The Desert Nights, Rising Stars
Writers Conference

The more specific the story, the more universal its reach‚ or so the adage goes. As queer people of color, however, the people we write for and about are rarely in the workshop or on the masthead. How do we write the stories only we can tell when educational and editorial spaces do not reflect us? In this session, participants will discuss notions of audience that nourish our work; craft decisions that de-center a white straight gaze; and strategies for navigating feedback from people we're not legible to, especially when they hold power. We will draw on craft essays, fiction, and interviews with writers of color and will walk away with frameworks, tools, and coping mechanisms that strengthen our work.