The 2024 Square Halo Conference: Return to Narnia—CREATIVITY, COLLABORATION, AND COMMUNITY

March 8-9, 2024 | Lancaster, PA
at The Trust Performing Arts Center and The Rabbit & the Dragonfly

Our keynote speaker will be Matthew Dickerson author of the new Square Halo title, Aslan’s Breath.

TICKETS

Tickets are $220 at the door or $210 online (available to attendees age 13 and older—no child care available). There is a $30 restocking fee for ticket cancellations with refunds but no charge if tickets are transferred to another guest.If you have any questions about this, please email CONF@SQUAREHALOBOOKS.COM.

BOOK TABLE

All the Square Halo titles and more will be on site throughout the conference to pursue and purchase.

LODGING

The conference is being held walking distance from several fine hotels, including Holiday Inn Lancaster, the Lancaster Arts Hotel, and the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square.

MARRIOTT: The rate at the Marriott is $170 plus taxes (At check in, a credit card will have to be presented as is usual in all hotels.). Parking is $5 per night through our group rate. Note: If you reserve a room and leave early, you will be charged an amount equal to one day's room rate plus all the usual taxes.

HOLIDAY INN: The rate at the Holiday Inn is $169 plus 11% tax for single and double occupancy, $179 for triple occupancy and $189 for quad occupancy. Parking is complimentary for anyone who reserves through the Square Halo reservation block. Here is the information for you to make the reservation.

Group Block Name: Square Halo Books Conference
Group Block Code: SHB  
Reservation Phone Number: 888-465-4329 (Mention the Block name and Block Code)
On-Line Reservation Link
Last day to reserve rooms:          Thursday, 8 February 2024

There are other quality hotels in driving distance, as well as local AirB&Bs. NOTE: Square Halo has one discounted room left set aside at the Holiday Inn. If you are interested in reserving that room, email conf@squarehalobooks.com and request it.

SCHEDULE

FRIDAY

11:00
Registration Opens
—Bookstore Opens
—Horst Arts | Create Your Own “My Narnia” Button: Attendees who arrive early will have a chance to make custom collage pins as they wait for the event to begin. Using supplied materials, including illustrations pulled from the entire Narnia series, create a tiny collage that features the characters and phrases you love most from the Lewis series. Then, with the pull of a handle, you will turn your creation into a wearable button. Pin it to your attire and it will make a great conversation starter during your time at the Square Halo Conference. Horst Arts have been adding to the Beauty of our conferences for three years now.

1:00 Welcome
—David Bisgrove | Opening Lecture: One of the contributors to A City for God, Bisgrove will help us imagine what going “further up and further in” can look like in the here and now.

2:30 Breakout Session I
—Stephen Roach | The Mischief of God In Art—Exploring Subversive Themes in Scripture and Creative Practice: In this session, the author of Naming the Animals will take a look at the unlikely parallels between biblical narratives and various forms of modern art and literature.
—Théa Rosenburg | Tiny Thoughts—The Writings and Life of Leslie Anne Bustard: This panel discussion will explore the story behind and the work within Leslie Bustard's new book Tiny Thoughts That I’ve Been Thinking..
—Carolyn Givens | Stories that Bring Scripture to Life: In this session, Givens (a contributor to Wild Things & Castles in the Sky) will explore stories and characters that exemplify deep truths of scripture through fiction.
—The Listening Room: Songwriters in the Round: Come and listen as a collection of thoughtful songwriters share songs & the stories behind them. No need to be a songwriter to enjoy this session.

3:30 Breakout Session II
—Brian Brown | I Shall Live Like a Narnian: In this session, Brian Brown, co-editor of Why We Create, explores the hidden enchantments of our world that cloud our vision and stunt our creative process—and how to live and create as people who have been through the Wardrobe.
—Tom Becker | Chariots of Desire-Toward a Theology of the Automobile and the Spiritual Benefit of Walking: Would you drive through Narnia? The White Witch did, and look what that accomplished! Becker, the author of Good Posture and an avid fan of car design, peers into the dark side of our car-dependent wardrobe to help us imagine a better way to be human: Vincibility. 
—Byron Borger |Bread for the Journey—Why Reading Matters (and What Books Can Do) for Kingdom Living: The co-Founder of Hearts & Minds will remind us of why reading matters as a formative spiritual practice, exploring what it means to see reading as an act of worship, shaping contemporary discipleship, resourcing missional contextualization and deepening of community.  
—The Listening Room: Songwriters in the Round: Come and listen as a collection of thoughtful songwriters share songs & the stories behind them. No need to be a songwriter to enjoy this session.

