In looking at the work of various poets, essayists, novelists, filmmakers, and visual artists, we’ll piece together a history of the AIDS crisis in relation to both space and (ecstatic) time. We will begin with a theoretical framing of memory and queer futurism before looking at numerous examples of the gay experience as reflected through work about private, personal, and public moments of both joy and grief. Together we will discuss the work of writers and artists such as Ron Schreiber, Tim Dlugos, James Merrill, Derek Jarman, Kenneth Anger, David Wojnarowicz, Félix González-Torres, and others.

This craft talk will present an essay on one process of beginning, continuing, and finishing writing. With audio and video, we’ll explore the uses of giving up before we begin to write, when we’re writing in midstream, and just before we’re done. We’ll enjoy a little inspiration from a range of poets, plus fiction writer George Saunders, and playwright/theater director George C. Wolfe. A handout of the text of the talk will be provided. And yes, there will be a cat video.

How can writers use the world around them to inspire their work? How much information is required to communicate ideas to a reader, and how much of that information actually has to appear on the page? This talk will address the benefits (and necessities) of learning from life–whether by observation, research, or otherwise–while developing ideas, regardless of genre. We’ll think about our approaches to adding realism to stories, and what kinds of questions we might need to answer in order to conceptualize and represent our worlds. We’ll also look at some examples of the research and reference process from The Stone Loves the World. The latter portion of our time together will be devoted to Q&A.

A craft talk by the author on the process of writing and researching her first coming-of-age novel as well as a series of essays on the intersections of race and the health care system. The lecture will focus in particular on the layered technique of revision (approaching thematically through multiple revisions) as well as a generative process for essay writing termed “scratching” through which the themes, ideas, and stories of a piece make themselves known.

See how many ends this stick has!

                          - Montaigne

How does one end a poem? This talk considers the various expressive effects of modes of closure (and anti-closure) in a range of poems. How do poets decide upon, and mean through, an ending? What kinds of conceptual work do endings perform? We will look at some ways in which a few different poems set up their various finales.

In Wim Wenders’s masterful film Perfect Days (2023), Hirayama is a public toilet cleaner working in Tokyo. He lives a balanced, and for some banal, life that not only is functional but also by all accounts blissful. Hirayama is happy, lives in the moment, and values each moment as it passes. In this lecture, we'll explore what it means to find mental and physical balance. We'll explore how doing so can help create mindfulness that will help protect you as you navigate the uncertainties, the highs and lows, of a writing career.

When writing and revising drafts of fiction, what are the intentions and objectives of the writer? What are the goals of the writer regarding the reader's reactions? What are effective strategies to create and achieve the determined goals? And how can the significance of the work be found (or created) during the writing process?