HP Literary Festival
February 23, 2024
First, choose your class period
Then take a look at past presentations below
Note, however, that enrollment ended on Feb 22, 2024.
Building with Concrete: Replacing Abstract Language with Sensory Details in Poetry
In this generative, 45-minute workshop we'll work to transform concepts—such as anger, liberty, beauty, and greatness—into poems that feature tangible and sensory details. We will determine the texture, the smell, and the shape of these concepts in order to bring them to life on the page. After discussing one or more examples from poems written by contemporary poets, each participant will be invited to choose their own concept and to share ideas about the physical qualities they might assign to it. We will end the workshop by allowing a few minutes for everyone to begin working on their own “concrete concept” poems. A handout will be provided; participants are additionally asked to bring a pen or pencil and scratch paper.
SpeakerMag Gabbert
Dr. Mag Gabbert has a Ph.D. in English, with a focus on creative writing, from Texas Tech University, an MFA in creative writing from The University of California at Riverside, and a BA in English from Trinity University. Her debut full-length poetry collection, which was published in 2023, won the Charles B. Wheeler Prize in Poetry from The Ohio State University and its affiliated literary magazine, The Journal. Dr. Gabbert is also the author of two chapbooks, and her poems and nonfiction essays can be found in many nationally and internationally recognized magazines and journals, including The American Poetry Review, The Paris Review Daily, The Missouri Review, Poetry Daily, The Hopkins Review, and The Massachusetts Review. Her awards include a 92NY Discovery Award from the 92NY Unterberg Poetry Center, a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from The Kenyon Review Writers’ Workshop, Idyllwild Arts, and Poetry at Round Top. She teaches at Southern Methodist University.
Excused School Sponsored Absence
This is to be used in place of a workshop if you have an excused school sponsored activity during this class period. You will need to provide the appropriate paperwork to your Attendance Officer to verify your absence.
Speaker*** Excused School Sponsored Absence
Keynote Further Discussion
Conversation with Kristin Harmel. Writing, the how-to’s, starting, where ideas come from, and anecdotes.
SpeakerKristin Harmel
Kristin Harmel (LitFest Keynote 2024) is the New York Times bestselling, USA Today bestselling, and #1 international bestselling author of The Forest of Vanishing Stars, The Book of Lost Names, The Winemaker’s Wife, and a dozen other novels that have been translated into more than 30 languages and are sold all over the world.
Kristin has been writing professionally since the age of 16, when she began her career as a sportswriter, covering Major League Baseball and NHL hockey for a local magazine in Tampa Bay, Florida in the late 1990s. In addition to a long magazine writing career, primarily writing and reporting for PEOPLE magazine (as well as articles published in numerous other magazines, including American Baby, Men’s Health, Woman’s Day, and more), Kristin was also a frequent contributor to the national television morning show The Daily Buzz. She sold her first novel in 2004, which debuted in February 2006.
Kristin was born just outside Boston, Massachusetts, and spent her childhood there, as well as in Worthington, Ohio, and St. Petersburg, Florida. After graduating with a degree in journalism (with a minor in Spanish) from the University of Florida, she spent time living in Paris and Los Angeles and now lives in Orlando with her husband and young son. She is also the co-founder and co-host of the popular weekly web show and podcast Friends & Fiction.
Seven "Musts" for Writing Gripping Nonfiction (and Three "Must-Nots")
Whether you write memoir, travel, self-help, history, or another nonfiction genre, proven nonfiction writing techniques can animate and enrich your writing, helping you to grip your reader from the first paragraph to the last. An award-winning non-fiction author, Rusty Williams will introduce and explain seven vital elements of a successful manuscript. Bring a notebook and a one-page (double-spaced) sample of your writing for group and individual discussion.
SpeakerRusty Williams
Rusty Williams writes about history through the stories of the people who lived it. He is the author of six nonfiction books, five on Texas topics.
Rusty's latest book is "Texas Loud, Proud, and Brash --- How Ten Mavericks Created the Twentieth-Century Lone Star State" (Rowman & Littlefield), showing how Texas earned its oversized reputation.
