The Annual LiT (Literature in Time) Conference took place on Sunday, April 13, in Harris House.

The conference allowed students a chance to discuss literature and criticism with their peers outside the classroom.

Presenters  read  their  essays aloud to an audience, followed by a Q&A session directed by student moderators. The conference featured keynote speaker Ms. Irene Yoon, executive director of the Los Angeles Review of  Books.  A  special  dinner  for participants and organizers followed. Presenters  were  selected  by  a conference committee, consisting of the students of English Department Head  Katie  Fleishman’s  Honors Senior English. Upper Mids and Seniors were eligible to submit papers.

Committee member Ophelia Cham ’25  said,  “We  read  anonymized submissions from students, ranked them,  and  then  came  together for  a  roundtable-style  discussion. There was a lot of debate—people advocating  for  essays  they  felt strongly  about,  questioning  and defending  ideas—and  ultimately we selected a group of essays that together would form a strong and engaging conference.”

The committee then organized the selected essays into three themed panels:  Duration,  Divergence, Deceit.

Ira Buch ’25, one of the panelists, said  that  preparation  for  the conference helped her improve the content of her work.

“The verbal recital of my essay and  comments  from  my  panel moderators  helped  me  enhance the clarity of my essay. It felt like I truly had an experience of preparing for a literary conference—not just in presenting my paper, but also in terms of literary collaboration,” said Buch, who is also a MacLeish Scholar.

Keynote speaker Ms. Yoon is a writer and teacher who splits her time between Oakland and Los Angeles. Her writing has appeared in Twentieth Century Literature and Transition Magazine.

Ms. Yoon earned her doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley,  where  she  teaches courses on contemporary fiction and visual culture and manages “Art of Writing,” an interdisciplinary writing program.

Ms. Yoon spoke about navigating the publishing industry in a time of political polarization and censorship.

At the Los Angeles Review of Books,  a  non-profit  organization dedicated to promoting writing on literature, culture, and the arts, Ms. Yoon oversees day-to-day operations and  helps  shape  the  Review’s strategic vision.