Featuring keynote speaker Ada Limón Saturday, June 5 & Sunday, June 6 + optional remote agent pitches & pre- and post-conference sessions Conference Information & Agenda *as of 5/7/2021; subject to minor changes Conference format: This year’s Conference is happening completely online via Zoom. Most sessions will be hosted as Meetings, and each instructor will advise you on how to participate. Other sessions will be available as watch-only Webinars. This requires a free Zoom account, a reliable internet connection, and a smartphone/tablet/computer. Microphone and camera are optional but encouraged for participatory sessions. Recorded sessions: For the first time, all 2021 Books-in-Progress Conference sessions will be recorded and available for viewing for a select amount of time following the Conference. More information about accessing these recordings will be available at the Conference. Please be advised that the sessions you attend will be recorded. Pre-Conference Retreat: The pre-conference session on Friday, June 4 is available only to those who pre-registered. Join Hannah Pittard for Getting Your Characters to Talk (But Not Necessarily to Listen), a generative dialogue workshop. See page 2 for the full session description. First Page Critique: Receive feedback on your first page from a panel of authors and agents, including David Arnold and Hannah VanVels. The opportunity to submit to the First Page Critique session is included in your Conference registration. Find more information on page 3. Literary agent pitch meetings: The Carnegie Books-in-Progress Conference offers participants the opportunity to pitch their books one-on-one to literary agents. This year, we are excited to feature agents Mariah Stovall (Howland Literary, LLC), Hannah VanVels (Belcastro Agency), and Michaela Whatnall (Dystel, Goderich & Bourret). Agent meetings are only available to those who pre-registered. Your meeting slot will be determined before the Conference; Program Director & Conference Coordinator Sarah Chapman will contact you to confirm the time and format (virtual meeting or phone call). Post-Conference Writing Retreat: Find more information on the post-conference session led by Marcia Thornton Jones on page 4. Agent & presenter information: Find headshots and biographies for each of our agents and presenters on page 5. 2021 Books-in-Progress Conference sponsored by Friday, June 4 PRE-CONFERENCE RETREAT 1:00–5:00pm: Getting Your Characters to Talk (But Not Necessarily to Listen) With Hannah Pittard This is a generative session focusing primarily on dialogue. We’ll read examples of good dialogue, bad dialogue, straight-up loopy dialogue, and we’ll try our hands at everything. Participants are encouraged to bring sketches of existing (and maddeningly taciturn) characters to the session, but this is by no means necessary. There will be prompts aplenty during our time together, including a few in which we’ll render characters from scratch. SPECIAL EVENT 5:30pm: Carnegie Center Author Academy Commencement Reading Co-hosted by Kathleen Gregg & Katerina Stoykova Please join us for a special reading by graduates of the 2020–2021 Carnegie Center Author Academy. Keynote Speaker Ada Limón Ada Limón, a current Guggenheim fellow, is the author of five poetry collections, including THE CARRYING, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. Her fourth book BRIGHT DEAD THINGS was named a finalist for the National Book Award, a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She serves on the faculty of Queens University of Charlotte Low Residency M.F.A program and lives in Lexington, Kentucky. Saturday, June 5 SESSION SCHEDULE: DAY 1 9:45am: Welcome 10:00–11:15am: Ada Limón, Keynote The 2021 Books-in-Progress Conference is proud to feature keynote speaker Ada Limón. Limón, a current Guggenheim fellow, is the author of five poetry collections, including THE CARRYING, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. Ada Limón’s full biography is on page 3. 11:30am–1:00pm: Breakout Session A Creating Memorable Characters With Carter Sickels In this session, we’ll focus on developing complex, flawed, and empathetic characters who are capable of change. How do characters think and act, talk and love, in mundane and profound ways? What motivates them, what do they feel? How do socio-economic, cultural, and geographical backgrounds shape them? We’ll study the techniques of other writers, and generative in-class writing exercises will light up your creativity, sparking new material or nourishing existing projects. The Place of Place in Memoir With Leatha Kendrick Our stories take place. Setting shapes the telling in memoirs as diverse as Bobbie Ann Mason’s CLEAR SPRINGS, Sarah M. Broom’s THE YELLOW HOUSE, J. Drew Lanham’s THE HOME OF FLACE: MEMOIRS