Festival of Faith & Writing

registration opens

chapel

Uwem Akpan

readings

In these sessions we feature several authors who are new to the Festival of Faith and Writing. We hope you enjoy becoming more acquainted with them and their work.

Uwem Akpan
Meeter Center Lecture Hall

David Athey
Swets Hall

Olga Grushin
Chapel Undercroft

Nancy Hull
Alumni Association Board Room

Shauna Niequist
Commons Lecture Hall

opening session
Is Fiction Moral?
Mary Gordon
Fine Arts Center Auditorium; overflow seating in Chapel

Caedmon’s Call in Conversation
Members of Caedmon’s Call
The band Caedmon’s Call recently reunited with Derek Webb to record the album Overdressed and embark on a tour. Caedmon’s Call expresses a global perspective integral to their Christian faith, resulting in folk rock that is musically rich and lyrically bold. In this session members of the band answer questions about their music and their faith.
Seminary Chapel

The Enduring Achievement of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Edward Ericson, Jr.
This presentation brings the Solzhenitsyn story up to date. Themes include Solzhenitsyn's historical influence and his future reputation.
Meeter Center Lecture Hall

How to Write a Novel in Eighteen Years: Lessons for Aspiring Writers

David Athey
The process of writing a novel can be mysterious, joyful, agonizing, and humorous. But how much time is too much time to devote to the process? Athey talks about his eighteen-year journey to the publication of his first novel and the lessons he learned along the way.
Prince Board Room

Hymnwriting as Devotional Poetry

Mary Louise Bringle
While hymn poems are primarily written to be sung, they are also written to be read, studied, and prayed. Good hymn texts deepen our understanding of God, touching both our hearts and our imaginations in ways that encourage, indict, inspire, and heal. Bringle looks at ways to use the reading and writing of hymn texts as forms of spiritual discipline and devotional practice.
Chapel Undercroft

Invisible Books

Lil Copan, Paul Willis, and John Wilson
Sometimes great books don't receive the acclaim and attention they deserve. Three editors single out a few attention-starved books and explore the forces within the publishing industry and beyond that contributed to their "invisibility."
Alumni Association Board Room

A Reading by Luci Shaw

Fine Arts Center Auditorium

Writing for the Middle-School Reader: War, Trouble, and Calamity

Gary Schmidt
In a time of war and unrest, the writer for middle-school and young-adult readers is called to speak in ways that encourage those readers to survey a world realistically and openly, no matter what the genre, no matter what the form.
Chapel

Writing Across Borders: A Conversation with Sefi Atta and Diane Glancy

In today's world many of us belong to multiple communities, not all of which may seem compatible. Two writers talk about the challenges and opportunities of crossing and criss-crossing borders of family, culture, continents, and faith—and how that border-crossing informs their work.
Willow Room

A Journalist's Confession: The True Story of How I Made Up the Best Story of My Life

Mischa Berlinski
Most of us believe that journalism is true, and novels are made up. But in the real world, it's rarely the way things work. Berlisnki describes his experience as both journalist and novelist—and how the two connect.
Commons Lecture Hall

coffee break

The Women of Lockerbie

The Basney Memorial Reading

Paul Mariani
This session is held in honor of the late Lionel Basney, professor of English at Calvin College.
Prince Board Room

A Conversation with Derek Webb

Derek Webb
In addition to his notable work with the band Caedmon’s Call, Webb has an extensive solo career and is know for pushing the boundaries of contemporary Christian music, in both lyrical content and music distribution. Webb discusses this topic and more in an audience-led conversation.
Seminary Auditorium

An Interview with Edward P. Jones

Dan Taylor interviews Jones about fiction, faith, and the power of stories.
Chapel

"I've Written Something—Now What?"

