CHICAGO, IL. (February, 2009) – This February 11-14, Chicago played host to one of the largest literary conferences in the country, the four-day extravaganza known as AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs). The conference, which was held at the Hilton Hotel on Michigan Avenue, drew record numbers of almost 8,500 attendees, causing the sprawling campus of Columbia to teem with students, publishers, authors and editors.
Each annual conference is held in a different region of North America in order to celebrate the outstanding authors, teachers, writing programs, literary centers, and small press publishers of that area. AWP typically features 300 presentations, consisting of: readings, lectures, panel discussions, and forums, as well as hundreds of book signings, receptions, dances and informal gatherings.
This year Columbia enjoyed the spotlight as the Creative Writing – Poetry and Nonfiction programs of the English Department, and Fiction Writing and Story Week garnered top billing as sponsors for the convention. The departments made full use of their hometown advantage, organizing readings and events around campus and the city. Faculty and students from each department played a role in participating and promoting, helping to expand the reach of their work from galleries in the South Loop to neighborhood bars on the North side.
Court Green, a poetry journal published annually by English Department, in collaboration with the publisher Fence Books and their literary magazine Fence, hosted a book release and poetry reading, featuring readings by a selection of authors including Albert Goldbarth, Julie Carr, Elizabeth Robinson, James Shea, Brian Young and Rodrigo Toscano.
On Friday afternoon, Columbia’s new literary journal, Hotel Amerika, celebrated its move to Chicago and the college’s English Department with a reading moderated by Creative Non-Fiction’s David Lazar. Kelly Cherry, Ray Gonzalez, Cynthia Hogue, Ander Monson and Diane Wakoski shared their work. Hotel Amerika was created in 2002 at Ohio University to offer a provocative and eclectic mix of work in known and unknown genres by acclaimed and emerging writers.
With long days made up of an endless array of panels, readings and traversing the mammoth Book Fair, AWP reached a crescendo on Friday night in the International Ballroom at the Hilton. The Fiction Writing department organized a special performance of its legendary Story Week venue Literary Rock ‘n Roll. The event, which was produced by Metro, featured an all-star cast of readers, beginning with ZZ Packer, author of the award-winning short story collection Drinking Coffee Elsewhere and Fiction Department faculty and local Chicago author of Hairstyles of the Damned, Joe Meno. The finale boasted an explosive reading by the incomparable Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina and a crowd stirring performance by the Chicago-based, thirty-piece punk circus marching band Mucca Pazza.
By Saturday, the festivities began to wind down as conference-goers dragged heavy tote bags full of literary journals from the Book Fair and made the final rounds of scheduled events. In the end, innumerable books were signed, connections were made and it became abundantly clear that Chicago and Columbia certainly know how to host a literary convention. To prove the point, AWP will be back in The Windy City for a repeat in 2012.
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