• Kelly O
• Kary Wayson

• Kelly O
• Ed Skoog

• Kelly O
• Ellen Forney

Look—what are you doing on Friday? Three of the best writers in the city are getting together for a literary salon that you don't want to miss. They are the finalists for the literature Genius Award this year. They will talk about writing, storytelling, confession, madness, artistic inspiration, and whatever you want to ask. If you are a writer, or care at all about the art of writing, this is the sort of conversation that will light up your brain.

Paul Constant, The Stranger's book critic, will moderate.

Kary Wayson's poetry marries the impulse to be confessional with her nearly supernatural sense of sound. She's a genius at finding the contradictions and consolations in language. She can undo you with a phrase, as she does again and again in her 2009 book American Husband. Ed Skoog is more of an old-fashioned storyteller, even though his stories are usually formatted like poems. Part of his genius is the warmth he radiates: He is a performer and teacher and conspirator and compatriot and the author of a 2009 collection called Mister Skylight. The cartoonist Ellen Forney is also a genius at confession and storytelling—she just does it more visually. She has published one collection of memoir-cartoons called I Love Led Zeppelin and is about to publish a graphic memoir called Marbles. It's about her own journey with bipolar disorder and how mood disorders have inspired and undermined artists for centuries. (See samples of work by all three here.)

This is the only time you will get to be in the same room with all of them at once and ask them anything you want. GET YOUR TICKETS HERE. Special deal for Slog readers: Use the code "earnest" at checkout and tickets are half off.