AWP Atlanta 2007 Results
Well, this is the first time in a long while I've made any serious and/or not just copied from MySpace post to my Live Journal, so I'll make it an EXCLUSIVE post. How about that?
To begin, I left for Atlanta on Wednesday, February 28 in order to attend the AWP. That is the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. It's a large conference (this year's attendance was just shy of 5,000) that exists in order to gather writers together, allow them a chance to attend panels and forums, hold a large bookfair with many editors/magazines, and let writers meet some of their favorite authors and hear some readings. GVSU sponsored a group of us to go this year which is a nice thing for undergrads, as it is a conference usually for MFAs and above. To sort of keep this from being really jumbled, I'll update in chunks such as: General accomodations/locale, the conference officially, outside the conference entertainment and such, and bookfair swag.
My airfare down wasn't too bad. Roundtrip, tickets out of GR (40 minutes from home) were about $60-80 more than out of Detroit (3 hours from home). Another difference would have been that, had I gone out of Detroit, it would have been a straight flight. Whereas, from GR, I had a layover at O'Hare in Chicago both ways. The flights were on United, since I get frequent flier miles from them since Taiwan, and all four jaunts were trouble free and professional. Atlanta itself is a very large city. I took a taxi from the airport to the hotel, about a 10-15minute drive, at a flat rate of $30. I learned when my roommates arrived that there was a train (like subway or MRT in Taiwan) that was only $2 for the trip). The Hilton Atlanta on Courtland Drv. was very nice. The woman at the counter asked if I would like a high floor or low floor (which, b/c of her accent, I mistook for high flow or low flow). I chose high and ended up on the 22nd floor. 2215 to be precise. I was a little let down that the room was fairly standard hotel fare. It wasn't bad in any sense, but from a Hilton hotel and the layout of the lobby and conference areas, I was expecting something a tad more grand. The elevators were surprisingly fast and some with motion issues had...issues...with the ride if the elevator was non-stop to 22. There wasn't a lot to do around our area of town without walking quite a ways. I found a decently priced Chinese-American restaurant and my roommates discovered a mall and food court later in the trip. Mostly, about 5 blocks outside the hotel area, turned to ghetto and was difficult to walk through. There are quite a few homeless/bums around the area we were in and instead of just asking for change, will give a story or anecdote that ends in asking for change. They were nice enough if you just said no and kept moving, not too pushy. All in all, the area expects tourists and is priced highly because of it. A domestic beer less than $4.50 was a miracle I didn't witness.
The conference itself was highly enjoyable and educational. I went to 10-14 ish seminars and all but a couple were entertaining and helpful. I was even able to get to a talk with Bich Minh Nguyen, whom I missed at her Schuler Book reading (I highly recommend her memoir "Stealing Buddha's Dinner" for a fun read and look at how conservative society could treat Vietnamese immigrants/refugees in the late 70's). I went to seminars that ranged from researching stories to Buddhism in literature (humor in Buddhism specifically). I attended a reading by Lee Smith (the Keynote speaker) and Michael Martone (a funny and highly sacrastic/witty writer. You should look him up if you like snarky styles). Some rooms were quite hot as they were small and packed and the red chairs could get a little annoying after long periods of time (thinner padding and odd shape). Water was available here and there, but for the most part, I always felt a bit dehydrated. Over the course of the 3 days of seminars there were about 150 or so to choose from. The basic time frame for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday was 9am-10:15, 10:30-11:45, 12noon-1:15, 1:30-2:45, 3:00-4:15, 4:30-6:15. After 6:15, there were mostly speakers, readings, or meetings for faculty stuff. There were complimentary drink times the first two nights and a dance each of the last two nights. I was able to walk away with a thinner wallet, but a lot of information about writing after college (and I'm thinking I may look into an MFA more than I thought I would).
Outside the conference...pretty damn fun. My roommates, Stevi, Jenn, and Tara, have all been in one class or another with me before, but this was the first time I'd really gotten to know them. They're a wonderful bunch, which should be obvious of anyone who can put up with me for 4 days and nights. We had a good ol' time with the occasional drinking (by which, fairly constant, but never any "hug the toilets and curse the morning" nights), going out to eat/find cheap food, and laughing at the older people dancing. I respect them for enjoying themselves, but the old folks trying to hook up (saran wrapped into a black side slit ALL the way up dress 50 year old woman) were hilarious. We went to a bar once or twice, but the bars were packed, fairly loud/smokey, and not really a comfortable atmosphere. There was some drama, which I shant go into on here because it was fairly dramatic drama, but we (and the other group of four from GVSU that went) all made it out alive and probably with a slightly higher alcohol tolerance than when we went in. Just to clarify, so I don't paint us as lushes, I drank almost all Bud Lights (with one Mudslide) and the girls drank either Bud Light or white Zynfadel (if that's how it's spelled). We went to Hsu's chinese restaurant one night and, while expensive, it was VERY good food and their white Zynfadel was apparently far superior to the hotel's. All in all, I think most money was spent on food, followed closely by alcohol, trailed in the distance by books. But that was more b/c of bad pricing than bad judgement.
