HP Literary Festival
February 21, 2025
First, choose your class period
Then take a look at past presentations below
Note, however, that enrollment ended on Feb 12, 2025.
Hybrid Erasures: What They Are, How They Work & Why I Had to Create Them
In his latest collection, Occupy Whiteness, Inaugural Poet Laureate of Dallas, Joaquin Zihuatanejo, creates hybrid erasures. This workshop defines what they are while challenging student writers to create one in class. Sound intimidating? It won’t be as World Poetry Slam Champion, Joaquin Zihuatanejo, is there to guide you along the way.
SpeakerJoaquín Zihuatanejo
Joaquín Zihuatanejo was recently named the inaugural Dallas Poet Laureate for 2022-2024. Hailed as “The People’s Poet” by The Dallas Morning News, Joaquín credits his Abuelo, who was the first person to place a book in his hands and challenge him to read aloud, as his first teacher and the source of his poetic inspiration.
He received his MFA in creative writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His work has been published in Southwestern American Literature, Yellow Medicine Review, Sonora Review, among other journals and anthologies. His poetry has been featured on HBO, NBC, and on NPR in Historias and The National Teacher’s Initiative. His new collection of poetry, Occupy Whiteness, is out now from Deep Vellum Publishing.
Joaquín was recently named a Poet Laureate Fellow by the Academy of American Poets and received a $50,000 prize in honor of the outstanding work he has done in Dallas as their first poet laureate.
The LitFest Anthem – Interactive Songwriting Experience
In this fun and interactive session, the entire audience will create a memorable song together that celebrates the 30th Anniversary of LitFest. Led by HP Alum and Nashville songwriter Benji Harris, the group will be taught the fundamentals of songwriting before working together to craft their own lyrics. Benji will then bring the song to life onstage with an exciting live performance of the original song.
SpeakerBenji Harris
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.
The Screenplay
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 storyteller, educator, lover of coffee and salt and someone who is fiercely optimistic that at 52 percent of the population, women can be a political and artistic force. She has worked in corporate America, academia and artistically as a content writer, actor, screenwriter, producer and director.
Credits include the feature screenplay for The Perfect Family starring Kathleen Turner and Emily Deschanel, Writer and Director of Daily short pick of the week, Perfidy with Julie Benz and Sasha Roiz (2020), the short screenplay of Kleen starring Melora Walters (premiered at the LA International Short Film Festival, July 2019,) writing and directing 2 micro shorts with XV Anthology, directing the 3rd season of the Roland Joffe produced MTV series, Undressed, creating the original web series, Inappropriate Workplace and most impressively, raising a 16 year-old son. Her most recent screenplay, Unimaginable, was selected to The Women’s List 2024 and was a semi-finalist in the Dallas International Film Festival’s Screenwriting competition.
The World of Editorial Cartoons
The workshop will describe what an editorial cartoon is and how it affects our society. Participants will get a firsthand lesson on editorial cartoons and have an opportunity to create their own editorial cartoon based on subjects that are important to them.
SpeakerWilliam (Bubba) Flint
Award winning Editorial Cartoonist and artist for over many years. Mr. Flint’s work has been published worldwide in many different publications. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Southern Methodist University. His editorial cartoons have appeared in the Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star Telegram, White Rock Lake Weekly, Katy Trail Weekly and several other publications. Mr. Flint has illustrated 15 children’s books, his paintings are in galleries worldwide, and his work has appeared on several television programs.
zzz 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 be COUNTED UNEXCUSED until you provide the appropriate paperwork to your Attendance Office to verify your absence, unless provided by your coach.
Speaker*** Excused School Sponsored Absence
Full Presentations
Body Horror in Fiction and Film
Prepare to be fascinated, terrified, and possibly nauseated? The Body Horror genre, which has entertained and repulsed fans since the 1950s, features characters who experience unnatural transformation, degeneration and/or destruction of the body. Body Horror narratives can be subtle, outrageous, and/or downright disturbing, but we will endeavor to keep the content appropriate and illuminating. Our discussion will include classic and current body horror novels and films. We also will consider the differences between Body Horror on the screen vs. the page.
SpeakerSonia Gensler
Sonia Gensler is the award-winning author of Ghostlight, The Dark Between and The Revenant, all from Alfred A. Knopf/Random House. Weird and dreamy from birth, Sonia grew up in a small Tennessee town and ran with a dangerous pack of band and drama geeks. As an adult, she experimented with a variety of impractical professions-museum interpreter, historic home director, bookseller, and perpetual graduate student-before finally deciding to share her passion for stories through teaching. Sonia taught literature and writing to young adults for ten years and still thinks fondly of her days in the classroom. She currently lives in Oklahoma with her husband and cat.
How to Start a Podcast and Overcome the Fear of Putting Yourself Out There
Starting something new can be both exciting and intimidating, especially when it involves putting yourself out there for the world to see (or hear). In this workshop, Martha Jackson, host of The Bubble Lounge Podcast, shares the practical steps to creating a podcast and the lessons she learned about overcoming fear along the way. Discover how to find your unique voice, build an audience, and embrace the challenges that come with stepping outside your comfort zone. This session will inspire and equip you to start something meaningful, whether it’s a podcast or another creative venture.
SpeakerMartha Jackson
Martha Jackson is a storyteller at heart, a podcast host, lover of her community, and advocate for sharing authentic voices. As the creator and host of The Bubble Lounge Podcast, Martha has spent six years celebrating the people, businesses, and stories that make Highland Park and University Park unique. Her podcast has become a cherished part of the community, offering insights into parenting, education, local traditions, and the triumphs and challenges of everyday life. A proud graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Radio-Television-Film, Martha initially aspired to work behind the scenes in media. However, her journey took an unexpected turn when she launched The Bubble Lounge Podcast. Despite her initial fears of being on camera and sharing her voice, Martha embraced the opportunity to grow personally and professionally. Through her podcast, she has not only entertained and informed but also empowered others to embrace their creativity
Modern Sports Writing: Blending old and new.
