Bread Loaf Writers' Conference catalog, 2007

2007·3.8 MB·

by  Bread Loaf Writers' Conference

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Ronald D. Liebowitz
President of Middlebury College
Michael Collier
Director
Jennifer Grotz
Assistant Director
Noreen Cargill
Administrative Manager
Dan Albergotti, Catherine Barnett, H.G. Carrillo,
Michael Collier, Hugh Coyle, Patrick Donnelly,
Eugenie Doyle, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Tony
Farrington, Jennifer Grotz, Murad Kalam, Ernie
McLeod, Frances de Pontes Peebles, Audrey Petty,
lan Pounds, Tatjana Soli, and Wendy Walters
The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference is one of ten
summer programs offered at Middlebury College.
Others include the Language Schools of Arabic,
Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Edward Brown:
For further information, please contact: All color photos with
Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish; and the
exception of back cover. |
Noreen Cargill Bread Loaf School of English in Vermont; |
i
Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Oxford, England; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Gina Franco: back cover. i
14 Old Chapel Road and Asheville, North Carolina. David Rhinelander:
5525 Middlebury College Robert Frost, page 7.
Middlebury College complies with applicable
Middlebury, VT 05753 Erik Borg:
provisions of state and federal law which prohibit
May Swenson, page 6;
discrimination in employment, or in admission Toni Morrison, page 7.
Office telephone: [phone]
or access to its educational or extracurricular
Office fax: [phone] Credits for individual
programs, activities, or facilities, on the basis of
faculty photos are
Fax, August 16-27: 802-443-2770
race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, listed on our Web site:
E-mail: <[email protected]> www.middlebury.edu/
sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and
blwe/faculty/
Web site: http:;//www.middlebury.edu/blwc expression, age, marital status, place of birth,
service in the armed forces of the United States,
or against qualified individuals with disabilities
on the basis of disability.
he Bread Loaf Writers’
Conference is one of
America's most valuable lit-
erary institutions. For the
past 82 years, the workshops,
lectures, and classes, held in the shad-
ow 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
a 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,
along with our distinguished faculty,
and many agents and editors from
major publishing houses and literary
firms.
Come prepared to join fully in the
busy schedule and to enjoy the beauty
of the wilderness setting. No one
who has done so has failed to be
From top to bottom:
inspired, encouraged, or changed by
ichael Collier, director of the
Bread Loaf.
Conference, signs a book for Heather
I look forward to meeting all of Leigh Johnson at an outdoor reception;
you who will attend the Conference. Leslie Chang and Thomas Sayers Ellis
Until then I hope you will feel free ake a moment to relax before heading
to contact Jennifer, Noreen, or me to classes; Thomas Heise prepares for his
should you have any questions.
workshop; Ursula Hegi, Hananah Zaheer,
v and Pamela Brunskill chat on their way
back from the bookstore.
BLCWrrooiaentfafe der sr’e nce
MICHAEL COLLIER
Director
The IP it © ma m
riting workshops
in fiction, poetry,
and nonfiction are
the core of the cur-
riculum. Each faculty
member conducts a
small workshop, most often of
ten contributors, meeting for five
two-hour sessions over the course
of the Conference. All participants Miriam Altshuler, President of the Miriam Altshuler Literary
also meet individually with their Agency, shares some advice with Bread Loafers on the porch
workshop leader to amplify and of the Bread Loaf Inn. Bread Loafers may sign up formally for
refine what was said in the work- individual or group meetings with agents and editors.
shop itself.
Faculty give lectures on writ-
erly issues, and one-hour classes on The schedule varies, but most days look
specific aspects of craft. Readings something like this:
by faculty and guests are scheduled
in the Little Theatre throughout 7:30 a.m. breakfast
the day and into the night. 9 A.M. faculty lecture
We offer many opportunities
10:10 A.M.- workshops/preparation time
for you to inform yourself about
12:10 P.M. (alternating days)
the world of publishing. Early
Noon -1:45 p.m. lunch
in the Conference, guest editors
and agents give overviews of the 2:30-3:30 p.m. craft classes
industry, describing the functions 4:15 P.M. reading or guest speaker
of agents and literary editors,
5:30 P.M. guest presentation
answering questions, and offering
6:30 p.m. dinner
guidelines on how to submit book
proposals and full-length manu- 8:15 P.M. reading
scripts. You may sign up to meet
with an editor or agent in small
groups.