The Bookfair was far larger than expected. It was mostly literary magazines from independent/university presses and a fair number of publishers with official books. Many offered free back issues of their magazines, author signings, little freebies for advertising, bonuses for subscriptions, and other fun little dealios. I only bought six books, two of which were bought at readings, not the fair (Blue Guide to Indiana by Michael Martone and Oral History by Lee Smith, both signed). I bought two books of modern Chinese fiction/poetry to read and try out. One book of Tao Qian's old chinese poetry (signed by D.A. Powell since it was the book I had at the time). Lastly, I bought Toxic Feedback. A book about surviving as a writer, written by Joni B. Cole. She looked so sad at her booth, with no one there, me and Stevi bought copies and had her sign them, she was so happy. All in all, I spent about $60-70 on books I believe. For free swag I picked up I got a Black Warrior Review flyswatter (it's a lit. mag), The University of Chicago Press Journals tri-highlighter, stickers (Switchback book's "Frock You" sticker, temp. tattoo from the Firehouse, Hello My Name Is Michael Martone sticker, and Sycamore Review What's your Story sticker), also, 2 nice quality The Georgia Review coasters (leather upper, cork back). As for free books, I got: Gulf Stream Vol. 22 (Florida), Hunger Mountain Fall 2005 (Vermont), Live Cargo by Pauls Toutonghi, Poetry March 2007 (Chicago), SubTropics Winter/spring 2007 (FL), Clackamas Literary Review Vol. X, Literary Imagination Vol. 2 and 3, The Missouri Review Spring 2006 and Number 3 2006, Puerto del Sol Summer 2006, Sycarmore Review Vol. 18 No. 1, The Journal Vol. 29.2, and Spring-New Writing from Bath Spa. FREE!
Well, that's about it I think for the really general stuff. If anyone would like to know more, go ahead and ask and ye shall receive. There are just things that weren't right to post here and things that I didn't think worth the time. SO, I've updated the LJ w/ a huge post and no one can bug me now.
To begin, I left for Atlanta on Wednesday, February 28 in order to attend the AWP. That is the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. It's a large conference (this year's attendance was just shy of 5,000) that exists in order to gather writers together, allow them a chance to attend panels and forums, hold a large bookfair with many editors/magazines, and let writers meet some of their favorite authors and hear some readings. GVSU sponsored a group of us to go this year which is a nice thing for undergrads, as it is a conference usually for MFAs and above. To sort of keep this from being really jumbled, I'll update in chunks such as: General accomodations/locale, the conference officially, outside the conference entertainment and such, and bookfair swag.
My airfare down wasn't too bad. Roundtrip, tickets out of GR (40 minutes from home) were about $60-80 more than out of Detroit (3 hours from home). Another difference would have been that, had I gone out of Detroit, it would have been a straight flight. Whereas, from GR, I had a layover at O'Hare in Chicago both ways. The flights were on United, since I get frequent flier miles from them since Taiwan, and all four jaunts were trouble free and professional. Atlanta itself is a very large city. I took a taxi from the airport to the hotel, about a 10-15minute drive, at a flat rate of $30. I learned when my roommates arrived that there was a train (like subway or MRT in Taiwan) that was only $2 for the trip). The Hilton Atlanta on Courtland Drv. was very nice. The woman at the counter asked if I would like a high floor or low floor (which, b/c of her accent, I mistook for high flow or low flow). I chose high and ended up on the 22nd floor. 2215 to be precise. I was a little let down that the room was fairly standard hotel fare. It wasn't bad in any sense, but from a Hilton hotel and the layout of the lobby and conference areas, I was expecting something a tad more grand. The elevators were surprisingly fast and some with motion issues had...issues...with the ride if the elevator was non-stop to 22. There wasn't a lot to do around our area of town without walking quite a ways. I found a decently priced Chinese-American restaurant and my roommates discovered a mall and food court later in the trip. Mostly, about 5 blocks outside the hotel area, turned to ghetto and was difficult to walk through. There are quite a few homeless/bums around the area we were in and instead of just asking for change, will give a story or anecdote that ends in asking for change. They were nice enough if you just said no and kept moving, not too pushy. All in all, the area expects tourists and is priced highly because of it. A domestic beer less than $4.50 was a miracle I didn't witness.
