Regarding invited guests: I would like to see Anne Carson invited, but she would cost a lot. Maybe a panel on Anne Carson's work instead?

I don't think we really need to worry about having "headliners"; this topic will be interesting enough to a broad range of writers who should be or will be "headliners" some day. I've never been particularly impressed with the contributions of hired guns at conferences. They tend to swoop in, do the minimal, collect the paycheck and beat it. I could be wrong about that. The form/topic itself will be a draw. 

I would like to propose a panel with Shellie Zacharia (and others) on the unique way that very short fictions are collected to create a book with tonal and thematic variations, that has the cumulative effects of narrative without the pesky narrative claptrap.

--Margaret

Margaret Luongo
Associate Professor, Creative Writing
Department of English
356 Bachelor Hall
Oxford, OH 45056
513-529-5221
________________________________________
From: Miami University Creative Writing Faculty [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of cris cheek [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 11:14 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: short form (very very early draft for some kind of flier)

i have been listening and tinkering all of these good ideas into a new version

thinking about a title, i'd be very plain



: short forms



to the point, shapely and kinda catchy (but then i always did go for the offbeat musics ;=))
very very happy to hear all suggestions . thanks for tossing that ball about Eric . . i bet we can up with something better than either you or i are suggesting at the moment

i reckon we have a week . . i've nudged Lydia Davis and am still hopeful of hearing back from her, which would be a start

has anybody got a contact handy for Russell Edson? I like the suggestion of James Tate . . . what about Sherman Alexie / / ? (i guess he'll just cost the earth)  .  Jamaica Kincaid??


i'd like to see a panel on Richard Brautigan; a panel on Lydia Davis; a panel on the prose-poem; a panel on hypertexts; a panel on texting and tweeting and all of that; a panel on journal entry / diary entry / blog entry; a panel on song and narrative ballad traditions (maybe) - and something on the blues and country song slice of life condensed narrative  -  and or on Bob Dylan even . . .; a panel on the contemporary fable; a panel on Lyn Hejinian (maybe); a panel on the new narrative (maybe); a panel on folk tales (maybe); a panel on myths of origin (maybe); a panel on Borges (maybe) . . .

and



looking forwards

cris



On Jan 31, 2012, at 10:31 PM, Goodman, Eric wrote:

> I apologize for joining this conversation so late.   Been an odd day.
>
> I like this, and agree with some of the other responses, including the
> notion that a book would come out of it, and perhaps we could reference,
> Rainbow Darkness and the Cook Conference as a sort of precedent.
>
> We could, perhaps, try to secure the appearance of one or two "names"
> between now and the time we'd need this flyer, and could add them.  Or
> simply make some nod to invited guests that will indicate the ambitions of
> the conference.
>
> Might be good to have a dedicated email address for the conference?   And
> a jazzy title?   Short Forms Merging?   Short Forms Mating, Matey?
>
> On 1/31/12 3:42 PM, "Schloss, David Mr." <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Dear cris,
>>
>> at first blast, I like this a lot--informative and chatty. The tone seems
>> inviting, just right. Crunchy?
>>
>> Granola
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: Miami University Creative Writing Faculty
>> [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of cris cheek [[log in to unmask]]
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 12:17 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: short form (very very early draft for some kind of flier)
>>
>> We all know that prose can be poetic and poetry can be prosaic; but
>> between seemingly unassailable monoliths of Fiction and Poetry, a common
>> land of hybrid creative writing forms, less easy to classify, are
>> proliferating and blooming. Such writing, often, but not always, takes
>> short form.
>>
>> Traditions that might be identified within such a frame, including the
>> prose poem; the fable; the anecdote; the pensée and the philosophical
>> fragment, appear increasingly lively. Joined with sudden fiction, flash
>> fictions, the creative non-fiction essay and monikers such as the short
>> short perhaps a trend becomes apparent. Toss the popularity of digitally
>> texted and tweeted narratives, the creative use of status updates, the
>> billboard, the scrolling LED and art-neon into that brew and we think a
>> field sufficiently energetic emerges that is ripe to be celebrated and
>> discussed, perhaps even theorized and hotly contested.
>>
>> The Creative Writing cohort at Miami University, Ohio plans to host just
>> such a celebration / symposium in the Fall of 2013. We expect to be
>> inundated with proposals and suggestions as to how the emergence of short
>> form, as a field of contemporary and historical creative writing
>> practices, can begin to be mapped and taught.
>>
>> Please help us to do so by making a proposal of your own: proposals will
>> be accepted until November 30th 2012.
>>
>>
>>
>> blah blah . okay i know my prose is impossibly crunchy
>>
>>
>> just an early attempt at something bordering on a definition
>>
>> please do feel encouraged to shred it and rescript it et cetera
>>
>>
>> btw . . i wrote to Lydia Davis last weekend but have yet to hear back
>> from her. Fingers crossed .
>>
>>
>> looking forwards,
>>
>>
>> cris