Tahoe Literary Festival

12:30pm PDT

Confronting the System, Reclaiming the Self: Fiction as Liberation

Saturday October 10, 2026 12:30pm - 1:30pm PDT

Gatekeeper's Museum Upstairs (no elevator)

This panel discussion examines how genre fiction can serve as a catalyst for personal and collective redemption.

Join authors Miles Whitney (Midlife Musical) and Dr. Nicholas Louis Baham III (The People’s Detective) with moderation by Afro-surrealist writer and revolutionary thinker, CJ Spears for an engaging session demonstrating how writers can use external conflicts to map out internal character reawakenings, Midlife Musical and expose under-reported societal injustices.

Attendees will hear about the Authors narrative techniques for creating the psychology of their characters. Writers will learn how to embed themes of resilience, and identity directly into readable plots.

Speakers

Nicholas Baham III

Dr. Nicholas Louis Baham III, Ph.D. is a Professor of Ethnic Studies at California State University, East Bay and an internationally recognized scholar of Black Studies. He has appeared in such wide-ranging publications and media outlets as Esquire magazine; BBC world service documentary... Read More →

CJ Spears

Chasejamison Akilah Manar-Spears is an imaginative writer who was born and raised in the Bay Area. Their words bloom at the intersection of poetry, afro-surrealism, and science fiction. As a Yoga teacher and revolutionary thinker, they are nourished by bodies of knowledge that express... Read More →

Miles Whitney

Miles Whitney is a queer, trans, Jewish attorney based in Sacramento, California. As a research attorney for the trial court, Miles channels his passion for justice into both his legal work and his creative writing. After the unexpected loss of his daughter, Isabel, in 2022, Miles... Read More →

Saturday October 10, 2026 12:30pm - 1:30pm PDT
Gatekeeper's Museum Upstairs (no elevator) 130 W Lake Blvd, Tahoe City

Craft Talk, Fiction

12:30pm PDT

The Art of Brevity

Saturday October 10, 2026 12:30pm - 1:30pm PDT

Gatekeeper's Basket Room

In flash fiction, the whole is a part and the part is a whole. The form forces the writer to
question each word, to reckon with Flaubert’s mot juste, and move a story by hints and
implications. Flash stories are built through gaps as much as the connective tissue of words,
so what’s left out of a story is often more important than what’s included.

In this workshop, Grant Faulkner, co-founder of 100 Word Story and the author of The Art of
Brevity—will discuss how a different type of creativity emerges within a hard compositional
limit, exploring the many different forms that short shorts can take.

Speakers

Grant Faulkner

Grant Faulkner is the co-founder of Memoir Nation (and also the co-host of the Memoir Nation podcast), the co-founder of the Flash Fiction Institute, the co-founder of 100 Word Story, and an executive producer on America’s Next Great Author. He was also Executive Director of National... Read More →

Saturday October 10, 2026 12:30pm - 1:30pm PDT
Gatekeeper's Basket Room 130 W Lake Blvd, Tahoe City, CA 96145

Craft Talk, Fiction

Tahoe Literary Festival

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Tahoe Literary Festival

12:30pm PDT

Nicholas Baham III

CJ Spears

Miles Whitney

12:30pm PDT

Grant Faulkner

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