Finding Voice Through Dialogue with Carmen Tafolla

Literary Masters Lecture Series
Tue, Jul 7 & 14
6:30-8pm CT via Zoom
Nonmember: $90; Member: $75; Student/Educ/Mil: $63

Registration info coming soon.

Rhythm, pacing, vocabulary, slang, and tone all shape how someone speaks. Whether you’re looking to refine your novel-in-verse or craft more impactful dialogue in your poetry or prose, mastering dialogue is a powerful way to create more vivid, compelling storytelling.  

Award-winning author of more than 40 books, Dr. Carmen Tafolla presents a two-part Master Class focused on shaping characters’ voices, so they reflect depth, individuality, and authenticity. In session one, we will explore examples of compelling dialogue and review useful tools, patterns, and exercises that can be used long after the lecture ends. Participants should bring some of their writing to class and be prepared to apply the techniques from the first session to their work. In the second session they can expect to share and discuss their revisions. 

This lecture is open to writers of all skill levels 18+.

In this lecture students will gain:

• An understanding of the elements of effective dialogue
• Strategies for mastering the art of dialogue writing
• Ideas on how dialogue can provide writers with insights into themselves and their characters

Dr Carmen Tafolla is a storyteller, professor emeritus, performance artist, and award-winning author of more than 40 books and hundreds of poems and performance pieces. The 2015 State Poet Laureate of Texas, and San Antonio’s first and inaugural City Poet Laureate, she is the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, including seven International Latino Book Awards; an Américas Award, presented to her in 2010 at the Library of Congress; three Tomás Rivera Book Awards; the Charlotte Zolotow; the Art of Peace; Top Ten Books for Babies (by the Fred Rogers Corporation 2010), and has been recognized by the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies for work which “gives voice to the peoples and cultures of this land.”

Her latest book, Warrior Girl, received a starred review in Publishers’ Weekly, and was a finalist for the Jane Addams Award.