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Lit Fest 2024
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Welcome to Lit Fest, eight days dedicated to you, our literary community.
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Friday, June 14
 

9:00am MDT

Letters to a Stranger (V)
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Each of us is haunted, in both great and odd ways, by the people we meet. And it so often happens that the person is a total stranger—one who then unexpectedly changes us—that we never see again. But if you had the chance to speak to this stranger today, what would you say? This class, inspired by the anthology Letter to a Stranger, will guide you through the process of considering how a stranger has impacted you. Then, we’ll draft a letter to this stranger, a letter that will explore how they unknowingly redirected the river of your life.
Speakers
avatar for Alexander Lumans

Alexander Lumans

Instructor
Alexander Lumans was awarded a 2018 NEA Creative Writing Grant in Fiction. He was also awarded a fellowship to the 2015 Arctic Circle Residency and was the Spring 2014 Philip Roth Resident at Bucknell University. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Paris Review, Electric... Read More →

Friday June 14, 2024 9:00am - 11:00am MDT
Zoom
  Nonfiction/Memoir

12:00pm MDT

Lunchtime Business Panel: Perfect Pairing
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As the publishing industry continues to change, the relationship between an author and her agent can make or break a career. Join authors Wendy Chen and Shelly Read and their agents, Sarah Bowlin and Sandra Bond, as they talk about how they’re navigating the choppy waters of publishing together.
Speakers
avatar for Sandra Bond

Sandra Bond

Agent
TV deprived growing up in the 60s, Sandra and her two siblings read books. Voraciously. The big event was going to the library once a week. As an adult, she wanted to be involved in the wondrous business of discovering and bringing stories to the world and, not a creative writer herself... Read More →
avatar for Shelley Read

Shelley Read

Shelley Read's internationally bestselling debut novel, Go As A River, is being translated intoover thirty languages and has been optioned for film by Mazur Kaplan in partnership withFifth Season. An instant Sunday Times bestseller, Go As A River is also a 2023 AmazonEditor's Pick... Read More →
avatar for Sarah Bowlin

Sarah Bowlin

Agent
Sarah Bowlin is a senior agent at Aevitas Creative Management which she joined in 2017. Before becoming an agent, she was an editor of literary fiction and nonfiction at Riverhead Books and Henry Holt & Company where she edited the acclaimed writers Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Sheila Heti... Read More →
avatar for Wendy Chen

Wendy Chen

Instructor
Wendy Chen is the author of the novel Their Divine Fires (Algonquin) and the poetry collection Unearthings (Tavern Books). She is the editor of Figure 1, associate editor-in-chief of Tupelo Quarterly, and prose editor of Tupelo Press. Her poetry translations of Song-dynasty... Read More →
avatar for Shana Kelly

Shana Kelly

Instructor
Shana Kelly started her career as a literary agent at the William Morris Agency in New York and London, where she sold foreign and British rights for the agency for ten years. Shana was the signing agent for many successful authors, including New York Times bestseller Curtis Sittenfeld... Read More →

Friday June 14, 2024 12:00pm - 1:00pm MDT
Beacon Hall
  Fiction   Nonfiction/Memoir   Hybrid   Poetry   Publishing/Career

12:00pm MDT

Lunchtime Business Panel: Perfect Pairing (Livestream)
Register
As the publishing industry continues to change, the relationship between an author and her agent can make or break a career. Join authors Wendy Chen and Shelly Read and their agents, Sarah Bowlin and Sandra Bond, as they talk about how they’re navigating the choppy waters of publishing together.
Speakers
avatar for Sandra Bond

Sandra Bond

Agent
TV deprived growing up in the 60s, Sandra and her two siblings read books. Voraciously. The big event was going to the library once a week. As an adult, she wanted to be involved in the wondrous business of discovering and bringing stories to the world and, not a creative writer herself... Read More →
avatar for Shelley Read

Shelley Read

Shelley Read's internationally bestselling debut novel, Go As A River, is being translated intoover thirty languages and has been optioned for film by Mazur Kaplan in partnership withFifth Season. An instant Sunday Times bestseller, Go As A River is also a 2023 AmazonEditor's Pick... Read More →
avatar for Sarah Bowlin

Sarah Bowlin

Agent
Sarah Bowlin is a senior agent at Aevitas Creative Management which she joined in 2017. Before becoming an agent, she was an editor of literary fiction and nonfiction at Riverhead Books and Henry Holt & Company where she edited the acclaimed writers Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Sheila Heti... Read More →
avatar for Wendy Chen

Wendy Chen

Instructor
Wendy Chen is the author of the novel Their Divine Fires (Algonquin) and the poetry collection Unearthings (Tavern Books). She is the editor of Figure 1, associate editor-in-chief of Tupelo Quarterly, and prose editor of Tupelo Press. Her poetry translations of Song-dynasty... Read More →
avatar for Shana Kelly

Shana Kelly

Instructor
Shana Kelly started her career as a literary agent at the William Morris Agency in New York and London, where she sold foreign and British rights for the agency for ten years. Shana was the signing agent for many successful authors, including New York Times bestseller Curtis Sittenfeld... Read More →

