Upcoming Events!

"Telling Your Own Story: Crafting the ME in Memoir "
Write on the River Writers Conference
Wenatchee, Washington
Saturday, May 20, 2017
All-day conference
“In nonfiction, the narrator is the only thing you can make up,” my first writing teacher told me. Just who is that slim, upright pronoun – the “I” — poised on the page? And who isn’t s/he? In this workshop, we delve into one of the most important jobs of the memoirist: creating the “me” who appears on the page. Looking at examples from master memoirists, we will discuss the differences among (1) the younger person who appears on the page in your memoir, (2) the first-person who tells that story, and (3) the real-life author – you. All three of these entities are represented with that slim, upright pronoun. In this workshop, you will learn the crucial skill of distinguishing among them! Register for this morning workshop here.

Panel Discussion: "Rusted Species," chaired by Barbara Eckstein, with Nathaniel Otjen, Clint Peters, Kelsi Nagy, Erica Damman, and Chris Dolle
ASLE Biennial Conference
Rust / Resistance: Works of Recovery
Wayne State University
Detroit, Michigan
June 20-24, 2017
As these scenarios suggest, humans regularly encounter unwanted beings, or “rusted species,” decayed from their pure state in life web, and we react negatively. Rather than cringe at the seagulls or flee from the house centipede, we propose to look at the ecological and sociological possibilities that can emerge if humans pause their disgust and examine these beings in their own right. Taking the form of animals, insects, plants or fungi, these rusted species are embedded in a complex and ever-shifting web of relations with people and other beings surviving on this planet. This panel explores, among other things, the broadly interpreted manifestations and articulations of rusted species including the rusted infrastructure of animal housing, the rusty ideas of animal confinement and spectacle, the aging and deteriorating species created by modern medicine, and the possibilities of living with invasive species, ultimately aiming to recover a new appreciation for these maligned beings.
Visit the conference webpage for more information.

Please see my "teaching" page for information about my upcoming writing workshops.

You can read about past events here.