On Tuesday, May 14th, I'll be teaching a one-night class at StoryStudio Chicago. "The Blind Date" is, alas, not a matchmaking party, but a brainstorming workshop. Come set your abandoned, lovelorn, rejected story ideas up with each other and make narrative magic! Details are right here.

I'll be appearing at Chicago's Printer's Row Lit Festival on Saturday, June 8th at 12:45 on the panel "This Must Be the Place." I'll join authors Dina Nayeri and Benjamin Lytal to talk about the role of setting in fiction; StoryStudio Chicago founder Jill Pollack will moderate. At Jones College Prep; tickets required.

I will be a Teaching Fellow at the Wesleyan Writers Conference from June 12th to 16th. Limited space at the conference is still available (as of the middle of May).

On October 11th, I'll be doing two events for The Book Stall in Winnetka with Pamela Erens, author of the gorgeous new novel The Virgins. We'll be "in conversation" for both, with me trying to ask her semi-intelligible questions. Join us either for lunch at 12:00 at Avli (tickets required -- call 847-446-8880 to reserve […]

I'm thrilled to be visiting WriterHouse in Charlottesville, VA the weekend of October 25th. On Friday the 25th at 7 pm I'll be doing a "literary salon," in which I'll read from The Borrower and talk about getting characters to misbehave; on Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., I'll be leading a seminar called […]

I'll be teaching a craft class on Tuesday, January 21st at the Warren Newport Public Library in Gurnee, IL. The class, "Ending it All," is about the art of ending stories and novels. Free and open to the public. Registration is not required, but there's a link here anyway.

Jason Porter's debut novel, Why Are You So Sad?, is a strange and hilarious book... and I get to converse with him about it publicly (on its release date!) at City Lit Books in Chicago on Tuesday, January 28th. Event details are here, and a Facebook page for the event is here. And people: CITY […]

I'll be doing one panel, one signing, and three offsite readings at AWP in Seattle (February 27th and 28th). The panel and signing are open to conference attendees, and the offsite readings are open to the public. Events as follows:   Thursday, February 27:7-9 pm: Iowa Review, MQR and Seattle Review at AWP: a reading […]

I'll be at City Lit Books in Chicago on Friday, April 11th at 6 pm for the World Book Night giver reception and book pickup. Six of us will be reading passages from our favorite books on the World Book Night list. I'll be reading from Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, one of my all-time favorite […]

I'll be appearing on two panels at the Arkansas Literary Festival in Little Rock on Saturday, April 26th. See the full schedule here!