Other Events & Activities
Here are some of the activities planned for 2019’s Program:
Editing 101: What Editors Do and How We Do It with Emily Nemens
Editing is big-picture thinking about how pieces fit together in a literary agenda. Editing is also punctuation, primary spellings, and the line-level polish. Put together, the big and small of the job makes for a lot of fun–and much improved writing. Through discussion of editorial processes, examples from the pages of The Paris Review, and generative prompts, we’ll start to unpack the project of making writing better.
Editing Poetry: The Successful Magazine Submission with John Hennessy
Drawing on his experience from both sides of the submission process, poet and poetry editor for The Common John Hennessy will help participants in this seminar prepare their work for magazine publication. We’ll discuss editing individual poems, selecting the best combination of poems to make up the submission, choosing the appropriate venues for your work, writing the cover letter, and a few poor decisions to avoid.
This 75-minute seminar will be offered three times during the conference with a minimum of three participants and a maximum of eight. Anyone with an interest in poetry and magazine publication will be well served here.
Participants are invited to send a selection of up to 3 poems ahead of the seminar to if they’d like to meet with John for an individual conference. They may mark the poem they’d like considered for “first look.”
Berardo Collection Tour with Cyriaco Lopes
Everyone is welcome on this tour of the Berado Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art with visual artist Cyriaco Lopes, conducted as part of the Fernando Pessoa Game workshop co-taught by Lopes and poet Terri Witek. The conversation will focus specifically on the ways in which the visual arts articulate language. From the inheritance of the Modernist avant-garde to the many influences of cinema and advertisement, the visual arts has been one of the most exciting sites of experimentation for writing, producing work that is both intellectually and emotionally compelling.
Participants do not need to be signed up for The Fernando Pessoa Game to join the tour!
Pessoa Walk with Jensen Beach
Early in its pages, Fernando Pessoa writes that the Book of Disquiet is “the autobiography of someone who never existed.” While Pessoa’s obsession with identities, from the hollow to the manifest, is clear throughout, what is also striking is the attention he pays to the physical spaces, namely the city itself, in the Book of Disquiet, that do very much indeed exist. The Pessoa walks will bring us out into some of those spaces, both occupied by Pessoa himself and his heteronyms. Bring walking shoes, a hat, water, and sunscreen, and join us as we explore Pessoa’s Lisbon, stopping along to way to read from and discuss his work.
Miradouro Meetups
Lisboa is a city of great views, and there are several stunning lookout points from which to take in the red rooftops, blue water, and seven hills of the city. As part of the “Miradouro Meetups,” Disquiet Staff will be arranging informal hangouts at various picturesque locales.
Participant Open Mic
Read your work in one of Lisbon’s oldest and most prestigious literary clubs, the Grémio Literário, which looks out over the gardens, the river Tagus and the famous Castle. Always a highlight!