festival 2008
Festival Circles
REGISTRATION FOR FESTIVAL CIRCLES IS NOW CLOSED.
Past Festival participants have requested more opportunities to discuss their conference experiences with other attendees. This year, in response, we're offering what we're calling Festival Circles, small groups that will meet at least two times during the Festival to discuss a topic of common interest. Many of the Circles will focus on aspects of writing--providing a forum, to just give one example, for poets to talk with other poets about things that they've heard in the various sessions they may have attended.
Each group will start with a similar structure, but Circle members are welcome to embellish it as they see fit. Here's the basic plan: Each Circle, composed of 12-15 attendees and led by a Calvin faculty member or Festival participant, will meet during Thursday dinner and Saturday lunch.
Prior to the Festival, the leader will contact the members of the Festival Circle by e-mail to invite suggestions for the discussion. At the Thursday meeting, the leader will frame the broad topic of the Circle, passing along key questions and issues to consider and leading the Circle in a discussion of excerpts from works written by the Festival authors. On Saturday at lunch, Circle members will have an opportunity to discuss their particular topic in the light of the sessions they've attended.
If you register for a Festival Circle, please sign up for a boxed dinner on Thursday and a boxed lunch on Saturday, or plan to bring your own food to the designated meeting room. The Circles will run from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. on Thursday and from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Any Festival Circle may, of course, decide to meet at an additional time, on or off campus.
We hope that Festival Circles will give you a place to connect with other attendees, and to deepen and extend your experience of the Festival. Some of the questions that we anticipate will be raised in each Circle are listed below.
Poetry Circle A: Imagery and Metaphor [CLOSED]
Poetry Circle B: The Shape of a Poem [CLOSED]
What makes a "good" poem? How do poets shape and revise their work? When do you know that a poem is finished?
Memoir Circle [CLOSED]
How does a memoirist select the materials he or she will use? If you are writing a memoir, how do you avoid antagonizing or betraying those you write about, particularly when what you have to say is not complimentary? What is the appropriate place of fiction in the craft of memoir writing?
Fiction Circle A: Short Fiction [CLOSED]
How do you know how much to include in a short story? What are the techniques of "showing" rather than "telling" within the space of just a few pages? When do you know that a subject will make a good short story rather than a longer novel?
Fiction Circle B: Plot [CLOSED]
How do authors invent plots? What are the common pitfalls that novice writers make when they construct a plot? Is plot the engine that drives a novel, or is it characters?
Fiction Circle C: Characterization [CLOSED]
What are the ways authors make characters believable? What makes dialogue realistic? Are characters the engine that drives a novel, or is it plot?
Creative Non-fiction Circle [CLOSED]
If a work is non-fiction, then in what sense is it creative? How many "facts" and details can you invent? What is the purpose of creative non-fiction?
Children's Picture Book Circle [CLOSED]
Children's Novel Circle [CLOSED]
What makes a "good" children's book? How do authors handle sensitive issues for children? Is there a substantial difference between children's literature, young adult literature, and adult fiction?
Young Adult Novels Circle [CLOSED]
What makes a "good" young adult novel? Should young adult novels deal with the issues that pre-teens and teenagers face? Is there a substantial difference between children's literature, young adult literature, and adult fiction?
The Pastor's Circle A [CLOSED]
The Pastor's Circle B [CLOSED]
A popular Circle offered each summer at Calvin is "Imaginative Reading for Creative Preaching." What can pastors learn from stories and poems, and how can they incorporate imaginative reading into their preaching and teaching?
Graphic Novels Circle [CLOSED]
How are graphic novels different from comic books and illustrated novels? What skills do you need to "read" a graphic novel well?
High School Teachers Circle A [CLOSED]
High School Teachers Circle B [CLOSED]
How can you incorporate the works from Festival authors into your high school classes? Which books are best suited for 9th-12th graders? How do you help students read "difficult" authors?
Listening for Faith, Circle A [CLOSED]
Listening for Faith, Circle B [CLOSED]
Some books deal overtly with issues of faith; others do so implicitly or even tangentially. Which kinds most stimulate your own thinking? What do readers bring to a book? How much should we interpret what seems to be only suggested?
Book Club Circle [CLOSED]
What are the perils and pleasure of starting and maintaining a book club? What are some good ideas for using the books written by Festival authors?
Social Justice Circle [CLOSED]
Many authors incorporate social critique into their stories, essays, and poems. How effective are these gestures toward social justice? Do they supplement or substitute for social justice? How might we write more effectively toward social justice?
The Bloggers Circle [CLOSED]
What are the challenges and pitfalls of good blogging? How much should you disclose about yourself and other people on a blog? How do you respond to critics? To what extent should blogging be descriptive, a kind of reporting, and to what extent should it be reflective and expressive of your own feelings and thoughts?