Lit Fest 2024: Full Schedule

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

9:00am MDT

Culturally Expansive Approaches to Plot and Story Structure

U.S. fiction and nonfiction writers have been trained to follow “universal” rules of story structure: The Aristotelian plot arc. Three-Act Structure. The Hero’s Journey. In recent years, diverse voices in prose writing and craft have called for expanding these norms. In this class for prose writers of all levels, we'll deconstruct both western and non-western story structures and storytelling conventions to better understand how our own work might draw from, and fit into, a literal world of stories. We’ll read stories and watch short films as examples, and experiment with both generative writing and restructuring. Bring an informal outline of a piece you’re working on (either short story, essay, or book), or I’ll provide you with sample outlines of other authors’ work to use for the exercises if you don’t have anything handy.

Speakers

Angie Chuang

Instructor

Angie Chuang is an associate professor of journalism at University of Colorado Boulder who writes and teaches a wide range of nonfiction forms. Her memoir, The Four Words for Home (Aquarius Press/Willow Books, 2014),won an Independents Publishers Award for Multicultural Nonfiction... Read More →

Friday June 7, 2024 9:00am - 11:00am MDT
315

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir

Type Craft Seminar

1:30pm MDT

Poetic Voice: Finding Your Zone of Unique Genius

Poets often receive the advice to "develop a voice uniquely yours." But what does that mean? And how should we interpret journal or book submission guidelines that say the editors are looking for "voices that stand out"? This class explores what goes into "poetic voice" and what you can do to find and write from your own zone of unique genius.

Speakers

Radha Marcum

Instructor

Radha Marcum, MFA, won the 2023 Washington Prize for her forthcoming collection, Pine Soot Tendon Bone (2024). She was also awarded the New Mexico Book Award in 2018 for her first collection of poems, Bloodline (3: A Taos Press), about her grandfather's work building the first atomic... Read More →

Friday June 7, 2024 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
315

Poetry

Type Craft Seminar

4:00pm MDT

The Art of Speculation

There are gaps in facts and reality, be it our private memories or the historical record. Speculation helps us interrogate these gaps and bring to light stories that have been hidden or suppressed. In this class, we'll discuss some examples, techniques, and ethical considerations around speculation in writing nonfiction, and consider how we access truth in the face of erasure. There will be plenty of time for discussion as well as playing with strategies to access your unspoken truths.

Speakers

Teow Lim Goh

Instructor

Teow Lim Goh is the author of two poetry collections, Islanders (2016) and Faraway Places (2021), and an essay collection Western Journeys (2022). Her essays, poetry, and criticism have been featured in The Georgia Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Los Angeles Review of Books, PBS NewsHour... Read More →

Friday June 7, 2024 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
315

Nonfiction/Memoir Hybrid

Type Craft Seminar

8:30am MDT

Advanced Weekend Fiction Intensive: Open Sesame with Vanessa Hua

The first ten pages of a book are an incantation, not only beguiling your readers but setting the spell that will carry your narrative through to the end. In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn strategies to kick off an urgent central conflict, introduce captivating characters, and establish voice, tone, and setting. We’ll analyze successful beginnings and work on fun writing exercises designed to hone those elements. You’ll also workshop the first ten pages of your work-in progress, receiving supportive and constructive feedback. Suitable for all levels, whether you’re just starting your project or have already finished a draft. Students will leave with a clearer sense of theme and direction for their work, and the inspiration and tools necessary for revision. Accepted participants will submit up to 10 manuscript pages by May 10.

Speakers

Vanessa Hua

Visiting Author

Vanessa Hua is the author of the national bestsellers A River of Stars and Forbidden City, as well as Deceit and Other Possibilities, a New York Times Editors Pick. A National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow, she has also received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award... Read More →

Saturday June 8, 2024 8:30am - 12:00pm MDT
315

Fiction

Type Advanced Weekend Workshop

1:30pm MDT

Advanced Weekend Fiction Intensive: Making it Work with Alexandra Kleeman

Every writer has a piece or two lingering in their drawer that they've set aside because it "doesn't work." But what is the difference between "not working" and "working differently"? In this workshop, we'll center difficult elements from our own pieces and ask what would happen if we were to revise in support of these features rather than against them. Participants will bring in a piece of writing that lingers unfinished or that you feel contains what you consider a "fatal flaw." Together, we'll work to see these pieces in a new light, ask what the elements that we are most concerned about can tell us about our stories and the craft of writing, and work toward salvaging, reclaiming, and completing these pieces. Accepted participants will submit up to 15 manuscript pages by May 13, and will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with Alexandra during the week of class.

Speakers

Alexandra Kleeman

Visiting Author

Alexandra Kleeman is the author of the novel Something New Under the Sun, Intimations, a short story collection, and the novel You Too Can Have A Body Like Mine, which was awarded the 2016 Bard Fiction Prize and was a New York Times Editor’s Choice. In 2020, she was awarded the... Read More →

Saturday June 8, 2024 1:30pm - 5:00pm MDT
315

Fiction

Type Advanced Weekend Workshop

4:00pm MDT

Voice, Motivation, and Plot in KidLit

There was a time when literature for tweens focused on riding horses or finding lost pets and books for teens involved pining for a date for the summer dance. But today's tweens and teens are looking for books that help them navigate a complex and challenging world. In this session, we'll examine the way middle grade and YA novels tackle plot and character. Exercises in voice, motivation and plot will help you find your kidlit comfort zone—and pressure test your work-in-progress if you have a manuscript underway.

