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PEN at 2015 AWP Conference

We hope to see you at this year’s Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference and Bookfair in Minneapolis! Over a hundred PEN Members will be converging on the Twin Cities to participate in a variety of panels, talks, readings, and mingles. Please join us for one of several panels featuring PEN staff and members. Be sure to catch us at our dedicated booth, #214, at the Bookfair. Swing by to renew your membership and tell us your latest news, and hear about PEN’s recent work and upcoming events, including our PEN World Voices Festival, the 2015 Literary Awards, and future Mingles and Workshops.

Receive a special discount when you sign up or renew your Membership at our Booth, #214. 
 

Join PEN at the Following Panels:

Thursday, April 9
4:30 PM – 5:45 PM

Digital Strategy as Mission Statement: Three Models
(Tyler Meier, Jen Benka, Antonio Aiello )
Room 200 F&G, Level 2

This panel will feature three leading literary institutions in conversation about their digital strategies, and look at the efforts of each across their platforms as an expression of their respective mission statements. We will explore websites, social media, and email efforts, and digital publications/collections. We will speak to how an integrated approach to digital strategy works to cultivate and engage audiences and encourage broader, multifaceted participation across screen sizes and devices.

Friday, April 10
10:30 AM – 11:45 AM

Scaling: When Literary Organizations “Globalize”
(Chris Cohen, Gerald Richards, Paul Morris, Chad Kampe)
Room 101 J, Level 1 F142

PEN American Center and 826 National join together to discuss scaling: specifically, the challenges and benefits of nationwide—and worldwide—reach, and two different models that a nonprofit literary organization can take as it both opens and maintains multiple chapters. 826 was founded in 2002; the PEN American Center has been around for 90 years. Joined by the Mid-Continent Oceanographic Institute, currently in the 826 chapter development process.

Friday, April 10
4:30 PM – 5:45 PM

Literary Awards and Prizes: Help or Hindrance?
(Paul Morris, Alexander Chee, Martha Cooley, Mitchell Jackson, 
Nina McConigley​)
Room M100 F&G, Mezzanine Level F286

Literary awards and prizes excite regular interest; writers, editors, publishers, and readers all pay attention to them. What roles do awards and prizes play in our literary culture? Who judges them, and for what constituencies? How are individual writers and groups of writers helped or hindered by them? What role can and should money play? Several writers who have judged or received literary awards and prizes will discuss the pros, cons, implications, and complications.

For complete information about the AWP conference, visit their website here.