Having never before participated in an AWP panel (though I have attended many), I was initiated only from the perspective of an audience member. Knowing that an uninteresting topic coupled with boring presenters may drive the audience to mutiny, I came prepared to be as concise and witty (hopefully) as possible. Overall, I consider my effort a success. Of course, having panelists like Tanya Egan Gibson, Dan Blank, Bethanne Patrick, Christina Katz, and moderator Jane Friedman at the dais made failure near-impossible.

I’ve argued before that and author should openly embrace Social Media; the goal of both online social engagement and book-bound literary endeavors are the same: communicating on a human level. While naysayers abound, the consistent monologue about the form (such as this very AWP panel) seems to slowly be cultivating a more accepting and even more eager mindset.

Listen to the full panel using the player above. Or you can subscribe to The Velvet Podcast via Feedburner, Podcast Alley, RSS, or iTunes.

Here’s the official description:

The Art and Authenticity of Social Media: Using Online Tools to Grow a Community. (Jane Friedman, Tanya Egan Gibson, Dan Blank, Bethanne Patrick, Christina Katz, Caleb J. Ross)

Social media is easy to disparage as meaningless socializing, undignified shilling, or time better spent writing. Yet sharing information online and having conversations with readers is critical to spreading the word about what you (or your organization) does. Online community building can help develop a long-term readership, plus open up new opportunities.

I stumbled upon the Insider Higher Ed blog just now and was happy to read that they will be doing AWP podcasts during the entire conference, that’s Feb 2nd -5th. I’m quite excited about this.

Here’s more:

Please plan to tune in here February 2nd to the 5th for a series of podcasts on literary topics by big-time poets and writers, as well as multiple chances each day to win free books and other prizes!

This year it’s being held in Washington, DC, home of Inside Higher Ed, and I’ve long planned to be there blogging, taking care of some other business, and being feted by my editor. Then I had an idea: Why not use this opportunity to connect writers and readers, wherever they are?

I definitely recommend you check out the list of things they have planned. Here’s a sweet taste:

• The staff of Ninth Letter on the collaboration between Art & Design faculty and Creative Writing faculty in producing the award-winning journal
• A dramatic reading of Anton Chekhov’s monologue “On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco,” Chekhov’s longest-revised dramatic work
• Readings from a night at Quickies, “Chicago’s favorite reading series,” dedicated to flash fiction
• A night at The Parlor, another Chicago series, with Adam Levin, whose novel was just released by McSweeneys Books
• Etgar Keret, Israeli writer and filmmaker (Jellyfish, winner of the Caméra d’Or at Cannes) reads his short story “Shoes”

For full details, go here.

From The Velvet Podcast blog:

Authors Caleb J Ross (Stranger Will) and Brandon Tietz (Out of Touch) talk about their expectations going into the upcoming Washington DC AWP Conference in February. Caleb calls from his five-time attendance history to help first-timer, Brandon, get the most out of the four day event. And Brandon teaches Caleb a little about how to be a rockstar.

Listen below. Subscribe via Feedburner, Podcast Alley, RSS, or iTunes.

I will let the words of the authors speak for themselves. The panel consisted of six readers and a Q&A session. Also, I must mention here, that both cowboypoetry.com and cowboysongs.com were recommended by the panel.

I will let the words of the authors speak for themselves. The panel consisted of six readers and a Q&A session. Also, I must mention here, that both cowboypoetry.com and cowboysongs.com were recommended by the panel.

I will let the words of the authors speak for themselves. The panel consisted of six readers and a Q&A session. Also, I must mention here, that both cowboypoetry.com and cowboysongs.com were recommended by the panel.

I will let the words of the authors speak for themselves. The panel consisted of six readers and a Q&A session. Also, I must mention here, that both cowboypoetry.com and cowboysongs.com were recommended by the panel.

I will let the words of the authors speak for themselves. The panel consisted of six readers and a Q&A session. Also, I must mention here, that both cowboypoetry.com and cowboysongs.com were recommended by the panel.

I will let the words of the authors speak for themselves. The panel consisted of six readers and a Q&A session. Also, I must mention here, that both cowboypoetry.com and cowboysongs.com were recommended by the panel.

