Join Inprint as we kick off the 2023 BIPOC Book Fest with an Inprint Writing Workout entitled Book Spanning led by newly appointed Houston Poet Laureate and 2022 Inprint Marion Barthelme Prize in Creative Writing winner Aris Kian. Book Spanning – designed to combat book bans and censorship and prioritize and center BIPOC narratives – is an hour-long generative creative workshop open to everyone attending the BIPOC Book Fest. This workshop will play with crafting titles that amplify the imaginations of BIPOC communities, with room to expand the possibilities of how we share stories for ourselves and one another. No creative writing experience is needed, just a readiness to be inspired, write, and share.

About the Instructor
Aris Kian is a Houston enthusiast and student of abolitionists. Her poems are published with Button Poetry, West Branch, Obsidian Lit, The West Review and elsewhere. She ranks #2 in the 2023 Womxn of the World Poetry Slam and is the 2023-2025 Houston Poet Laureate. She received her MFA from the University of Houston as an Inprint C. Glenn Cambor Fellow where she also was awarded the 2022 Inprint Marion Barthelme Prize in Creative Writing. Aris currently serves as the Narrative Change & Media Manager at Houston in Action.

About BIPOC Book Fest
The annual BIPOC Book Fest is a celebration centered on underrepresented voices through a showcase of literary works that feature Black, Indigenous, people of color, and other creatives of marginalized communities. Curated with diversity in mind, the festival combines the nostalgia of the book fairs we knew and loved as children with unique programming, panels, readings, vendors, book-related memorabilia, poetry performances, and more! To buy tickets and see the full BIPOC Book Fest schedule, click here.