Attendance and Panel Presentations at the 2019 AWP Writers Conference

Grant:

Lecturers' Professional Development Fund (LPDF)

Academic Year:

2018 - 2019 (June 1, 2018 through May 31, 2019)

Funding Requested:

$2,000.00

Project Dates:

Wed, 03/27/2019 - Sun, 03/31/2019

Applicant(s):

jchamber

Overview of the Project:

I am requesting funding to attend the 2019 AWP Conference, which will take place from March 27th to 31st in Portland, Oregon. In addition to participating in the conference, I will also be chairing two panel presentations: “Imagined Research, Researched Imagination” and “Getting Beyond 3%: International Literature and US Literary Culture.” The former panel, which will feature talks by Natalie Bakopoulos, Adrianne Kalfopoulou, Aisha Sabatini Sloan, and Arianne Zwartjes, explores the relationship between imagination and fact in the genre of creative nonfiction. Both my English 325 (The Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction) and English 425 (Immersion Writing) courses relate directly to this topic. The latter panel brings together prominent publishers, editors, and directors of literary nonprofits to discuss the importance, politics, and methods of bringing diversity to reading markets across the US, which intersects with material I teach in several of my literature courses (English 290, 298, and 362). The AWP conference has been invaluable for my work as both a writer and a teacher, and attendance at this year’s event would enrich my professional development in many ways, as I hope my proposal outlines. In particular, the last several courses that I have developed for the English Department—both in their initial conception and in my continued work to revise and improve them—have been deeply influenced by the presentations and panels that I’ve attended during the last several AWP conferences.

Final Report Fields

Project Objectives:

The goal of this project was to attend the AWP (Association and Writers and Writing Programs) Conference in Portland, Oregon, from March 27 – 31, 2019. In addition to participating in the conference, I also chaired two panel presentations: “Getting Beyond 3%: International Literature and US Literary Culture” and “Imagined Research, Researched Imagination.” The first panel explored the challenges of fostering the work of international writers in the U.S. literary market, featuring presentations by Milena Deleva (Elizabeth Kostova Foundation), Elisabeth Jaquette (American Literary Translators Association), Chad Post (Open Letter Books), and Rachael Small (Europa Editions). The second panel examined how research and imagination function symbiotically in the genre of nonfiction. Joining me were Natalie Bakopoulos (Wayne State University), Adrianne Kalfopoulou (Deree University), Aisha Sabatini Sloan (University of Michigan), and Arianne Zwartjes (unaffiliated).

Project Achievements:

Participating in this conferences as I do each year has been invaluable for my teaching, giving me to the opportunity to hear fellow writers and teachers share conversations about pedagogy and technique. Further, by participating myself I’m able to advance my own scholarship and thinking in the field, which as a practicing writer makes me a better teacher—both in terms of offering my students personal insights into the craft of writing and being able to convey the reflections of other writers whose work we study.

Continuation:

No.

Dissemination:

Each of the panel presentations I chaired at the conference were extremely well-attended. The nonfiction panel, in particular, which featured my University of Michigan colleague Aisha Sabatini Sloan, had nearly 100 conference goers in attendance—all of whom are fellow writers and teachers of writing. As such, the ideas we shared as part of this project will be disseminated at other universities across the country. Here at the university, I regularly contribute to curricula development conversations and initiatives related to the growth of creative nonfiction in our department, and my participation in this conference has helped shaped my thinking about the growth of this genre.

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