Magazine editors, publicists,
Workshop meetings take
grant specialists, and other guests
precedence, but hikes, meetings
offer a range of presentations on
with editors and agents, individ-
topics related to publishing.
ual conferences with faculty, and
other activities may be scheduled
simultaneously with lectures and
readings. With so many tempting
options, Bread Loafers sometimes
take a few days to realize they
have to pace themselves.
N
y brain is tired. It hasn't
had this kind of workout
in along while. Bread Loaf is
many things, but most of all, it is
exhausting—blissfully exhausting.
Above: Helena Maria Viramontes’ workshop gathers for a photo.
Most Bread Loafers mention t
Below: Lynn Francis and JoAnne Tompkins talk about the lecture they just attended in the Little
Theatre. Lectures offered by faculty take place on most mornings during the Conference.
OUR GUESTS IN 2007 WILL INCLUDE:
Richard Abate, Literary Agent
he number and variety of Blue
International Creative Management
Parlor readings was stunning.
Miriam Altshuler, President, Miriam Altshuler Literary Agency
| was so pleased to have the
Julie Barer, President, Barer Literary
Stuart Bernstein, Literary Agent, opportunity to read some of my
Stuart Bernstein Representation for Artists poems; | got feedback that is
Jill Bialosky, Executive Editor and Vice President, W.W. Norton
really important to my under-
Gary Clark, Development Director, Vermont Studio Center
standing of my own work.
Thom Didato, Editor and Publisher, Failbetter.com
Ted Genoways, Editor, Virginia Quarterly Review Laura Golberg —
M.M.M. Hayes, Editor and Publisher, StoryQuarterly
Washington, DC
Amy Holman, Literary Consultant
Carolyn Kuebler, Managing Editor, New England Review
Fiona McCrae, Editor-in-Chief, Graywolf Press M ac's [Kevin Mcllvoy's] class
Martha Rhodes, Director, Four Way Books was the best workshop I've
Denise Roy, Senior Editor, Simon & Schuster
ever taken (and l've taken a lot).
Anjali Singh, Senior Editor, Houghton Mifflin
He is a master teacher—brilliant,
Carol Houck Smith, Editor-at-Large, W.W. Norton
humble, and fantastically helpful.
Christina Ward, Literary Agent, Christina Ward Literary Agency
Michael Wiegers, Executive Editor, Copper Canyon Press This class was magnificent because
C. Dale Young, Poetry Editor, New England Review
of the way he steered discussions.
No ego at all—so rare.
Marianne Taylor
Boston, MA
Porcaro n
or those who enjoy and Lake Pleiad is a quarter-mile
outdoor life, Bread Loaf down the Long Trail. In nearby
is ideally located at the edge Middlebury you can find country
of the Green Mountain auctions, antique shops, a state
Forest in Ripton, Vermont.
crafts Genter, a fine museum, a
A junction with the Long Trail, movie theater, and riding and golf
which winds along the sum- facilities. The elevation at Bread
mit of the Green Mountains and Loaf is 1500 feet above sea level.
extends from southern Vermont From the west, the campus can be
to the Canadian border, is a short reached by turning off Vermont
hike up Route 125. The campus Route 7 in East Middlebury, tak-
Conference participants gather near
also offers many opportunities ing Route 125 up the mountain.
Robert Frost’s cabin following a tour of
for recreation: volleyball and clay From the east, turn off Vermont
the poet's Vermont home and a lecture
tennis courts, a softball and soc- Route 100 onto Route 125.
by John Elder titled “Robert Frost:
cer playing field, and jogging and You'll know you have arrived
hiking trails. A beach at Lake when you see the ochre-colored Poet as Naturalist.”
Dunmore is twelve miles away, Inn and its cluster of cottages.
loved the lectures—all of such
high quality—and the readings,
but what moved me most was the
sheer variety of people there—all
with a common passion—and the
stories they told about their lives.
Barbara Klein Moss
Haverford, PA
hat | liked most about
the workshop was the
congeniality of all the participants
and the generosity of David Baker,
the workshop leader.
