17.30 Registration
19.00 Keynotes
Wendy MacNaughton

Wendy MacNaughton

The Art Of Collaboration

People often think of journalists, writers and illustrators as sitting behind a computer, desk or drawing table day in and day out, living a life of artistic isolation. But much if not most of our work is done in partnership with others. Whether we are finding stories, researching, editing, publishing or getting the word out there, our work is largely a collaborative act that requires us to collaborate with other people. And though sometimes this is hell, more often than not it’s an opportunity to expand our ideas, learning and creative output, and make our work better. Wendy will discuss creative partnerships past and present (including her own), and provide insight into the challenges and successes of creative collaboration.

Cheryl Strayed

Cheryl Strayed

The Journeys We Take

In her talk, best-selling author Cheryl Strayed will tackle the themes of inner and outer journey, how one can find courage both to explore the wild, or the world around them, as well as one’s inner world. And then, once the exploration is over, how can we find the courage to put together our thoughts, notes, and experiences and create something others can relate to.

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Jon Mooallem

Scattering Pigeons

Good magazine journalism organizes reality into stories. The problem is, the deeper you wander into the real world, the more clumsy, contradictory and disorderly it can feel; often, reality defies the story you thought you were telling about it. Using examples from my own writing about wildlife and the natural world, I’ll talk about the power of accepting that complexity, rather than fighting against it.

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Colin Meloy

Songs as stories

I’ve always loved finding the story inside a song, no matter how abstract it might be. It took me a while to find those stories in my own songs, but once I did, I kicked something open in my songwriting and I began to find a language I could speak, a world I wanted to populate. I’ll be talking a bit about my evolution as a songwriter and the process of finding my own voice, as well as playing some of the songs that served as waymarks on that path.

21.30 Closing