Robert Hosack, Lee Hough, and Dave Long
Once a writer has completed a book manuscript, what are his or her next steps? This panel provides aspiring writers with the tools and knowledge they need to better navigate the publishing world.
Willow Room

Picturing the Biblical Narrative: A Conversation with Michael Patella and Barry Moser

The Saint John's Bible and the Pennyroyal Caxton Bible are two recent productions that bring together the written scriptures with traditions of illumination and illustration. Patella and Moser explore the process, issues, and choices involved in the creation of these two books.
Commons Lecture Hall

Reading Contemporary Novelists

Renae Applegate House, Heather Walker Peterson, and Paul E. Smith
Three scholars offer their perspectives on contemporary novelists. House presents a paper on Gail Godwin titled "The Mindful Escape or Interiority of the Female Mind." Peterson focuses on Mischa Berlinski's novel Fieldwork in "The Language of Conversion Ringing True." And Smith discusses Native American literature—with a focus on the work of Diane Glancy—in "Jesus Christ Crucified in Contemporary Native American Literature."
Meeter Center Lecture Hall

Reading to "Become"

Jon J Muth
In writing stories, we invite others to feel the world in the same way we do. In reading stories, we participate in a powerful conjuring experience. When these actions are considered in relation to children, there is an added profundity and an important responsibility. It's important that kids read to "become," not just to escape. Muth talks about how he tries to help kids do this through his own work.
Chapel Undercroft

When God Appears in One's Writing (2.0 hours)

Lawrence Dorr
For participants who pre-registered.
Dogwood

Writing and Praying Your Way to the Truth

Mary Karr
How do we know God's truth when we pray for it—or write toward it? Karr discusses the role of prayer in her life, focusing on how certain prayer techniques have helped her to make hard decisions—and how prayer informs her writing on a daily basis.
Lab Theatre

Writing for Faithful Readers: A Conversation with Davis Bunn and Francine Rivers

When authors know that their primary audience will be Christian readers, do they think differently about their task as writers? To whom is the author faithful? To whom are readers faithful? Bunn and Rivers discuss these questions and more.
Fine Arts Center Auditorium

vespers

Festival Circles

*Imaginary Homelands

Michael Chabon
Sunshine Community Church

*Untitled, Unedited Work in Progress: My Life and Work So Far

Francine Rivers
Calvin College Chapel

*The Women of Lockerbie

Gezon Auditorium
Tickets are $5 to $15. Call the Calvin Box Office to purchase.

*Caedmon's Call concert

Fine Arts Center Auditorium
Tickets are $15 for Festival attendees. Please call the Calvin Box Office to receive the Festival discount.

open-mic poetry reading

Prince Conference Center

film showing: Bridge to Terabithia

Commons Lecture Hall

jazz vespers

morning prayers

Creating a Novelist's Voice: A Conversation with Mischa Berlinski and Olga Grushin

Two novelists discuss the shaping of their first novels, reflecting on the ways in which their narrative voices were sharpened by personal experience, literary traditions, and cultural history.
Commons Lecture Hall

Creation in the Saint John's Bible: Text, Art, and Theology

Michael Patella
Genesis witnesses the most well-known of the biblical creation stories, but God's creative act surfaces in other books of the Bible as well. What connects them all is his divine love for his creation. Patella explains how the Saint John's Bible, through the interplay of text and art, demonstrates the theological relationship between scripture's different creation stories.
Hickory Room

C. S. Lewis and the Moral Imagination

Randy Testa
This session explores C. S. Lewis's opinions on the role of fantasy literature—including the Chronicles of Narnia books—in the moral education of children. Using passages from Lewis's essay "On Three Ways of Writing for Children" and clips from the forthcoming film Prince Caspian, Testa sheds light on the potential connection between fantasy and morality in the lives of children.
Bytwerk Theatre

How I Learned to Draw God

Moridicai Gerstein
Should one picture God at all? Gerstein explores this question by talking about Midrash—the rich Jewish literature of legend and biblical gossip that responds to the unanswered questions in the stories of the Old Testament.
Seminary Auditorium

Literary Fiction: A Place for Faith?

