In conversation with Pulitzer Prize finalist Heather Clark, author of The Scrapbook.
Nonfiction and Fiction panels from 5pm to 7:30pm at Main St's stately VFW Memorial Hall.
Francine Prose, Kris Jansma, Matt Schultz, Stacey D'Erasmo, and Dinaw Mengestu will present and discuss their works. Beacon's own Caroline Eisner (Academic Consultant and Editor) and the ever-entertaining Brian Mahoney (Chronogram Editor-in-Chief) will guide the evening's discussion.
Author Kristopher Jansma will discuss the unfinished works of great authors, including F Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Austen, and Shirley Jackson, as explored in his non-fiction work REVISIONARIES, and reveal how their works influenced his new novel, OUR NARROW HIDING PLACES.
Halimah Marcus, executive director of Electric Literature will join Kristopher Jansma to discuss the launch of his new essay collection REVISIONARIES: What We Can Learn from the Lost, Unfinished, and Just Plain Bad Work of Great Writers. Open to the Public!
3 PM: History, Reimagined
In this panel, authors Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Kristopher Jansma and Vanessa Chan take us on heartbreaking journeys filled with hope that change will come. Ruffin’s novel, The American Daughters, is a coming of age story following Ady, an enslaved young girl who joins a sisterhood of Black women working together to undermine Southern society. In Jansma’s Our Narrow Hiding Places, an elderly woman relives her horrific past as she tells her grandson about her Dutch family’s survival of the final years of Nazi occupation. Chan’s The Storm We Made follows a Malayan mother turned spy and her children during the Japanese occupation. Join these authors for a deep dive into histories that, until now, have been left behind
With Siddhartha Deb, Joshua Garcia, and Hugh Ryan
This event will take place in person at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library on the 7th Floor and will be recorded.
As we gather in an intimate and dynamic setting, the evening will feature:
Musical Performances by Krystofer Maison: Experience diverse musical styles that resonate with themes of resistance and liberation. Talented musicians will perform pieces that amplify oppressed voices and celebrate art's transformative power.
Readings from Banned Books: Hear stirring readings from some of the most influential banned books in literary history. Passionate readers will bring these passages to life, shedding light on their enduring relevance and profound impact.
This event promises an evening of inspiration and solidarity, where we come together to reaffirm the importance of creative expression and intellectual freedom. Don't miss this opportunity to honor the legacy of courageous authors and to be part of a movement that celebrates the unyielding power of voices unbound.
A sweeping, tenderhearted love story, Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash tells the story of two families living through World War II on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and the shy, irresistible young woman who will call them both her own.
Laura Spence-Ash’s fiction has appeared in One Story, New England Review, Crazyhorse, and elsewhere. Her critical essays and book reviews appear regularly in the Ploughshares blog. She received her MFA in fiction from Rutgers–Newark, and she lives in New Jersey.
with actor and audiobook reader, Edoardo Ballerini
In this six-week workshop, students will share and critique original works of fiction in a constructive environment dedicated to discovering, or rediscovering, the "fun" in our writing process.
Through conversation and readings emphasizing the role of "work as play" in fiction, you will, as David Foster Wallace wrote in his essay of the same name, "go deep inside yourself and illuminate precisely the stuff you don't want to see or let anyone else see [...] precisely the stuff all writers and readers everywhere share and respond to, feel."
Students will leave the course with feedback on two fiction submissions (two shorter works or two parts of one longer work), and a greater familiarity with contemporary masters of literary fiction. Each student will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with the instructor for individualized feedback and a chance to discuss writing goals. Class is best-suited for students with some previous workshop experience.
In his book How Fiction Works, critic James Wood describes the modern character in fiction as having three layers: conscious motive, unconscious motive, and the deepest, most ephemeral, motive... to be known. This master class will examine this idea and, through a series of collaborative writing exercises, help students develop original, three-layered characters to use in their fiction. We'll look at short texts by Sherwood Anderson, Flannery O'Connor, and Virginia Woolf that will help us get to the bottom of great, complex character development.
COURSE TAKEAWAYS:
- Develop a more nuanced understanding of the three layers of character
- Create an original, layered character through a series of useful writing exercises that can be easily repeated at home
- Produce several written sketches that can be used in a later story or novel
Signing and more at the Sleepy Hollow Literary Festival.
http://visitsleepyhollow.com/sleepy-hollow-lit-fest/