OF A COLORED MAN’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH NATURE, and Jesmyn Ward’s MEN WE REAP. To create a memorable memoir, we must bring to life the region, state, city, farm, streets, or houses that shaped our past. In this session, we will examine what makes for a vivid rendering of place and try out some writing exercises to sharpen your evocation of the places at the heart of your story. Writing Diversity Right With Claudia Love Mair Have you always wanted to make your writing more diverse, but were afraid of getting it wrong? Writing Diversity Right is the generative session that will help you identify colorblindness, otherness, and stereotypes in your work, in a safe, non-judgmental environment. 1:30–3:00pm: First Page Critique with David Arnold & Hannah VanVels This is your chance to receive feedback on your first page! If you are interested in participating, please submit your first page (250 words/one-page max; double-spaced, 12-point font; with the genre typed at the top of the page) of your work to [email protected]. Submissions will be accepted via email up until Friday, June 4, 4:00 pm, and pieces read will be selected at random. A reader will read your piece aloud so it remains anonymous. Time is limited; we’ll get through as many submissions as possible. Third panelist TBA. 3:15–4:45pm: Breakout Session B Creating Complex Characters from Real Life With Erik Reece In this session, we will focus on using the tools of fiction—image, voice, detail, body language, flashback, dialogue—to create "characters" from real life. We will think about E.M. Forster's distinction between flat and round characters as we work. Writing Kids’ Books With Marcia Thornton Jones Find focus, gain confidence, and learn about writing fiction for kids through discussion, peer-sharing, and writing exercises. Come with a work-in-progress— or at least an idea for one. Building Your Author Platform With Gwenda Bond Does this have to be as fake or unpleasant as it sounds? How essential is it? We will have some real talk about what an author platform is, and how you can shape it to fit your strengths and avoid having it simply stress you out. We'll also talk about the differences in the importance of platforms for different genres. We'll talk about choosing how to engage in the literary world and with readers both online and offline. 5:00pm: Writers’ Meet-Up/Happy Hour Unwind after the first day of the Books-in-Progress Conference with an optional, free happy hour session. Meet with like minded-writers in a casual setting on Zoom to reflect on the day’s sessions, talk craft, and get to know one another. Feel free to enjoy your dinner, a snack, or a beverage. Sunday, June 6 SESSION SCHEDULE: DAY 2 9:45am: Welcome 10:00–11:30am: Breakout Session C Geographical & Emotional Landscapes: The Power of Place in Fiction With Carter Sickels Writers use geography, architecture, and the environment as a means to reveal character, develop mood, and direct plot. In this session, we’ll discuss strategies for creating dynamic settings, and focus closely on a setting’s relationship to characters. We’ll examine published excerpts from a variety of short stories and novels, and do writing exercises to share with the class. Great for generating new ideas or developing a work-in-progress. Telling Others’ Stories With Tom Eblen How do you get someone to tell you their story, and then how do you write about it in an honest, accurate, and ethical way? Veteran journalist Tom Eblen discusses interview techniques, research ideas, relationship-building with your subject, and dealing with sticky issues that are bound to come up in the process. This session will be helpful to non-fiction and fiction writers whose work is built around real people. Creating a Podcast & Audiobook With Zelda Knight Description coming soon. 11:45am–1:15pm: Breakout Session D The Lyric Essay With Shayla Lawson In this session, we will explore the lyric essay from the poetic to the journalistic. To “essay” is “to try,” and so in this class we will experiment with how we can stretch the essay as a genre to fit our personal expressions of form. We’ll study essays written by contemporary writers through close reading and critique, as well as discuss the dirty tricks of finding a good home for your creative nonfiction pieces. Recipe for Revision With AJ Verdelle This revision session will outline a step-by-step strategy for revision like a recipe. Professional writers understand that the real writing is done in revision, after the draft. The purpose of a writer's draft is to reveal the arc and details of the story. In other words, discovery. The purpose of revision is to clarify the narrative arc, to affix the best parts of the story, and to repair or fix the parts of the draft that don't work.