Lil Copan, Ingrid Hill, Beena Kamlani, Jana Riess, and Vinita Hampton Wright
What is the view of religion—and religious-themed fiction—within general trade publishing houses? The panelists engage in a vigorous discussion about faith and fiction in the trade houses.
Seminary Chapel

A Reading by Thom Satterlee and Paul Willis

Meeter Center Lecture Hall

Theology Descending: A Conversation with Mary Karr and Franz Wright

Poets Karr and Wright—who both recently converted to Catholicism—talk about their work, their faith, and how their recent poems, like prayers, reflect the realities of human suffering and divine grace.
Fine Arts Center Auditorium

Writing About Sin for People Whose Consciences Are Clear

Alan Jacobs
Writing about sin may be easy enough—we all have plenty of experience to draw on—but original sin is a more challenging topic, especially for people who find the doctrine deeply and personally offensive.
Lab Theatre

Writing Is the Only Way I Know How to Pray

Helena Maria Viramontes
Viramontes discusses how writers and readers should approach words and books not simply as a means to escape or to seek out information but, rather, as a way to give ourselves the chance to "rise to the occasion"—to meet the challenge of uncovering, as Flannery O'Connor put it, the mystery of ourselves.
Alumni Association Board Room

Writing Poems: Tapping the Hidden Sources

Rod Jellema
Poems ought to tell us what we don't quite know how to say. Jellema offers some simple ways, far beyond mere reporting, to get the creative process started toward that end.
Prince Board Room

coffee break

How a Poem Happens: Fertilizing the Seed Idea and Cultivating It to a Full-Grown Poem

Luci Shaw
Using examples from her own work and writing life, Shaw describes the stages of a poem's evolution—from the first image, idea, or phrase to a published poem.
Lab Theatre

An Interview with Michael Chabon

Don Hettinga talks with Chabon about his recent fiction—including The Yiddish Policemen's Union and Gentlemen of the Road—and about the connections between story and entertainment and genre.
Fine Arts Center Auditorium

Many Mansions

Ingrid Hill
The fiction writer's job involves building out of nothing whole new worlds, and within them cities and countries and architecture and rooms. Hill explains how writers of fiction can approach this act of creation.
Prince Board Room

Putting History into Story

Nancy Hull, Kadir Nelson, and Carole Boston Weatherford
Historical facts may seem unappealing to young people, but everyone loves a good story. Three creators of historical works for children and young adults discuss the ways in which they have studied history and have turned their research into stories that are both accurate and engaging.
Seminary Auditorium

A Reading by Hugh Cook and Diane Glancy

Willow Room

Reconciliation Blues: Writing About Evangelicals and Race

Edward Gilbreath
Author and editor Gilbreath explores the challenges of reporting on—and living out—racial reconciliation in the church.
Swets Hall

Shaping an Essay

Brian Doyle
Essays can be, in Doyle's words, "a superb and lovely ocean of ink." In this session he offers his thoughts on catching essays out of the air, hearing the way they begin, and grappling with their serpentine allure, along with further ruminations on why the essay is the greatest form of all.
Alumni Association Board Room

The Writer as Editor

Beena Kamlani
Editing and writing go hand in hand. Without editing, a manuscript is only raw gold, crude oil, a block of marble. Editing brings definition, shape, contour, texture, richness. It purifies and deepens at the same time. Kamlani shares some techniques writers can use to bring out the best in their own work and talks about editing other people's manuscripts.
Bytwerk Theatre

Writing as Catechesis

Phyllis Tickle
Writers of all stripes have claimed to write for discovery, yet religious writers, according to Tickle, write to discover what they believe as well as what they think, making writing the ultimate catechesis.
Seminary Chapel

Can Christians Tell the Truth?