Friday June 14, 2024 12:00pm - 1:00pm MDT
Zoom
  Fiction   Nonfiction/Memoir   Hybrid   Poetry   Publishing/Career

1:30pm MDT

How to Wrangle a Cloud
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This craft seminar will be a discussion of all the techniques and serendipities that go into bringing a story idea from the initial burst of inspiration to the finished product. We’ll cover how to find and develop good material in the face of uncertainty, time constraints, and a lack of confidence. Special emphasis will be placed on the writer's experience of joy while writing, and plenty of time will be available for questions and answers throughout the course of the seminar.
Speakers
avatar for Maurice Carlos Ruffin

Maurice Carlos Ruffin

Visiting Author
Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s most recent book is the story collection, The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You (One World, 2021), a New York Times Editor’s Choice, a finalist for the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and longlisted for the Story Prize. His first book... Read More →

Friday June 14, 2024 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
Beacon Hall
  Fiction

1:30pm MDT

Story in a Flurry
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In this class, you’ll develop a set of story elements through quick writing exercises designed to break through your inner critic and put words on the page. We’ll work on focussed prompts that build on one another to generate interrelated narrative fragments, such as characters, setting, plot, beginning, and ending. At the end, you will have (hopefully!) the skeleton of a complete story draft. These exercises will help you break free some useful writing or ideas for future writing, but the focus on individual aspects of craft will also lead us to some insights into the nature of narrative itself.
Speakers
avatar for Nick Arvin

Nick Arvin

Instructor
Nick Arvin is the author of In the Electric Eden, Articles of War, and The Reconstructionist. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal and has been honored with awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Library Association... Read More →

Friday June 14, 2024 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
216
  Fiction

1:30pm MDT

Two-Faced: The Art of Multiple Perspectives
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Sometimes, there's one perfect perspective through which to tell a story, but other times, a story requires multiple angles to convey the whole picture. Multiple perspectives can open up a story's possibilities, showcase a writer's range, and build suspense and tension. However, they can also confuse or annoy the reader or slow the story's pacing if not incorporated with care. We'll study examples of multiple-perspective magic by Alice Munro, May-Lee Chai, Tommy Orange, and Yoon Choi and learn how to craft our own stories.
Speakers
avatar for Jenny Shank

Jenny Shank

Instructor
Jenny Shank's short story collection, Mixed Company, won the George Garrett Fiction Prize and is a finalist for the Colorado Book Award (General Fiction). Jenny Shank's novel, The Ringer, won the High Plains Book Award in fiction, was a finalist for the Mountains & Plains Independent... Read More →

Friday June 14, 2024 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
316
  Fiction

1:30pm MDT

Evoking Our Haunts: On Persons, Places, and Finding Voice
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A ghost is often created out of trauma or deep emotions—a haunting of place or person, seeking a witness to form and voice. In this seminar, we'll explore possibilities of homes for our ghosts, from sestina to erasure, lyric essays to prose poetry. What’s haunting you, and what can’t you seem to dispel? Together, let’s evoke our own powerful words to better understand what lingers beyond the veil and our own rituals for words.
Speakers
avatar for Hillary Leftwich

Hillary Leftwich

Instructor
Hillary Leftwich is the author of two books, Ghosts Are Just Strangers Who Know How to Knock (Agape Editions, 2023, new edition) and Aura (Future Tense Books and Blackstone Audio Publishing, 2022), and a collection of experimental forms TBA. She owns Alchemy Author Services and Writing... Read More →

Friday June 14, 2024 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
215
  Fiction   Nonfiction/Memoir   Poetry   Hybrid

1:30pm MDT

Your First Page: Authenticity, Vulnerability, and Voice
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In this class, we’ll examine five to ten first pages (250 words or less) to see how authors have created their voice through vulnerability, syntax, authenticity, and structure. It will be a great lesson in establishing a voice immediately.
Speakers
avatar for Kase Johnstun

Kase Johnstun

Instructor
Kase Johnstun lives and writes in Ogden, Utah. He was most recently named the 2021 Ogden Mayor’s Award Recipient for the Literary Arts. His forthcoming novel Cast Away will be published from Torrey House Press in 2024. Johnstun is the author of recently released Let The Wild Grasses... Read More →

Friday June 14, 2024 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
204
  Nonfiction/Memoir

4:30pm MDT

Lighthouse Faculty Showcase
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Grab a refreshment and hear readings from recently published works by Lighthouse faculty members.
Friday June 14, 2024 4:30pm - 5:30pm MDT
Beacon Hall
  All Genres

4:30pm MDT

Lighthouse Faculty Showcase
Register
Grab a refreshment and hear readings from recently published works by Lighthouse faculty members. 
Friday June 14, 2024 4:30pm - 6:00pm MDT
Beacon Hall
  All Genres

6:00pm MDT

https://lighthousewriters.org/workshop/lit-fest-closing-party
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Help us toast the closing of another year of Lit Fest with delicious food and drinks with new and old friends.
Friday June 14, 2024 6:00pm - 8:00pm MDT
Beacon Hall
  All Genres
 
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