Steven Vittoria, award-winning filmmaker and author, discusses the transition from nonfiction historical & political books and documentary film to fiction that exposes uncomfortable truths, helping to suggest empathy and peace in a world that now more than ever desperately needs help from artists.
Tongo-Eisen Martin, Mike Dunn, Ananda Esteva, Jenny Worley
Fascists, authoritarians, and capitalists exploit existing prejudices and bigotries within marginalized communities to divide them and get them fighting among each other. They exploit these bigotries to disrupt their movements and their solidarity, and to reduce their effectiveness. In this workshop, several working-class writers will read excerpts from their books, and then discuss how their books address the bigotries and prejudices within particular marginalized communities, particularly in otherwise progressive communities, and how activists or characters in their books worked to overcome these bigotries. And they will discuss how these experiences apply to conditions today.
Ariel Gore and Jessica Lawless
Following in the tradition of David Wojnarowicz, Audre Lorde, Leslie Feinberg, Dorothy Allison and so many more, we will look at memoir as a queer strategy of resistance against the violent systems designed to erase us. We think about writing and reading books as a radical act that creates intimate spaces of solidarity while fighting against the complicity required by the systems that profit from our suffering. We will read from our recent memories that weave together personal loss with structural critique—one examining queer love against the cancer industrial complex, one tracing a path through three decades of left activism and the connections between interpersonal violence and institutional oppression—we'll consider: How to fight supremacy while also trying to survive it; Writing as an historical record and vehicle for imagining a liberatory future; Grief and love as forms of resistance; Maintaining our humanity within dehumanizing systems; Interconnected creative practices (visual art, writing, culinary arts, music etc) as an anchor for surviving the end of empire. The session will be moderated include participatory discussion with time to write, draw, and color as a temporary affinity group.
Moazzam Sheikh
My talk will explore the complicity of American fiction using examples from novels written by American authors. My talk will highlight the ways in which American fiction writers have touched on Israel either as if it's a country like any other, victim of aggression or dealing with conflict but never bothering to go deeper or probe the nature of its existence, from settler colonialism to apartheid to occupation.
Kim Stanley Robinson, Eileen Gunn, Gary Phillips, Jonathan Lethem, Charlie Jane Anders, Nick Mamatas, James Tracy
This panel is a celebration and discussion of Terry Bisson's new posthumous book, The Outspoken and the Incendiary: Interviews with Radical Speculative Fiction Writers, which is a collection from PM Press's award-winning Outspoken Authors series. Featuring Kim Stanley Robinson, Eileen Gunn, Gary Phillips, Jonathan Lethem, Charlie Jane Anders, and Nick Mamatas, with an Introduction by James Tracy, this "who's who" of authors will discuss the importance of politically charged fiction and writing against authoritarianism and reminisce about the incendiary life and career of Terry Bisson (1942–2024).
Lara Messersmith-Glavin
Fiction helps shape the way we understand others and ourselves. It tells us about the nature of struggle and combat, of love and family, of our roles and expectations. It informs what we think it means to be a hero or a villain—or a character at all. It can define the boundaries of our imagination or our understanding of power; it can compress or expand our notion of what is possible. With this in mind, I would like to offer a 2 hour creative writing workshop for folks interested in developing short stories or long-form fiction to explore possibilities for creating revolutionary change. We will begin with a brief discussion of the visionary potential of creative writing and look at some concrete examples through readings and familiar texts. Next, we will explore character- versus plot-driven narrative structures and weigh the advantages and limitations of each, as well as consider the different processes or approaches they might entail. Participants will then work in small groups to reflect on issues from their own organizing or political experiences that they want to see explored in fiction. Lastly, participants will spend some time brainstorming or drafting elements of either character or plot that would allow them to address such issues in a story. Folks are welcome to share what they come up with, but no one will be required to read their writing aloud. All levels of experience or literacy are welcome. Participants should expect lively, respectful discussion as well as quiet solo work time. All folks who take part will also be given a small zine of creative writing prompts to take home and will have a chance to share their own with the group.
Dani Gabriel, Jessica Huang Zachary Rogow
This Unruly Witness was curated for people who see love as a life force, who seek a community that can sustain us, who know that “we are the ones we have been waiting for.” Celebrating the life and legacy of the poet activist June Jordan, this collection illuminates why we need Jordan more than ever.
Owen Hill, Jonathan Lethem, Summer Brenner, Jerry Thompson
Crime writers and editors discuss its connection to politics and current events. How is it useful? How does it work as an extended metaphor? Is "noir" fiction, cynical as it is, an effective strategy for political statement?
Tehmina Khan, Leslie Simon, Ladan Khoddam-Khorasani, Brianna Smith, Paul Buckley
Poetry for the People began in 1975 and continues to create the beloved community at City College of San Francisco and beyond. This multi-generational panel will celebrate this legacy, will share poems and stories, and will make space for participants to create and share poems in community. With founder Leslie Simon, students of the late Lauren Muller, and current instructor Tehmina Khan, we will discuss the history of this revolutionary movement and our calling to carry it forward into our current struggles.
