The United States is always in flux. In a sense, change is its defining quality and recent demographic movements and technological developments are transforming all aspects of cultural expression and reshaping social and creative interactions. New writing in new voices is suggesting new directions.

This session will examine the impact of these transformations on American experience and analysis.  Are these new voices assuming greater significance? To what extent are novelists, poets, dramatists and those involved in the growing field of non-fictional prose engaged in a dialogue about American identity, or has that conversation moved elsewhere? Questions linger as to why and in what direction the United States is
moving and whether contemporary work produced by Americans retains what might be called distinctly "American" characteristics.

In addition, forms of writing, publishing and book-selling are themselves being transformed. We note the gradual disappearance of bookstores and the power of online sales, the emergence of the graphic novel, blogs which develop into books, and self-published works appearing on literary prize lists. What is the impact of these changes on literary expression and cultural liveliness in America today? Are books on paper a dying technology?

We will examine new and established writers, listen to their literary and cultural voices and try to determine where America might be headed. To do so we invite a mix of the academic and the practitioner interested in contemporary aspects of creative American writing.

Questions to keep in mind throughout the session will include the following

• What are the demographic changes that relate to the new voices, new writing and evolving direction and cultural creative future of the United States?
• Can we still refer in any meaningful way to distinctly American novels, poetry, theatre, etc. or have technological and demographic changes in the United States changed cultural agendas entirely?
• Has the spread of the Spanish language and importance of ethnic groups changed the definition of the American experience? 

Are new authors and artists telling us something original and compelling about the changing culture of contemporary America?

For information about being a participant, contact Symposium Director Ms. Marty Gecek, mgecek@SalzburgGlobal.org.