So what’s this festival look like any way? Featuring a diverse offering of panels, workshops, readings, antics, and a day-long print fair, The Writer’s Block Festival has something for everyone. Below you’ll find more information on most of the day’s event, with updates to come regularly as we move closer to the festival date. Most of these events are free and open to everyone, unless otherwise noted. Stay tuned for up-to-the-minute news via our Facebook page.
REGISTRATION BOOTH, 9am – 5pm, The Green Building, 732 East Market St.
Whether you plan to attend one event, or several, stop by the registration booth first to pick up a program, schwag, and a festival poster, hand-printed by the letterpress gurus at Hound Dog Press.
PANELS
Sponsored by The Green Building
All panels occur on Saturday, the 15th, and are free and open to the community; first come, first served.
Screenwriting: A craft conversation
10:00am – 11:15 am
Moderated by Gill Holland
Featured guests include:
John Burham Schwartz, screenwriter for Showtime’s upcoming Den of Thieves
Lucinda Sullivan
James Markert
Phillip Allen
Writing Is A Process: a conversation with John Burnham Schwartz, interviewed by Kirby Gann
11:30am – 12:45pm
Listen in as two accomplished fiction writers discuss their writing process, including overcoming writer’s block, of course. Q&A to follow.
Moderated by Jen Woods
Featured guests include:
John Burnham Schwartz, author of Reservation Road and Northwest Corner
Kirby Gann, author of Our Napoleon in Rags and the upcoming 2012 novel, Ghosting
What An Editor Really Wants: how to get your work up and out
1:00pm – 2:15pm
Representatives from publishers and journals discuss candidly what they look for in submissions–and what to absolutely avoid doing when sending out your work.
Moderated by Lynnell Edwards
Featured guests: Gaylord Brewer, Editor, Poems & Plays
Ron Mitchell, Editor, Southern Indiana Review
Sarah Gorham, President, Sarabande Books
Katerina Stoykova-Klemer, Senior Editor, Accents Publishing
What’s in an MFA?
Hear from several representative from different regional MFA programs (lo and full res) on what to expect when seeking an advanced degree in creative writing.
2:30pm – 3:45pm
Moderator Brian Leung
Featured guests include: Dominic Russ, Ohio State University MFA; Catherine Bowman, Indiana University MFA; Kathleen Driskell, Spalding University MFA; Carrie Jerrell, Murray State MFA
WORKSHOPS
The Writer’s Block Festival will present a handful of workshops on Saturday, October 15. These workshops require pre-registration and a nominal fee, to be filled on a first come, first serve basis. Once you have registered for your chosen workshop, you will need to check in at the registration area on Saturday, October 15, in The Green Building for your room location and directions.
The Art of Letterpress: Learn to design and print, presented by Hound Dog Press, 9:30am – 11:00am
Learn the art of handset type and letterpress printing with Hound Dog Press. Each participant will have the opportunity to design and print their own bookmark keepsake from metal and wood type on one of our table top platen presses. We will discuss the history and process of letterpress while demonstrating with our collection of printing presses that range from 1892-1960.
A 90-minute, hands on lesson in letterpress, max. 8 participants, all skill levels welcome.
$40
Registration for this event is now CLOSED.
Creative Non-fiction, with Cutter Wood, 9:30am – 11:00am
The Truth about Creative Nonfiction
Let’s be honest. Nobody knows what creative nonfiction is. Can bumper stickers be creative nonfiction? I guess so. Can recipes? Sure, my grandmother wrote recipes all the time and she didn’t know how to lie. What about a list of things that are red or an imagined affair with a unicorn? Well, everybody likes unicorns but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. In this workshop we’re going to look at a smorgasbord of eclectic nonfiction to see where exactly the boundaries lie. Then we’ll write a little ourselves and figure out just how creative creative nonfiction can be.
A 90-minute Creative Non-Fiction craft workshop, max. 15 participants, all skill levels welcome.
$20
Registration for this event is now CLOSED.
