AWP Seattle!

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cool souvenirs I brought home

BEFORE: I’m so excited. I’m so so so so excited! I should be packing, but instead I am poring over the schedule and all the details for the upcoming AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) conference in Seattle, where I’ll be headed tomorrow!!

I first attended AWP in Tempe, Arizona back when I was a MFA student twenty years ago (!) and one of our fantastic professors, Elmaz Abinader, took a little group of us to our first writers’ conference. It blew my mind, and introduced me to the incredible world of authors and poets and small presses and chapbooks, sessions about teaching pedagogy, readings from dawn till dawn, and amazing, inspirational panels about every topic imaginable (and some beyond imagining!). It broadened my life and horizons in ways I couldn’t even begin to describe.

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Elmaz and two of her very first MFA students! (20 yrs later)

I’ve had a few other opportunities to go to AWP, and every time has been wonderful in its own way. The last time I attended was in Vancouver, where I got to meet up with some of the other editors from Literary Mama.

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Literary Mama Kate Hopper reading from her memoir Ready for Air

AWP is often described as a fantastic reunion, and for me this is true. I am so thrilled to be meeting up with some of my favorite writers and friends, some of whom I don’t get to see for many years at a stretch.

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SheBooks reception. The perfect wine!

Are you going to AWP? I just started putting together my already overpacked schedule, and here’s where you’ll find me, through the next few days.

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We were in a writing group together 23+ years ago!

(Oops) AFTER AWP:

It was great. It was exciting. And overstimulating. And exhausting. And yes, a big giant writers’ reunion. I got to hang with some of my favorites. The panel I was on turned out to be fantastically well attended and lively. (see a review of it here)

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“How Far, Imagination: Writing Characters of a Different Race” panelists

I barely slept. I got hoarse from speaking loudly in crowded rooms. I was absolutely melted when it was all over. But worth it? Absolutely.

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keynote speaker Annie Proulx

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