Why We Write panelist Charles Yu (left) talks with Opportunities in LA panelist Traci Kato-Kiriyama.

From left: poet Harryette Mullen, Poets & Writers editor in chief Kevin Larimer, and fiction writer Charles Yu.

Poets & Writers managing director Melissa Ford Gradel (right) talks with an audience member.

Featured reader Dani Shapiro.

Why We Write panelist Meghan Daum (right) talks with an audience member.

Opportunities in LA panelists Traci Kato-Kiriyama (left) and Lauren Humphrey.

Audience members talk during a break.

Featured reader Dani Shapiro, author most recently of Still Reading: The Pleasures and Perils of a Creative Life.

Why We Write panelists (from left) Ron Carlson, Harryette Mullen, Charles Yu, and Meghan Daum.

Panelist Traci Kato-Kiriyama talks about opportunities for writers in Los Angeles.