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.
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
Exploring the World of Independent Publishing: Choose Your Own Adventure
After considering which type of manuscript they'd like to publish, students will be guided through the stages of self-publishing. We'll discuss what to expect during the publishing process and some of the choices that will pop up along the way, including whether to publish "wide" or exclusively to Amazon. By the end of the workshop, each student will have an outline in hand for publishing their work, as well as a list of resources.
SpeakerK.E. Davenport
K.E. Davenport graduated from HPHS in 2000 and went on to study film, storytelling, and animation at NYU and later at The University of Texas, where she graduated in 2004.
She worked as a distance learning coordinator, a controller for JP Morgan, a home remodeler, and a teacher before becoming a full-time author. She has also volunteered as an animal rescuer, transporting and fostering animals on behalf of local shelters, as well as running social media for one of her favorite rescue groups.
During the last five years, K.E. has immersed herself in learning the world of independent publishing while releasing her science fantasy trilogy: The Moon Travelers. Currently, she's in the process of developing two new series that will be released later this year and in 2025.
K.E. spends most of her leisure time with her husband, kids, and pets. When she's not daydreaming, writing, or editing, she can be found hiking or having fun outdoors with her family.
Metaphorically Speaking
In this interactive poetry workshop, World Poetry Slam Champion, Joaquín Zihuatanejo will guide students as they write, revise, and share. We will take a deep look at metaphor and delve into why it is stronger than simile. And through a powerful revision technique we will walk away from the workshop with not one but two versions of a new poem. Sound intimidating? Trust us, it won't be as Dallas Poet Laureate, Joaquín Zihuatanejo, facilitates the entire process.
SpeakerJoaquín Zihuatanejo
Joaquín Zihuatanejo is the proud descendant of immigrant field workers. In the last year, Joaquín has been awarded a $20,000 honorarium from the city of Dallas along with a $50,000 Laureate Fellowship Prize from the Academy of American Poets, all in honor of the outstanding work he has done in his city as their inaugural Dallas Poet Laureate.
The second sentence is not greater than the first. The second sentence would not be possible without the first.
Joaquín received his MFA in creative writing with a concentration in poetry from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His poetry has been featured on HBO, NBC, and on NPR in Historias and The National Teacher’s Initiative. Joaquín’s new collection, Occupy Whiteness, is due out from Deep Vellum Books early in 2024. Joaquín has two passions in his life, his wife Aída and poetry. Always in that order.
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.
Telling Your Story: How to Craft Distinctive Personal Essays for College Applications and Beyond
Writing a personal essay that will attract the attention of college admission officers isn’t as easy as it sounds. It involves telling your personal story in a way that’s engaging, surprising and memorable. That involves using a variety of literary techniques – metaphor, pacing, interior monologue, reconstructed dialogue, and other aesthetic strategies of fiction to enable your personal essay to resonate with your readers. Getschow will use a few selections from his published personal essays and from other writers to illustrate some literary devices and strategies that can be employed to transform otherwise ordinary prose into literature.
SpeakerGeorge Getschow
George Getschow, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, worked for The Wall Street Journal as a reporter, bureau chief, and Mexico correspondent for 16 years. He was a Pulitzer Prize jurist in 2017 for General Nonfiction and for feature writing in 2013 and 2014. He was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters in 2012 for “distinctive literary achievement.” He’s won numerous awards for his essays, long-form narratives and investigative stories for magazines and newspapers in Texas and across the country. He’s the editor of Pastures of the Empty Page, a collection of essays by prominent writers, mostly from Texas, about Larry McMurtry’s life, legacy, and titanic influence on the literature of the West.
Full Presentations
"40 Million Streams Later" - How I Wrote Songs, Got Signed & Toured the World
Ever wonder how a song gets written? Recorded? Released? And Streamed millions of times? Want to be entertained by a guy who’s played 2,000+ shows to millions of people all over the world? Then my fun, energetic, inspired & inspiring workshop is for you.
I’ll bring my guitar, sing some songs and talk about my 35+ year career in the music biz. We’ll go back to my humble beginnings as a student at SMU, to my band getting courted by all the major labels in LA and New York - to writing songs that got millions of streams and two Grammy nominations. I’ll talk about what’s working and what’s not - especially in this “New Music Business” where social media has become almost as important as the music itself. (+ maybe you’ll be in our next post ;-)
SpeakerCary Pierce
An HP Dad, Cary is a Grammy-Nominated Songwriter, Performer & Producer. His songs and co-writes have been streamed over 40 Million times and he's had record & publishing deals with Universal, Capitol and Warner Brothers.
