Full Story Summit Schedule
All Story Summit Events will be in the Bahnson Center at 60 W Locust St, Bethlehem, PA 18018.
Friday, March 27, 2026
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
The Manuscript Workshop
Representatives from the Manuscript, Moravian's student-led literary magazine, will offer an in-person critique for participants to receive feedback on their materials, and submit for the magazines' next publication. Please note that this session is offered on a first-come, first-serve basis, with a capacity of eight. We will notify you of dates for submitting work ahead of time if you are confirmed as a participant.
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Delighted Listening with Mary Wright (From Touchstone Theatre)
An interactive workshop where participants are gently led through a process of story creation and feedback that is helpful in the early stages of development of a new work. “Stories get listened into existence” and this workshop helps you know how.
2:00 PM - 3:10 PM
Panel on A.I. and Creativity
Faculty from Moravian, including Professors Randy Ziegenfuss, MaryJo Rosania-Harvey, and Austin Baker will participate in a panel exploring how creatives of all kinds can use A.I. as a partner in the creative process.
3:30 PM - 4:40 PM
A.I. and Creativity Hands On Session
Participants will have the opportunity to explore the use of AI in creative endeavors under the direction of one or more AI experts.
5:00 PM - 6:10 PM
How to Write Dark
This workshop invites writers to explore the power of darkness in storytelling. It's designed for those inspired by noir, psychological suspense, or Gothic genres, and for any writer who believes that delving into fear, secrecy, loss, and the uncanny can create stories that resonate deeply with readers. Through techniques for crafting atmosphere, raising tension, and developing complex characters facing challenging realities, participants will discover how to find glimmers of light within dark narratives. The session features prompts and group exercises designed to help writers balance emotional depth with gut-level suspense.
Drawing from her experience writing ZIGZAG GIRL—a mystery novel set in Atlantic City's shadows and the eerie Pine Barrens—Ruth Knafo Setton guides participants in using darkness to create compelling stories that transform both writer and reader. Writers of all levels and genres are encouraged to attend with curiosity and brave hearts.
Saturday, March 28, 2026
10:00 AM - 11:10 AM
Reimagining Failure Craft Talk with Lee Upton
"Reimagining Failure" will be an interactive workshop led by author Lee Upton, encouraging attendees to reflect on how their experiences with rejection can deepen their ability to create meaningful emotion in fiction. Upton will discuss multiple ways that re-considering failure may lead to generative discoveries about our writing-in-progress.
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Crafting Stories in an Uncertain World Panel
This panel brings together local authors Ruth Setton, Joyce Hinnefeld, and Lee Upton for a conversation on our Story Summit theme, Crafting Stories in an Uncertain World. Together, they’ll explore how writers navigate personal, cultural, and global instability through the act of storytelling, and how creative work can offer both clarity and connection in uncertain times. This session will feature a selection of books by these local authors that will be available for purchase.
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Lunch and booksale
Join us for a brief sale and signing by our local authors!
1:30 PM - 2:45 PM
Writing this Moment Workshop: Poems for Current Events with Chad Frame
This workshop will discuss poetry written about major world events, local news stories, pop culture, and other public things experienced in the private space of the speaker's world. A reading and discussion of examples of these poems will be followed by a categorization and dissection of craft elements such as tone and mood (formal vs. informal, serious vs. comedic, aggressive vs. defensive, or sentimental vs. critical), scope and distance (firsthand account, distant engagement, or personal parallel to public), and form (free verse, formal, or invented form). A writing prompt and time to write and share will be provided. Finally, the practical application of submission strategies and publishing opportunities for current events poems will be covered, including which journals are printing them and which are tailored specifically for them.
3:00 PM - 4:15 PM
No River Twice performance and Q+A
NRT is a group of poets from Philadelphia, Bucks, Lehigh, and Montgomery Counties who offer poetry readings in which audiences and poets actively interact, poem by poem, to decide the direction of the performance from beginning to end, co-creating a reading that is never the same twice. We like to say, “don't improvise poems, just everything else!”
No River Twice invites you to join this interactive reading event, followed by a Q+A session.
4:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Reception and Book Sale
Featuring a selection of books by local authors, including speakers and authors from this year's summit. Come enjoy some light refreshments, and find your next read.