Come See NANO Fiction at AWP!

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Writers: put your fancy glasses and knits on! AWP is only a few days away. We’re getting very excited for this year’s conference in Minneapolis.

Join us at Come and Take It: Texas Lit Party on Wednesday 7:30pm at Liquor Lyle’s, or stop by our book fair table (422) to say hi, buy discounted issues of the journal, and talk about flash.

Or, better yet, take some time to see one of our editors at one of the many panels we’ll be participating in:

Thursday, 10:30-11:45
Editors to Follow: Tweeting for Lit Mags
Kate Moulton ,  Kent Shaw,  Justin Alvarez ,  Miriam Cook ,  Sophie Rosenblum
Room 200 H&I, Level 2, R140

Filled with writers, Twitter is an optimal place for literary journals to gain interest from readers, but when you are the voice behind a literary journal, how do you know whom to follow or how often to tweet? This panel of tweeters from Better Magazine, Indiana Review, NANO Fiction, the Paris Review, and Ploughshares will discuss the ways in which literary journals use Twitter accounts to promote authors and gain subscribers while also sharing the rewards and regrets of having an account.

Friday, 12:00-1:15
Exploring the Contours of Flash: From Six Words to 1000 Words
Pamela Painter, Sean Lovelace, Larry Smith, and Grant Faulkner
Room M100 B&C, Mezzanine Level, F185

Flash fiction, initially defined as a story that filled two pages of a literary journal, has now spawned a variety of different forms that challenge the ways stories can be told. While stories are built primarily with text, flash emphasizes the gaps in and around a story in ways longer stories don’t. This reading features writers who have focused on specific flash forms, from six-word memoirs to 100-word stories to the flash saga of 1,000 words.

Friday, 1:30 to 2:45
The Pedagogy of Publishing: The Unique Benefits of Editing and Publishing with Undergraduate Writers
Lucas Southworth,  Andrew Farkas,  Elizabeth Wade,  David Welch
Room M100 A, Mezzanine Level, F217

Undergraduate writers must hone their critical eyes, practice care with language, and learn to enter larger writing communities. Engaging them in editing and publishing teaches all three within a rewarding framework of real-world experience. This panel offers the pedagogical benefits of working with students on a range of publications: campus and national, web and print, professional and DIY. It also introduces pitfalls instructors might face and poses advice on how to anticipate and solve them.

Friday 3:00 pm to 4:15
You CAN Judge a Journal by Its Cover: Editors on Cover Art
David Lynn, Quincy Troupe, Kirby Johnson, Kwame Dawes
Room 200 F&G, Level 2, F243

Four editors of leading literary journals discuss the aesthetic and impact factors that go into matching the literary arts with wonderful cover art. Through the examples of the journals’ most successful covers,
this panel will address finding artists for covers, considering design costs, weighing the politics of certain images, and more. Finally, the editors will share their reasons for thinking seriously and boldly
about cover art and what impact these images have on editorial material within.

Saturday, 10:30-11:45
This Is Not a Blog: Crafting Serial Creative Nonfiction for the Web
Jim Warner, Matt Sailor, Tabitha Blankenbiller, Marlon James, Mary Breaden
Room 200 D&E, Level 2, S144

Online lit mags have carved a new space for serialized creative nonfiction. More literary than a blog, more personal than a column, the essay series allows writers to explore complex subjects at length, from pop culture, to personal struggles, to identity politics. Five writers of ongoing creative nonfiction series for online outlets will discuss the challenges of crafting such projects. Topics will include developing a topic, balancing variation between installments, and maintaining momentum.

See you all there!