WLT hosts Third Thursday each month, featuring discussions focusing on specific topics of interest to writers and readers, bringing together distinguished panelists for conversations moderated by a WLT staff member.
Join us in September as we dive into the short story form with writers who have recently published short story collections. In this discussion we’ll explore the art of writing short stories, from what makes a good story to the mechanics behind short fiction, like precision of language, narrative tension, and more. We’ll also touch on the business of getting stories out into the world, whether individually or as a collection. This conversation will be moderated by WLT Program Director Sam Babiak.
Featured Presenters:
Chelsea Bieker is the author of the novel Godshot, which was a finalist for both the Oregon and California Book Awards, long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, named an NPR Best Book of the Year, and a Barnes & Noble Fiction Pick. Her story collection, Heartbroke, is was published in April 2022, and was named a best book of April by Nylon Magazine and an NPR Best Book of the Year. Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, The Cut, McSweeney’s, Literary Hub, Electric Literature, and other publications. She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award and a MacDowell Fellowship. Originally from California’s Central Valley, she now lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two children.
K-Ming Chang is a Kundiman fellow, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree. She is the author of the New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice novel BESTIARY (One World/Random House, 2020), which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. In 2021, her chapbook BONE HOUSE was published by Bull City Press. Her most recent book is GODS OF WANT (One World/Random House, 2022). Her next book is a novel titled Organ Meats. She lives in California.
In a starred review, Kirkus has called Thomas H. McNeely's second book, Pictures of the Shark: Stories "an emotionally taut and often haunting collection." McNeely's first book, Ghost Horse, won the Gival Press Novel Award. An East End Houston native, he has published short stories and non-fiction in The Atlantic, Texas Monthly, Ploughshares, and many other magazines and anthologies, including The Best American Mystery Stories and Algonquin Books’ Best of the South. His stories have been short-listed for the Pushcart Prize, Best American Short Stories and O. Henry Award anthologies. He has received National Endowment for the Arts, Wallace Stegner, and MacDowell Colony fellowships for his fiction. He currently teaches in the Stanford Online Writing Studio and at Emerson College, Boston.
Samantha Babiak holds a B.A. in English Literature with a certificate in Creative Writing with honors from the University of Texas at Austin. She has experience working on the fiction board for Echo, a literary and arts magazine for UT’s Liberal Arts Honors program. Her short story, “Los Centavos del Puente,” was published in HotHouse Literary Journal‘s decennial issue. She is from Laredo, Texas and currently lives in Austin, Texas.
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