4:30 Dinner (on your own) at Local Restaurants

7:00 The Row House
—Matthew Dickerson| Breath and Wind in the Darkness: Matthew Dickerson, the author of Aslan’s Breath: Seeing the Holy Spirit in Narnia, will speak at this forum of The Row House about the imagery of Aslan’s breath in the Chronicles of Narnia, of the Holy Spirit in Creation, and of the implications of a created Spirit-filled world.

9:00 Pub Night

SATURDAY

8:00  Continental Breakfast

9:00 Opening Lecture
—Matthew Dickerson | The Breath of a Fellow Traveler: Dickerson begins our Saturday events with a talk on Shasta (a main character in The Horse and His Boy), and God’s gentle presence in our lives during times of grief and sorrow, even when He is unseen. 

10:30 Breakout Session III
—Lisa Smith | George Whitefield and the Holy Spirit: Based on her new Square Halo book Hammer & Fire, Lisa Smith shares lessons on valuing, following, and sharing the Holy Spirit gleaned from the life and writings of the popular eighteenth-century revivalist.
—Geoffrey Reiter | Jack’s Junk Food—Lewis’s Lesser-Known Genre Influences: This session, by one of the contributors to Ordinary Saints, will take you on a tour of C. S. Lewis’s more obscure literary influences in the realms of fantasy, science fiction, and horror.
—Corey Latta | Lewis and Creativity: In this session, Latta (a contributor to Wild Things & Castles in the Sky) will talk about Lewis's views (both explicitly communicated and implicit to his work) on creativity. 
—The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: A two-actor play that creatively takes the audience through Lewis’ classic story in a new and imaginative way.

11:30 Lunch at The Trust

1:00 The Collective

2:15 Breakout Session IV
—Carey Bustard | Square Halo Podcast: Be part of a live recording of the Square Halo podcast as Carey interviews Matthew Dickerson about his new book, Aslan’s Breath.
—Lisa Smith | Heroes from History: What should we learn from history and how should we learn it? Lisa Smith examines these questions by sharing the stories behind her two Square Halo books, Godly Character(s) and Hammer & Fire.
—Matthew Clark | At the Name of Aslan: Clark, a contributor to Wild Things & Castles in the Sky, will discuss Lewis’s fiction and acquiring a taste for the Kingdom of God. Lewis, in his fiction, rather than trying to change our minds with an argument, appeals to our desires, affections, and imaginations with the “taste” and “feel" of God’s life. Storytelling doesn’t explain the recipe, it serves up the soup, so you can taste for yourself and see that the Lord is good.
—Brian Brown, Stephen Roach, and Ned Bustard | Creativity, Collaboration, and Community: These three words form the foundation of rite Square Halo conference and in this session their meanings will be teased out by these contributors to Why We Create, Naming the Animals, and It Was Good.

3:30 Afternoon Activities (optional)
—A.D. Bauer | The Song of Creation: C.S. Lewis presented an imaginative description of Narnia’s creation in The Magicians Nephew. Many elements of his story parallel the biblical creation account. In this session A.D. Bauer, the author of The Beginning, will explore comparisons of Lewis’ story with the Genesis account in areas like talking animals, the presence of an evil being in an uncorrupted new world, and Lewis’ creativity and imagination in describing a new way of looking at the “Let there be…” statements.
—Carey Bustard | He is Not a Tame Lion: In this session, Bustard (a co-editor and contributor to Wild Things & Castles in the Sky) will share children’s books that help introduce kids to the Holy Spirit.
—The Goodness Tea Party | Come share your poetry and share a cup of tea
—The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: A two-actor play that creatively takes the audience through Lewis’ classic story in a new and imaginative way.
—Ned Bustard | Pop-Up Printmaking Studio: Get to experience a bit of what printmaking is like by pulling a print off of a linocut block with the author of Revealed.

4:30 Dinner (on your own) at Local Restaurants

6:30 Closing Lecture |
—Matthew Dickerson | The Lion’s Claws and our Dragon Skin: In this closing talk Dickerson will focus on some of the other imagery of the Holy Spirit in Narnian stories, especially in the un-dragoning of Eustace and what that illustrates about God’s transforming work in our lives
—Bookstore Closes

7:30 Concert
—Sarah Sparks

NOTE: This schedule is subject to change, and probably will. For example, last year we had huge changes due to speakers getting sick, but we filled those sessions with some fantastic replacements.

CONTRIBUTORS

SPONSORS