Bread Loaf Writers' Conference catalog, 2002

16 Pages·2002·4.6 MB·

by  Bread Loaf Writers' Conference

Bread
WRITERS CONFERENCE *
AUGUST 14-25, 2002 pa
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The Bread Loaf
Writers’ Conference
August 14-25, 2002
ADMINISTRATION
John M. McCardell, Jr.
President of Middlebury College
BREAD LOAF ADMINISTRATION
Michael Collier
Director
Devon Jersild
Administrative Director
Noreen Cargill
Administrative Manager
ADMISSIONS BOARD
Michael Collier, Terri Ford, Devon Jersild,
Van Jordan, lan Pounds, Margot Rabb, Jodee
Rubins, Christopher Shaw, Ann Townsend
The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference is one of ten
Visit Bread Loaf on the internet:
summer programs offered at Middlebury College.
http://www.middlebury.edu/~blwec
Others include the Language Schools of Arabic,
Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese,
For further information, please contact:
Russian, and Spanish; and the Bread Loaf School Photo Credits
Noreen Cargill of English in Vermont; Oxford, England; Santa Fe,
Edward Brown:
Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference New Mexico; and Juneau, Alaska.
Cover and principal
Middlebury College photography.
14 Old Chapel Road Middlebury College complies with applicable pro-
Richard Allnutt:
Middlebury, VT 05753 visions of state and federal law which prohibit ancy Mendoza, page 1;
discrimination in employment, or in admission or Ning Cabiles, page 11.
access to its educational or extracurricular pro-
Office telephone: [phone] Robin Allnutt:
grams, activities or facilities, on the basis of race,
Office fax: [phone] Dimiter Kenarov
color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexu- & William Meredith,
Fax, August 14—25: 802-443-2770 page 1.
al orientation, age, marital status, place of birth,
E-mail: <[email protected]>
Vietnam veteran status, or against qualified indi- David Rhinelander:
Web site: http://www.middlebury.edu/~blwe
viduals with disabilities on the basis of disability. ay Sarton, page 6;
Robert Frost, page 7.
Erik Borg:
Toni Morrison, page 7.
he Bread Loaf Writers’
Conference is one of
Americas most valuable lit-
erary institutions. For more
than 75 years, the work
shops, lectures, and classes, held in the
shadow of the Green Mountains, have
introduced generations of participants
to rigorous practical and theoretical
approaches to the craft of writing, and
given America itself proven models of
literary instruction. Bread Loafi s not
а retreat—not a place to work in soli-
tude. Instead it provides a stimulating
community of diverse voices in which
we test our own assumptions regard-
ing literature and seek advice about
our progress as writers.
In August we will again welcome
more than two hundred talented writ-
ers to the historic Bread Loaf Inn,
From top to bottom:
along with our distinguished faculty,
Director Michael Collier at the
and many agents and editors from
Robert Frost picnic; contributor
major publishing houses and literary
Nancy Mendoza at a Blue Parlor
firms.
reading; contributor Dimiter
Come prepared to join fully in the Kenarov and poet William
busy schedule and to enjoy the beau- Meredith.
ty of the wilderness setting. No one
who has done so has failed to be
inspired, encouraged, or changed by
Bread Loaf.
I look forward to meeting all of you
who will attend the Conference.
Until then I hope you will feel free to
contact Devon, Noreen, or me should
you have any questions.
MICHAEL COLLIER
Director
то ооа
riting workshops
in fiction, poetry,
and nonfiction are
the core of the cur-
riculum. Each faculty
member conducts a small work-
shop, most often of ten contribu-
tors, meeting for five two-hour ses-
sions over the course of the
Conference. All participants also
meet individually with their work-
The schedule varies, but
shop leader to amplify and refine
most days look something like
what was said in the workshop
this:
itself.
Faculty give lectures on 7 А.м. breakfast
writerly issues, and one-hour class-
9 д.м. faculty lecture
es on specific aspects of craft.