Speakers

Jan Thomas

Instructor

J.E. Thomas spent her early summers stuffing grocery bags with books at the local library, reading feverishly, then repeating the process week after week. So it's not surprising that she thinks books + imagination are the best streaming service around. J.E. is an award-winning... Read More →

Saturday June 8, 2024 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
315

YA/Children's

Type Craft Seminar

1:30pm MDT

Documentary Poetics: The Poetry of Politics, Testimony, and Witness

Documentary poetics engages in the art of documentation in order to, as Philip Metres argues, “testify to the often unheard voices of people struggling to survive in the face of unspeakable violence.” How, then, and in what ways can documentary poetry challenge our thinking or change the world? This craft class will investigate the history of documentary poetry in order to understand the means and motivations behind the genre. We'll analyze a diverse range of documentary poetry, including work by Don Mee Choi, Layli Long Soldier, Solmaz Sharif, and propose our own documentary poetics project.

Speakers

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 →

Monday June 10, 2024 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
315

Poetry

Type Craft Seminar

4:00pm MDT

Starting Your Screenplay from Scratch

Do you have an idea for a movie that’s been percolating for a while? Can you see your novel/memoir/short story on the big screen? Start here! In this seminar, we'll start the writing before you write your screenplay by using the three-act structure to outline your screenplay and get you started on a clear path to a finished script. We’ll start from the beginning, and students should expect to leave the class with a logline and the start of a working outline. Students familiar with the structure but want to start a new project are welcome!

Speakers

Jenny Taylor-Whitehorn

Instructor

Jenny Taylor-Whitehorn is an author and screenwriter who is still paying for her MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA, where she was awarded the James Pendleton Award, the Larry Thor Memorial Award, Oliver’s Prize, and was listed in the 2016 UCLA Screenwriter’s Showcase. Jenny has... Read More →

Monday June 10, 2024 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
315

Screenwriting

Type Craft Seminar

1:30pm MDT

How to Write a Book Proposal

This two-hour seminar will provide comprehensive instruction on how to research, write, and pitch a book proposal to an agent from an author who has submitted seven or eight of these things and scored book deals twice.

Speakers

Steve Knopper

Instructor

Steve Knopper is Billboard editor at large, former Rolling Stone contributing editor, and author of MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson (Scribner, 2015) and Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Business in the Digital Age (Free Press, 2009). He has written... Read More →

Tuesday June 11, 2024 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
315

Nonfiction/Memoir Publishing/Career

Type Craft Seminar

4:00pm MDT

In These Fleeting Moments: Building Dramatic Tension

What's a "ticking clock" in writing, and how does it add dramatic tension to your story? In this two-hour class, we'll examine how ticking clocks can work in everything from an action movie to a family drama and see how understanding this tool might help with your own writing. Expect some brief writing exercises and lots of discussion.

Speakers

R. Alan Brooks

Instructor

R. Alan Brooks teaches graphic novel writing at Regis University, and is the writer/creator of The Burning Metronome graphic novel, a supernatural murder mystery with social commentary. He also hosts the popular “MotherF**ker In A Cape” comics podcast, which focuses on marginalized... Read More →

Tuesday June 11, 2024 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
315

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir Dramatic Writing

Type Craft Seminar

1:30pm MDT

High Before the Low

One of the most powerful writing tools we tend to overlook is the high before the low. Many potent stories focus on a moment of high connection and joy before the moment of the largest low. The more you want to break the reader's (and your character's) heart, the bigger the high before the ultimate low needs to be. We'll examine powerful high and low moments from fiction and memoir and how they work together. Then, we'll tackle writing exercises to flesh out the high and low moments in our stories.

Speakers

Paula Younger

Instructor

Paula Younger received her MFA from the University of Virginia Creative Writing program, where she was awarded a Henry Hoyns Fellowship. She was also the Fiction Editor for Meridian and a Bronx Writers' Center Fellow. Her award-winning fiction has appeared in such literary journals... Read More →

Wednesday June 12, 2024 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
315

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir Dramatic Writing

Type Craft Seminar

4:00pm MDT

The Craft of Interviewing

This course is all about how to make your story sing with dialogue, vignettes, and rich details provided by primary sources. We'll cover interview requests, how to talk to strangers, preparation, and, most crucially, how to ask the right questions and get the best info out of people—taught by a former Rolling Stone journalist who has interviewed thousands of sources over 30 years.

Speakers

Steve Knopper

Instructor

Wednesday June 12, 2024 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
315

Nonfiction/Memoir

Type Craft Seminar

1:30pm MDT

Writing Desire and Sexuality

Delving into the erotic is not an easy task for many writers. But as Audre Lorde notes, “The erotic is a resource within each of us that lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling.” In this course, we'll look at some works that directly address human desire and sexuality and discuss how their craft choices enable the writers to connect their audiences with an aspect of humanity that is more often oppressed and repressed than welcomed and embraced.

Speakers

Poupeh Missaghi

Instructor

Poupeh Missaghi is a writer, a translator both into and out of Persian, Asymptote’s Iran editor-at-large, and an educator. Her debut novel trans(re)lating house one was published by Coffee House Press in February 2020. She holds a PhD in English and creative writing from the University... Read More →

Thursday June 13, 2024 1:30pm - 3:30pm MDT
315

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir Poetry Hybrid

Type Craft Seminar

4:00pm MDT

Experimental Prose

What would happen if we refused to limit ourselves to what is considered the “right” way to tell a story? Let’s move beyond traditional and mainstream modes of narrative. Let’s allow ourselves to experiment with language and the page. Let’s start from a place of flexibility and fluidity rather than rigidity and fixed rules. We'll look at some models that go beyond definitions of genre and take risks in redefining the interrelationship of content and form. There will be prompts to invite participants to start their own experimentations.

Speakers

Poupeh Missaghi

Instructor

Thursday June 13, 2024 4:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
315

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir Poetry Hybrid

Type Craft Seminar

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