Transmigration and the Fictional Essay

Over the weekend, RBM delivered a craft talk on W. G. Sebald and genre adapted from The Land of Infinite Variety: Stories and Other Prose at the Western Literature Association's 55th annual conference, held virtually this year due to the pandemic. Here is an audio clip from his remarks—an excerpt from the artist's statement that opens his dissertation:

rbmoreno.info · Clip from The Land of Infinite Variety: Transmigration and the Fictional Essay

In opening and concluding his talk, RBM read from "Sleepier Than Me," a new short story from the not-yet-published collection. At a Friday night awards ceremony, the story received WLA's annual creative writing award. In 2014, RBM received an honorable mention from the association for another work of short fiction later included in Infinite Variety and published by Drunken Boat. As in the collection, a series of archival images punctuates each of these works. A few more slides from Saturday:

RBM extends gratitude to this year's conference organizers and selection committees, congratulations to other WLA award winners, and appreciation to our plenary speakers and honorees: former U.S. poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, author Stephen Graham Jones, teacher and poet Natalie Diaz, and comic artist Arigon Starr.