10:10 д.м.- workshops/preparation time
Readings by faculty and guests are
12:10 Рм. (alternating days)
scheduled in the Little Theatre
throughout the day and into the Tem. lunch
night. 2:30-3:30 рм. craft classes
We offer many opportunities
4:15 рм. reading or guest speaker
for you to inform yourself about
5:30 Рм. guest presentation
the world of publishing. Early in
the Conference, guest editors and 6:30 рм. dinner
agents give overviews of the indus- 8:15 Рм. reading
try, describing the functions of
9:30 Рм. coffee reception
agents and literary editors, answer-
ing questions, and offering guide-
lines on how to submit book pro-
posals and full-length manuscripts.
Workshop meetings take
You may sign up to meet with an
precedence, but hikes, meetings
editor or agent in small groups.
with editors and agents, individ-
Magazine editors, publicists,
ual conferences with faculty, and
grant specialists, and other guests
other activities may be scheduled
offer a range of presentations on
simultaneously with lectures and
topics related to publishing.
readings. With so many tempting
options, Bread Loafers sometimes
take a few days to realize they
have to pace themselves.
N
A. Bread Loaf, writing is
both exalted and made to
seem possible.
Karen Olsson |
Austin, Texas |
|п his craft class on |
subtext in fiction, David
Shields presented concrete
examples of abstract notions.
In medicine, we'd call it a
skills lab. With David, it
wasn't abstract talk about
inadequate ventilation;
it was, “Hold the trachea
like this.”
Opposite page: Stacey D'Erasmo, a fellow in fiction, gives feedback to contributor Lindsay AhI.
Above: Contributor Monua Janah and Amy Holman, director of Literary Horizons. Paul Austin
Below: Michael Collier's poetry workshop. Durham, North Carolina
OUR GUESTS IN 2002 WILL INCLUDE:
Miriam Altshuler, Literary Agent, Miriam Altshuler Literary Agency
Esmond Harmsworth, Literary Agent, Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Agency
Amy Holman, Director, Literary Horizons, Poets & Writers
Alane Mason, Editor, W.W. Norton
Fiona McCrae, Editor-in-Chief, Graywolf Press
Anton Mueller, Editor, Houghton Mifflin
Jordan Pavlin, Editor, Alfred A. Knopf
Martha Rhodes, Editor and Publisher, Four Way Books
Denise Roy, Editor, Simon and Schuster
Jodee Rubins, Managing Editor, New England Review
Janet Silver, Editor-in-Chief, Houghton Mifflin
Carol Houck Smith, Editor-at-Large, W. W. Norton
>
tore 4010 1
or those who enjoy miles away, and Lake Pleiad is а
outdoor life, Bread Loaf is quarter-mile down the Long Trail.
ideally located at the edge of In nearby Middlebury you can find
the Green Mountain Forest country auctions, antique shops, a
in Rapton, Vermont. A junction state crafts center, a fine museum,
with the Long Trail, which winds а movie theater, and riding and golf
along the summit of the Green facilities. The elevation at Bread
Mountains and extends from Loaf is 1500 feet above sea level.
southern Vermont to the Canadian From the west, the campus can be
border, is a short hike up Route reached by turning off Vermont
125.The campus also offers many Route 7 in East Middlebury, tak-
opportunities for recreation: vol- ing Route 125 up the mountain.
eyball and clay tennis courts, a From the east, turn off Vermont
softball and soccer playing field, Route 100 onto Route 125. You'll
jogging and hiking trails, and the know you have arrived when you
bracing water of Johnson Pond. А see the ochre-colored Inn and its
beach at Lake Dunmore is twelve cluster of cottages.
le days | spent at Bread
Loaf were at once mind-
W... did | like about numbing and intensely
the workshop with David motivating. How does one |
Baker? Its pacing, its rigor, its measure such an experience?
range, its clarity, its attention К was akin to setting one’s
to vision and voice as well as foot upon a continent for
craft. We were able to attend the very first time.
to the broader issues of poet- Holly Harden
ic authority in addition to Scandia, Minnesota
offering workmanlike sugges-
tions on diction, syntax, archi-
tecture, argument. E. Bryant Voigt
Jody Bolz approached our work in a
Bethesda, Maryland way that was instructive to
all participants, not just the
person whose poetry was
being critiqued. She is an
exacting teacher who is
always encouraging but not
“easy” on the work.
Judy Grey
Monkton, Maryland
Clockwise from bottom left: — d
A break on the Bread Loaf lawn; a workshop meets in
front of Tamarack; the front porch of the Bread Loaf Inn, d
a popular gathering place.
