Unbound Podcast Unbound Book Festival

 
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.

Panelists: Angela Hume, Jennifer Haigh, Natalie Y. Moore
Moderator: Molly Housch Gordon
In the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, Margaret Atwood wrote “I thought I was writing fiction in The Handmaid’s Tale.” A theocratic United States where women were treated as if they were “in 17th century New England” seemed to her, in 1985, to be “far-fetched” and “silly.” Yet Gilead is slowly becoming an American reality. How do writers fight back against the patriarchy that strives to silence them? These three writers take up the theme of reproductive rights and discuss literary challenges to America’s slide toward Gilead.

Panelists: Calvin Kasulke, Akil Kumarasamy, YZ Chin
Moderator: Donald Quist
Once upon a time, networks were made of connected people. Now, the most relevant networks are digital. As technology advances and invades our workplaces, we’re faced with a cloud of innovations that change the shape and nature of our work lives. These three writers trace the wires of influence in our workplace.

Panelists: Megan Kaminiski, Megan Giddings, Sun Yung Shin, Desideria Mesa
Moderator: Tina Casagrand Foss
Where do we find hope, community, and belonging in the face of a divided and distant society? If only there were some magic to see things differently. These writers’ latest books use witchcraft, divination, and the power of nature to turn our everyday world on its head and fight against oppressive power structures.