This evening, I attended a talk with authors Ann Beattie and Hannah Pittard. If you haven't heard of Beattie, here is just a glimpse of her many accomplishments:

"She gained attention in the early 1970s with short stories published in The Western Humanities Review, Ninth Letter, the Atlantic Monthly, and The New Yorker. Critics have praised her writing for its keen observations and dry, matter-of-fact irony which chronicle disillusionments of the upper-middle-class generation that grew up in the 1960s. In 1976, she published her first book of short stories, Distortions, and her first novel, Chilly Scenes of Winter, later made into a film." (Wikipedia) 

Hannah Pittard is an assistant professor of creative writing at my school, the University of Kentucky. She is well known for her critically acclaimed novels, The Fates Will Find Their Way and Reunion. Pittard's first novel (The Fates Will Find Their Way) is one of my favorite novels of the last five years. 

When I heard that these two women would be doing a talk together, I knew I had to attend. At the talk, they discussed various aspects of the craft of writing, all of which I took thorough notes. They also told many stories and anecdotes of their time together at the University of Virginia, where Beattie taught Pittard. It was lovely getting the chance to hear these two women that I greatly admire and whose work I have read and loved, speak about the pros and cons of using symbolism and why it is bad to use exclamation points.

I especially enjoyed Ann Beattie's reading of her short story, "The Fledgling," a story of a woman who finds a small bird trapped in her recycling bin.

They gave an entertaining and poignant talk that enraptured me, and surely everyone else in attendance. I truly hope they both return for next year's conference.

x

Casey