Fiction, with Kevin Wilson, 9:30am – 11:00am
Finding a Narrative Engine: The Beginning is Not Always the Beginning
For writers, it’s sometimes difficult to find a story we want to tell, the fear that we have nothing left to say. Finding the beginning of a narrative, the perfect opening, can sometimes keep us from ever starting. Editors and agents put so much emphasis on the first few pages that we can paralyze ourselves. In this workshop we’ll figure out ways to generate narrative without initially worrying about the beginning. Using prompts to establish images and scenes and characters, we’ll work from that initial idea to create a narrative that becomes your next story or novel.
A 90-minute Fiction craft workshop, max. 15 participants, all skill levels welcome.
$20
SORRY–This workshop is SOLD OUT.
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Serious Play
Where do I begin? The perennial question. In this workshop you will be introduced to 5 strategies that involve “serious play” as way of generating new work and approaching the world creatively. In class we will discuss and then execute each of the five strategies.
A 90-minute Poetry craft workshop, max. 15 participants, all skill levels welcome.
$20
Registration for this event is now CLOSED.
READINGS
A variety of readings will occur during the festival, beginning with our InKY Reading Series event on Friday night, and a closing night event where patrons can share their own work. All readings are FREE and open to the community, but you must secure your free ticket below for the keynote reading.
InKY Reading Series
Friday, October 14th
The Bard’s Town
Feat. authors Kevin Wilson and Cathy Bowman
Literary Louisville
Sponsored by Spalding University’s MFA Program
Come down to Zephyr Gallery and hear just a few of the many talented writers who call Louisville home.
Zephyr Gallery, 610 East Market St.
Saturday, October 15
1pm – 2pm: Alyssa Knickerboker, Maureen Morehead, Jeff Hipsher
emcee: Mary Lou Northern
2pm – 3pm
Brian Weinberg, Kiki Petrosino, Kyle Thompson
emcee: Lauren Titus
3pm – 4pm
Alanna Nash, Jeff Skinner, Makalani Bandele
emcee: Lynnell Edwards
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Open Mics
Three open mics will occur during the festival, giving attendees the chance to strut their stuff. Whether it’s your first time, or just your first time reading new work, we encourage you to pick one and sign up (sign up information not already listed TBA in September)
Friday, Oct. 14th
InKY Reading Series open mic (sign up at The Bard’s Town beginning at 6:30pm)
Saturday, Oct. 15th
Sponsored by Swanson Contemporary Gallery
Daytime open mic, Swanson Contemporary Gallery, 638 E Market, 11:30am-1pm
Share your work from the morning’s workshops, or something else you’ve got tucked away in your stacks of notebooks. The mic will be emceed by InKY Reading Series’ own Jerriod Avant. Sign-ups will be all morning at The Green Building in the registration area, so get there early and get your name on the roster!
Sponsored by The Green Building and Domestic Dispute
Closing Party and Open Mic, The Green Bldg, 732 E Market, 8:00pm-11:00pm
Cash bar for those 21+
After the main events of the Festival, make sure to check out Louisville’s pluckiest new upstarts in the open mic circuit, Domestic Dispute. The creators of the Domestic Dispute Open Mic series work to create a comfortable yet unpredictable flavor for any person interested in performing or attending. Previous gatherings have seen some great upcoming poets, as well as playwrights and musical acts from all across Louisville’s artistic community. So, bring your best work to perform or just come to witness, as this group breaks free from the living room and into the lovely venue of The Green Building.
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Keynote Reading and Book Signing, feat. author Will Lavender
Sponsored by Flame Run Gallery and University of Louisville‘s Creative Writing Program
6:00pm – 7:00pm, Saturday, Oct. 15, FLAME RUN GALLERY
Louisville resident and best-selling author Will Lavender will read from his July 2011 release, Dominance (Simon & Schuster), with a book signing to follow. This is a ticketed event but TICKETS ARE FREE, thanks to generous sponsorship from the University of Louisville’s Creative Writing Program. Reserve your seat by clicking the button below.
Sorry, tickets to this event are sold out.
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THE WRITER’S BLOCK PRINT FAIR
Sponsored by Creation Gardens, Typecast Publishing, and Butler Books
All day on Saturday, 9am – 5pm, visit the Print Fair located in the gorgeous Creation Gardens Market Hall to find publishers big and small, from some of our area’s most popular zines to our most decorated literary presses. See all the publishing and print talent this region has to offer, including letterpress demos by Hound Dog Press.
