Indie Lit Festival
October 2 & 3, 2020
The Frostburg State University Center for Literary Arts, in partnership with the Allegany County Library System and the Lewis J. Ort Library, is excited to announce that the fourteenth annual Western Maryland Indie Lit Festival on Oct. 2 & 3 in online spaces.
This event celebrates the writers, publishers, and readers of small press and independent publishing. The weekend features readings, roundtable discussions, and practical “how to” sessions. Although we love our customary book fair, keep an eye out for promotion of indie publishers in our Facebook group and on other social media.
Schedule
All events are free of charge, and the public is welcomed and encouraged to attend.
Friday, October 2
7 PM: Indie Lit Kickoff Reading with Indran Amirthanayagam
Watch the reading on YouTube.
A poet, essayist, and translator, Amirthanayagam was born in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He has authored numerous poetry collections, including The Migrant States, from which he will read.
Saturday, October 3
10 AM: Jacob Appel, "Risk & Resource Allocation in Times of Crisis"
Watch this talk on YouTube.
Sign in to this talk via Zoom.
Appel is the director of Ethics Education in Psychiatry at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine. He is also the author of literary novels, short story collections and more. His talk will explore some of the ethical challenges raised by COVID-19 and how these challenges will continue to affect the post-pandemic world.
11 AM: Edward Doyle-Gillespie, "Literature and the Quest for Social Justice"
Watch this talk on YouTube.
Sign in to this talk via Zoomhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/81245821850.
Doyle-Gillespie is a longtime Baltimore resident and police detective. He has written three books of poetry, and another book is forthcoming. His talk will focus on the intersection of race and literature.
12 PM: R. David Fulcher Reading
Watch this reading on YouTube.
Fulcher is an author of horror, science fiction, fantasy and poetry. He edits and publishes the literary magazine Samsara, which has showcased the work of writers and poets for more than a decade. He will be reading from his own work.
1 PM: Gerry LaFemina, "The Soundtrack of Experience"
Watch this talk on YouTube.
Log in to this talk via Zoom.
LaFemina is a poet, fiction writer and essayist. He is a professor in the Department of English at FSU, and his latest book is a new volume of prose poems, “Baby Steps in Doomsday Prepping" (Madville, 2020). His discussion will use personally meaningful songs as a foundation for an essay ‒ be it a memoir or a more exploratory meditation.
2 PM: Exhumed Authors Reading
Watch this reading on YouTube.
Several contributors to the horror anthology, “Exhumed: Thirteen Tales too Terrifying to Stay Dead,” recently published by Devil’s Party Press, will read their work. Devil’s Party Press is a small press that publishes exclusively work by poets, fiction writers and memoirists who are over the age of 40.
3 PM: Panel Discussion on White Privilege and Anti-Racism
Watch this panel discussion on YouTube.
Sign in to this panel via Zoom.
Sebastian Matthews is the award-winning author of a memoir, two poetry books, a collage novel and a recent memoir-in-essays, “Beyond Repair: Living in a Fractured State.” He and other writers will hold a panel discussion on white privilege and anti-racism.
4 PM: Todd Sanders, "Organizing Your First Story Collection"
Watch this panel discussion on YouTube.
Sign in to this panel via Zoom.
Sanders is a poet, translator, short-story writer and graphic designer. He has designed book covers, written poetry and translated books for Air and Nothingness Press. His discussion will focus on arranging a first short-story collection.
5 PM: Heather Scarbro Dobson, "Writing the Paranormal"
Watch this talk on YouTube.
Sign in to this panel via Zoom.
Dobson is the author of “Memoirs of a Future Ghost.” Her second book, “Recollections of a Future Ghost,” is set to release on Saturday, Oct. 31. She will discuss her writing process in sharing the paranormal.
