18th Annual Writing the Rockies Conference
July 19-23, 2017
Master Schedule
Wednesday, July 19
Session Times
12:00 – 6:00
12:00 – 6:00
5:00
6:00
6:45
7:15
8:00
Event
Registration in the Taylor Hall Welcome Center. Late arrivals call Facilities Services at 970-901-0795 or, after midnight, Security at
970-209-1020.
Book Fair, Taylor Hall 100
Welcome Reception (University Center Ballroom)
Welcome Banquet (University Center Ballroom)
Welcoming Remarks (University Center Ballroom)
David J. Rothman, Director, Graduate Program in Creative Writing
Gaye Jenkins, Dean, School of Graduate Studies
Greg Salsbury, President
Conference Keynote: Duane L. Vandenbusche, “An Introduction to the Gunnison Country” (University Center Ballroom)
Poetry Keynote: Alice Quinn, “The Pleasures, Rewards and Challenges of a Literary Life” (University Center Theater)
The Book Fair runs from 9:00 – 6:00 on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Taylor 100.
Continental Breakfast will be served each day from 7:30 – 9:00, and lunch from 12:00 – 1:00. Breakfast is served every day; lunch is served on
Thursday, Saturday and Sunday (not on Friday). All meals take place in the University Center Ballroom.
Coffee with Pros: Join an informal chat with guest professionals about writing, the industry, or whatever topics you want to raise. We will form clusters of
discussion from 4:00 – 5:30 on Thursday and Saturday on the Mezzanine Level of the Taylor Hall Welcome Center.
Pitch Sessions: 2:00 – 5:00, Saturday, July 23. Attendees can sign up for 20-minute pitch sessions with editors and agents. First come, first served. $50
registration. Please sign up at the conference registration table in the Taylor Hall Welcome Center.
NB: “TH” is Taylor Hall
Thursday, July 20
7:30 – 9:00 Breakfast (University Center Ballroom)
Time
Creative Nonfiction
Genre Fiction
Poetry
8:30 – 10:00
Creative Nonfiction Panel #1:
“Reporting in Creative
Nonfiction.” Alissa Johnson and
Brian Calvert, Co-Moderators;
George Sibley, Mark Todd. (TH
226)
Genre Fiction Panel #1: “Epic
Writing Fails.” Russell Davis,
Moderator; David Anthony
Durham, Candace Nadon, Clay
Reynolds, Michaela Roessner.
(TH 200)
Poetry Panel #1: “A Confluence of Rivers:
Poetry and Philosophy.” Emily Grosholz,
Moderator; Jan Schreiber, Frederick Turner.
(TH 229)
10:15 – 12:15
Creative Nonfiction 3-Day
Workshops:
#1: “Taking the ‘Me’ Out of
Memoir.” Instructor: Kase
Johnstun. (TH 201)
#2: “Writing the Environment.”
Instructor: Sean Prentiss. (TH
229)
Genre Fiction 3-Day Workshop:
“The Long and Winding (and
Frequently Bumpy and
Terrifying) Path of a Writer.”
Instructor: David Anthony
Durham. (TH 204)
Genre Fiction 3-Day Critical
Seminar: “Crime and Mystery
in the West.” Leader: Clay
Reynolds. (TH 226)
Poetry 3-Day Workshops:
#1: “Say That Again? Writing Repeating
Forms.” Instructor: Bruce Bennett. (TH 200)
#2: “Making Memory Musical.” Instructor:
Jodie Hollander. (TH 119)
Poetry 3-Day Critical Seminar
“The Prosody Seminar.” Leaders: Tom Cable,
Natalie Gerber. (TH ??)
12:15 – 1:00
5:30 – 7:30
7:30 – 8:15
8:30 – 9:30
9:45 – 11:00
Publishing 3-Day Workshop: TBA.
(TH )
Screenwriting 1-Day
Workshop #1: “What We
Can Learn from Opening
Scenes.” Instructor: Bob
Shayne. (TH 205)
Publishing Keynote: TBA (TH
Studio Theater)
Publishing Panel #1: “From the
Screenwriting 3-Day
Hand of the Writer to the Eye of
Workshop: “Developing,
the Reader: The Independent Press
Writing, and Launching
Supply Chain.” Caleb Seeling,
Your Screenplay.”
