The Welcome Table Press Occasional Papers on Practice & Form is a periodical pamphlet series featuring spoken essays that originated as talks delivered at symposia, conferences, and other gatherings where friends of the essay might be found. Scroll down and discover what writers are writing about the writing life, the essay, experimentation, and teaching.
+ In Praise of the Essay: Symposia Proceedings
Proceedings from our inaugural symposium, In Praise of the Essay: Practice & Form, are available here for free download:
- Robert Atwan, "A Remarkable Orgasm,A Dying Pig, and A Scarlet Letter: Is It Truth, Fiction, or...Autobiography?"
- Brian Doyle, "Playfulnessness–A Note"
- Lia Purpura, "The Nature of Innovation"
- Jerald Walker, "The Suspension of Belief. On Being a Practitioner & Teacher of the Essay in the Age of Skepticism"
- Innovations in Teaching the Essay, a panel presentation featuring talks by Paul Lisicky, Mimi Schwartz, Michael Steinberg, Elizabeth Stone, and Linda Underhill
+ Dispatches from the Writing Life
Keynotes delivered at Fairfield University’s low-residency MFA are available here for free download:
- Lary Bloom, "Tea in Tuy Hoa: A Writer Makes Peace with the Vietnam War"
- Marita Golden, "How to Be a Great Writer"
- Michael C. White, "The Rights and Responsibilities of the Writer"
- William B. Patrick, "Teaching God's Daughter"
- Kim Dana Kupperman, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Success” (forthcoming)
- Baron Wormser, "On Being Quirky"
- Karen Osborn, “Life on Mars" (forthcoming)
+ AWP Panels
A collection of essays from panels given at the annual conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) is available here for free download:
- The Essayist’s Dilemma, with Marcia Aldrich, Lucy Ferriss, E. J. Levy, Kim Dana Kupperman
- Imagining Ourselves: Narrative Stance in Memoir, with Dustin Beall Smith, Sherry Simpson, Valerie Miner, Nancy Lord, Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, and Judith Barrington
- Redefining the Experiment, with Steven Coughlin, Kim Dana Kupperman, Kathryn Nuernberger, Traci O’Connor, and Richard Sonnenmoser