Angie Chatman has attended HippoCamp twice before, including the inaugural conference. She says at past HippoCamps, she “learned a lot, was able to get support and affirmation by being around other writers, and had fun.” Hoping to increase the representation of people of color among speakers, she submitted her proposal for this year’s conference and will serve on a panel entitled “The Writing Life After 40.” In the meantime, we asked her a few questions about her upcoming participation in our writing conference for creative nonfiction writers.
Hippocampus: What are you most excited to share during your panel?
Angie: I’m most excited about sharing my story about how I came to accept that I’m a writer and then worked on constructing and maintaining that identity. I hope to convince the audience that, although people over 40 may have come to the writing life “late,” we’re actually right on time.
Why do you love true stories?
True stories touch the heart in a special way because you know this really happened to the writer
Share a fun fact with us—something attendees may be surprised to know:
I was an on-air radio personality. I had the overnight shift most of the time, so my nickname was “The Night Angel.” Some of this experience was included in essay entitled “Jazz is the Root,” which was published in Hippocampus Magazine and won the Most Memorable Award for that issue.
Aside from preparing for HippoCamp 2018 (of course!), what are you working on?
I’m still working on an essay collection.
Since you’ll also be attending the conference, what are you most looking forward to learning or doing when you’re not wearing your “speaker hat?”
I want to know more about publicizing myself and my work on social media.
We love introducing Lancaster to attendees. Since you have been here before, what would you recommend?
There are really some great restaurants, given the size of Lancaster.
Any final thoughts about HippoCamp?
HippoCamp is getting bigger every year, both in size and reputation, but maybe because it takes place in Lancaster, there still remains an intimacy among the attendees unmatched by other conferences.
Angie, you gave us lots of great things to look forward to here, and we hope you enjoy Lancaster’s many restaurants! See you at the conference!
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