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Friday, May 5 • 9:00am - 10:15am
Welcoming Convocation & Opening Keynote
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Limited Capacity seats available
The entire conference gathers in the Georgian Ballroom for a welcome from the conference director followed by an interactive discussion on the conference theme, "What's a Writer For?" led by John Freeman and featuring Aleksandar Hemon. Exploring the question of the writers' role in society, we will address questions including: Is it enough for writers to “entertain?” Should entertainment even be our goal? How political should a writer be? Is everything we write political anyway? Do we have a particular responsibility to the audience that aligns with our cultural background? How can examining our purpose and individual mission open up possibilities for our fiction and/or nonfiction that we have yet to consider? 
Speakers
avatar for Christopher Castellani

Christopher Castellani

Author, LEADING MEN
Christopher Castellani's fourth novel, Leading Men, is forthcoming from Viking in February 2019. He is also the author of The Art of Perspective, a collection of essays on point of view in fiction, and three other novels. Christopher works as artistic director of GrubStreet, was a... Read More →
avatar for John Freeman

John Freeman

Founder and Editor, Freeman's
John Freeman is an award-winning writer and book critic who has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal. Freeman won the 2007 James Patterson Pageturner Award... Read More →
avatar for Aleksandar Hemon

Aleksandar Hemon

Author, THE BOOK OF MY LIVES
Aleksandar Hemon is the author of The Question of Bruno, Nowhere Man, and The Lazarus Project, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2008. Born in Sarajevo, Hemon visited Chicago in 1992, intending to stay for several months. While there, Sarajevo came... Read More →
avatar for Claire Messud

Claire Messud

Author, THE WOMAN UPSTAIRS
Claire Messud’s The Emperor’s Children, was a New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post Best Book of the Year. Her first novel, When the World Was Steady, and her book of novellas, The Hunters, were both finalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award; and her second... Read More →

Friday May 5, 2017 9:00am - 10:15am EDT
Grand Ballroom
  For Everyone

Attendees (431)