In this panel discussion Dermont, Morningsnow, Twemlow, and Wilhelm will discuss poetry and fiction in conjunction with specific and intimate outside influences, inspirations, imitations, and inquiries. They will present examples of the ideas, authors, forms, and practices which have helped them generate their own most recent work, as well as discuss how writers might discover creative motivation in the world around them. Participants will leave with a list of recommended art, literature, music, film, and other imagination-sparking influences. Amber Dermont is the author of the novel The Starboard Sea, and teaches creative writing at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia. Blueberry Morningsnow is the author of a book of poetry, Whale in the Woods, and has published poems in Thermos and notnostrums. Nick Twemlow is a poet and filmmaker; his first book of poems, Palm Trees, will be published in 2012 and he co-edits Canarium Books. Vinnie Wilhelm was a recent Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA and is the author of a collection of short stories, In the Absence of Predators.