The Wrong Kind of Reading: Chicago, March 1st

Take a gander:

(posted designed by C. Gowran)

Very excited to be a part of this. And you've got a wide variety of styles here. If you're in town for AWP or you just happen to be close enough, check out The Galway Arms in Lincoln Park, voted one of the Best Bars in Chicago.

But I'm always a little uncomfortable at AWP (the Associated Writing Programs annual conference), even as Director of Creative Writing for the undergrad program at Southwest Minnesota State. I've been teaching creative writing for over a decade now, and I love to try new things and find new ways to engage the classes. And yet I always feel a bit of an outsider at AWP. A lot of "hipster douchebaggery" going on, a lot of people who think they're being "unique" end up being very much like hundreds of others there. But at least it spans the spectrum--from young hippie snobs to accomplished, academic hippie snobs (I say it with love, people). And while gene writers who are also academics in writing programs are gaining more and more headway into AWP every year (unlike the first year I was on a genre panel, when a poet walked out in "protest" over the very subject being brought up), I still think the majority of attendees find it "cute" that we're given a little corner to play in, although the genre panels are consistently the ones bringing in the biggest audiences. 

I mean, no offense, but just check out some of these panels and ask yourself 1) would I really want to spend an hour talking about that? and 2) what the hell is [Insert Panel Title Here] even supposed to mean?

I dunno. Maybe it's just me. I don't belong in trendy bars where everyone is wearing ironic t-shirts or all-black clothing carrying around barely stitched together messenger bags. But I do belong at AWP, as do all of my fellow readers at Wrong Kind, as do a whole lot of others who feel just as uncomfortable at AWP as I do. I'm feeling better, actually. Every year, it feels more like my sort of place. Which is weird, too, because this will be my last time for at least a handful of years to attend as a program director (I've been elected Chair of the English Department for this coming Fall), which has been cool because I've gotten to attend the yearly Director's meeting and sit next to Tod Goldberg making jokes at the expense of all the seriousness on the stage. Ah, memories. 

And don't even get me started on how out of place I still feels at Bouchercon...

See you at The Galway Arms!

Comments

[Kari Fransen]

The two times I attended, I was also in awe of the snobbish douchebaggery that I came across at AWP. Although it was something for me, a plain girl from the midwest to see such radical "writers" as those who had children hanging off of them in various baby carriers. Not that I hate baby carriers. I actually think they are quite useful and nice. But get a sitter people. Your kids don't want to sit about being exposed to random strangeness. And the people attending this conference also don't want to see your kids, when they were hoping for a weekend free of obnoxious children. Congrats on the promotion. :)

[Gerard]

All of which brings the question, "Where are you comfortable and feel in-place?"

[A. N. Smith]

Cool question! Yeah.

I feel comfortable at home with my wife and pets, or with my family and in-laws. In the classroom. In Duluth, MN (on Lake Superior, more like it). On a train. In my office, writing. At NoirCon. At Mayhem in the Midlands (defunct, unfortunately), with my friends SD and VG. In small, mostly empty grocery stores. In my king-sized bed. 

[Kent Gowran]

King-sized bed? Lucky bastard.