Keynote Announcement: Katie Farris

aisaak on April 21, 2023

Poet, translator, editor, and fiction writer, Katie Farris creates fluid hybrid forms that seek to carry readers across imaginative thresholds. In 2019’s boygirls, she travels through ancient and modern myths to create waking dreams, while her newest work, Standing in the Forest of Being Alive, has been called “luminous” by Carolyn Forche and “real genius” by Kaveh Akbar. A breast cancer survivor, she has written movingly about the often secretive experience of illness and recovery. 

Learn more here: https://www.theshipmanagency.com/katie-farris  

Register now to join us for this talk as well as dozens of other sessions featuring keynotes, artist conversations, roundtable discussions, musical performances, and much more. Conference events will be held at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Tulsa, which has made a special rate available for festival attendees.

Keynote Announcement: Reginald Dwayne Betts

aisaak on April 19, 2023

Photographed by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

A poet, lawyer, and McArthur genius winner, Reginald Dwayne Betts has spent over two decades exploring the world of prison and the effects of incarceration on American society. As the Executive Director of the non-profit Freedom Reads Initiative, he has led the effort to get literature into prisons to help empower people by imagining new possibilities for their lives. His award-winning books include A Question of Freedom, a memoir about his own journey from convicted felon to a Yale-trained lawyer, and Felon, a fierce, agile collection of poems that confronts the funk of post-incarceration existence and creates new forms from the redactions of his own court record. At Switchyard, he will perform a solo show based on Felon. 

Learn more here: https://www.dwaynebetts.com/bio  

Register now to join us for this talk as well as dozens of other sessions featuring keynotes, artist conversations, roundtable discussions, musical performances, and much more. Conference events will be held at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Tulsa, which has made a special rate available for festival attendees.

Keynote Announcement: Valeria Luiselli

aisaak on April 11, 2023

Photo by Diego Berruecos

Valeria Luiselli is the author of several renowned books, including The Lost Children’s Archive and Tell Me How it Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions. The former was long listed for the Booker Prize, and the latter won the American Book Award in 2018. Over the course of her career, her work has been awarded other literary prizes including the Vilcek and Folio; in 2019, Luiselli earned a MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as the “Genius Grant.” As a Mexican-born author, Luiselli writes over the complex topics of immigration and displacement. At Switchyard, she will collaborate with sound and film artists to create an immersive journey along the US-Mexico border. 

Learn more here: https://www.valerialuiselli.com

Register now to join us for this talk as well as dozens of other sessions featuring keynotes, artist conversations, roundtable discussions, musical performances, and much more. Conference events will be held at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Tulsa, which has made a special rate available for festival attendees.