For decades, sports writing existed in the confines of newspapers and magazines. While new mediums such as podcasts, vlogs and short-term content have grown in popularity in recent years, the old methods still matter. In this workshop, we will go over how traditional reporting techniques can help enhance modern sports writing to craft strong and compelling narratives. Using real-life examples from the NFL, students will learn how one piece of audio or video can be transformed for the modern media landscape.
SpeakerBen Baby
Ben Baby is a Cincinnati-based NFL reporter for ESPN. He has covered the Cincinnati Bengals since 2019. Previously, he covered college football for The Dallas Morning News. He is a graduate of the University of North Texas and is from Grapevine.
Photography as Witness in the Virtual Era
In an age when images flashing across your screen may look like photographs but might be entirely computer generated, what is the role of photography? How do visual journalists use photography to tell authentic stories that are valuable to society and perhaps to the future? In this workshop, we will reflect on the history of photography as a witness to the human experience and consider how visual storytellers add to the stream of images that help define us. Bring your cell phone camera and be ready to photograph.
SpeakerKael Alford
Kael Alford is a photographer, writer, and educator. Her work explores legacies of political violence, our relationship to the ecosystems that sustain us and our tenuous relationships to others. She develops photography-based projects that bring individual stories into dialogue with public discourse, backed by extensive research and long-term commitment to topics and subjects. Her photographs have been widely exhibited in North America and Europe and are held in the permanent collections at the High Museum of Art (Atlanta) and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art (New Orleans) and in private collections. She lives in Denton, Texas.
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
The Writer’s Toolbox: Collecting the Implements Necessary for a Successful Writing Career
The professional writer is a craftsperson who must bring their own tools to the job. We’ll have an interactive discussion of the tools you have, the tools you’re developing, and the tools you’ll need to acquire in order to excel as a professional writer.
SpeakerRusty Williams
Author 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. His latest book, Texas Loud, Proud, and Brash, How Ten Mavericks Created the Twentieth-Century Lone Star State (Rowman & Littlefield) tells how Texas earned its outsized reputation. Deadly Dallas: A History of Unfortunate Incidents and Grisly Fatalities (The History Press) is recommended as a “must-read for anyone who approaches Dallas history with a sense of humor, however dark.” Rusty is also the author of Red River Bridge War: A Texas-Oklahoma Border Battle (Texas A&M Press), winner of the Oklahoma Book Award, and My Old Confederate Home: A Respectable Place for Civil War Veterans (University Press of Kentucky), honored with the Douglas S. Freeman Southern History Award. Rusty regularly speaks on historical topics nationwide and writes articles for magazines and journals.
Writing Better Comedy than ChatGPT: A Workshop
This workshop focuses on what makes you and your friends laugh and how to spin that into making complete strangers laugh. We’ll talk all things funny and then dive into creating some easy, fun examples.
SpeakerMatt Lyle
Matt Lyle is a playwright and comedy writer living in Dallas, Texas. He’s a graduate of the Second City Training program and was the host and head writer for The City Life Supplement, named a Top 5 Comedy Show in Chicago (NEWCITY 2013). His sketches have been seen in Dallas in A Brief Endless Love at the Dallas Comedy House, Gold, Frankincense and Credit Card Debt in Theatre Too, and Adulthood: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Ken Burns at FunHouse Theater and Film and currently in Most Likely Forever yours at the Wyly Theatre. Matt’s plays, The Boxer, Barbecue Apocalypse, Big Scary Animals, Raptured!, Hello Human Female, A 3D Adventure, A Dance of Joy, and The Better Doctor, have been produced in DFW and across the U.S. In 2018 Matt was honored as a Distinguished Alum of the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre. His work is published by Broadway Play Publishing.
Writing True Crime: From the Investigation to the Page
What makes a good true crime story? What tools do you need to investigate what really happened? How do you get people–victims, law enforcement, perpetrators–to talk to you? Once you know the facts, how do you tell the tale in a compelling manner? The tips are the same whether you are writing on the page or doing a podcast.
SpeakerGlenna Whitley
Glenna is an award-winning investigative reporter. Whitley’s work has appeared in numerous publications, including The Dallas Morning News, D Magazine, Dallas Observer, Glamour, Ladies Home Journal, More, The New York Times, Texas Monthly, Penthouse, Reader’s Digest, Redbook, Town & Country, and many more.
She is co-author of Stolen Valor, a non-fiction book published in 1998 about the Vietnam War. The book received the 2000 William E. Colby Award for non-fiction writing on military affairs. It received acclaim from news outlets as diverse as ABC’s 20/20, NPR’s This American Life with Ira Glass, and Naval Proceedings, and popularized the phrase “stolen valor” to describe military pretenders.
She has discussed her stories on numerous television programs such as Dateline, NBC News, The Hunt with Jon Walsh, ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series, Snapped, and Discovery Investigates. Whitley is a graduate of Texas A&M University, where she earned a degree in journalism.
Your Setting is a Character
A setting is more than just a scene or location, it’s a stage where your characters will jump out of the pages and come to life. And the right setting is a catalyst for conflict, which is an absolute necessity in any great work of fiction. “Your Setting is a Character” will provide students with the tools to infuse physical, spiritual, and emotional characteristics into their novels and screenplays through vivid description, historical context, and world building. Writers will also learn how to utilize personification, as well as unique challenges that are geared to specific story themes, which will ultimately result in an audience who is 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.