High Plains International Book Awards
october 4, 2025 at 11:30 aM
@Billings Public Library
Panel Discussion Details: October 4th, 2025 @ Billings Public Library
11:30 am - Incorporating Animals Into Story
Sneed B. Collard III, Kevin Grange, Sheila Ruble, and Edie Vogel will talk about why they all chose to write about animals and what challenges they encountered in the process.
12:30 pm - Place As Character
Marc Beaudin, Lynne Spriggs O'Connor, Joe Wilkins, and Randall K. Wilson will discuss the importance of place in narrative arc and why they chose the specific places they write about in their work.
1:30 pm - Crafting Alternative Narratives
Diane K. Boyd, John Henry Haseltine, and James Persichetti will gather to explore the very different paths they chose for presenting their stories in non-standard ways.
2:30 pm - The Joys and Frustrations of Complicated Characters
L K Dominguez, Lisa Guenther, Patrick Thomas Henry, and Maria Kelson will address the question of why readers (and writers!) are often drawn to characters we don't particularly like.
3:30pm - Writing About Real People
Leslie Budewitz, David Charpentier, Melissa Kwasny, and Sally Thompson will chat about why they have all written books incorporating people who actually lived and why they each chose the genre they did.
