Sudden Fiction! Flash Fiction! Where Did It Come From? And What Is It?
A panel with Ron Carlson, James Thomas, Robert Shapard, and Chris Merrill
Saturday, June 8, 2013
7:30pm at Alta Lodge’s Deep Powder Room
Sudden Fiction! Flash Fiction! Where Did It Come From? And What Is It? The first answer is Utah, to which the panel’s editors and authors are all connected in a variety of vital ways, both personal and professional. There is no notorious gang here, but there may yet be a whispered conspiracy of literary invention. They may confess what they know and talk about it now. “Flash Fiction” is now prevalent in creative writing classrooms and workshops, regarded as a literary genre and the topic conferenced about, defined on Wikipedia, and the phrase featured on any number of Google pages. But what does it all really mean? Perhaps there is no suitable answer, but this panel will tackle the question anyway.
Panel Moderator: David Kranes
Panelists:
- Ron Carlson has published a number of novels and short story collections, and is often anthologized. He teaches at the University of California, Irvine, and his book Ron Carlson Writes a Story is widely read as a lively text on the craft of fiction.
- James Thomas is an author, editor and teacher associated with Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He is one of the original founders of Writers @ Work, a founding editors of Quarterly West, and co-edited Flash Fiction and Flash Fiction Forward.
- Robert Shapard taught literature and fiction writing for many years at the University of Hawaii. He was the managing editor of Western Humanities Review and co-edited Sudden Fiction, Sudden Fiction International, and New Sudden Fiction.
- Chris Merrill has published many books of poetry and nonfiction, and is co-editing the upcoming Flash Fiction International. He currently directs the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.
This panel is free and open to the public. This program has received funding from the Utah Humanities Council (UHC). UHC offers funding to empower individuals and groups in Utah to improve their communities through active engagement in the humanities.
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Writers @ Work’s is holding its annual writers conference at Alta Lodge in Alta, Utah, from June 5-9. See our conference page for all the details and register today!