Leslie Leyland Fields, Debra Rienstra, and Vinita Hampton Wright
This session examines the conflicts that writers negotiate between the artistic principle of truth-telling and the forces that compel us to pull back from the truth. Especially in Christian subcultures of reading, writing, and publishing, we as readers and writers can feel compelled to "make nice" and give the appearance of conforming to Christian ideals. How do we negotiate these tensions in fiction, poetry, essay, and memoir?
Seminary Auditorium

Graphalogia: A Conversation with Jon J Muth and Kevin Huizenga

Two graphic novelists discuss various ways of developing visual narratives and reflect on the balance between personal expression and the conventions of comics.
Willow Room

How to Build a Novel

Brady Udall
Writing a novel can be a daunting task. Udall provides a number of tools, approaches, and techniques that may help make that task a bit easier.
Seminary Chapel

An Interview with Mary Gordon

Jon Sweeney interviews Gordon about her work as a novelist, memoirist, and essayist; about her complicated relationship with Catholicism; and about her forthcoming book on Jesus.
Fine Arts Center Auditorium

A Reading by Scott Cairns

Chapel

The Reckoning (1.5 hours)

This documentary film features the stories of six survivors of the Dutch Resistance—ordinary men and women who came to the aid of Jews during the brutal World War II Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. James Schaap wrote the original script for the film, which was produced by Storytelling Pictures. (A panel discussion about the film takes place on Friday at 1:45 p.m.).
Bytwerk Theatre

When God Appears in One's Writing (2.0 hours)

Lawrence Dorr
For participants who pre-registered.
Dogwood Room

When You Wish Upon a Star

Robert Finch
In this lecture Finch explores the possibility that how we think about and write about ourselves—in terms of our religious, psychological, and philosophical ideas—may have its origins in the nature of the physical world.
Alumni Association Board Room

Where Falsehoods Dissolve: Memory as Witness

Carlos Eire
Memory may be an imperfect record of the past, but it is nonetheless the most immediate and reliable connection that every individual has to his or her own history. When it comes to great historical events—especially in cases where great injustices have taken place—personal memory can provide valuable testimony against all attempts to deny or distort the truth. Eire explores the advantages and perils of relying on memory as eyewitness testimony against injustice.
Prince Board Room

Writing for Children

Dorina Lazo Gilmore, Nancy Hull, and Kate Jacobs
What are some of the key elements that go into writing a successful book for children or young adults? How should writers approach this genre, and what should they know about it before getting started? Two authors and an editor provide some answers.
Lab Theatre

Approaches to C. S. Lewis

Devin Brown, Joshua Hill, Laura Ralph
The work of C. S. Lewis is explored in three scholarly papers. Brown presents "Lewis's Portrait of Friendship in the Chronicles of Narnia," Hill discusses "C. S. Lewis and the Representation of True Majesty," and Ralph explores "The Disobedient Imagination: Lewis's Interrogation of Story in Perelandra."
Meeter Center Lecture Hall

Beauty and the Beast: The Art of Picture-Making
Kadir Nelson
Using images from his work, Nelson shares his philosophy of creating beauty from negativity and details his development as an artist.
Seminary Auditorium

The Eagles Are Coming: Faith, Fairy Tales, and Fantasy
Jeffrey Overstreet
Overstreet explores how beloved fairy tales—including fantasy stories by J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, J. K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, and Guillermo Del Toro—reveal true hope for the “real world.”
Commons Lecture Hall

From Student to Writer

Dorina Lazo Gilmore, Shauna Niequist, and more
Three authors talk about the transition from writing undergraduate papers to publishing novels, articles, poems, and more.
Alumni Association Board Room

Light at the End of the Tunnel: Thinking About Metaphors of the Writing Process

Leslie Leyland Fields and Paul Willis
What metaphors do writers use to describe their own writing processes, and in what ways might those metaphors both limit and free writers as they work? Willis and Fields answer these questions and offer some alternate ways for writers to think about their work.
Prince Board Room

Marketing Your Own Poetry

Bob Hudson
For many poets, getting their work published can often be a despairing struggle. Hudson offers poets some practical suggestions for marketing their work successfully.
Willow Room

A Reading by Edward P. Jones

Chapel

A Reading by Franz Wright

Seminary Chapel

Telling the Stories of Others

Diet Eman, John Evans, Corey Niemchick, and James Schaap
Three individuals involved in the making of the documentary film The Reckoning talk about the responsibilities, challenges, and joys of telling the stories of others through film. (The Reckoning is being shown throughout the Festival: Thursday at 4:30 p.m., Friday at 11:15 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., and Saturday at 4:30 p.m.)
Lab Theatre