Moderator; Kyle Harvery, Uche
Instructor: Trai
Ogbuje, Danny Rosen. (TH 200)
Cartwright. (TH 205)
Creative Nonfiction 1-Day
Genre Fiction 1-Day Workshop
Workshop #1: “The Art of
#1: “Dying Is Easy. Comedy is
Biography.” Instructor: Valerie Hard.” Instructor: Michaela
Lester. (TH 204)
Roessner. (TH 229)
2:00 – 5:00
4:00 – 5:30
Screenwriting
Lunch (University Center Ballroom)
1:00 – 1:45
2:00 – 4:00
Publishing
Poetry Symposium, Session 1 (TH 201)
1. Julie Kane, “Words for Tunes: How the
Italian Musical Villanella Changed the English
Metrical Line.”
2. Alice Quinn, “The Thrill of an Archive: An
Editor’s Perspective on the Elizabeth Bishop
Papers at Vassar College.”
3. Jan Schreiber, “Serpent in the Tree: Poetry in
a Fallen World.”
Coffee w/ Pros (TH Welcome
Center Mezzanine Level)
Coffee w/ Pros (TH Welcome
Center Mezzanine Level)
Dinner: On your own
The 3rd Annual Writing the Rockies Creative Writing Teaching Award Interview: (Taylor Hall Studio Theater)
Readings: Sean Prentiss, Alice Quinn, Tyson Hausdoerffer, David Anthony Durham (Taylor Hall Studio Theater)
Open Mic (Taylor Hall Studio Theater)
Screening #1: “How to Sell a
TV Pilot in Seven Easy
Years, or The Return of
The Return of Sherlock
Holmes.” Bob Shayne.
(University Center
Theater)
Friday, July 21
The freedom of the hills…
7:30 – 9:00
Breakfast
University Center Ballroom
All day…
Walks and hikes will be available in various parts of the valley, with scheduled van transportation, or participants
are free to spend the day as they please.
Lunch
On your own.
4:00
3rd Annual New Opera Workshop World Premiere: The Price of Pomegranates by Jerome W. Malek, with
libretto by Susan Spear (MFA ’12).
John and Georgie Kincaid Concert Hall, Quigley Hall
Note: All general conference registrations include admission for one person to the New Opera Workshop
performance; individual tickets will also be sold at the door on a first-come, first-served basis (no reservations) to
the general public for $20/person, $10/student.
5:30
Creative Nonfiction Keynote: Sean Prentiss, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: A New Philosophy for
Understanding Truth and Creative Nonfiction.”
Taylor Hall Studio Theater
Dinner
On your own.
Saturday, July 22
7:30 – 9:00 Breakfast (University Center Ballroom)
Time
Creative Nonfiction
Genre Fiction
8:30 – 10:00
10:15 – 12:15
Creative Nonfiction 3-Day
Workshops:
#1: “Taking the ‘Me’ Out of
Memoir.” Instructor: Kase
Johnstun. (TH 201)
#2: “Writing the Environment.”
Instructor: Sean Prentiss. (TH
229)
Genre Fiction 3-Day Workshop: “The
Long and Winding (and Frequently
Bumpy and Terrifying) Path of a
Writer.” Instructor: David Anthony
Durham. (TH 204)
Genre Fiction 3-Day Critical
Seminar: “Crime and Mystery in
the West.” Leader: Clay Reynolds.
(TH 226)
12:15 – 1:00
Lunch (University Center Ballroom)
1:00 – 1:45
Genre Fiction Keynote: David
Anthony Durham, “The Virtues
of the Multi-Genre Toolbox.”
(TH Studio Theater)
2:00 – 4:00
Creative Nonfiction Panel #2:
“The Art of the Fact: Is There
a Canon of Creative
Nonfiction?” Kelsey L.
Bennett, Moderator; Kase
Johnstun, Valerie Lester, Sean
Prentiss. (TH 229)
5:30 – 7:00
7:30 – 9:00
9:30 – 11:00
Publishing
Screenwriting
Poetry Panel #2: “Why Homer and Virgil
Still Matter.” Tyson Hausdoerffer,
Moderator; (TH 229)
Publishing 1-Day Workshop #2:
“The Challenges of Marketing.”
Instructor: Caleb Seeling. (TH
200)
Screenwriting 1-Day
Workshop #2: “Surprise
Me on the Page.”
Instructor: J S Mayank.
(TH 201)
Poetry 3-Day Workshops:
#1: “Say That Again? Writing Repeating
Forms.” Instructor: Bruce Bennett. (TH
200)
#2: “Making Memory Musical.” Instructor:
Jodie Hollander. (TH 119)
Poetry 3-Day Critical Seminar
“The Prosody Seminar.” Leaders: Tom
Cable, Natalie Gerber. (TH ??)
Publishing 3-Day Workshop: TBA.
(TH )
Screenwriting 3-Day
Workshop: “Developing,
Writing, and Launching
Your Screenplay.”