Timothy O'Keefe _
.... Salt Lake Ci
ing how he managed to focus
. the conversation without comman-
deering the class discussion.
| couldn't be happier.
Above: Carl Phillips meets with Kate Brittain in the barn, a popular gathering place Elizabeth Koch
or conferences, reading, or to check email. Wireless access is available in some New York, NY
ocations on campus.
he agent meetings were excel-
Left: Audrey Petty reads her manuscript packet to prepare for workshop. During
lent—friendly and relaxed.
egistration, each Bread Loafer receives a packet made up of pieces submitted by
Deborah Clearman —
hose in their workshop.
New York, NY
JEL I SOs ay
read Loaf is the oldest
writers’ conference
in America. Since
1926 —a generation
before “creative writing”
became a course of study in edu-
cational settings—it has convened
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, Battell 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 the Bread Loaf Writers’ Con-
it to Middlebury College. The ference. They were followed by
College established a graduate a long line of writers with estab-
school of English and American lished reputations, as well as writ-
literature still in session for six ers in more formative years, for
wecks 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 Loaf Inn, the huge Barn with its
initially from Robert Frost, who years since Joseph Battell stood fieldstone fireplace, the outlying
loved the inspiring setting. Willa near the horse-block, welcoming buildings with their porches and
Cather, Katherine Lee Bates, and guests as they alighted from car- wicker chairs, the stillness of the
Louis Untermeyer all of whom riages. The old stage route up the surrounding forest—all are much
taught at the School of English steep pitches and hairpin twists of as they were in 1926 when the
in 1922—also suggested that the the Rupton Gorge has been paved. Conference began.
campus be used for a writers’ con- Despite concessions to conve-
ference when it was vacant at the nience, the campus has changed [Historical facts are taken from The First
Thirty Years by Theodore Morrison and
end of each August. The idea took little in the last half century.
Whose Woods These Are by David Haward
hold. At Middlebury College's The old wood-shingled Bread Bain and Mary Smyth Dufty.|
6
Bead Loaf has long attracted
writers with established reputa-
tions. Stephen Vincent Benét,
Robert Frost, John Crowe
Ransom, Wallace Stegner,
Josephine Johnson, Katherine
Ann Porter, Archibald Macleish,
William Carlos Williams, W. H.
Auden, Isaac Asimov, Shirley
Jackson, Ralph Ellison, and Robert
Hayden are among those who
have taught at the Conference. t is not so much what you do at
More recently, Howard Nemerov, Bread Loaf that counts—though
John Gardner, Stanley Elkin, -that is important. It is the state of
Anthony Hecht, mind the experience brings
Gail Godwin, John Irving, Donald
Justice, Rosellen Brown, William
axwell, Louise Glück, William
eredith, Maxine Kumin, Grace
Paley, Mark Strand, Andrea
Barrett, and Edward Hirsch have
aught and lectured at Bread Loaf.
inda Bierds set the tone for our
Most writers attend Bread
workshop—didn't allow discus-
Loaf before their work is well
sion to disintegrate into meanness
known. Carson McCullers,
or nitpicking—and she offered not
Eudora Welty, Theodore Roethke,
only suggestions, but encourage-
Howard Fast, Elizabeth Spencer, ment. She clearly spent a lot of time
Opposite page, top: 1940 Fellows,
May Swenson, Dan Wakefield, i í with our work.
T. including Eudora Welty, John
Anne Sexton, Joan Didion,
Ciardi (upper left), and Carson Karla Huston
Toni Morrison, Tim O'Brien, Rita McCullers (lower right), with Appleton, WI
Dove, Walter Mosley, Richard Louis Untermeyer and Director
j Ford, Carolyn Forché, Francine Theodore Morrison (center). ie some of the editor's
| Prose, Linda Pastan, Amy Hempel, Opposite page, bottom: talks, panels, and two group
| and Jula A verre ae among ie May Swenson, 1976. sessions. For the first time, a big
! Men eae rere This page, top: Robert Frost, “the picture of the publishing industry
Godfather of Bread Loaf,” began to form for me. | gained a
Loaf early in their writing careers.
ee aa sense of the pressures agents and
For a selected list of
Bread Loaf faculty since 1926, i a i pu Rs a ellos
place and what | can do—should
visit our Web page, at
do—as a writer to ensure a reading
www.middlebury.edu/blwc.
of my work.
