Creative Writing & Storytelling Conference

This year’s theme is curation. The Creative Writing & Storytelling Conference will address how storytelling drives curation, and how curation functions as storytelling. Whether via edited anthologies, deeply researched pieces, telling forgotten stories, or first-person narratives, writers are continuously engaging in the craft of curation, drawing on and re-arranging fragments of a larger story to fashion works that enable new perspectives and create deepened understanding.

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Downloadable program [PDF]

Calling all King’s alumni! Join us for Alumni Day Brunch before the Saturday conference sessions. Book your seat.

Friday, May 30

11 a.m.–12:15 | Session 1
Curating Language
KTS (2nd floor, New Academic Building)

1. Treasure-Hunting in a Tsunami: Curation in the Age of Self-Publishing and Artificial Intelligence | Mark Cameron

2. A Crash Course in Linguistics for Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writers | Enzo Le Doze

3. Curating Voices: What I Learned from Working with a Sensitivity Reader | Jennifer R. Wilson

11 a.m.–12:15 | Workshop
Turning Research into Writing
Archibald Room (3rd floor, New Academic Building)

Jon Tattrie

1:30–2:45 | Session 2
Trauma, Grief and Lost Stories
KTS (2nd floor, New Academic Building)

1. When Art Imitates Life: The Power of True Stories to Shape Fiction | Gina Brown

2. Curating a Story of Lived Experience: The Art of Storytelling in Post-Trauma Growth | Peter Winfield

3. It Starts with an Apple | Simon Thibault

1:30–2:45 | Workshop
What is a Hermit Crab Essay and How to Write One
Archibald Room (3rd floor, New Academic Building)

Amy Fish

3:15–4:30 | Session 3
Ghosts
KTS (2nd floor, New Academic Building)

1. Written in Stone: Safeguarding Story in an Age of Loss | Nancy Forde

2. Beyond the Database | Gloria Blizzard

3. The Woman Who Wasn’t There: A Field Guide to Collaborating with Ghosts | Morag Wehrle

3:15–4:30 | Workshop
Branching Out from the Book: Exploring a Range of Storytelling Formats
Archibald Room (3rd floor, New Academic Building)

Amanda Lee
Stacey McLeod

Saturday, May 31

1:30–2:45 | Workshop
Curating Memory in Storytelling: How Memories Meet Words
Archibald Room (3rd floor, New Academic Building)

Lorri Neilsen Glenn
Kim Pittaway

3:15–4:30 | Session 4
Lost Stories
KTS (2nd floor, New Academic Building)

1. Stories of Resilience: The Forgotten Lives of Tudor Women | Julie Katharine Strong

2. Curating as Storytelling: Burnt Sugar | francesca ekwuyasi

3. Intimate Personal and Family Histories: Curating Your Own Narrative | Michelle Doyle

3:15–4:30 | Workshop
Instinct vs. Insight: A Fun, Fast-Paced Gameshow Workshop on Narrative Curation
Archibald Room (3rd floor, New Academic Building)

Jeremiah Benskin

Sunday, June 1

9:30–10:45 | Session 5
Curating Together
KTS (2nd floor, New Academic Building)

1. Graphic Novel Publishing as Curatorial Enterprise | Andy Brown

2. Two Sides of the Same Story: Techniques for Collaborative Curation in Memoir | James MacDuff

3. Playlists: On Curating Anthologies | Daryl Whetter

9:30–10:45 | Workshop
Obituaries: A Workshop in Curating Life’s Narrative
Archibald Room (3rd floor, New Academic Building)

Moira Dann

11:15–12:30 | Session 6
Move Your Body
KTS (2nd floor, New Academic Building)

1. The DJ as Storyteller: Memory, Music, and Cultural Transmission | Jon Corbin

2. Blow Out the Cobwebs: Using Physical Activity to Boost Creativity So You Have Something to Curate | Heather Bell

3. FEELING IT: Finding Rhythm in Your Writing Through Music and Movement | Judy Holm

11:15–12:30 | Workshop
Genre-Busting in Creative Nonfiction
Archibald Room (3rd floor, New Academic Building)

Laurie Mackie

Registration