Lit Fest 2025

The border is highly permeable for some and completely rigid for others, as the pandemic, various humanitarian crises, and recent elections in the West have underscored. The terror of the border remains relentless. In this generative seminar, we'll discuss and write in response to the work of (im)migrant writers who question the border and contend with its shifting, dislocating provocations. We’ll consider how and why certain bodies and literatures are (b)ordered through denial, displacement, dispossession, and detainment. And we’ll explore how we can write to confound the ideologies, policies, and practices that seek to contain us.

As the quality and readership of indie/self-published books increases, indie publishing—once considered a “less than” alternative to traditional publishing—is becoming a progressively popular choice for authors at all stages of their careers. What does it take to independently publish your book? In this seminar, we’ll explore what goes into the indie decision, the pros and cons of this publishing method, and the must-have attributes of a successful independently published book.

In this class, we’ll experience the power of deep reading. Before class, you’ll be given two poems that serve as jumping-off points to explore and be inspired by master poets of exceptional craft. We’ll explore both the measured unfolding of a longer poem and the lyric compression of another. Exercises, experiments, and your own poems will follow.

Drawing inspiration from the idea of a palimpsest—medieval manuscripts on papyrus or parchment whose text was scraped or washed off, and then written over—the workshop will consider what is erased from the past versus what remains and how that shows up in our lives and our writing. We’ll try techniques that sample the writing of others, such as erasure or the cento, and also write from prompts that consider what parts of ourselves have been erased and written over, or how scraps of the past are embedded in the places and objects that surround us.

When is a poetry manuscript truly “done”? This seminar explores the balance between productive revision and perfectionism, drawing insights from poets like Ocean Vuong and Victoria Chang. Learn to approach your manuscript as a cohesive body of work, clarifying its themes, voice, and style. We’ll challenge the myth of linear progression, embrace curiosity, and help you recognize when your work feels whole enough to share with the world—so that you can seek publication with confidence.

Lament can be elegy or protest, memoir or lyric outpouring. This craft workshop will explore this fertile and necessary genre, offering examples and prompts to encourage writers to articulate their own lament whether it be personal, political, environmental, or spiritual.

Hear your favorite visiting author perform their recent works. Shop at the Lit Fest pop-up bookstore operated by The Bookies and get your book signed afterward.

Hear your favorite visiting author perform their recent works. Shop at the Lit Fest pop-up bookstore operated by The Bookies and get your book signed afterward.