The always-popular Conversations and Connections, a conference that offers “practical advice on getting published,” relocates its DC-area event to George Mason University’s Arlington Campus this spring—and I’m pleased to be one of the featured authors on the program, with On the Road with Del & Louise one of four books that attendees can choose to take home as part of their registration fees.
The full schedule of events can be found here, and I’ll be appearing on two panels:
- Keynote panel: Reading and discussion with featured authors • 2:15 p.m.
Leslie Pietrzyk will moderate a chat with the conference’s featured authors, also including Susan Muaddi-Darraj, author of the story collection A Curious Land; erica lewis, author of the poetry collection Daryl Hall Is My Boyfriend; and Clifford Thompson, author of the memoir Twin of Blackness. - Panel: “The Art of Creating Imagined Spaces Inside Real Places” • 3:30 p.m.
Novelists Steve Himmer, Laura Ellen Scott, and I will talk about the techniques and risks of inventing non-existent locales and integrating them into real settings. What does authenticity mean when you manipulate known places in fiction, and how does “world-building” happen? And in this context where do invention and cultural appropriation intersect?
Conversations and Connections runs 8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. (including the 4:30 p.m. Happy Hour and networking/mingling session) at George Mason’s Arlington Campus—specifically Founders Hall, 3351 Fairfax Drive, in Arlington, VA. Check out more information on the conference here—and see you Saturday in Arlington!