Writing a Life: A Conversation with Carlos Eire and Haven Kimmel

Memoir walks the tightrope between fact and fiction, between the craft of writing and recording the past. It lives in the land of memory. Two authors talk about truth-telling, remembering, writing, and representing.
Fine Arts Center Auditorium

coffee break

The Women of Lockerbie

Critical Elements of Commercial Fiction, or, Things I Wish I Had Known Starting Out

Davis Bunn
In his own work—and in his work with new authors—Bunn has identified key elements that often act as roadblocks to commercial success. In this session he examines several of these in detail and outlines some possible means of overcoming them.
Willow Room

Ecstatic Ekphrastic

Barbara Crooker
What is ekphrastic poetry? How can it be used to deepen our spiritual practice? Crooker discusses a variety of approaches and techniques that can be used in writing an ekphrastic poem.
Hickory Room

From the Underground Railroad to the Metaphorical Bridge

Carole Boston Weatherford
African-American conductors on the Underground Railroad led many slaves to freedom, often at great personal cost. Weatherford discusses her links to this rich history, as she considers her own call to write.
Alumni Association Board Room

How to Make a Poetry Chapbook

Bob Hudson
For participants who pre-registered.
President's Dining Room

Looking Backward, Looking Inward: A Conversation with Scott Cairns and Kathleen Norris

The Christian tradition provides a powerful resource for understanding and shaping our own spirituality and encounters with God. Two authors who have intentionally drawn on varied aspects of the tradition talk about its influence in their own writing.
Fine Arts Center Auditorium

"None of Them Knew the Color of the Sky": Point of View in Fiction

Hugh Cook
Point of view is undoubtedly the most complex aspect of writing fiction. Cook discusses the basics of fictional point of view and identifies a number of pitfalls to avoid.
Seminary Chapel

A Reading by Elizabeth Strout

Chapel

Reading Gerard Manley Hopkins: The Christ-Saturated Thing Itself

Paul Mariani
When Gerard Manley Hopkins took vows as a Jesuit, he was already an accomplished poet. Although he distinguished his poetic and priestly vocations, he also linked them, wedding the tightly constructed sonnet form to disciplined Ignatian meditation practices. The resulting prayer-poems draw us deeply into the incarnational reality that Hopkins felt so keenly.
Seminary Auditorium

To Try and Try Again: A Conversation with Robert Finch and Alan Jacobs

The definition of an essay is "to try or attempt." Two essayists discuss what they attempt to do in their essays and why the effort is worthwhile.
Commons Lecture Hall

more to come...

performance
Poetry Spoken and Sung
Enjoy the poetry of several Festival authors, along with that of Dylan Thomas, Emily Dickinson, and George Herbert. The program features Capella, the concert choir of Calvin College, directed by Joel Navarro.
Chapel

film
The Reckoning (1.5 hours)
This documentary film features the stories of six survivors of the Dutch Resistance—ordinary men and women who came to the aid of Jews during the brutal World War II Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. James Schaap wrote the original script for the film, which was produced by Storytelling Pictures. (A panel discussion about the film takes place on Friday at 1:45 p.m.).
Commons Lecture Hall

*Reception and book signing with Kadir Nelson

*On Faith and Writing

Yann Martel
The Baron Lecture
Sunshine Community Church

*The Women of Lockerbie

open-mic poetry reading

Prince Conference Center

Pure Undiluted Slog

Rob Bell
Fine Arts Center Auditorium

film showing: No Country for Old Men (sponsored by the Calvin College Film Arts Committee)

morning prayers

Bearing the Burden of the Mystery

Elizabeth Strout
Literature is essential to the task facing all of us—that it, to bear the burden of the mystery. Strout discusses why producing this literature is an act of faith, requiring the writer to believe that if a truth is presented, the reader who needs it will find it.
Seminary Chapel

