Story Week Festival of Writers 2014

Please join me this week, March 16-21, for Story Week Festival of Writers 2014 sponsored by the Columbia College of Chicago Fiction Department. It’s dynamic, free, and open to the public with everything from book signings to panel discussions, plus workshops and agenting or publishing tips. The full schedule is here, and if you’re in the area I’d be thrilled to meet you Monday, March 17th at 2pm in the audtorium at the Harold Washington Library on 400 S State Street for a panel discussion titled “Why the Short Story?” One of my all-time favorite authors, Stuart Dybek, will be on the panel alongside dynamic writer and personality Christine Sneed, new (to me) award-winning author Roxane Gay, myself, and panel moderator and friend Patricia Ann McNair.

Someone pinch me, please, as I’ll be the only single-book author up there by several books and reading for 10 minutes before Stuart Dybek. This is the kind of event I’d honestly find myself going to so that I could learn something, so being on the panel is not only an honor, but a good challenge. I’ve been pondering “Why the short story?” all week and hope to have a great conversation up there, in front of hundreds, alongside authors whose careers I hope to someday mirror in my own way.

Meantime, stay tuned for more #AWP2014 conference notes in the near, blogging future!