Visual Stories, Personal Truths: a conversation on graphic memoirs with Kelcey Ervick, Alice Kaltman, and Jesse Lee Kercheval.

Join us for a Q&A with Cassie Mannes Murray, founder and director of Pine State Publicity.

Against Book Banning: Protecting Freedom of Speech in America

Stories can change and move our hearts. Let’s write together and raise money Harris Walz.

Writing the Missing: A Conversation on Family, Disappearance, and Creative Investigations

Miriam Gershow and Stephanie Austin will discuss the messy intimacies at the heart of their recent books, Miriam’s short story collection, Survival Tips (Propeller Books) and Stephanie's nonfiction chapbook, Something I Might Say (WTAW Press). Whether it is the bonds between family, friends, or near strangers, they will examine how the muddle of contradictory feelings is often what reveals the truth.

On the two-year anniversary of their weekly writing check-ins, fiction writers Nicole Haroutunian and Helen Georgas will be in conversation about Nicole’s novel, Choose This Now, and the form of the novel-in-stories.

Celebrate Regie Cabico's new book with a reading followed by an informative discussion from Mid-Atlantic Review Editorial Board Chair, Gregory Luce. Learn about what poetry journal editors look for and more submission insight. Day Eight publishes poetry books and the Mid-Atlantic Review (online with some print issues.) Q&A will follow.

In the poem "Primary Source," Sara R. Burnett writes, “I’ve a better understanding of terror / and the miraculous.” In this time of great global and personal challenges, how do we write and live both the terror and the miraculous? Poet Sara R. Burnett and therapist Rachel Noble will discuss how to approach both as writers and humans. Burnett will read poems on the subject and Noble will offer some ways to find personal power in the face of fears. You’ll have a chance to pose your own questions in the Q&A.

How do we capture the emotional power of food experience in our writing? Crafting narratives with food memories opens up rich fields of exploration and connections, rendering complex, vibrant narratives that resonate with emotion. Focusing on food memories and experiences, five panelists draw upon multi-genre work from fiction to creative nonfiction to discuss craft techniques, revision strategies, and how they use food in their work to explore and interrogate relationships and social issues.

Trauma, racial injustice, rape culture, family relationships, body image: we all carry these weights around with us in our own way. How can we examine and write about them without crumbling under their weight? Join TJ Butler, Rebecca Morrison, and Tara Campbell for a discussion of working productively with tough material: how to start, how to dig, and how to recognize and respect your limits.

We often write around a subject until we eventually write the final (or a published) version. Some early drafts might not look anything like the final draft, but the poet knows where the poem began. In this Fake AWP session, poets will read a final draft and either an early draft or a close-cousin poem that helped them to write the final draft.

Giovanna Bellesia Contuzzi and Victoria Offredi Poletto will discuss translating My Language is a Jealous Lover by Adrián N. Bravi into English. They will read from the text and share their process of translating and working together on the project.

Dark Winter Stories with John Copenhaver, Tracy Cross, and Lindsay Merbaum.

Join us to celebrate the release of AWAKENINGS: STORIES OF BODIES & CONSCIOUSNESS (ELJ Editions), edited by DIANE GOTTLIEB. Readings from contributors will be followed by a Q&A.

Circling History: Writing What Carries the Body - a conversation with Jehanne Dubrow and Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach

Join us for a reading and conversation with Joshunda Sanders, in celebration of the release of her debut novel, Women of the Post.

Join us for a reading with Minna Dubin - and special guest Stella Fiore - to discuss Minna’s new book, MOM RAGE.

Join us for a Q&A with Saba Sulaiman, senior literary agent at Talcott Notch Literary Services. Saba will discuss her top tips on writing a winning query letter & answer all your questions about the process of finding a literary agent. You'll leave this one-hour session armed with tools to get you started (or help you continue) searching for the right literary agent for your work.

A short reading and chat with Yael Goldstein-Love, author of THE POSSIBILITIES (Random House) + 30 minutes of Lunch Break writing time.

Join us for a reading and conversation with Jolene McIlwain to celebrate the release of her debut collection, SIDLE CREEK, from Melville House!

Join authors Gayle Brandeis and Leta McCullough Seletzky as they discuss their their newest books, and the importance of writing the history of those closest to us to build a larger, more inclusive community-history. They will discuss writing mortality, analyzing shifting identities (particularly your own, or your family history), and the craft of making life into art.

Join us for a reading & conversation with Lily Poetry Review Book authors TOMMY ARCHULETA, MARÍA LUISA ARROYO CRUZADO, KELLY DUMAR, RICHARD HOFFMAN, KAREEM TAYYAR, and MEGHAN STERLING.

Let's celebrate flash fiction! Join Sherrie Flick, co-editor of FLASH FICTION AMERICA: 73 VERY SHORT STORIES, and contributors Christopher Allen, Pamela Painter, Joshunda Sanders, and Jasmine Sawers, as they read from the new Norton anthology!

Join Brown Bag Lit co-founders Chloe Yelena Miller & Shasta Grant, along with special guests Diane Gottlieb and Pooja Makhijani for this fake AWP panel discussion!

Join us for a fake AWP panel reading and discussion with Brown Bag Lit co-founder Chloe Yelena Miller and special guest poets ALISON LUBAR, FRANCIS KLEIN, HAYES DAVIS, MIKE LEWIS BECK, MARCELINE WHITE and NATE LOGAN!

Missed this event? You can watch it on YouTube!

In celebration of Valentine’s Day, we invite you to join us via Zoom for a reading and Q&A with Jee Leong Koh! Jee will read poems, including some love poems, and discuss his experience as a publisher and editor, as well as a writer.

Missed this event? You can watch it on YouTube!

We’re so excited to bring you a reading and discussion on failure & persistence with Sara Lippmann as our first Brown Big Lit Presents event!