A Conversation with Francine Rivers

Rivers answers questions from audience members about her life and work.
Chapel

Icarus Avenue: A Christian Walk to Calvary

Steve Prince
Prince talks about his work Icarus Avenue, which is a fictitious story about a woman named Jessey who gets a spiritual calling from God to become an evangelist in her community. Prince focuses particularly on how he utilized the mythological story of Icarus, as well as the Stations of the Cross, as symbolic storytelling mechanisms in this work.
Commons Lecture Hall

An Interview with Olga Grushin

Chad Engbers interviews Grushin about her first book, The Dream Life of Sukhanov, with particular attention to the relationship between art and spirituality in the novel.
Chapel Undercroft

Learning to Use Your Own Red Pen

Shauna Niequist and Angela Scheff
Author Niequist and her editor discuss the importance of editing your own work—and provide tips on how to accomplish it.
Prince Board Room

Light Lessons

Joan Bauer
Most writers of fiction come to a point at which they think, "What am I doing? I can't find my way through this story." Bauer talks about the transforming power of light and how she uses it in her books to gently coax truth from the shadows.
Seminary Auditorium

A Reading by Patricia Johnson

Swets Hall

Spiritual Striptease: The Journey from Covering the Story to Becoming the Story

Cathleen Falsani
How do journalists move from writing about other people to writing about themselves? In what ways is a journalistic background an asset—or a hindrance—in memoir writing? Falsani offers her perspective on making the shift from journalist to memoirist.
Willow Room

Stories of Faith and Civil Rights

Charles Marsh
Forty years ago, in April 1968, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated. On the occasion of this solemn anniversary, Marsh explores the nature of writing as repentance and celebrates the spirituality that has permeated the American struggle for social justice.
Alumni Association Board Room

Wendell Berry and the Life of the Church

Dave Crowe, Darryl Hart, Jack Leax, and Jason Peters
Wendell Berry's influence has grown significantly in recent years, particularly within the faith community. The panelists discuss Berry's work and the various ways in which it engages the community of believers.
Meeter Center Lecture Hall

coffee break

Acedia . . . Again

Kathleen Norris
Few people today have encountered the word acedia, which literally means not-caring, or being unable to care—or even being unable to care that you don't care. In some ways, though, acedia defines today's culture, expressing itself as willful indifference, restless boredom, or even frantic busyness. Norris discusses both acedia and its opposite—the zeal that draws on faith, hope, and love.
Fine Arts Center Auditorium

The Perfect Book Proposal

Chip MacGregor
Literary agent and former editor MacGregor explores the required elements that editors are looking for in a book proposal—what works, what doesn't, and how to grab the attention of a publisher.
Seminary Auditorium

A Reading by Rod Jellema

Commons Lecture Hall

Speaking—and Writing—of Faith: Encountering the Limits and Possibilities of Words

Krista Tippett
Tippett reflects on the challenge of talking about religion in public life—and she shares what she has learned about how we can all approach the topic in fresh, creative, and powerful ways.
Chapel

Through a Screen Darkly: A Memoir of Gradual Bedazzlement and Dangerous Moviegoing

Jeffrey Overstreet
Frederick Buechner says, "If we are to love our neighbors, we must first see our neighbors with our imaginations as well as our eyes. That is to say, like artists." In a tour of movies from around the world, Overstreet examines the ways in which art—however simple, dark, or strange—can give us new perspectives and transforming encounters with beauty and truth.
Seminary Chapel

Truth and Beauty: Visual Artists in Conversation

Mordicai Gerstein, Barry Moser, Jon J Muth, and Steve Prince
Four artists talk about aesthetic intentions and about the ways in which they hope their work reaches out to viewers.
Lab Theatre

Writing The Women of Lockerbie, from Inspiration to Completion

Deborah Brevoort
Brevoort examines the challenges of adapting a contemporary story to the conventions of Greek tragedy and using historical events as the basis for a dramatic work. The focus is on charting the step-by-step process used in creating The Women of Lockerbie, with the goal of providing participants with tools that they can apply to their own projects.
Gezon Auditorium

Bridges to Terabithia: A Conversation with David Paterson and Katherine Paterson

Filmmakers who bring treasured novels to the screen often encounter the challenge of meeting the high expectations of viewers. The novelist and screenwriter of Bridge to Terabithia talk about the long but rewarding process of adapting the novel for the screen.
Fine Arts Center Auditorium

