Columbia Writers Take Los Angeles: Faculty and Alumni Participate in AWP 2025
Distinguished Writing alumni and faculty are heading to Los Angeles for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference & Bookfair.
In just a few weeks, everybody across the literary industry will have their social media feeds swarmed with #AWP25. Feeds will be full of photos of writing idols, editors, students, colleagues, publishers and educators at table-clothed booths, with a convention center backdrop.
The Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference & Bookfair is the premier event of contemporary creative writing. The event is a confluence of thousands of attendees from across the world. This year, from March 26 to 29, hundreds of workshops, conversations, parties and exhibitions will take place in downtown Los Angeles; and dozens of Columbia writers will participate, many of them leading some of the most exciting events of the weekend.
Distinguished Writing alumni and faculty will present on writing from the Caribbean diaspora and into illness, panel on Latine poetry and reporting from the self, discuss Yusuf Komunyakaa and Tiger Balm. Pulitzer winner Gregory Pardlo ’16 will feature at a panel on fathers writing about their children. Later, Carlie Hoffman ’16 will present the National Jewish Book Award Poetry Reading and lead a conversation about the poetry of aging. Columbia University School of the Arts and the Columbia Journal will welcome visitors from across the country at Booth T415. The conference also includes a relief benefit for writers and artists impacted by the LA wildfires.
Check out the schedule below to discover just some of the panels, offsite events, and Bookfair booths where you’ll be able to catch our Columbia writers at AWP25. All times are listed in Pacific Daylight Time (PDT).
This year’s conference will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center at 1201 S. Figueroa St. Registration is now open and includes admission to all events, readings, panel discussions, meetings, the Bookfair, and public receptions.
Bookfair
Columbia University School of the Arts and Columbia Journal
Booth T415
Archway Editions
Booth T913
Publisher and Editorial Director Chris Molnar '18
Senior Editor Naomi Falk '17
Author's Guild
Booth 440
Director of Communications Raluca Albu '18
Feminist Press
Booth 627
Director of Sales and Marketing Rachel Gilman '20
Futurepoem Books
Booth 1229
Events Manager Ryan Cook '24
Oversound
Booth T749
Editor Samuel Amadon '07
The Paris Review
Booth 612
Engagement Editor Camille Jacobson '22
PEN America
Booth 410
Literary Programs and Emerging Voices Director Jared Jackson '20
Pen Parentis
Booth T354
Founder M. M. De Voe '01
Curator and Co-host of Pen Parentis Literary Salons Christina Chiu '00
Transit Books
Booth 908
co-founders Adam Levy ’12 and Ashley Nelson Levy ’12
Tuesday, March 25
Liquid, A Love Story LA Book Launch - Mariam Rahmani In Conversation with Justin Torres
7:00 pm, Book Soup WeHo 8818 W Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood
Mariam Rahmani '21
Thursday, March 27
Crafting Powerful Stories (with Difficult Topics) for Young Readers
9:00 am, Room 405, Level Two
Aaron Aceves '20
A Reading from Recent Prize-winning Short Story Collections
9:00 am, Room 511AB, Level Two
Terese Svoboda '78
Strange Pilgrims: Asian Americans on Writing About Asia
9:00 am, Room 402AB Level Two
Kevin Chong '00
Emmeline Chang '00
You Call That a Book Review?!: On Poetry Criticism and/as Creative Practice
9:00 am, Room 409AB, Level Two
Esther Lin '10
Predictable Unpredictability: Celebrating the Poetry of Reginald Shepherd
9:00 am, Room 408A, Level Two
Camille Rankine '09
Terese Svoboda Book Signing
10:00 am, UMASS Booth 644
Terese Svoboda '78
Diasporic Dreaming: Jewish Writers on Anti-Zionist Possibility
10:35 am, Room 511AB, Level Two
Hannah Lillith Assadi '13
Panel: Debunking Myths Around Getting Started in Translation, Sponsored by ALTA
10:35 am, Room 405, Level Two
KB Thors '14
Scripting into the Apocalypse: How Screenwriters Create for Global Change
10:35 am, Concourse Hall 150ABC, Level One
Fabio Montanari '16
National Jewish Book Award Poetry Reading & Conversation
12:10 pm, Petree Hall C, Level One
Carlie Hoffman '16
Our Own Name: Writing Jewishness Beyond Zionism, Assimilation & Fear
1:45 pm, Room 405, Level Two
Robin Beth Schaer '05
Beyond Syd Field: Decolonizing the Screenwriting Workshop
1:45 pm, Room 514, Level Two
Fabio Montanari '16
Still Surreal: A Poetics of Revolution
3:20 pm, Room 402AB, Level Two
C. Francis Fisher '23
Pen Parentis Annual National Writer-Parent Meetup - Now With Glowsticks!
