Lev Keltner, Casandra Lopez, Samantha Tetangco, and Suzanne Rich and I will be in conversation about why even genre? at AWP 2022. We’ll address the specter of genre mastery, institutional pressures, and how genre pivoting influences personal and professional lives. Craft topics will include the relationship between form and content, voice across genres, poly-genre versus hybrid work, and the persistence of genre. The panel affirms poly-genre writing as transformative practice.