Below you'll find the complete guide to everything fiction at Lit Fest 2021, including craft seminars and readings from headliners Steve Almond, Helen DeWitt, Sheila Heti, Mat Johnson, Rebecca Makkai, and Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi. Choose intensives, seminars, and events á la carte or sign up for one of our festival passes for the full experience.
Two-Weekend Intensives
- Two-Weekend Intensive: Beyond Plot—Taking Your Writing to the Next Level with William Haywood Henderson (June 5–6 and June 12–13)
- Two-Weekend Intensive: Shadow Work—Fiction Techniques with Sarah Elizabeth Schantz (June 5–6 and June 12–13)
One-Weekend Intensives
- Queer Forms with Serena Chopra (June 12–13)
Craft Seminars
To view all of the Lit Fest craft seminars, visit this page.
Friday, June 4
- Milieu: The World of Your Story with Dino Enrique Piacentini
- Why the Rules Don't Matter: Who Knows What Works? with Mario Acevedo
- Fierce Remix: Writing the Multiple-Timeline Book with Jenny Shank
- Mooching from Munro with Amanda Rea
- What Is a "Platform" and Why Do I Really Need One? with Wendy J. Fox
- Nature Writing in the Anthropocene with Evelyn Hampton
- Surviving the Rejection Blues with Vicki Lindner
Saturday, June 5
- Creating Compelling Characters with Mathangi Subramanian
- Creating Art in Dark Times with R. Alan Brooks
- How To Identify (and Fix) the Boring Parts with Rachel Weaver
- The Narrative Foundation with Nick Arvin
- Tuning in to Your Characters: Using Music as Characterization with Anthony D'Aries
- I Thought I'd Be Done by Now with Rachel Weaver
- Information Wars: From Dazed to Amazed with Helen DeWitt
- Maintaining a Consistent Writing Practice with Steven Dunn and Suzi Q. Smith
- Truth into Fiction with John Cotter
Sunday, June 6
- Using Time in Narrative with Amanda Rea
- The Hidden Powers of Setting with Andrea Bobotis
- Writer as Cartographer with Poupeh Missaghi
- The Element of Surprise with Elisa Gabbert
- Worldbuilding in a Hurry: Novel-Length YA/MG with Olivia Chadha
- The Genre Toolbox: Tropes, Archetypes, and Cliché with Traci Groff-Jones
- Lemons and Lemonade: Writing Your Pandemic Story with Daniel Levine
- Punctuate Your Love with John Cotter
Monday, June 7
- Genre Bending and Blending with Courtney E. Morgan
- Stealing from Suspense with Tiffany Quay Tyson
- The Mind Outside the Head with Sheila Heti
- What’s at Stake? with William Haywood Henderson
- Picture Book, Chapter Book, or Novel: What Does Your Children's Story Want To Be? with Denise Vega
- Writing for Healing and Change with Joy Roulier Sawyer
- The Living Object in Prose with Andrea Bobotis
Tuesday, June 8
- Far-Flung Points of Light: Constellating Prose with Sasha Geffen
- The Actor's Guide to Backstory with Susan Knudten
- It Only Hurts When I Laugh: Writing with Humor with Erika Krouse
- Hermit Crabbing Your Prose: Moving Narrative into a New Structures with Chip Livingston
- Reading as a Writer: Meg Wolitzer with Steve Almond
- Synesthesia with Sarah Elizabeth Schantz
- Bad to the Bone: Writing Villains with Erika Krouse
- Writing the Active Setting with Tiffany Quay Tyson
- Writing the MG/YA Adventure Novel with Lija Fisher
Wednesday, June 9
- Dissecting the Frog: Humor in Writing with Nick Arvin
- Graphic Prose: Comics and Prose Writing with R. Alan Brooks
- The Art of Constraints: Setting Limits to Set Ourselves Free with Alexander Lumans
- Writing with the Moon Cycles with Courtney E. Morgan
- Using the Blank Space: Writing Nontraditional and Experimental Formats with Liz Breazeale
- The Full Swoop with T Kira Madden
- Multilingual Writing with Poupeh Missaghi
- Better Sorry Than Safe: Transcending Cliché with Jennifer Wortman
Thursday, June 10
- True (or Untrue) Confessions with Erika Krouse
- How to Make the Ordinary Extraordinary with Mario Acevedo
- Blocking a Scene with William Haywood Henderson
- Shut Up and Tell Me You Love Me: Dialogue Do's and Don'ts with Erika Krouse
- What's Wrong with My Book? Craft and Plotting Tips to Get You Submission-Ready with Courtney Maum
- Interiority Complex with Rebecca Makkai
- Strange Realisms: The Art of the Short Story with Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi
- Turning Your Obsessions into Books with Steve Almond
- Getting Published: Stories, Essays, Articles, and Books with Jenny Shank
- The Language of Love with Patrick Cottrell and Sarah Gerard
Friday, June 11
- No Ideas but in Things with William Haywood Henderson
- Literature of Witness with Poupeh Missaghi
- Prompt Party with Joy Roulier Sawyer
- What Oulipo Knows: How Constraint-Based Writing Can Push Your Work into Uncharted Territory with Jesse Morse
- Dream Weaving: Working with Dreams in Narrative with Jennifer Wortman
- Live in the Layers: Mindfulness and Writing with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg
- Going Out in Style with Sarah Elizabeth Schantz
- Kill Your Darlings with Cyntha Swanson
- The Way of the Artist Is a Surrender: Writing Hybrid, Crossing Genres with Addie Tsai
Saturday, June 12
- Discovering the Metaphor(s) with Chip Livingston
- 3:00 AM Epiphanies in the Afternoon with Brian Kiteley
- Oh So Little Time with Paula Younger
- Man with a Cake: Utility of Foil Characters with William Henry Lewis
- A Roadmap to Publishing with Rachel Weaver
- What You Can Learn from Indigenous Speculative Fiction with Erika T. Wurth
Sunday, June 13
- Superheroes in Prose with Jason Heller
- What to Write Next: In Search of Ideas with Traci Groff-Jones
- Breathing into Being: Crafting Atmospheres in Prose with Alexander Lumans
- The Breaking Point with Paula Younger
- Spinning Sleep into Gold: Writing Fiction from Dreams with Emily Flouton
- Two Hours, Two Thousand Words with BK Loren
BUSINESS PANELS
- Friday, June 4: Business Panel: The Big Four
- Saturday, June 5: Business Panel: State of the Indies—Independent Publishing in 2021
- Sunday, June 6: Business Panel: Lit Mag Insights—What Are Editors Looking For?
- Monday, June 7: Business Panel: Nuts and Bolts—Money in Publishing
- Tuesday, June 8: Business Panel: Publishing Today
- Wednesday, June 9: Business Panel: Story of a Book—The Agent-Writer Partnership
- Thursday, June 10: Business Panel: Query Letters 101
- Saturday, June 12: Business Panel: Writing Responsibly
Evening Events
- Lit Fest Kickoff Party with emcee Adam Cayton-Holland, live music, and more on June 4
- Inspiration Tour with Alex McElroy, Tarfia Faizulla, Alexander Lumans, and Diana Khoi Nguyen on June 6
- The Lit Fest Virtual Spelling Bee, hosted by The Spelling Bee Company on June 12
Visiting Author Readings
- Saturday, June 5: Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi and Bryan Washington
- Wednesday, June 9: Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Steve Almond and Rebecca Makkai
- Friday, June 11: Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Helen DeWitt, Sheila Heti, and Sarah Ruhl
- Sunday, June 13: Visiting Authors Reading and Conversation: Leslie Jamison, Mat Johnson