5:00 pm, JW Marriott
M.M. De Voe '01
Kevin Chong '00
Literary Hotties: A Queer Reading of High Brow(ish) Smut
6:00 pm, Akbar, 4356 Sunset Blvd
Aaron Aceves '20
Liquid, A Love Story - Mariam Rahmani in Conversation with Lois Beckett
7:00 pm, The Ripped Bodice, 3806 Main Street, Culver City
Mariam Rahmani '21
Writers Karaoke
7:00 pm, The Stowaway, 416 S Spring St
G'Ra Asim '18
Epiphany Magazine Off-Site Reading
8:00 pm, Cole's French Dip, 118 E 6th St
Heather Gluck '22
Friday, March 28
The Long & Short of Craft: Authors Publishing Novels & Flash Fiction
9:00 am, Room 502A, Level Two
Alan Michael Parker '87
Away from Her: Canadian Writers on the Work & Evolving Legacy of Alice Munro
9:00 am, Room 511AB, Level Two
Kevin Chong '00
Dear Yusef: Quotes, Notes & Anecdotes For & About One Mr. Komunyakaa
10:35 am, Room 402AB, Level Two
Professor Deborah Paredez
Writing & Publishing in the AI Era, Sponsored by the Author's Guild
10:35 am, Room 515B, Level Two
Umair Kazi '16
Terese Svoboda Book Signing
12:00 pm, WVUP Booth 104
Terese Svoboda '78
Nathan Osorio Book Signing: Querida
12:00 pm, University of Pittsburgh Press Booth 650
Nathan Osorio '16
The Daily & Long-Term Nuts & Bolts of Writing a Novel
12:10 pm, Room 515A, Level Two
Elysha Chang '11
On (Re)Learning Our Place(s): Literary Citizenship In & Beyond the Workshop
1:45 pm, Room 502B, Level Two
Alexandra Kleeman '12
Young Adult & Middle Grade Short Stories: Craft & Market
1:45 pm, Room 513, Level Two
Aaron Aceves '20
Alan Michael Parker Book signing: BINGO BANGO BOINGO
2:00 pm, Dzanc Books Booth 537
Alan Michael Parker '87
Changes Press Reading
6:00 pm, Nico's Wine Bar
Ashley Escobar '24
Offsite reading with Four Way Books, Alice James Books, Persea, Autumn House Press, and UPP
6:00 pm, Boomtown Brewery, 700 Jackson Street Los Angeles
Nathan Osorio '16
AWP x NFNR reading
7:00 pm, 1922 E 7th Place 5
Chyana Marie Sage '23
Archway Editions Reading
7:00 pm, Stories Bookstore
Naomi Falk '17
Chris Molnar '18
Saturday, March 29
Beyond Beaches & Colonialism: Writers from the Caribbean Diaspora
9:00 am, Room 404AB, Level Two
Professor Jaquira Diaz
This Beautiful Body: Writing into Illness
10:35 am, Room 402AB, Level Two
Professor Lars Horn
“Thou Hast Thy Music Too”: The Poetry of Aging
10:35 am, Room 502B, Level Two
Carlie Hoffman '16
Family Secrets: A Storyteller's Bounty, or Curse?
10:35 am, Room 403B, Level Two
David Francis '07
Poetic Fathers: On the Entanglements of Writing About Our Children
12:10 pm, Concourse Hall 153 ABC, Level One
Gregory Pardlo '16
“Traduttore, Traditore!”: Poets on Translation
12:10 pm, Room 407, Level Two
Mary Jo Bang '98
But It Wasn’t Written in English: Translated Literature in the CW Classroom
12:10 pm, Room 501 ABC, Level Two
Bonnie Chau '15
Debut You! How to Bring Your Poetry Book to Market
12:10 pm, Concourse Hall 152, Level One
Margot Kahn '03
Poet Leaders: A Letras Latinas Reading & Discussion
1:45 pm, Petree Hall C, Level One
Ricardo Alberto Maldonado '08
On Tiger Balm & Fourth Kingdom: How Korean American Writers Have Built Community
1:45 pm, Concourse Hall 150 ABC, Level One
Lecturer Marie Myung-Ok Lee
Experiments in Time
1:45 pm, Room 403B, Level Two
Professor Jaquira Diaz
Criminalized Lit
1:45 pm, Room 406AB, Level Two
Casey Plett '12
What Is & What If: The Speculative in Creative Nonfiction
1:45 pm, Room 511AB, Level Two
J. Nicole Jones '12
Reporting the Self: From Personal Curiosity to Research & Reporting
3:20 pm, Concourse Hall 152, Level One
Kristen Martin '16
Sasha Bonét '16
Heather Radke '19
Former Adjunct Lilly Dancyger
Crossing Genres, Crossing Worlds: Women of Color in Speculative Literature
3:20 pm, Room 406AB, Level Two
Adjunct Assistant Professor Quincy Scott Jones
Resistance, Refusal, Silence & Life: When We Don’t Write
3:20 pm, Room 408A, Level Two,
Gregory Pardlo '16
Sophie Cabot Black '84
Can Creative Writing Save the English Department?
3:20 pm, Room 502B, Level Two
Selena Anderson '10
Stories of Mental Health from the Margins
3:30 pm, 511AB, Level Two
Nina Sharma '16
Writing & Narrative Medicine: Study, Practice, & Teaching
4:45 pm, Room 410, Level Two
Nellie Hermann '06
LA x NDN Girls Book Club Reading
6:00 pm, Junior High Los Angeles, 603 South Brand Boulevard, Glendale
Chyana Marie Sage, '23
Are you a Columbia alum presenting at AWP? Let us know by filling out this form. Will you be in Los Angeles and want to join us for a School of the Arts Happy Hour? Email us at [email protected] for more information!