Calendar

Local indie press Short Flight/Long Drive‘s Marry, F*ck, Kill, (Cuddle) Tour features five writers:

Chloe Caldwell is the author of the forthcoming novella, Women, (SF/LD Books, October 2014) and the essay collection Legs Get led Astray (Future Tense Books, April 2012). Chloe’s work has appeared in Salon.com, The Rumpus, Thought Catalog, Nylon, The Nervous Breakdown, xoJane, The Frisky, The Sun Magazine, SMITH, Jewcy, Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, Vol 1. Brooklyn, Freerange Nonfiction, The Faster Times, The Fix,  and Men’s Health.

Elizabeth Ellen‘s stories have appeared in numerous online and print journals over the last ten years, including elimae, Quick Fiction, Hobart, Lamination Colony, Muumuu House, HTMLGIANT, and many others. She is the author of the chapbook Before You She Was a Pit Bull (Future Tense) and her collection of flash fictions, Sixteen Miles Outside of Phoenix, was included in A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness: four chapbooks of short short fiction by four women (Rose Metal Press). Fast Machine is a collection of her best work from the last decade. She was recently awarded a Pushcart Prize for her story “Teen Culture” which appeared in American Short Fiction in 2012. She lives in Ann Arbor, where she co-edits Hobart and oversees Hobart’s book division, Short Flight/Long Drive Books.

Mira Gonzalez‘s work has been featured on VICE, Thought Catalog, Muumuu House, Hobart, and in various other places online and in print.Her debut poetry collection I will never be beautiful enough to make us beautiful together was published by Sorry House in 2013. It was a finalist for Goodread’s Choice Awards, coming out ahead of Poet Laureate Billy Collins, and losing to J.R.R. Tolkien.

Chelsea Martin was 23 when she published her first collection, Everything Was Fine until Whatever (2009), a genre-blurring book of short fiction, nonfiction, prose, poetry, sketches, and memoir. She is also the author, most recently, of The Real Funny Thing about Apathy (2010) and Even Though I Don’t Miss You (2013).

Rae Paris is from Carson, California. Her poetry and fiction appear or are forthcoming in Dismantle: an Anthology of Writing from the VONA/ VOICES Writers Workshop, Solstice, Blackberry, Guernica, Feminist Studies, Indiana Review, and elsewhere. Her work has been supported by an NEA Literature Fellowship, and writing residencies from the Hambidge Center, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Hedgebrook, Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation (VONA), and Norcroft. Her poem “The Forgetting Tree” was nominated for Best of the Net 2013. Her short story “The Girl Who Ate Her Own Skin” was a recommended story in the 2009 O. Henry Prize Stories, and her collection was a finalist for the 2008 Flannery O’Connor Award for Fiction. She recently completed a young adult novel titled You, excerpts of which were finalists for the Summer Literary Seminars and the Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Awards.

Literati is pleased to help launch issue 5.5 of literary journal Harlequin Creature with a very special listening party. That’s because issue 5.5 of the journal is, in fact, a viynl record.

RC theater students present a program of short plays TBA.

Nicola’s Books will join other bookstores across the country to celebrate ‘Curiosity Day,’ an annual event that promotes the joy of reading and learning with everyone’s favorite monkey, Curious George. For two hours it will be everything Curious George – books, games, art and activities. Costume contest at 11:00 am (for both kids and adults); come as your favorite character in a Curious George book. Beverages and snacks will also be served throughout the event.

More Information: bit.ly/1NoaXVt

Nicola’s Books will be at this event throughout the day selling books.

Homegrown Talent Schedule

Schedule (subject to change)

8-8:55 AM:  Registration / Mingle / Coffee

9-9:10 AM:  Welcome and Opening

9:10-9:20 AM:  Brief Introduction to Thomson-Shore

9:20-10:10 AM:  Kelly DiPucchio – Bulldogs, Babies, and Bacon: Everyone Has a Story
In this humorous and enlightening presentation, Kelly shares 13 concrete ways to improve your picture book manuscript and your odds of being published traditionally.

10:10-10:20 AM: Break

10:20-11:10 AM: Lynne Rae Perkins – A Beginning, a Middle and an End; and Something Has to Happen
If you already know that your story needs these basic elements, then you are ahead of where I started. Twenty-two years ago this October, I got my big break at a regional SCBWI conference in Pittsburgh, PA. I could draw, and I was a reader, but I was a novice in the world of children’s books. Eight picture books and four novels later, I still feel like a novice at times, but I’ve learned a lot. I’ll share the practical info and less obviously practical ideas that have, so far, been the most helpful, interesting, encouraging, and fun. (Image by Lynne Rae Perkins)

10:20-11:10 AM: Ruth McNally Barshaw – Packing the Perfect Portfolio 
We will analyze what works and what doesn’t in making your portfolio the best it can be for presenting illustrator work in the current children’s book industry. If you have one, bring your portfolio and your art. Bring any pieces you’re undecided on whether they’re strong enough for your portfolio.

11:15 AM – 12:05 PM:  Kathleen Merz –  Using Storytelling Techniques to Craft Narrative Nonfiction
How do writers tell engaging stories about real life? How can they capture a person’s life story in thirty-two pages? This presentation will look at the process of using general storytelling technique and sensibility to create well-crafted narrative nonfiction.

12:05-1:20 PM: Lunch / Bookstore / Tours of Thomson-Shore

1:20-2:20 PM: First Pages with Kathleen and Katherine
Busy editors have very limited time to read manuscripts. Some say the “make it or break it” window is thirty seconds per manuscript. During this session, editors Kathleen Merz and Katherine Jacobs will react to first pages of manuscripts read aloud. What makes it compelling? What is a turnoff? What does a first page need to make an editor want to keep reading?

2:20-3:10 PM: Deborah Diesen – Writing Stories in Rhyme: From Inspiration to First Draft in Fifteen Thousand Easy Steps.  Debbie will discuss the process she uses to move from a picture book story idea to a rhyming first draft.

3:10-3:20 PM: Break

3:20-4:10 PM: Katherine Jacobs – The Body Electric: Creating Characters that Spark with Life
Learn how to create characters with rich inner lives, clear motivations, and problems that drive the plot. Look at examples and analyze why they work. Come away with concrete ways to make your characters into people readers long to know.

4:10-5:00 PM: Mary Bigler – Reading for the Love of It 
Join Mary Bigler as she shares the joy and wonder of reading aloud to children. She will introduce books that will tickle their funny bones, light up their eyes, and touch their hearts. Joke books, poetry, picture books and nonfiction books will be shared. Think about your own school visits as Mary presents ideas on how you can engage children with good books and create a love of reading.

5:00-5:05 PM: Catherine Bieberich: Mentorship Program Winner Announcement!

5:05-5:15 PM: Closing Remarks and Awesome Prizes (including a full conference tuition!)

5:15-5:45 PM: Bookstore / Autograph Party