The conference itself was highly enjoyable and educational. I went to 10-14 ish seminars and all but a couple were entertaining and helpful. I was even able to get to a talk with Bich Minh Nguyen, whom I missed at her Schuler Book reading (I highly recommend her memoir "Stealing Buddha's Dinner" for a fun read and look at how conservative society could treat Vietnamese immigrants/refugees in the late 70's). I went to seminars that ranged from researching stories to Buddhism in literature (humor in Buddhism specifically). I attended a reading by Lee Smith (the Keynote speaker) and Michael Martone (a funny and highly sacrastic/witty writer. You should look him up if you like snarky styles). Some rooms were quite hot as they were small and packed and the red chairs could get a little annoying after long periods of time (thinner padding and odd shape). Water was available here and there, but for the most part, I always felt a bit dehydrated. Over the course of the 3 days of seminars there were about 150 or so to choose from. The basic time frame for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday was 9am-10:15, 10:30-11:45, 12noon-1:15, 1:30-2:45, 3:00-4:15, 4:30-6:15. After 6:15, there were mostly speakers, readings, or meetings for faculty stuff. There were complimentary drink times the first two nights and a dance each of the last two nights. I was able to walk away with a thinner wallet, but a lot of information about writing after college (and I'm thinking I may look into an MFA more than I thought I would).
Outside the conference...pretty damn fun. My roommates, Stevi, Jenn, and Tara, have all been in one class or another with me before, but this was the first time I'd really gotten to know them. They're a wonderful bunch, which should be obvious of anyone who can put up with me for 4 days and nights. We had a good ol' time with the occasional drinking (by which, fairly constant, but never any "hug the toilets and curse the morning" nights), going out to eat/find cheap food, and laughing at the older people dancing. I respect them for enjoying themselves, but the old folks trying to hook up (saran wrapped into a black side slit ALL the way up dress 50 year old woman) were hilarious. We went to a bar once or twice, but the bars were packed, fairly loud/smokey, and not really a comfortable atmosphere. There was some drama, which I shant go into on here because it was fairly dramatic drama, but we (and the other group of four from GVSU that went) all made it out alive and probably with a slightly higher alcohol tolerance than when we went in. Just to clarify, so I don't paint us as lushes, I drank almost all Bud Lights (with one Mudslide) and the girls drank either Bud Light or white Zynfadel (if that's how it's spelled). We went to Hsu's chinese restaurant one night and, while expensive, it was VERY good food and their white Zynfadel was apparently far superior to the hotel's. All in all, I think most money was spent on food, followed closely by alcohol, trailed in the distance by books. But that was more b/c of bad pricing than bad judgement.
The Bookfair was far larger than expected. It was mostly literary magazines from independent/university presses and a fair number of publishers with official books. Many offered free back issues of their magazines, author signings, little freebies for advertising, bonuses for subscriptions, and other fun little dealios. I only bought six books, two of which were bought at readings, not the fair (Blue Guide to Indiana by Michael Martone and Oral History by Lee Smith, both signed). I bought two books of modern Chinese fiction/poetry to read and try out. One book of Tao Qian's old chinese poetry (signed by D.A. Powell since it was the book I had at the time). Lastly, I bought Toxic Feedback. A book about surviving as a writer, written by Joni B. Cole. She looked so sad at her booth, with no one there, me and Stevi bought copies and had her sign them, she was so happy. All in all, I spent about $60-70 on books I believe. For free swag I picked up I got a Black Warrior Review flyswatter (it's a lit. mag), The University of Chicago Press Journals tri-highlighter, stickers (Switchback book's "Frock You" sticker, temp. tattoo from the Firehouse, Hello My Name Is Michael Martone sticker, and Sycamore Review What's your Story sticker), also, 2 nice quality The Georgia Review coasters (leather upper, cork back). As for free books, I got: Gulf Stream Vol. 22 (Florida), Hunger Mountain Fall 2005 (Vermont), Live Cargo by Pauls Toutonghi, Poetry March 2007 (Chicago), SubTropics Winter/spring 2007 (FL), Clackamas Literary Review Vol. X, Literary Imagination Vol. 2 and 3, The Missouri Review Spring 2006 and Number 3 2006, Puerto del Sol Summer 2006, Sycarmore Review Vol. 18 No. 1, The Journal Vol. 29.2, and Spring-New Writing from Bath Spa. FREE!
Well, that's about it I think for the really general stuff. If anyone would like to know more, go ahead and ask and ye shall receive. There are just things that weren't right to post here and things that I didn't think worth the time. SO, I've updated the LJ w/ a huge post and no one can bug me now.