With Roxane Gay, Maggie Smith, Saeed Jones, and Aubrey Hirsch.

Event description:

Our wounds are the openings to our deepest selves. The craving for connection in these soft and tender places and the instinct to seek out witnesses to our scars are universal. But how can we ensure we are writing toward healing, rather than re-traumatization? And how do we write ethically about those who have hurt us? Panelists working in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and graphic storytelling will discuss their personal experiences and best practice principles for writing trauma ethically.

Too often writers feel pressured to divulge trauma in their writing, without thought to how these disclosures can re-open wounds and compound the damage they’ve caused. This is especially true for writers with marginalized identities. This thoughtful and diverse group of writers working in multiple genres will discuss how to resist the pressure to write in a way that increases harm, and how to center personal ethics and your own healing in your written explorations.

Details to come (note that for now the dates of this event are the dates of AWP; will udpate when the conference schedule is posted).