madden Advanced Weeklong Poetry Workshop: From Great Pain, a Formal Feeling with Rowan Ricardo Phillips TBARowan Ricardo Phillips Advanced Weeklong Poetry Workshop: Raising the Stakes with Mark Doty TBAMark Doty

12:00pm MDT

Lunchtime Business Panel: Selling Your Book—The Query Letter, Elevator Pitch, and More Beacon HallRachel Werner • Elissa Bassist • Anna Qu • Sarah Gerard • Jan Thomas Lunchtime Business Panel: Selling Your Book—The Query Letter, Elevator Pitch, and More (Livestream) ZoomRachel Werner • Elissa Bassist • Anna Qu • Sarah Gerard • Jan Thomas

1:30pm MDT

(Re)Writing History: The Questions, Conundrums, Responsibilities, and Delights of Writing Fiction About the Past Beacon HallClaire Messud (Re)Writing History: The Questions, Conundrums, Responsibilities, and Delights of Writing Fiction About the Past (Livestream) ZoomClaire Messud Funny Is the New Deep: How to Harness Your Comic Impulse 316Steve Almond Subverting Expectations 204Paula Younger Getting the Kids In 215Daniel Levine Bad to the Bone: Writing Villains and Nefarious Characters 216Erika Krouse Symbolism and Metaphor: They Aren't Just for Fiction (V) ZoomAngelique Stevens Documentary Poetics: The Poetry of Politics, Testimony, and Witness 315Wendy Chen Poetry from the Earth (V) ZoomCaryn Mirriam-Goldberg Weeklong Screenwriting Seminar with Dean Bakopoulos 304Dean Bakopoulos

4:00pm MDT

Creating Art in Dark Times (V) ZoomR. Alan Brooks Writing About "Class" 216Amanda Rea Fault Lines 215Paula Younger Time Travel: Writing Flashback and Backstory 304Erika Krouse Tackling the “S” Word: Writing Your Book’s Synopsis 315Cynthia Swanson Poetry as Artivism: A Love Language for the Future (V) ZoomSuzi Q. Smith The Art of Description 316Mark Doty The Art of Description (Livestream) ZoomMark Doty Starting Your Screenplay from Scratch 204Jenny Taylor-Whitehorn Two-Day Intensive: Deep Revision—Using the Revision Process to Fall in Love with Your Work Again (V) ZoomLauren Markham

4:30pm MDT

Lit Fest Fellows Reading Beacon Hall

6:00pm MDT

Writing in Color Happy Hour Beacon Hall

6:30pm MDT

Writing in Color Presents: Storytelling Through Jazz with Dazzle Beacon Hall

9:00am MDT

What a Moment Holds: Essays that Capture a Spark (V) ZoomEllen Blum Barish

12:00pm MDT

Lunchtime Business Panel: Literary Journals—The Inside Scoop Beacon HallAllison Wright • Alexander Lumans • Jenny Wortman • Dino Enrique Piacentini • Harrison Fletcher Lunchtime Business Panel: Literary Journals—The Inside Scoop (Livestream) ZoomAllison Wright • Alexander Lumans • Jenny Wortman • Dino Enrique Piacentini • Harrison Fletcher

1:30pm MDT

The Excavation and Animation of Historical Fiction 216Wendy Chen Everything But Plot: Building Suspense on the Line Level Beacon HallT Kira Māhealani Madden Everything But Plot: Building Suspense on the Line Level (Livestream) ZoomT Kira Māhealani Madden The Messy Middle 204Erika Krouse Nature Writing 316Amitava Kumar Long Night's Journey into Day: Writing About Serious Illness (V) ZoomCaryn Mirriam-Goldberg How to Write a Book Proposal 315Steve Knopper Contemporary American Women Poets 215Lynn Wagner

4:00pm MDT

Time Machine: Crafting Time in Fiction (V) ZoomClemintine Guirado In These Fleeting Moments: Building Dramatic Tension 315R. Alan Brooks In Other Words: Narrative Styles 216Erika Krouse Getting to the Finish Line 215Cynthia Swanson Memoir for the Anxious, Uncertain, or Scared Writer 316Beth Nguyen Romance Your Life (V) ZoomMinda Honey A KidLit Publishing Practicum (V) ZoomRachel Werner Two-Day Intensive: Think Like A Gatekeeper—The Experience of Reading Your Screenplay/Pilot 204Jenny Taylor-Whitehorn

4:30pm MDT

Poetry Collective Graduation and Celebration Beacon Hall

7:00pm MDT

Visiting Authors Reading with T Kira Māhealani Madden, Claire Messud, Jenny Offill, and Rowan Ricardo Phillips Beacon Hall Visiting Authors Reading with T Kira Māhealani Madden, Claire Messud, Jenny Offill, and Rowan Ricardo Phillips (Livestream) Zoom

9:00am MDT

Haiku as Mindfulness Practice (V) ZoomLadane Nasseri Children's Picture Books: Using Dummies/Storyboards (V) ZoomDenise Vega

12:00pm MDT

Lunchtime Business Panel: State of the Industry Beacon HallAllison Wright • Kayla Lightner • Amy Bishop-Wycisk • Danielle Bukowski • Dean Bakopoulos • Shana Kelly Lunchtime Business Panel: State of the Industry (Livestream) ZoomAllison Wright • Kayla Lightner • Amy Bishop-Wycisk • Danielle Bukowski • Dean Bakopoulos • Shana Kelly

