Where do you turn for advice when it comes to your work as a writer?
Perhaps you are fortunate to have a knowledgeable teacher or a group of peers who give you feedback on your work. Maybe there is a trusted book or author you’ve discovered that has been particularly inspiring.
For most of us the road to becoming a writer is one we’ve made as we’ve walked it. The lessons learned have come through trial and error—in the hours we’ve spent in front of our laptops or notebooks, or the rejection letters that have showed up in the mail.
This year the Flint Festival of Writers will kick off with a discussion of just these kinds of lessons.
In the “What I Wish I Knew” panel at 9:30 a.m., Saturday, Sept.. 14, four Flint writers will share the lessons they’ve learned about writing and publishing.
Learn more about these four authors below and mark your calendars to join us at the Ferris Wheel at 615 Saginaw St., Flint,
Bob Campbell’s nonfiction and essays have appeared in Belt Magazine, Forge Literary Magazine and Gravel Magazine. He is a contributor to Belt Publishing’s Midwest Architecture Journeys, coming in September 2019. Bob was a staff writer for the Flint Journal, Lexington Herald-Leader and Detroit Free Press. He was also an electrician at AC Spark Plug, before moving into journalism. His debut novel, Motown Man, will be published this fall 2019 by Urban Farmhouse Press.
Jonah Mixon-Webster is a poet, sound artist and educator. He earned a Ph.D. in English Studies at Illinois State University, and his first collection, Stereo(TYPE), was the winner of Ahsahta Press’s 2017 Sawtooth Prize. A Callaloo Fellow, his poetry and hybrid writing have been featured in Muzzle Magazine, Kinfolks: A Journal of Black Expression, Spoon River Poetry Review, Blueshift Journal, Assaracus, Callaloo, Voluble and the anthology Zombie Variations. In 2019 he was an honoree for the PEN/Osterweil Award for Poetry.
Ben Pauli holds a Ph.D. in political science from Rutgers University and is an assistant professor of social science at Kettering University. His academic background is in the study of political ideologies and social movements. Dr. Pauli is president of the board of directors of the Environmental Transformation Movement of Flint and has participated in the response to the Flint water crisis as an activist, researcher and member of a multi-university scientific team. His academic book on the crisis, Flint Fights Back: Environmental Justice and Democracy in the Flint Water Crisis, was published by The MIT Press in May 2019.
LaTashia Perry is the author of the Kids Like Mine series which includes six books which aim to empower children—especially black and brown children—through positive representation. Her book Hair Like Mine has been translated into French, and she was recently invited to Washington D.C. to discuss her work with the Congressional Black Caucus. A graduate of Flint Southwestern Academy, she is a wife and mother of five.