1455 Summer Literary Festival - 2nd Annual - Saturday, Track 2

July 18 - Track 2 - Agenda

Timely & Topical

9:00 AM
Motherhood and the Written Word: How Being a Mother Inspires, Limits, and Changes Our Writing

Speaker(s):
Tyrese Coleman, Kara Oakleaf, Seema Reza, Hannah Grieco

Books by Speaker(s) 

This panel brings together writers and mothers Tyrese Coleman (HOW TO SIT), Kara Oakleaf (Director, GMU’s Fall for the Book Literary Festival), and Seema Reza (WHEN THE WORLD BREAKS OPEN), who will discuss their process in terms of writing while parenting young children (especially relevant now in the time of Covid-19), as well as examining how their work continues to change and evolve as their children grow older. They’ll explore topics like privacy, the role of motherhood in the literary arts, the respite of creating art, and more. The panel will be moderated by Hannah Grieco (founder, Readings on the Pike).

10:30 AM
Writing in the Valley

Speaker(s):
Jessi Lewis, Cliff Garstang, Debra Lattanzi Shutika

Books by Speaker(s) 

The notion (and importance) of place presents a chicken/egg proposition with certain fiction: are writers drawn to a particular locale because of a deep familiarity or investment in it, or does a particular geography compel an author to utilize it for further exploration? With Jessi Lewis (SHE SPOKE WIRE) and Cliff Garstang (THE SHAMAN OF TURTLE VALLEY), it's a bit of both. In this conversation, Debra Lattanzi Shutika (BEYOND THE BORDERLANDS: MIGRATION AND BELONGING IN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO) will moderate a discussion involving the importance of place in the context of these writers’ works.

12:00 PM
The Post-COVID Classroom

Speaker(s):
Hilary Sortor, Gregg Wilhelm, Holly Karapetkova, Jen Disano

Books by Speaker(s) 

COVID has impacted virtually all aspects of society, not least our classrooms. While most learning shifted online, it was neither an uncomplicated nor ideal scenario. Going forward, many schools are planning to hold at least some classes in person, but those classes will not look at all like a traditional learning environment. Questions abound regarding how we proceed (this summer, this fall, next year…) and there’s little consensus on what’s best or even right. For instance, how a virtual learning experience works for grad students may be radically different for undergrads (or younger) students; and professors with decades of experience are now obliged to adapt to this new normal. In this panel, Hilary Sortor (Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, Shenandoah University) will moderate a discussion with fellow educators Gregg Wilhelm (Director of Creative Writing, George Mason University), Holly Karapetkova (Marymount University), and Jen Disano (Executive Director, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University).

1:00 PM
Storytelling Rage - Three Authors, Three Genres

Speaker(s):
Laura Bogart, Amber Sparks,
Rachel Vorona Cote

Books by Speaker(s) 

Hear a novelist, a short-story writer, and an essayist all talk about the white-hot anger at the heart of their works, a rage that is at once uniquely female/femme and universally recognizable. Laura Bogart's debut novel DON’T YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU? examines how parental rage can stunt a child--until she accesses her own passions. In AND I DO NOT FORGIVE YOU: STORIES AND OTHER REVENGES, Amber Sparks uses speculative tropes including mythology and ghosts to excavate women's fates from the tissue of time. Rachel Vorona Cote examines how women's history continues to affect us, in TOO MUCH: HOW VICTORIAN CONSTRAINTS STILL BIND WOMEN TODAY. These three writers will discuss women's anger, the places where it pushes painfully against our contemporary culture, and much more.

2:30 PM
How Can We Remember What We Can't Forget? A Reading and Conversation with Jehan Bseiso

Speaker(s):
Jehan Bseiso, Stephen Sheehi

Books by Speaker(s) 

Jehan Bseiso is a Palestinian poet, researcher and aid worker. Her poetry has been published in several online platforms. Her co-authored book I REMEMBER MY NAME is the Palestine Book Awards winner in the creative category (2016). She is the co-editor of MAKING MIRRORS: WRITING/RIGHTING BY AND FOR REFUGEES(2019). Jehan has been working with Médecins sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders since 2008. Jehan will read from her work (in both Arabic and English), followed by a discussion with Stephen Sheehi (Sultan Qaboos Professor of Middle East Studies and Director of the Decolonizing Humanities Project at William & Mary).

4:00 PM
A Conversation with Angie Kim

Speaker(s):
Angie Kim, Sean Murphy

Books by Speaker(s) 

Angie Kim, the Keynote Author of last year’s 1455 Summer Literary Festival, returns to chat with Sean Murphy about her amazing journey the past twelve months, culminating in her winning the Edgar Award for her novel MIRACLE CREEK.

5:00 PM
Keynote Author: Adrienne Miller

Speaker(s):
Adrienne Miller, Bethanne Patrick

Books by Speaker(s) 

1455 is honored to host Adrienne Miller as our Keynote Author for the 2nd annual Summer Literary Festival.

Adrienne was the literary and fiction editor of Esquire from 1997-2006. She is author of the novel THE COAST OF AKRON (FSG), and has taught writing at the University of Pennsylvania, Haverford College, and Bryn Mawr. She lives in New York City with her husband, son, and Italian Greyhound.

Please join Bethanne Patrick (AKA @TheBookMaven), who will discuss Miller's new memoir, IN THE LAND OF MEN. With this year's Festival theme of Storytelling, Miller's insightful (occasionally amusing, occasionally appalling) book could hardly be more relevant or vital.