Mistony
read Loaf is the oldest
writers’ conference in
America. Since 1926
—a generation before
“creative writing”
became a course ofs tudy
in educational settings—it has con-
vened in mid-August at the Bread
Loaf campus of Middlebury
College.
Set in the Green Mountain
National Forest in Ripton,
Vermont, the land was acquired in
the nineteenth century by Joseph
Battell, breeder of Morgan horses,
proprietor of the local newspaper, request, the young editor John
and spirited lover of nature. He Farrar organized a teaching staff
added a cupola and three-story and program.
wings to an existing Victorian The writers John Farrar
farmhouse, and built a series of attracted to the campus in the first
cottages to house his summer few years—among them Stephen
guests. Ultimately, Васе] pur- Vincent Benét and Hervey
chased more than 30,000 acres of Allen—helped establish the repu-
forest and farmland in the moun- tation of what came to be called
tains, and in 1915, willed all of it the Bread Loaf Writers’ Con-
to Middlebury College. The ference. They were followed by a
College established а graduate long line of writers with estab-
school of English and American lit- lished reputations, as well as writ-
erature—still in session for six ers ш more formative years, for
weeks every summer—and housed whom Bread Loaf was a source of
it on the Bread Loaf campus. encouragement.
The impulse to establish the The buildings at Bread Loaf
“Conferences on Writing” came have been modernized in the years
initially from Robert Frost, who since Joseph Battell stood near the Barn with its fieldstone fireplace,
loved the inspiring setting. Willa horse-block, welcoming guests as the outlying buildings with their
Cather, Katherine Lee Bates, and they alighted from carriages. The porches and wicker chairs, the still-
Louis Untermeyer—all of whom old stage route up the steep pitch- ness of the surrounding forest—all
taught at the School of English in es and hairpin twists of the Rupton are much as they were in 1926
1922—also suggested that the Gorge has been paved. Despite when the Conference began.
campus be used for a writers’ con- concessions to convenience, the
ference when it was vacant at the campus has changed little in the [Historical facts are taken from The First
Thirty Years by Theodore Morrison and
end of each August. The idea took last half century. The old wood-
Whose Woods These Are by David Haward
hold. At Middlebury College’s shingled Bread Loaf Inn, the huge Bain and Mary Smyth Dutfty.]
6
|c ame away from Bread
В... Loaf has long attracted
Loaf with everything I'd
writers with established reputa-
hoped for, and more.
tions. Stephen Vincent Benét,
New skills, and a fresh
Robert Frost, John Crowe Ransom,
perspective on my work.
Wallace Stegner, Josephine
Johnson, Katherine Ann Porter, Knowledge about the world
Archibald Macleish, William Carlos of publishing. Valuable
Williams, W. H. Auden, Isaac contacts and invitations to
Asimov, Shirley Jackson, Ralph
send work. A big bagful
Ellison, and Robert Hayden are
of wonderful books.
among those who have taught at
Words echoing in my
the Conference. More recently,
head. And most of all,
Howard Nemerov, John Gardner,
writing friends from all
Stanley Elkin, Anthony Hecht,
Gail Godwin, John Irving, Donald over North America.
Justice, Rosellen Brown, William
Susan Olding
axwell, Louise Glück, William Kingston, Ontario
eredith, Maxine Kumin, Grace
Paley, Mark Strand, Andrea
Barrett, and Edward Hirsch have
aught and lectured at Bread Loaf.
Most writers attend Bread
Loaf before their work is well
nown. Carson McCullers,
МА
Eudora Welty, Theodore Roethke,
Howard Fast, Elizabeth Spencer,
ay Swenson, Dan Wakefield,
Opposite page, top: 1940 Fellows,
Anne Sexton, Joan Didion,
including Eudora Welty, John
Toni Morrison, Tim O’Brien, Rita
Ciardi (upper left), and Carson
Dove, Walter Mosley, Richard
McCullers (lower right), with
Ford, Carolyn Forché, Francine Louis Untermeyer and Director
шши
Prose, Linda Pastan, Amy Hempel, Theodore Morrison (center).
and Julia Alvarez are among the Opposite page, bottom: May
Sarton, early 19505. П
many writers who came to Bread
This page, top: Robert Frost, “the
Loaf early in their writing careers.
