I’m sitting in the Long Beach airport waiting for a plane back to Oakland. The weather is beautiful, the airport is small, and I could pretend I’m at some beach airport in a foreign country. It has that feel. On the TV is the Super Bowl. I’ve come from Kansas City which, it turns out, is a huge sports town. Everywhere was red and yellow. People walking in swag, banners hanging off lamp posts, signs in business windows. Now going up to the Bay Area where I imagine most everyone is rooting for the Forty-Niners. I once flew during the World Series and asked the pilot if he would give us the score periodically. He kindly accommodated me. Many others were very happy!
I went to Kansas City with four members of my writing group to attend AWP 24 (Association of Writers and Writing Programs). Most people register Wednesday afternoon. The panels officially start on Thursday morning and last until Saturday evening. There are so many panels, up to fifty every hour, that it is overwhelming. Last year, I looked at the titles and attended ones that sounded good. This year, I looked at the presenters and went to panels where I knew the presenters. Jeannine Ouellette, who writes Writing in the Dark, was on the first panel that I attended Thursday morning.. It was a craft panel on How to write trauma so that it doesn’t overwhelm your reader. Jeannine did not disappoint. In 15 minutes, she gave a Masterclass in trauma writing using excerpts from her book The Part that Burns to illustrate her points. She is easy to listen to and her students who have her for longer IN PERSON are very lucky, in my opinion. Those of us who subscribe to her Substack are treated to masterclasses every week. She is a generous teacher and interacts with those who are vulnerable enough to write what they have written.
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My next panel was an homage to James Baldwin. I believe Thursday would have been his 100th birthday. The moderator had chosen people who “commune” with Baldwin. I was touched by both panelists. Unfortunately, two other panelists had to cancel last minute because of illness. It didn’t make any difference to me. I was so moved by the love and dedication he still inspires in people. I consider myself an essayist and look to his writings as examples of terrific essay writing.
Baldwin struggled with his love of living in France with his guilt that he should be home……That hit a nerve with me. My mother, if she were alive, would look down on my choice of living in Paris. She would tell me to come back to the US and fight for democracy.
Friday was a wonderful day for panels. But the panels, as interesting as they are, aren’t the main reason that many of us attend the Convention. It’s a chance to meet and talk with publishers, meet and talk with the editors of journals, emerging and established, and to meet other authors. Last year, I met the editors of the Under Review. I liked them and they liked me. Eleven months later, they have published my story The Perfect Game. They had a small celebration at a place called Sinkers on Friday night and six of us read our stories. It was thrilling. This year I’ve set my sights on a Canadian Journal called Brick.
The highlight of the Convention was the Opening Keynote Speech given by Jericho Brown. All five of us in my writing group were tired even though only one day of the Convention had passed. Just navigating one’s way around the Kansas City Convention Center, without a map in hand, was an exhausting experience. I figure that three of the Seattle Convention Centers, where AWP was held last year, could fit in the KC one. The Center took up three long city blocks with bridges over the streets. A long underground unfinished walkway. It was daunting.
The Keynote speech was virtual and the AirBnB we stayed at had a smart TV! So we ate a wonderful home cooked meal of chicken, butternut squash, and salad. Then we piled onto the living room couches to listen to Jericho. I have only read his poems. I had never heard him speak. He is funny. He is passionate. He is smart. And he cares about this country. I don’t think I could find the words to do justice to his 20-30 minute talk so please know that whatever I say here, it was 1000% better. So far, the video is only available to convention goers so I can’t even refer you to that. I can start by saying he has a smile that would light up any room. He has a smile that is warm and sunny and in no way gives away the violent childhood he suffered and writes about in his poetry. He opened by making us laugh and slowly, word in hand, moved us to our responsibilities as writers and as Americans. He did this by citing many of the books that have been banned in the state of Florida: five versions of the Dictionary, the Encycopedia, the Bible (the Bible????), to mention a few that students need just to progress in school. He brought home that we writers are being banned. We aren’t spectators, we are victims if we want the freedom to express ourselves. As I’m a fairly new author, I had not made the connection that I could be banned if someone thought I used a wrong word. 1984 should be renamed. Images of Nazis burning books in the street came to mind. Jericho Brown kept at it. making sure we got it. This is happening, it can happen to you, it is happening to many of us.
By the time he finished, I was breathless. I was paying attention.
A bientôt,
Sara
Out My Window 