Springing up – more fall writing events plus contests!

Oh, the things I didn’t know about (or that didn’t yet have information available) when I posted last month about fall literary events in Texas! And now, there’s writing contest information as well.

September 12: Authors LIVE! returns with infantry veteran and Pulitzer Prize winner C.J. Chivers' The Fighters, 7 p.m., in Wesley Hall of Highland Park United Methodist Church, 3300 E. Mockingbird Land, Dallas. The series continues October 29 and December 6. All presentations are free, or register for an author’s reception beforehand for $30. See the site for additional information. 

image: pixabay

September 17-October 30:  Writers Guild of Texas flash fiction contest. No cost for first entry by WGT members, $15 for additional entries (up to 3 maximum). Entry fee for nonmembers $35 (which includes membership in the Guild), $15 per additional entry. Cash prizes and publication in the Guild newsletter for winners. See the site for details.

September 21-22: Conference of the North Texas Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), at the Crown Plaza Hotel, 14315 Midway Roads, Addison. Agents and editors, award-winning authors and illustrators. New this year: critique round table and first pages contest for picture book, middle grade and young adult. Tickets $200 for SCBWI member, $225 for nonmembers. 

October 5-6: Roanoke Writers Conference returns to the Roanoke Public Library, 308. S. Walnut Street, Roanoke, Texas, with multiple craft sessions plus flash fiction writing contests for adults and teens. Two-day tickets $55 for adults, $40 for teens; Saturday only (October 6) $35 adults, $20 for teens.  

October 17: DFW Writers Bloc, October 17, 2-4 p.m., features Liese Sheerwood-Fabre, on the art and marketing of short stories, in Dallas Public Library’s Laurie Evans Studio (3^rd floor). Free, but reserve a seat through the website. 

October 20: Houston Writers Guild's Indiepalooza returns 8 a.m. – 4 p.m., at Rice University and kickoff-social October 19 at Hotel Ylem. New this year – sessions on songwriting and screenwriting. See the site for details and registration.

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Still to come – Writers League of Texas 2019 manuscript contest, with information probably available in October. 

And – Save the date – October 31- November 3, 2019, for mystery convention Bouchercon, which celebrates its 50^th anniversary in Dallas Halloween weekend, October 31-November 3, 2019. Guests of honor include James Patterson, Dallas-area author Deborah Crombie, and more. Registration $150 through the end of 2018, $175 in 2019. See the site for much, much more information. 

Wordcraft – What it means to be a literary good citizen

It was a first – the first visit to Dallas of the Writers' League of Texas, with a public panel discussion similar to those held monthly in its home base of Austin. The topic in this election year, when civic issues are on everyone’s mind: defining what it means to be a good citizen in the literary sense.

Judging from the enthusiasm of the crowd that filled the community room of Dallas’ Half Price Books main store on Northwest Highway, it should be the forerunner of many more such panels to come. WLT Executive Director Becka Oliver moderated an eclectic panel of four Dallas-area literary figures: Karen Blumenthal  (author, Tommy: The Gun That Changed America); Will Evans (publisher, Deep Vellum); Sanderia Faye (author, The Mourner’s Bench); and Jeramey Kraatz (author, The Cloak Society).

So what did they think being a literary citizen really means? What are the pathways to becoming a literary citizen? What are the ways of claiming and acting on that citizenship?

For a lot of writers who create alone, “being a literary citizen is like engaging with a community,” Evans said.

His literary journey began with the intention of becoming a writer. But it was discovering Russian literature in the original language in college – and realizing that he was able to translate books he wanted to read into English – that would move him from translating to engagement with the international literary community through his nonprofit press, Deep Vellum.

Blumenthal also found her definition of literary citizenship evolving. From a career as a journalist and nonfiction writer for adults, she became interested in nonfiction for children when one of her daughters became interested in the Great Depression, a subject with little representation on her school library shelves.

Public and school librarians have been enthusiastic supporters of Blumenthal’s work. Her volume Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition was one of School Library Journals Best Books of 2011. The support of libraries in turn influenced her to help, including organizing support for expanded hours fat Dallas’ public library system and for the upcoming April 30 Dallas Book Fair.

For further delving into that literary community, Blumenthal recommends organizations such as the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators), which has a North Texas chapter, and PEN International. “And PEN Dallas,” Evans said. (He’s vice president of the Dallas chapter.)

Perhaps the most unlikely of journeys to literary citizenship was the one Faye took: as regional manager for Walmart, where she helped direct corporate giving to community organizations such as Dallas’ Tulisoma, the annual South Dallas Book Fair.

“I believe in supporting the artists financially,” she said, noting that as an author, even one with a book acclaimed by the likes of Dennis Lehane, “I work so many hours for zero dollars.”

Support can also be as simple as buying books, at readings as well as bookstores such as Deep Vellum’s, opening next month, as well as supporting the support systems of writers, such as libraries, recommended by both Blumenthal and Kraatz.

Add to that the act of writing reviews. And finally, social media.

“If it weren’t for social media, I don’t think anyone would know about Deep Vellum,” Evans said wryly (a position sure to change following this week’s very favorable review in The Dallas Morning News of his translation of Fardwor, Russia! by Oleg Kashin).