How Life as a Quaker Prepared Me for a Life as a Novelist: More Than Just Sitting Still for Long Periods of Time
Haven Kimmel
Kimmel explores the faith and practice of Quakerism, both historically and in her own life, and looks at the ways in which a life in the Society of Friends has uniquely prepared her for the vocation of writing. Or so she would prefer to believe. Otherwise she has spent the past forty-three years in silence for no reason.
Lab Theatre

An Interview with Elizabeth Berg

Darlene Meyering interviews Berg about her life as a writer, the themes of her work, the development of her characters, and the reasons she writes.
Chapel

Life Extension on a Budget: Reading and Writing Book Reviews

John Wilson
No, people won't live longer by reading and writing book reviews, but they'll experience what C. S. Lewis called "extension of being." Wilson offers some insight on the art—and future—of the book review.
Alumni Association Board Room

One or the Other

Sefi Atta
How do writers negotiate questions of identity, especially when those identities cross cultural and religious boundaries? Nigerian writer Sefi Atta talks about how growing up with a Christian mother and Muslim father and living in Mississippi after September 11 affects her work.
Commons Lecture Hall

Religion in the Public Eye: A Conversation with Cathleen Falsani and Krista Tippett

Religion reporters face a double-edged task in their work: how to be true to the way believers perceive their own religion and how to represent that religion to the general public. A print journalist and a radio interviewer discuss the challenges of understanding—and reporting on—spirituality and religious practices.
Seminary Chapel

Telling a Good Story

Davis Bunn
Good storytelling is at the heart of any successful novel. Bunn talks about why writers should pay more attention to the basics of storytelling—and how they can make their stories more compelling.
Chapel Undercroft

Trapped by History: A Conversation with Ingrid Hill and Eric Jager

Historical research is central for writers in many genres, but how much research to do—and how to use that research—can be difficult questions to answer. Hill and Jager discuss how they approach historical research in their differing genres.
Prince Board Room

Writing Poems from Different Parts of the Soul

David Athey
For participants who pre-registered.
President's Dining Room

Writing Toward Social Justice

Edward Gilbreath, Charles Marsh, and Helena Maria Viramontes
Although the term social justice conjures images of political action, sit-ins, and marches, many social justice movements have been fueled by literary works. An essayist, a historian, and a novelist talk about ways in which social justice motivates their writing and runs as a theme throughout their work.
Willow Room

more to come...

Faith in Oneself: The Writer versus Hollywood

David Paterson
Paterson, a screenwriter and film producer, talks about the various obstacles and rejections that screenwriters experience, ways in which they can promote their original material, and the challenges of interpreting or adapting other authors' work.
Seminary Auditorium

The Figure in the Carpet: The Editor-Author Relationship
Beena Kamlani and Paul Mariani
How does an editor work with an author to help rid a manuscript of all that obscures its central story? How does the central story come to light? How does a manuscript become the best that it can be within the editing process? And what, exactly, is the editor’s role? An author and his editor talk about these questions and more.
Commons Lecture Hall

From Despair to Healing: Theological Insights from Fiction

Mary Louise Bringle
This session is for "practical theologians"—writers of sermons who want to use fiction as a tool for proclaiming gospel hope in a world that too often tempts us to despair, or writers of fiction who want their stories to preach without sounding "preachy."
Alumni Association Board Room

An Interview with Yann Martel

Otto Selles talks with Martel about writing about the self, faith, and evil in Life of Pi and other works.
Fine Arts Center Auditorium

Laughing Out Loud: Using Humor in Writing

Joan Bauer, Haven Kimmel, and Brady Udall
We all treasure writers who make us laugh out loud. But how do writers themselves think about humor? Do they craft jokes and insert them at appropriate places? Does humor spring at them unawares? Three writers discuss the pleasures and pitfalls of using humor in writing.
Lab Theatre

