Take a look at these miscellaneous panels we have this year!
“Writing Different Cultures: To What Extent Can We Become Insiders?” with Lisa Favicchia
As writers, it seems only natural that we are influenced by our travels. However, what do we risk by writing other cultures? Can we ever really become insiders, and if so, to what extent? While writing other cultures presents an opportunity to promote understanding and global connection, we inevitably risk misrepresentation by assuming an understanding based on limited points of view. Through discussion and workshopping, this panel aims to address the potential benefits and risks of writing different cultures, to what degree we are insiders or outsiders, and how to approach fair representation.
Lisa Favicchia is the managing editor of Mid-American Review and is a second-year MFA candidate at BGSU. She is from Cleveland, OH, and spends a great deal of time with her bearded dragon, Smaug.
(this workshop will be held on Friday, November 4th from 3:00-4:15pm. If you’re interested in attending this workshop, select A1 when you register!)
“Beg, Borrow, and Steal: Imitation Projects as Self-Discovery,” with Callista Buchen
In this workshop, we’ll consider how imitation projects—the study of an established writer and consideration of that writer’s particular techniques, strategies, and approaches to themes—help us to discover and develop our own unique voices. We’ll look at models of imitation projects and try our hand at writing that imitates or exists in conversation with another writer. All writers, regardless of genre, are welcome. Participants will leave with new ideas to implement in their work, as well as with the start of several new pieces.
To complement our own writing, we’ll also discuss the pedagogical possibilities for imitation projects, looking at models and successful sample assignments that participants can try on their own or use in the classroom. The workshop leaders will present a model of a semester-long imitation project, which culminates in a poster presentation suitable for conferences.
Callista Buchen is the author of The Bloody Planet (Black Lawrence Press, 2015) and Double-Mouthed (dancing girl press, 2016). Her work appears in Harpur Palate, Puerto del Sol, Fourteen Hills, and many other journals, and she is the winner of the Langston Hughes Award and DIAGRAM‘s essay contest. She is an assistant professor at Franklin College in Indiana.
(this workshop will be held on Friday, November 4th from 4:30-5:45pm. If you’re interested in attending this workshop, select B1 when you register!)
“Repackaging Product Placement: Integrating Pop Culture in Storytelling,” with Elena M. Aponte and Derek I. Mitchell
As media and art become more beholden to nostalgia and corporate interests, we encounter the risk of cynically integrating popular culture in storytelling. Whether a cinematic zoom to a company logo or reliance on haphazard references in lieu of characterization, we can be locked into a limited shorthand. With analysis of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the Americana-drenched works of Stephen King, the recent phenomenon Stranger Things, and more, we will aim to meld popular culture to the whims of nuanced storytelling.
Elena M. Aponte is a second-year graduate student in the Literary and Textual Studies program at BGSU. Her research interests include: multicultural literature, graphic novels and Japanese manga, film, Feminist theory, gender and sexuality studies, and popular culture. She is half Puerto Rican, fluent in Spanish, and trying to learn a little more Japanese. She hails from Toledo, Ohio.
Derek I. Mitchell is a second-year graduate student in the Literary and Textual Studies program at BGSU. His research interests include dystopian literature, pandemic narratives, film analysis, postmodern politics, and popular culture. On weekends he returns home to Akron, OH, to visit his cat and robin.
(this workshop will be held on Saturday, November 5th from 1:30-2:45pm. If you’re interested in attending this workshop, select E1 when you register!)
“Performance in Creative Writing,” with Olivia Buzzacco
How does the world of performance intersect with the world of creative writing? How does performance affect a poem? A story? Above all, how can performance be included into creative writing? This presentation will look to answer those questions and give live demonstrations of performance being applied to poetry/fiction, as well as allow writers to practice a “sound words” technique, and see how performance can bring their work to life.
Olivia Buzzacco is a second-year MFA student at BGSU. She has presented at Winter Wheat for three years, as well as the Conference on College Composition and Communication in 2013. She is from Youngstown, Ohio.
(this workshop will be held on Saturday, November 5th from 1:30-2:45pm. If you’re interested in attending this workshop, select E2 when you register!)