Last month, I had a wonderful first time at the Festival of Faith & Writing in Grand Rapids!  (Even though I had to re-book my Sunday morning flight and get out on Saturday afternoon to escape an ice storm…) I especially loved spending time with writer friends on the plane ride there, over meals, in the hot tub, and at the One Poet, One Poem reading.

I got to present on a panel of literary journal editors called “Making Space: The Literary Journal as Witness” alongside Angela Doll Carlson (Saint Katherine Review), Nathaniel Lee Hansen (The Windhover), Daniel Bowman (Relief), and Brianna Van Dyke (Ruminate). I loved getting to represent Whale Road Review and talk about reading, writing, and editing with such wonderful company.

One of the very best parts for me was seeing my current and incoming PLNU colleagues present. Dean Nelson gave an excellent talk on interviewing (even at 8:30 in the morning), and Margarita Pintado gave a great poetry talk and reading.

Some of my other favorite sessions included a celebration of Luci Shaw and later an interview with her conducted by Madeleine L’Engle’s granddaughters, a poetry session on daughters writing mothers (with Barbara Crooker and Jeanne Murray Walker), and a session on using ancient texts (with Diane Glancy and Lauren Winner). l also loved the keynote by Edwidge Danticat, who was stunning when she read and talked about her book The Art of Death.

Another highlight for me: I was so impressed with Pádraig Ó Tuama, an Irish poet, who did an interview alongside Marie Howe and then gave a talk and reading on Friday. When I bought his book and went to his signing, I also gave him a copy of The Gospel of the Bleeding Woman because he’d talked a bit about the bleeding woman during his interview. I felt a bit like a silly fan giving him a copy of my book, but I did it anyway. When I was traveling home on Saturday, a friend texted me to say, “Did you SEE what Pádraig posted about your chapbook on Instagram?!”