Name: Lunchtime Business Panel: Getting Past the Gatekeepers (Livestream)
Start: 2025-06-09T12:00:00-0600
End: 2025-06-09T13:00:00-0600

Monday June 9, 2025 12:00pm - 1:00pm MDT

Zoom

This panel of writers and editors will share their screening process for determining what manuscripts make it into publication or the final rounds of a contest. We’ll share some suggestions for what to do (and what not to do) to make your work stand out and get the green light. Panelists include Jenny Shank, who served as a screener judge for this year’s Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, Michelle Dotter, the publisher of Dzanc Press, and authors Kristin Koval and Steven Dunn.

Speakers

Denne Michele Norris

Panelist

Denne Michele Norris is the editor-in-chief of Electric Literature, winner of the 2022 Whiting Literary Magazine Prize. She is the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication. A 2021 Out100 Honoree, her writing has been supported by MacDowell, Tin House, and... Read More →

Steven Dunn

Steven Dunn is a 2021 Whiting Award winner and author of the novels Potted Meat (Tarpaulin Sky Press, 2016) and water & power (Tarpaulin Sky Press, 2018). He was born and raised in West Virginia, and after 10 years in the Navy, he earned a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University... Read More →

Michelle Dotter

Michelle Dotter is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Dzanc Books, a nonprofit press devoted to championing innovative and brilliant literary fiction. Since starting her career with noted San Francisco publishing house MacAdam/Cage, she has worked with New York Times bestsellers... Read More →

Kristin Koval

Instructor

Kristin Koval is a former lawyer who always wanted to be a writer but initially wandered down other paths. Her debut novel, Penitence, was named a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick for February 2025, a People Magazine Best Book of the Week, a Book of the Month Pick, an Indie Next, an Apple... Read More →

Jenny Shank

Instructor

Jenny Shank's short story collection, Mixed Company, won the George Garrett Fiction Prize and is a finalist for the Colorado Book Award (General Fiction). Jenny Shank's novel, The Ringer, won the High Plains Book Award in fiction, was a finalist for the Mountains & Plains Independent... Read More →

Monday June 9, 2025 12:00pm - 1:00pm MDT
Zoom

Publishing/Career

Audience Lunchtime Business Panel

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Lit Fest 2025

Denne Michele Norris

Steven Dunn

Michelle Dotter

Kristin Koval

Jenny Shank

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