Instructor: Trai Cartwright.
(TH 205)
Genre Fiction 1-Day Workshop #2:
“’Winter Is Coming’: What Fiction
Writers Can Learn about Plotting
from HBO’s Game of Thrones.”
Instructor: Candace Nadon. (TH
200)
2:00 – 5:00
4:00 – 5:30
Poetry
Screenwriting Panel #1:
“Networking.” J S
Mayank, Moderator; Trai
Cartwright, Mike Reiss,
Bob Shayne. (TH 205)
Poetry Symposium, Session 2 (TH 201)
1. William Tyson Hausdoerffer, “’Homer’s
Precious Stones’: Culling as Creative
Translation.”
2. Emily Grosholz, “Cosmology as the
Middle Term between Poetry and
Philosophy.”
3. Frederick Turner: "On Beauty: Evolution,
Chaos, and the Anima Mundi."
Coffee w/ Pros (TH Welcome Center,
Mezzanine Level)
Coffee w/ Pros (TH Welcome
Center, Mezzanine Level)
Screening #2: “Secrets of
The Simpsons.” Mike
Reiss. (University Center
Theater)
Dinner: On your own
Through the Lookiung Glass Darkly, or Lewis Carroll and the Pursuit of Innocence. Written and Performed by Andrew Sellon.
(Taylor Hall Studio Theater)
Open Mic (Taylor Hall Studio Theater)
Sunday, July 23
7:30 – 9:00 Breakfast (University Center Ballroom)
Time
Creative Nonfiction
Genre Fiction
8:30 – 10:00
10:15 – 12:15
Poetry
Publishing
Screenwriting
Publishing 3-Day Workshop: TBA
(TH )
Screenwriting 3-Day
Workshop: “Developing,
Writing, and Launching
Your Screenplay.”
Instructor: Trai
Cartwright. (TH 205)
Poetry Panel #3: So, These Poets Walk into a Bar…”
Julie Kane, Moderator; Bruce Bennett, David J.
Rothman, Julie Kane. (TH 229)
Creative Nonfiction 3-Day
Workshops:
#1: “Taking the ‘Me’ Out of
Memoir.” Instructor: Kase
Johnstun. (TH 201)
#2: “Writing the Environment.”
Instructor: Sean Prentiss. (TH
229)
12:15 – 1:00
Genre Fiction 3-Day
Workshop: “The Long
and Winding (and
Frequently Bumpy and
Terrifying) Path of a
Writer.” Instructor: David
Anthony Durham. (TH
204)
Genre Fiction 3-Day Critical
Seminar: “Crime and
Mystery in the West.”
Leader: Clay Reynolds.
(TH 226)
Poetry 3-Day Workshops:
#1: “Say That Again? Writing Repeating Forms.”
Instructor: Bruce Bennett. (TH 200)
#2: “Making Memory Musical.” Instructor: Jodie
Hollander. (TH 119)
Poetry 3-Day Critical Seminar
“The Prosody Seminar.” Leaders: Tom Cable, Natalie
Gerber. (TH ??)
Lunch (University Center Ballroom)
1:00 – 1:45
2:00 – 4:00
Screenwriting Keynote:
Mike Reiss, “Writing
for The Simpsons, the
Minions, Joan Rivers,
and Other Cartoon
Characters. (University
Center Theater)
Creative Nonfiction 1-Day
Workshop #2: “Pitching the
Rockies: How To Sell a Story
that Sings.” Instructor: Brian
Calvert. (TH 200)
2:00 – 5:00
Genre Fiction 1-Day
Workshop #3: “Write
What You Know.”
Instructor: Russell Davis.
(TH 204)
Pitches and Critiques
Poetry Symposium, Session 3 (TH 201)
(Locations TBA in Taylor 1. David J. Rothman, “Harmonious Madness.”
Hall)
2. Marilyn Taylor, “The Golden Shovel and the
Lipogram: Two Groundbreaking Spinoffs in
Contemporary Formal Poetry.”
3. Natalie Gerber, “Rhyme in the Movement: The
Prosody of Hamilton.”
4:00 – 5:30
5:30 – 7:30
7:30 – 8:45
9:00 – Whenever…
Screening #3: “Highlights
from the 2016 Crested
Butte Film
Festival.” Michael
Brody. (University
Center Theater)
Dinner: On your own
Readings: Brian Calvert, Jodie Hollander, Valerie Lester, Mike Reiss (Taylor Hall Studio Theater)
Closing Bash: El Paraiso, 112 South Main Street, Gunnison. Vans to and from campus available.