Godfather of Bread Loaf,”
For a selected list of
1961.
Bread Loaf faculty since 1926,
This page, bottom: Toni Morrison,
visit our Web page, at faculty 1976.
www.middlebury.edu/~blwc.
General lntormation
LODGING AND MEALS APPLICATION we are unable to return supporting
AND ADMISSION
materials.
Bread Loafers are housed on the
You may apply to the Conference Ш Fax and e-mail submissions are
mountain campus of Middlebury
by submitting a sample of original not accepted.
College, in the Bread Loaf Inn
work and an application form.
and its cluster of cottages and
Acceptance is based on the GENERAL
buildings. Most rooms are doubles
strength and promise of the writ- APPLICATIONS
and baths are shared. We make
ing sample and the admission General applications must be
every effort to ensure that room-
board’s judgment that the appli- postmarked by April 20. (If you
mates will be compatible, and in
cant will benefit from the are applying for financial aid,
fact, some lifelong friendships$]
Conference. The workshops are please see that deadline below.)
have developed between Bread
designed to accommodate both Notification letters will be mailed
Loaf roommates.
published writers and those in the on May 20. We encourage you to
All buildings are within walk-
ing distance of the center of the early stages of promising careers. apply as early as possible.
campus, but some are farther from For the 2001 Conference, we General applications post-
accepted 25% of general appli- marked after April 20 will be con-
that center than others. We ask
admitted Bread Loafers if they cants; 10% of those who applied sidered for a position on the waiting
for financial aid received an award. list only. In this case, letters of noti-
plan to bring a car, so we can
arrange accommodations suitably. We cannot enroll anyone for fication are sent on a rolling basis.
less than the full 11 days of the
A list of local rentals is available to
Conference. Applicants must be at
those who prefer off-campus FINANCIAL AID
housing. least 18 years of age.
Financial aid applications must be
Meals are served in the dining There is no application fee.
postmarked by March th,
room of the Inn. There’s a well-
Notification letters will be mailed
stocked salad bar, and vegetarian SUBMITTING
on June 7.
options are available. Bread A MANUSCRIPT Thanks to the generous sup-
Loafers who live off-campus may Ш Applicants should submit a man- port of Middlebury College and
pay for individual meals in the uscript of unpublished work in to an endowment fund established
Inn; there is also a snack bar in the progress for consideration by our by past Bread Loafers and other
Barn. admissions board: up to 25 pages of donors, we are able to offer three
Bread Loaf is a smoke-free
fiction or nonfiction, or up to 10 types of financial aid: fellowships,
campus. Vermont State Law pro- pages of poetry. All manuscripts tuition scholarships, and work-
hibits smoking in any building on
must be double-spaced with mar- study scholarships. We award
campus, including dormitories. gins of at least 1.25”. Your name financial aid in recognition of
should be on each page. No staples, published work or literary
THE LIBRARY AND please. promise; financial need has по
“APPLE CELLAR” Ш Include a one-page synopsis if bearing on our decisions. The
The Davison Memorial Library at your manuscript is excerpted from awards must be used in the year
Bread Loaf hosts a collection of a longer project. they are granted.A n applicant may
literature, reference books, and Ш Applicants should send their receive a fellowship, tuition schol-
reserve shelves. The downstairs strongest unpublished work. Those arship, or work-study scholarship
“Apple Cellar” is a full-featured accepted will have an opportunity only once ina given genre.
to send a replacement manuscript
computer room (both Macintosh
and IBM platforms), including for workshop critique; more infor-
FELLOWSHIPS
mation will be included in letters
printers and Internet connections
for writing, research, and e-mail. of acceptance. To be considered for a fellowship,
Ш Please do not send children’s or applicants should have published
Some zip disk drives are available,
young adult literature, newspaper one book (and not more than
and a computer technician is on
journalism, or academic writing. two) within the last four years, in
site most days to help with any
Ш You may enclose a self- the genre in which they are apply-
questions.
addressed, stamped postcard if you ing. At Bread Loaf, each fellow
would like us to acknowledge gives a reading from his or her
receipt of your application. Due to own work and may also offer a
the volume of applications received, one-hour class on some aspect of