We are little over two weeks away from the
third (THIRD!) annual Auburn Writers Conference. This is my favorite event of the year. It's my Christmas. These are the two days out of 365 where I'm surrounded by my tribe, and each year, there are new members in the family.
I want to introduce you all, you know, so that no one feels awkward around the dinner table. Fair warning: there are writers among us who are huggers, others will make you laugh at inappropriate moments of the day, some will challenge what you thought you knew, and all will inspire you to take to the page.
We've got poets:
 |
| Meet the lovely Keetje Kuipers, a new faculty member of the Department of English at Auburn. She is a gifted poet and teacher, rocks a cowboy hat like no one's business, and owns a dog named Bishop, named after, who else? Elizabeth Bishop. |
 |
| Meet Amy Weldon, an Auburn alum-turned-professor at Luther College in Iowa. Funny and all around terrific, you want to sit by Amy at the table. |
 |
| Meet Peter Huggins. Peter has been with the conference since day one and is always a favorite. |
Creative Nonfiction writers are always great at family reunions. You can count of them to tell it like it is.
 |
| Meet Patricia Foster. Patricia joined us last year, and this year she is the Breeden Scholar at Auburn, serving in the Department of English and knocking the socks off of graduate students on a daily basis. |
 |
| Meet Robin O'Bryant. She will make you laugh SO HARD. Plus, she'll teach you about publishing in a new age of independence. |
 |
| Meet musician and memoirist, Marhsall Chapman. Every family has a songbird. She is ours. |
These are the fiction writers in the family that all the kids love.
 |
| Meet Myra McEntire. She's a YA novelist of swoony stories perfect for the teens in your life. Start with Hourglass. You won't be disappointed. |
 |
| Meet R.A. Nelson. Russ' YA novel, Days of Little Texas, was one of the most touching, revelatory and truly frightening things I've read all year. |
More fiction writers! The family yarn-spinners.
 |
| Meet Suzanne Johnson, author of the urban paranormal fantasy series, Royal Street. New Orleans, wizards, the historical undead, and a sexy Jean Lafitte. I don't know what else to say except COME MEET SUZANNE. |
 |
| Meet Cecilia Milanes, a short story writer (and poet! I should cross-reference this thing...), and a Cubana doing good in the world. I can't wait for you all to get to know her. |
|
 |
| Meet Skip Horack, my new colleague in Creative Writing at Auburn. I'm reading his novel, The Eden Hunter, now. Chilling, powerful. I love it! |
|
|
 |
| Meet Mary Donnarumma Sharnick, she of the spectacular name and equally spectacular novel, Thirst, set in historic Venice. Mary is a MASTER teacher, folks. I'm telling you. MASTER. |
|
|
We've got writers who know it takes SOUL to CREATE. They are memoirists, poets, professors and TV producers. Meet the authors of
Circling Faith:
Southern Women on Spirituality:
 |
| Meet Jennifer Horne |
 |
| Meet Wendy Reed |
 |
| Meet Barbara Brown Taylor |
 |
| Meet Debra Moffit |
Last, but not least, we've got two featured speakers that round out our gathering.
 |
| Meet Nick Taylor! With multiple books under his belt and a passport so full of stamps it's a work of art in itself, Nick is going to share some opening remarks with us, kicking off this year's AWC. |
 |
| Meet Judith Ortiz Cofer, who spans all genres in her work, author of several collections and novels. Poetry or prose, in English or Spanish, Judith is going to make this a keynote to remember. |
I'm leaving out all the wonderful readers who submitted work to read at the conference. They are all talented, but too numerous to name. Our family? It is LARGE and GROWING.
Now you all know each other. Want to join the family? Well,
register here, and be quick about it. Workshops are filling up.
This can't be said enough: I CAN'T WAIT!
No comments:
Post a Comment