A Reading by Barbara Crooker and Linda Nemec Foster

Prince Board Room

Telling Our Master Stories

Dan Taylor
Every story that grows out of a life is worth telling. But some of our stories are more life-shaping than others. Identifying and telling our master stories—some uniquely ours and some shared with others—can help us make better sense of our lives. Taylor discusses the distinctive characteristics of a master story, helps each person create his or her unique list of such stories, and provides pointers on how to write them.
Willow Room

To Tell the Truth

Cathleen Falsani, Dorina Lazo Gilmore, and Edward Gilbreath
Journalists talk about how religious news stories are—or should be—covered in the media, how faith affects their writing, and what role journalists play in shaping discussions about religion.
Seminary Chapel

The Figure in the Carpet: The Editor-Author Relationship
Beena Kamlani and Paul Mariani
How does an editor work with an author to help rid a manuscript of all that obscures its central story? How does the central story come to light? How does a manuscript become the best that it can be within the editing process? And what, exactly, is the editor’s role? An author and his editor talk about these questions and more.
Commons Lecture Hall

Religion in America: A Conversation with Jon Sweeney and Phyllis Tickle

What are some of the trends in religion today—and how do those trends affect those of us who are readers and writers? Sweeney and Tickle offer insight into how organized religion, spirituality, and the relationship between faiths are rapidly changing, as is the way we write about them.
Chapel

and more...

coffee break

Collaborations

Paul Mariani and Barry Moser
Two friends and collaborators talk about the process of working together, which they also describe as "performing delicate operations on the self and friends in complete darkness."
Chapel Undercroft

First Things First

Eric Jager
Writing a historical narrative requires extensive research as well as attention to story. Jager talks about creating exciting narrative from the historical record, getting the readers' attention, developing surprise and suspense, and putting readers at the scene.
Willow Room

Girl in the Green Dress: On Playwriting

Diane Glancy
Glancy takes attendees through the process of writing a play, from creating a beginning image to developing strong, memorable characters to moving through conflict, crisis, and resolution.
Seminary Auditorium

An Interview with Rob Bell

Mike Lawrie talks with Rob Bell about communicating the gospel in a variety of modes to a variety of audiences —and about the challenges along the way.
Fine Arts Center Auditorium

An Interview with Sam Beam

Erin Garcia-O’Connor talks with Beam, a folk artist better known as Iron and Wine, about career beginnings, songwriting, concert tours, and movie soundtracks.
Chapel

A Reading by Brian Doyle and Jack Leax

Seminary Chapel

A Reading by James Schaap

Lab Theatre

Wendell Berry and the Life of the Academy

Jeremy Beer, Patrick Deenen, Travis Kroeker, and Jason Peters
The work of Wendell Berry has many connections to both scholarship and teaching in liberal-arts colleges and universities. The panelists explore some of those connections and discuss Berry's place in the academy.
Prince Board Room

Writing Comics

Kevin Huizenga
How do the two elements of story and illustration come together in a graphic novel? Huizenga takes attendees through the process of how he wrote and illustrated one of his stories, using many images of unfinished pages, reference photos, and more.
Commons Lecture Hall

Writing Persona Poems (1.25 hours)

Thom Satterlee
For participants who pre-registered.
President's Dining Room

A History of My Faith, or, I Once Was Lost and I Still Am . . . and the Evidence for This Is in Everything I Write, Even Grocery Lists

Elizabeth Berg
Berg shares her thoughts on the connection between faith and writing in her own life and work.
Fine Arts Center Auditorium

The Reckoning (1.5 hours)

This documentary film features the stories of six survivors of the Dutch Resistance—ordinary men and women who came to the aid of Jews during the brutal World War II Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. James Schaap wrote the original script for the film, which was produced by Storytelling Pictures. (A panel discussion about the film takes place on Friday at 1:45 p.m.).
Commons Lecture Hall

*Stories of Beauty

Katherine Paterson
Wiersma Memorial Lecture
Sunshine Community Church

*The Women of Lockerbie

poetry slam

Fish House

*Iron and Wine concert

Fine Arts Center Auditorium (tickets sold out)

film showing: Stranger Than Fiction