His books on the 1931 Red River Bridge War between Texas and Oklahoma, the homes of refuge built for Confederate veterans after the Civil War, and the darkly humorous accounts of technology mishaps in Dallas at the turn of the twentieth century have won awards from such organizations as the Texas State Historical Association, Oklahoma Center for the Book, Military Order of the Stars and Bars, and the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Rusty also writes for magazines and historical journals and speaks to organizations, clubs, historical societies, and heritage groups across the Southwest. He lives in Dallas.
The Art & Business of Being an Indie Author
How an independent author who publishes on Amazon can make $100K or more selling books. How focusing on the marketing aspect, building a solid following, turning out high-quality, award-winning work and staying touch with readers can make you a successful author. This class will go in-depth on the positives and negatives of indie authorship vs. traditional publishing.
SpeakerBill Thompson
If variety is the spice of life, author Bill Thompson’s life so far has been spicy for sure! Over the years, and in no particular order, he’s been
• an international insurance broker • a mayor • head of a state prison board • a stockbroker • a newspaper reporter • a Bourbon Street piano player • a corporate entrepreneur • presented to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip • in jail (briefly … and wrongly!) • a goat herder • a church organist and choir member • a real estate broker • a world traveler • president of an animal shelter • a husband, father and grandfather • an observer at a knighting in Westminster • a fluent Russian speaker • a passenger on the Concorde • a caregiver • a lifetime dog lover • an award-winning novelist
Full Presentations
Editorial Cartoons
This class will help students understand the world of Editorial Cartoons. Students will learn the history, meanings and process of creating an Editorial Cartoon. The students will be able to create their own Editorial Cartoon within this session!
SpeakerWilliam (Bubba) Flint
BFA from Southern Methodist University. Award winning Editorial Cartoonist for many major newspapers. Cartoons have been syndicated across the world. Have illustrated 15 books, both children and adult. Art Teacher for 10 years. Avid painter with works in galleries all over the United States. Design work for Rock posters, street banners and many other projects.
How to Make Your Setting a Character
A setting is more than just a scene or location, it’s a launchpad for your characters to leap from the pages and come to life. And the right setting is a catalyst for conflict, which is an absolute must in any great work of fiction. This class will provide students with the tools to infuse physical, spiritual, and emotional challenges through a step-by-step approach to world-building. Writers will also learn how to utilize descriptive imagery, historical background, and personification, which will ultimately result in readers who are as captivated with the setting as they are with the characters.
SpeakerTaylor Moore
Taylor Moore is the author of Cold Trail, Ricochet, Firestorm, and Down Range, which was nominated for the Barry Award for Best First Novel, named a Strand Magazine Best Mystery of 2021, and selected for the Texas Library Association’s Lariat Reading List. He is a sixth-generation Texan who grew up on a farm and ranch northwest of Houston and is a former CIA Intelligence Officer who worked in both analysis and operations and later consulted for the Department of Defense on military intelligence issues. He now lives in the Texas Panhandle with his wife and two children, where he is a full-time author and screenwriter.
Humor and Humility as a Super Power
I share my experiences as a working actor so that they can serve as a grid for difficult situations in any field. Being in the entertainment industry is not an easy choice. Much is expected of high school students these days in any field. My experiences in the entertainment industry serve as an example of how to deal with difficulties that we all encounter along the way, regardless of what field we choose.
SpeakerNellie Sciutto
Nellie Sciutto is an actor and host who moved to Dallas by way of New York City and Los Angeles. She began studying at the Actors’ Studio after graduating from Yale University and promptly headed out to the west coast. She has worked with many directors, including Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott and William H. Macy. She is known for her roles in The Aviator, The Departed and Shutter Island.
As an on-air host, she has worked at HGTV, E! Entertainment, The Style Network, ABC News, ABCNews.com, NY1, CCTV America, CCTV Beijing, LTV East Hampton and currently with CBS 11 Dallas and WFAA Dallas.
Nellie has written for HBO, Comedy Central, E! Entertainment and Oxygen TV.
50 Moments, her first book, is a re-cap of her Hollywood adventures – good and bad. At the end of the day, this is a book about underdogs, which all of us are in some aspect of our lives.