1:30pm MDT

Get Out of Your Own Way (V) ZoomAlyse Knorr Death and Life 204Andrew Hernandez How to Make Plot Your Friend 316Steve Almond High Before the Low 315Paula Younger On Defamiliarization: A Lesson in 10 Sentences Beacon HallJenny Offill On Defamiliarization: A Lesson in 10 Sentences (Livestream) ZoomJenny Offill I'll Follow You Into the Dark: Letting the Unknown Drive Your Personal Narrative 215Gina DeMillo Wagner When Life Doesn't Live Up to the Hype: Wringing Essays from Disappointment (V) ZoomMinda Honey Memory Fog: Getting Lost in Order to Write and Remember 216Juan J. Morales The Art of Self-Portraits (V) ZoomCynthia Manick

4:00pm MDT

Time Machine II: Crafting Time in Fiction (V) ZoomClemintine Guirado Deeper Character Descriptions 215Paula Younger Psychoanalysis and Literature 216Poupeh Missaghi ABCs and 123s: Making the Personal Matter Beacon HallEmily Rapp Black ABCs and 123s: Making the Personal Matter (Livestream) ZoomEmily Rapp Black The Craft of Interviewing 315Steve Knopper Truth or Dare: Writing Family Stories (V) ZoomKaren Auvinen The Poem's End: A Discussion 316Rowan Ricardo Phillips The Poetic Line (V) ZoomSuzi Q. Smith Two-Day Intensive: The Memory Palace—The Atlas and Architecture of Creative Nonfiction 304Sarah Elizabeth Schantz

5:30pm MDT

Musical Story Hour Lighthouse HQ

7:00pm MDT

Visiting Author Reading with Dean Bakopoulos, Mark Doty, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Amitava Kumar Beacon Hall Visiting Author Reading with Dean Bakopoulos, Mark Doty, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Amitava Kumar (Livestream) Zoom

9:00am MDT

Art of Creative Research (V) ZoomLadane Nasseri

12:00pm MDT

Lunchtime Business Panel: Online Landscape for Writers Beacon HallMitzi Rapkin • Robbie Crouch • Courtney Maum • Erika Wurth • R. Alan Brooks Lunchtime Business Panel: Online Landscape for Writers (Livestream) ZoomMitzi Rapkin • Robbie Crouch • Courtney Maum • Erika Wurth • R. Alan Brooks

1:30pm MDT

Using Your Characters to Break Writers Block 204Kase Johnstun Characterization Through Contrast Beacon HallDanielle Evans Characterization Through Contrast (Livestream) ZoomDanielle Evans How to Survive Writer's Block 316Steve Almond Revising for Social Change (V) ZoomAngelique Stevens Collaging the Draft 215Nazli Koca Writing Desire and Sexuality 315Poupeh Missaghi The Art of the Line Break (V) ZoomAlyse Knorr Children’s Picture Book Story vs Short Story (V) ZoomDenise Vega

4:00pm MDT

Embracing the Shadow (V) ZoomCourtney E. Morgan Time Machine III: Modeling Mary Gaitskill's Time Craft (V) ZoomClemintine Guirado The Devil Made Me Do It: Using Folktale Forms to Structure Your Writing 216Jenny Shank Experimental Prose 315Poupeh Missaghi Writing with Images (V) ZoomChristine Lai The "I" Club: How to Write Using a Thrilling First Person (V) ZoomJavier Sinay Just Two Poems 215Lynn Wagner Creatures of Impulse: What Writers Can Learn From TV 316Dean Bakopoulos Two-Day Intensive: Experiments in Poetic Form 204Suzi Q. Smith

4:30pm MDT

First Draft Live: Literary Friendship, Craft, and the Writing Life Beacon HallAmitava Kumar • Claire Messud • Mitzi Rapkin

7:00pm MDT

Visiting Authors Reading with Steve Almond, Emily Rapp Black, Danielle Evans, and Beth Nguyen Beacon Hall Visiting Authors Reading with Steve Almond, Emily Rapp Black, Danielle Evans, and Beth Nguyen (Livestream) Zoom

9:00am MDT

Letters to a Stranger (V) ZoomAlexander Lumans

12:00pm MDT

Lunchtime Business Panel: Perfect Pairing Beacon HallSandra Bond • Shelley Read • Sarah Bowlin • Wendy Chen • Shana Kelly Lunchtime Business Panel: Perfect Pairing (Livestream) ZoomSandra Bond • Shelley Read • Sarah Bowlin • Wendy Chen • Shana Kelly

1:30pm MDT

How to Wrangle a Cloud Beacon HallMaurice Carlos Ruffin Story in a Flurry 216Nick Arvin Two-Faced: The Art of Multiple Perspectives 316Jenny Shank Collaborative Writing 315Poupeh Missaghi Evoking Our Haunts: On Persons, Places, and Finding Voice 215Hillary Leftwich Mining Memories (V) ZoomAlyse Knorr Your First Page: Authenticity, Vulnerability, and Voice 204Kase Johnstun

4:30pm MDT

Lighthouse Faculty Showcase Beacon Hall Lighthouse Faculty Showcase Beacon Hall

6:00pm MDT

https://lighthousewriters.org/workshop/lit-fest-closing-party Beacon Hall

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