After the 2016 presidential election of Donald Trump, Toni Morrison wrote in the New Yorker that “the comfort of being 'naturally better than,' of not having to struggle or demand civil treatment, is hard to give up. The confidence that you will not be watched in a department store, that you are the preferred customer in high-end restaurants—these social inflections, belonging to whiteness, are greedily relished.” So what does it mean to write from a position of privilege? How should white writers navigate their privileged positions? Are writers-of-colors exempt, or are all writers inherently privileged by way of having the opportunities to pursue a literary career? In this panel, writers of a diversity of backgrounds and formats will discuss the question of who has permission to write what, and how it influences their willingness to write outside the confines of their race, gender, economic class, and so on. Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, author of the memoir Fact of a Body, Shuchi Saraswat, whose essays combine photography and prose, Laura van den Berg, author most recently of the novel Find Me, and Hasanthika Sirisena, author of the short story collection The Other Ones, will discuss these pressing issues with moderator Kaitlin Solimine, author of the debut novel Empire of Glass. Whether you’re a writer yourself or just want to think more deeply and critically about the roles and responsibilities of writers, these session will offer opportunities for reflection and debate.