Where Are Your Parents, Kid? Writing the Family – When sending a scrappy protagonist off on their adventures, many creators start by doing away with those pesky parents, but what can be gained from keeping them and other family members in the story? Beyond that, why do we as readers and viewers love sad dads and dead moms so much? What benefits and challenges come from grappling with family (both found and blood) in fiction?
This event will take place on May 29th, 2021 at 3:00pm EST
This is a members only event, so make sure to Login (or register) and head over HERE to get the link to attend!
Moderator
Liz Westbrook-Trenholm has published or aired mainstream and speculative short fiction on radio, in magazines and in anthologies, most recently in Shades Within Us (Laksa Media), Over the Rainbow (Exile Press), Tesseracts 22 (Edge) and Amazing Stories. She won the Prix Aurora Award for short fiction in 2018 and had stories nominated in 2019 and 2020. She lives in Ottawa with her husband, writer and editor, Hayden Trenholm.
Panelists
‘Nathan Burgoine is a tall queer guy who writes mostly shorter queer things, though he has managed four novels in between. His debut SF novel, Light, was a Lambda Literary Finalist, and his first YA novel, Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks, was a finalist for the Prix Aurora Award. He’s written dozens of short stories and released his first collection, Of Echoes Born, as well as half a dozen queer romance novellas. He lives in Ottawa, Canada, with his husband Dan and their rescued husky. You can find him online at NathanBurgoine.com.
Fonda Lee is the author of the epic urban fantasy Green Bone Saga (beginning with Jade City and continuing in Jade War and the forthcoming Jade Legacy) and the science fiction novels Zeroboxer, Exo and Cross Fire.
Fonda is a winner of the World Fantasy Award, as well as a three-time winner of the Aurora Award (Canada’s national science fiction and fantasy award), and a multiple finalist for the Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and the Oregon Book Award. Her novels have garnered multiple starred reviews, been included on numerous state reading lists, named Junior Library Guild selections, and appeared on Best of Year lists from NPR, Barnes & Noble, Syfy Wire, and others. Jade City has been translated in multiple languages and optioned for television development.
In addition, she has written acclaimed short fiction and comic books for Marvel. She is a frequent speaker and instructor at writing workshops including Viable Paradise and Clarion West.
Fonda is a former corporate strategist and black belt martial artist who loves action movies and Eggs Benedict. Born and raised in Canada, she currently resides in Portland, Oregon.
José Pablo Iriarte is a Cuban-American writer and teacher who lives in Central Florida. José’s fiction can be found in magazines such as Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Uncanny, and others, and has been reprinted in numerous year’s best anthologies. Their novelette, “The Substance of My Lives, the Accidents of Our Births,” was a Nebula Award Finalist and was long-listed for the James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award. Learn more at www.labyrinthrat.com, or follow José on Twitter @labyrinthrat.
Avi Silver is an author and editor of speculative fiction. They co-created The Shale Project, an award-winning indie arts collective, and are passionate about stories that wield tenderness as a tool of change. Their first novel, Two Dark Moons, was released in 2019, with the sequel due out this summer. Find their short fiction in Common Bonds: An Aromantic Speculative Anthology, and the web serial Tales from a Library. They are very proud to be an Editor with Augur Magazine. You can find them on Twitter @thescreambean.