Introduction to Songwriting
In this interactive workshop, Nashville singer/songwriter (and HP Alum) Benji Harris teaches the fundamentals of songwriting, performs live, and discusses different ways to make money writing songs.
SpeakerBenji Harris
HP Alumni Benji Harris is one of Nashville’s most talented and versatile mainstay musicians. His original trio ‘Scarletta’ has had a Top 30 hit on Country Radio, and a popular music video in high-rotation on CMT. He has played for country music stars on arena tours across the country, and has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, and Late Night with Seth Meyers. Benji has performed with SongDivision for numerous Fortune 500 clients and has a vast knowledge when it comes to communicating clients’ core values and purpose using music. With years in the music business and the meetings & events industry, Benji brings a high degree of passion, professionalism, and creativity to each and every client with whom he works.
Music Marketing for Storytellers: Promoting a Pop-Rock Band
Get ready to dive into the world of music marketing! In this workshop, you'll use your storytelling skills to become the marketing brains behind a real Dallas pop rock band. Learn the basics of promotion, create TikTok campaigns, plan live events, design merch, and more.
SpeakerLizzie Combs & Sarah Galaro
Sisters Sarah Galaro and Lizzie Combs are Dallas-based writers and marketers. Together, they have formed Tabletop Marketing. Sarah has over a decade of experience as a brand marketer and quarterback of national campaigns. Complementing her is Lizzie, combining experience as a strategist at a New York-based agency with a background in the arts. Tabletop offers full-stack marketing, crafting comprehensive solutions with a special emphasis on strategic planning and brand development. In addition to their work as marketers, Sarah and Lizzie are involved in the Dallas arts community. Sarah regularly contributes to Arthouse Dallas' creative writing and poetry workshops. Lizzie has had several original plays and monologues featured in local and national festivals.
Stories in sports: Going beyond the box score to cover the game
Whether we know it or not, stories and narratives are the main reason we care about sports. This workshop will go over how sports writers craft and create those stories, from high school games on Friday nights to even a Super Bowl. This workshop will go over how to report and execute those stories and why it matters to the games and those who play them.
SpeakerBen Baby
Ben Baby provides daily coverage of the Bengals for ESPN.com, while making appearances on SportsCenter, ESPN’s NFL shows and ESPN Radio programs. In 2020, he also started covering boxing for ESPN. Prior to ESPN, he covered Texas A&M and college athletics for The Dallas Morning News. He has also worked at the San Antonio Express-News and started his career as a full-time journalist in 2011 at the Denton Record-Chronicle. He is from Grapevine and graduated from the University of North Texas.
Telling Stories With One Line
In this workshop, we will examine a few examples of powerful song titles and attempt to get to the root of their impact. We’ll also talk about what it takes to search for the words that so perfectly express not only what we want to say but also connect a seemingly wide world into a single audience. Students are encouraged to bring a pencil and paper for a writing exercise.
SpeakerMichael Gomez
Michael Gomez is a Dallas-based songwriter, composer, performing artist (Late Native), and producer. After graduating from Southern Methodist University, Michael focused on guitar and performance at the London Music School (LMS) in London, England. As an artist he has collaborated on multiple recording projects with notable producers and musicians such as Chris Bell (Erykah Badu, U2, Eagles), Warren Huart (Aerosmith, The Fray, Mutemath), Gary Parks (Wall of Orange), and drummers Blair Sinta (Alanis Morrissette, Annie Lennox, Stevie Nicks) and David Palmer (ABC, Rod Stewart). He has also collaborated with remix artists such as Nebbra and Epic Empire. In 2009, Michael founded RoomFour Guitar Studio which provides students of all ages and abilities the chance to explore guitar, songwriting, and production in a positive learning environment.
Visual Storytelling for Film and Television
Screenwriter Paula Goldberg introduces the basics of visual storytelling for film and television including idea generation, character, dialogue, structure, theme and screenplay format. This will be an interactive workshop exploring all the elements needed for creating visually compelling and goal driven stories.
SpeakerPaula Goldberg
Paula Goldberg is a screenwriter, educator and acting coach. She currently teaches screenwriting at UT Dallas and coaches actors in improv and scene study through her own creative studio, www.welltoldgoldstudio.com