Writers Work
Writers Work hosts a rich array of professionals working in fields related to literary, book, and other arts, but distinct from academia. Showcasing the way writers and other artists find careers in which to apply their skills, and the ways art lovers bring the arts into their lives, editors, publishers, librarians, booksellers, arts administrators and other professionals share how their careers and their love of literary and other arts intersect. Interactive and anecdotal, each forum offers a window into a different part of the literary landscape, providing firsthand accounts of professional trajectories and offering advice from many different parts of the field. Writers Work is a program of the MFA for Poets and Writers’ Juniper Initiative.
Past Guest include:
Michael Barron, New Directions, Supermachine
Mira Bartok, Mira’s List
Jedediah Berry, Small Beer Press
Liza Birnbaum, Holyoke Care Center
Robert Casper, Poetry Society of America, Council of Literary Magazines & Presses, jubilat
Robert Cox, Du Bois Library
Carol Ann Davis, Crazyhorse
Erica Dawson, Poetry Editor, Tampa Review
Corwin Ericson, The Massachusetts Review
Melissa Flashman, Trident Media Group
Brett Fletcher, Poetry Society of America, A Public Space
Lauren Goodman, Teaching & Learning Director, Berkshire Community College
James Heflin, The Valley Advocate
Bonnie Isman, Jones Library
Chris Janke, Slope Editions
Heidi Julavits, The Believer
Alix Kennedy, Family Fun Magazine
David Kermani, Flow Chart
Reb Livingston, No Tell Motel
Frances McCue, The Hugo House
Lynn Melnick, Outreach Director for VIDA
Cal Morgan, Harper Collins
Stephen Motika, Poets House
Travis Nichols, Poetry Foundation, Weird Deer
Lance Olsen, Fiction Collective Two
Chris Parris-Lamb, Literary Agent, The Gernert Company
Katie Raissian, Grove Atlantic
Camille Rankine, VIDA Board of Directors
Jason Schwarz, Greenpeace
David Shields, author
Joanna Rakoff Smith, freelancer
Karen Skolfield, Poetry Editor, Amherst Live; winner, 2014 PEN New England award in poetry
Lauren Smythe, Literary Agent, InkWell Management
Rob Spillman, Editor and Co-Founder, Tin House
Amy Stolls, The National Endowment of the Arts
Tree Swenson, The Academy of American Poets
Stephen Tagle, Fulbright Fellowship
Ryan Walsh, Development/Writing Director, Vermont Studio Center
Ellen Watson, Smith Poetry Center
Rebecca Wolf, Fence, Fence Books
Jung Yun, Director of New Faculty Initiatives in the UMass Office of Faculty Development
Matthew Zapruder, Verse Press/Wave Books
