Panelists: BJ Best, Andrew Ervin, Brittney Morris

Moderators: Whitney Terrell, V.V. Ganeshananthan

Life relies on play. Kittens learn to hunt by pouncing on siblings, springboks practice leaping away from predators, and great apes form bonds through bouts of tag. Video games are the latest installation of gameplay to humans. The writers on this panel have wrestled with the human desire to play games and attempt to answer: Is life one big multiplayer RPG? This conversation will be recorded as a Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast.

Panelists: Desideria Mesa, José Faus, CJ Janovy

Moderator: Whitney Terrell

How is Kansas City portrayed in literature? Four KC-based writers discuss the city’s long literary legacy and its future. The city has experienced unprecedented growth in its writing and artistic communities over the past twenty years. Has the “traditional” literary take on the city changed? How welcome are authors from diverse communities? What issues will Kansas City authors be tackling in the next twenty years?

Panelists: Phong Nguyen, Jocelyn Cullity, Vanessa Riley

Moderator: Trudy Lewis

We often act as though the West invented the idea of the powerful woman. Yet women have succeeded as political and military leaders throughout the world, often in times of revolution and transition. These three writers of historical fiction have researched and written novels about three such historical moments in which powerful women leaders emerged and fought and reigned.