2014 Get Lit! workshops and panels

Get Lit! offers opportunities to learn from published authors from around the region and nation, including more than a dozen panel discussions and writing workshops Friday and Saturday.

Most are free, although some workshops cost $30 ($20 for students). Events are at the Spokane Convention Center, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd., unless noted otherwise.

They cover topics as varied as performance poetry and writing about the military experience.

Jill Malone will lead a panel discussion, along with fellow author Trent Reedy, about creating voice in young-adult fiction. Her YA novel “Giraffe People” (Bywater Books) was published last May.

“I enjoy writing in this perspective, because I think you can be honest in a way that you can’t be later,” Malone said. “We adults are not as honest – we really start obeying the social code.”

Malone’s first two novels are for adults.“It seems to me people take more risks with YA,” she said. “And that’s OK. You can write about some crazy child being born with wings, and everyone’s just like, ‘Yes, of course.’ ”

Friday panels

9:30 a.m.: Humanities Washington Bedtime Stories reprised. Hagan Foundation Center for the Humanities, Spokane Community College, 1810 N. Greene St.

9:30 a.m.: The American Landscape: The Role of Place in Poetry. Room 110, Building 24, Spokane Falls Community College, 3410 W. Fort George Wright Drive.

Noon: Strangers in a Strange Land: Fiction. Meyer Health & Sciences Building, North Idaho College, 1000 W. Garden Ave. in Coeur d’Alene.

Saturday panels and talks

12 to 1:30 p.m.: Finding Your Path to Publication

12 to 1:30 p.m.: Finding Your Character’s Voice in Young Adult Fiction (With Jill Malone)

1:45 to 3 p.m.: From Spark to Fire: Nonfiction Writing

1:45 to 3 p.m.: Poets of the Pacific Northwest

Saturday free workshops

9:30 to 11:30 a.m.: Everyone is a Writer: Exploring the Military Experience

9:30 to 11:30 a.m.: Performance Poetry

Saturday not-free workshops

Go to www.brownpapertickets.com to register until Friday night or register in person before the workshops.

9:30 to 11:30 a.m.: Rants, Odes and Images

9:30 to 11:30 a.m.: Storytelling is Neat; Life is Sloppy

3:30 to 5:30 p.m.: Speaking Pictures: Poetry

3:30 to 5:30 p.m.: Making a Living as a Writer

3:30 to 5:30 p.m.: Sense of Place and Setting in Fiction (With David Abrams)

3:30 to 5:30 p.m.: High-Concept Stories