He’s toured the world and shared stages with John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band and many others. He has appeared on Conan O'Brien, countless other national and local TV shows and has written songs with artists as diverse as Katy Perry & Chris Tomlin.
Cary & Jack O’Neill founded the band Jackopierce as SMU theater majors. After spending 5 years relentlessly recording & releasing music and touring the country they were signed to major label A&M Records. For 36 years now, Jackopierce has toured the world in 48 states, 10 countries, on 3 continents and they’ve sold about 500,000 albums. They play about 50 shows per year and will be at the Granada in Dallas Friday, May 10. He lives in Dallas with his HP grad wife, Cara, and three HP boys: Jordan ‘19, Jaron ‘26, and Elijah ‘28.
Art and War in Photographs: Visual Literacy in the Age of AI
We live in a culture immersed in images and amid all this visual media, photographs tell stories that have a special immediacy. Photographs can impact how we feel almost instantly, shaping our views of the world around us. It is easier than ever to share images with each other, compounding our reactions like ripples in a pond.
We assume that we know what we are seeing when we look at a photograph, however artificial intelligence is changing how some photographs are produced. How do we know if what we see in a photograph is real in this age of information? We will look at a range of images produced by people and augmented by computers, and then discuss our reactions and responsibilities as individuals and as global citizens.
SpeakerKael Alford
Kael Alford is a photographer, journalist, writer and educator. Her photography explores political violence, environmental justice and the tenuous personal relationship to others. As a journalist, she photographed the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia from 1996-2002 and the impact of the U.S. led invasion Iraqi civilians from 2004-2011. She spent seven years photographing Native American communities in coastal Louisiana, building an estranged family album of her maternal grandmother’s lineage. More recently she has been developing photography-based projects that bring local, individual stories of community members to public spaces. Alford has published two photography books: "Bottom of da Boot: Louisiana's Disappearing Coast" (2012) and "Unembedded: Four Independent Journalists on the War in Iraq (2005). She is based in Denton, Texas.
Everything I Ever Needed To Know About Writing I Learned From the Beatles
What can the world's most popular rock band teach us about writing? Plenty, it turns out. This workshop will use the Beatles' music and lyrics as a guide to understanding the creative process.
SpeakerMichael Merschel
Michael Merschel's three decades in journalism included 12 years as books editor for The Dallas Morning News. In that role, he interviewed authors such as Khaled Hosseini, Kwame Alexander, Michael Chabon, Maria Semple, Norton Juster and Susan Orlean. Also, Judy Blume retweeted him once, and he won't stop talking about it. Mike is also the author of the novel "Revenge of the Star Survivors," which won the Texas Institute of Letters’ award for best middle-grade book in 2018. Before that, he contributed to public radio’s "A Prairie Home Companion" and composed an out-of-office reply that was mentioned in The New York Times and featured on NPR. Learn more at merschel.net.
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.
The Magic of Imagery
In this workshop, through a combination of discussion and writing exercises, we will explore the power of imagery to bring poems and songs to life.
SpeakerGreg Brownderville
Greg Brownderville is the author of three books of poetry, the editor-in-chief of Southwest Review, the creator of an online narrative series called Fire Bones, and the lead singer and songwriter for indie rock duo Beekeeper Spaceman. He lives in Dallas and serves as Professor of English at SMU.
What Is Great Screenwriting?
What makes great screenwriting great? A lot of things, big and small. In this interactive workshop, we will discuss the seminal, 1980s classic, The Breakfast Club, and the multitude of ways in which it exemplifies outstanding writing for the screen.
SpeakerKurt Voelker
Kurt Voelker was born and raised in Dallas, graduated from Harvard and went to graduate film school at USC. He has since written feature screenplays for Warner Bros, Paramount, Disney, Fox, Sony, MTV Films, Screen Gems and more. His work includes the Warner Bros release SWEET NOVEMBER, starring Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves, and Lionsgate/Huayi Brothers' animated feature ROCK DOG. Kurt also wrote and directed the award-winning, independent features PARK and THE BACHELORS, starring J.K. Simmons and Julie Delpy. He is currently revising the feature screenplay LIVE LIKE THAT for Affirm Films and Sony and is attached to direct the feature film SCRATCH.
Writing True Crime
True Crime is one of the hottest genres in publishing. Learn to research a subject that involves crime and law enforcement, interview victims, and witnesses, and then use that information to craft compelling page-turning true stories.
SpeakerGlenna Whitley
Glenna Whitley 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, 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.