Co-produced by Lamprophonic and Summer on the Hudson, AmpLit Fest is a free, daylong festival that brings authors of all backgrounds, styles, and levels of recognition to center stage.
As writers, we face the tension between a desire to withdraw during creation versus a desire to join a community. With the rise of the term "literary citizenship," writers too are faced with pressure to participate in writing communities in a myriad of ways - attending readings, buying books, exchanging facebook likes and retweets. In this panel, we will investigate the connection between who you are and what you write -- when does identity guide your work, and when does it overshadow, and is this a good thing? What obligation does the writer have as a representative? How does identity play into the literary community(-ies) we participate in, and is this compartmentalizing, a refuge, both, or neither? We'll look at what it means to be a literary citizen in NYC, in America, and globally (and maybe all 3, at once!). Is it possible that the idea of literary citizenship stifles more than it supports writers? This panel is moderated by Katie Longofono, featuring Jayson P. Smith, Joanna C. Valente, and Wendy Lu.