Participants in the panel were, Jeff Streeby, JV Brummels, Donald Williams, Thea Gavin, David Romtvelt, and Joshua Dolezal.

Cowboy poetry is a fantastic and complex genre. Poems of work, poems of oral history, poems of landscape. I must admit, as someone who comes from Philadelphia and Vermont; I am totally not a cowboy. There is still so much in the genre I find to identify with. I felt like I’d done enough ‘work’ panels at this conference, and thus I’d treat myself, and this panel was indeed a treat.

I will let the words of the authors speak for themselves. The panel consisted of six readers and a Q&A session. Also, I must mention here, that both cowboypoetry.com and cowboysongs.com were recommended by the panel.

I also do have a brief video of David Romtvedt playing the accordion for us. You can hear it in his performance. I don’t have the bandwith at the moment to upload it but if anyone wants to see it, drop me an e-mail at toddbstevens at gmail and it shall be yours.

Thank you to all the participants, and much thanks to Rattle for a panel that was vibrant, varied, and overall fantastic.

(See the following 6 posts for each of the panelist discussions)

Two readings that stood out were Susan Briande’s and a joint reading by Maxine Chernoff and Paul Hoover.

All of these poets are signing at E 24-25-26 on Friday, 1PM, and please visit Ahsante at K23.

Two readings that stood out were Susan Briande’s and a joint reading by Maxine Chernoff and Paul Hoover.

All of these poets are signing at E 24-25-26 on Friday, 1PM, and please visit Ahsante at K23.

Here we discuss topics relating to his panel, extract below:

S115. Crime, Horror, Sci‐Fi, and Fantasy… Seriously. (Anthony Smith, Brian Evenson, Stephen Graham Jones, Tod Goldberg, Mark Smith, Seth Harwood) Six writers of genre fiction who also teach and/or have graduated from university creative writing programs discuss how they approach genre fiction as a serious literary pursuit rather than as a lesser form of fiction. In addition, they discuss attitudes towards genre fiction in the university and how those attitudes have changed over the years.

I want to personally thank Mr. Brian Evenson for taking time out of his day to chat with me. He has made this fanboy quite happy.

Be sure to visit his website for details about this amazing author.

See the bottom of the sidebar to the left for all the podcast subscription options.

The test audio I’ve chosen to use is from a Stephen Graham Jones reading at the 2006 AWP Conference in Austin, TX. So to make this post more than just a test, I’ll use the following embarrassing anecdote, involving how I acquired this audio, as a testament to the fanboy connections that can be made at an AWP Conference.

When wandering the bookfair at the Austin conference, I passed by the University of Nebraska Press table, shocked to see Stephen Graham Jones just sitting around. I suppose in my head I thought the man’s reputation warranted a healthy mob at all times. I introduced myself, telling Mr. Jones that I was a member of The Velvet (www.welcometothevelvet.com), a reader/writer community of which Mr. Jones is a key member.

We got on well, so I went with him to his reading, where he asked that I record it for him. Afterwards, we went to a panel at which he and Craig Clevenger (another The Velvet fulcrum) were presenting. Meeting both of these guys should have been enough to render me speechless. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. When striving for conversation with Craig, I said that “Will” told me about the panel. For those of you in the know, Will, as in Will Christopher Baer, is both a notorious recluse and friend of Craig Clevenger, so naturally Craig was interested in my connection to the man. Nerves got the best of me; when I said “Will” I meant “Stephen.” It must have been the three-name thing that tripped me. As I sheepishly backed away from any further conversation, Craig asked what my name was on The Velvet. All I could spit was “ThirstyGerbil.”

To further the embarrassment, I had, at that time, been only a lurker at The Velvet. Meaning: sans a legitimate account. I spent the rest of the conference tracking down a computer so as to create an account. I found one in the lobby/front desk/continental breakfast nook of a scary motel.

I think, if you track back to my first post at The Velvet, I complain about my original account being deleted, or such bullcrap, in an attempt to fool people into thinking I had been around for a while.

The moral of the story: sometimes lying is okay. Just be willing to fight to make that lie truth.