A'Dora Phillips
New York, NY
Gene p ea Pn orm ation
LODGING AND MEALS APPLICATION do not squeeze more than one
AND ADMISSION
Bread Loafers are housed on the poem onto a page.
mountain campus of Middlebury You may apply to the Conference E Please do not send children's or
College, in the Bread Loaf Inn by submitting a sample of origi- young adult literature, newspaper
and its cluster of cottages and nal work and an application journalism, or academic writing.
buildings. Most rooms are dou- form. Acceptance is based on WB Fax and e-mail submissions are
bles and baths are shared. We the strength and promise of the not accepted.
make every effort to ensure that writing sample and the admis- Bi Note genre of application on i
roommates will be compatible, sion board’s judgment that the front of mailing envelope. (The
and in fact, some lifelong friend- applicant will benefit from the Conference mailing address is list-
ships have developed between Conference. The workshops are ed on the application.)
Bread Loaf roommates. designed to accommodate both Wi You may enclose a self-
All buildings are within walk- published writers and those in the addressed, stamped postcard if you
ing distance of the center of the early stages of promising careers. would like us to acknowledge
campus, but some are farther from For the 2005 conference, we receipt of your application.
that center than others. We ask accepted 21% of general appli- E Due to the volume of applica-
those admitted if they plan to cants; 8% of those who applied for tions received, we are unable to
bring a car, so we can arrange financial aid received an award. return supporting materials.
accommodations suitably. A list We cannot enroll anyone for
of local rentals is available to those less than the full 11 days of the
GENERAL
who prefer off-campus housing. Conference. Applicants must be
APPLICATIONS
Meals are served in the dining at least 18 years of age.
room of the Inn. There's a well- There is no application fee. General applications must be
stocked salad bar, and vegetar- postmarked by March 20. (If
ian options are available. Bread you are applying for a fellow-
SUBMITTING
Loafers who live off-campus may ship or other type of financial
A MANUSCRIPT
pay for individual meals in the aid, please see the earlier deadline
Inn. Bi Applicants should submit a below.) Applicants are strong-
Bread Loaf is a smoke-free manuscript of unpublished work ly encouraged to apply early.
campus. Vermont State Law pro- in progress for consideration by Notification letters will be mailed
hibits smoking in any building on our admissions board: up to 6,000 on May 25.
campus, including dormitories. words of fiction or nonfiction,
or up to 10 pages of poetry.
Applicants should send their stron-
FINANCIAL AID
THE LIBRARY AND gest unpublished work. Those
APPLICATIONS
COMPUTER LAB accepted will have an opportunity
Fellowships are included in this category.
The Davison Memorial Library to send a replacement manuscript
at Bread Loaf hosts a collection for workshop critique.
Financial aid applications must be
of literature, reference books, and W The applicant's name and a page
reserve shelves. The downstairs number must appear on each sheet postmarked by March 1. Applicants
“Apple Cellar” is a full-featured of the manuscript. (For example: are strongly encouraged to
apply early. Notification letters
computer room (both Macintosh Smith, p.1.)
and IBM platforms), including E Prose manuscripts must be dou- will be mailed on May 25.
printers and Internet connections ble-spaced with 12 pt. font and Thanks to the generous sup-
for writing, research, and e-mail. margins of at least 1.25". The total port of Middlebury College and
Some zip disk drives are available, word count should be noted at the to an endowment fund established
and a computer technician is on top of the first page. Applicants oy past Bread Loafers and other
site most days to help with any may include more than one story donors, we are able to offer three
types of financial aid: fellowships,
questions. Wireless access is avail- as long as the overall total number
able in some public places. of words is within the 6,000-word tuition scholarships, and work-
limit. Manuscripts excerpted from study scholarships. We award
a longer project should include a financial aid in recognition of
one-page synopsis. published work or literary prom-
W Poetry manuscripts should have ise; financial need has no bearing
12 pt. font and can be either single on our decisions. The awards
must be used in the year they are
or double-spaced. A poem can
exceed one page, as long as the granted. An applicant may receive
complete manuscript submission a fellowship, tuition scholarship,
is within the ten-page limit. Please or work-study scholarship only
once in a given genre.