Once again, Fiction Writers Review will be co-hosting our annual State of the Book literary symposium, in partnership with the University of Michigan’s Department of English Language & Literature and the Zell Visiting Writers Series. Last year’s event was a huge success, drawing more than 900 people to Rackham Auditorium in Ann Arbor for a day of literary happenings, including Dave Eggers’s release of the 2012 Best American Nonrequired Reading anthology and 826michigan’s OMNIBUS anthology, a keynote conversation between famed fiction writer Charles Baxter and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Phil Levine, and panels with writers such as Bonnie Jo Campbell, Doug Stanton, Benjamin Busch, Michael Paterniti, Terry Blackhawk, Natalie Bakopoulos, Eileen Pollack, Matt Bell, M. Bartley Seigel, V.V. Ganeshananthan, and more.
This year’s event will be on Saturday, September 28th, and we’re honored to have renowned poet, activist, and translator Carolyn Forché as our keynote speaker. Check out the website for a list of presenters, the schedule of events, and more.
Once again we’ll have book releases, panels, performance poetry, a letterpress demonstration, and a book fair. If you’re within driving distance of Ann Arbor, we hope you’ll join us! All events are free and open to the public. So come help us celebrate some of Michigan’s literary stars, the next generation of writers, and the literary non-profit organizations who partner with us for this annual event: 826michigan, Dzanc Books, InsideOut Literary Arts Project, The National Writers Series, and The Neutral Zone.
Along with our non-profit partners, Fiction Writers Review will also be preparing for our second-annual fundraising write-a-thon: The Great Write Off. Last year we raised nearly $30,000 with our five non-profit partners. We’ll hope to break those records this year! And we hope you’ll join us September 23 – 27 to help support these great organization so they can continue their shared mission of nurturing the next generation of writers.
