August 4, 2000
Bread Loaf Writers
Conference Celebrates 75th Anniversary Aug. 16-27
Governor of Vermont
Declares Aug. 20 “Bread Loaf Writers Conference Day”
Proclamation Honors Oldest Writers Conference in the Country
MIDDLEBURY, Vt., The Middlebury College
Bread Loaf Writers Conference, the oldest writers conference in
the country, will celebrate its 75th anniversary this year when it meets from
Aug. 16-27. Held every summer since 1926 on Middleburys Bread Loaf campus
in Ripton, Vt., the conference remains of one of Americas most respected
literary institutions. At Bread Loaf, aspiring writers continue to seek inspiration
from the same scenic wilderness setting that has attracted a long list of famous
literary figures to the conference, from Carson McCullers and Robert Frost to
Jhumpa Lahiri.
To honor Bread Loaf during its 75th
anniversary, Governor Howard Dean of Vermont has issued a proclamation declaring
August 20 “Bread Loaf Writers Conference Day.” (A copy of the
proclamation is attached.)
According to Michael Collier, director
of the conference, Bread Loafs workshops, lectures, and classes have introduced
generations of participants to rigorous practical and theoretical approaches
to the craft of writing, and has served as a model of literary instruction.
“Bread Loaf is not a place where
writers work in solitude. Here they are able to test their assumptions regarding
literature amongst a diverse group of fellow writers, and seek advice about
their progress,” said Collier.
“The 75th anniversary session
will honor the distinguished past by providing its usual lively and energetic
program of workshops, classes, and readings, and by inviting writers formerly
associated with the conference, such as Nancy Willard and Paul Mariani, to read
from the work of their favorite great Bread Loaf participants,” added Collier.
At the 75th session of the conference,
more than 200 writers, faculty, and literary agents and editors from New York
firms as well as smaller agencies and presses from around the country will gather
once again. They will mark the anniversary with various activities. Several
guests will give readings and talks, which are open to the public. On Aug. 20,
poet and author Julia Alvarez, whose latest work is the novel
“In the name of Salome,” will give a reading and speak about her 30-year
relationship with the conference and its impact on her development as a writer.
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former Vermont Poet Laureate Louise ұü
will give a reading on Aug. 22.
The Bread Loaf faculty for this years
conference includes such writers as Barry Lopez, whose recent work includes
a short story collection, “Field Notes,” and a collection of essays,
“About This Life.” He is also the author of “Arctic Dreams”
and a novella-length fable, “Crow and Weasel.” He writes regularly
for Harpers, STORY, The Georgia Review, Manoa, and Orion. He is a recipient
of the National Book Award, the Award in Literature from the American Academy
of Arts and Letters, and Lannan and Guggenheim fellowships.
Yusef Komunyakaa will also serve
on the faculty. He has published 11 books of poems, including “Neon Vernacular:
New and Selected Poems 1977-1989,” which won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for
Poetry and “Thieves of Paradise,” a finalist for the 1999 National
Book Critics Circle Award. Forthcoming are “Talking Dirty to the Gods”
and “Pleasure Dome: New and Collected Poems, 1975-1999.” He is a professor
in the Council of Humanities and Creative Writing Program at Princeton University
and a recently elected chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
The following is a list of the 2000
Bread Loaf Writers Conference faculty:
Non-fiction: Patricia Hampl,
Garrett Hongo
Poetry: Michael Collier, Toi
Derricotte, Linda Gregerson, Edward Hirsch, Yusef Komunyakaa, Michael Palmer,
David St. John
Fiction: Charles Baxter, Robert
Cohen, David Huddle, Randall Kenan, Barry Lopez,
Antonya Nelson, Jay Parini, Helen
Schulman, Susan Shreve, Peter Turchi
Lectures, readings, and a concert
by the Vermont Symphony Trio at the conference are open to the public. (A list
of all public events is attached.) Call ahead for information since events are
subject to change. For more information, contact Carol Knauss at 802-443-5286.
PROCLAMATION OF A BREAD LOAF
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Whereas,
The Bread Loaf Writers Conference
was founded by Middlebury College in August, 1926, and for seventy-five years
has convened at the historic Bread Loaf Inn and campus in Ripton, Vermont, on
the edge of Vermonts beautiful Green Mountain National Forest, providing
common ground, a forum, and a platform over those years for thousands of writers
(be they poets, novelists, essayists, or nonfiction writers) of all levels of
accomplishment, and a meeting place where artists may mingle with editors, publishers,
and literary agents in a mutual exploration and celebration of the written word,
And Whereas,
The Bread Loaf Writers Conference
has been connected with such eminent Vermont-associated writers as Robert Frost,
Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Wallace Stegner, Sinclair Lewis, William Hazlett Upson,
Galway Kinnell, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Jay Parini, Robert Pack, David Huddle, and
Julia Alvarez,
And has furthermore attracted
such nationally important literary voices as Eudora Welty, Carson McCullers,
William Carlos Williams, Archibald MacLeish, W. H. Auden, Richard Wright, William
Styron, May Sarton, Howard Nemerov, William Meredith, John Gardner, Toni Morrison,
John Irving, Tim OBrien, Russell Banks, Maxine Kumin, Stanley Elkin, Andrea
Barrett and David Bradley, while nurturing unrecognized talent toward success,
And Whereas,
In workshops, discussions, lectures,
readings, and a publishing program, the Bread Loaf Writers Conference,
in spectacular surroundings, has imprinted its “green and gold summers”
and its special community upon multitudes of the creative from all the fifty
states and many sovereign nations,
I, Howard Dean, Governor, do hereby
proclaim Sunday, August 20, 2000, as Bread Loaf Writers Conference Day
in Vermont.
Given under my hand and the great
seal of the State of Vermont this 20th day of July, A.D. 2000.
Howard Dean, M.D.
Governor
EVENTS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
All lectures and readings take place
in the theatre at the Middlebury College Bread Loaf campus in Ripton, Vermont.
Since events are subject to change, call to confirm scheduled speakers at 802-443-5286.
Wed., August 16 Reading, 8:15 p.m.
Michael Collier, Tom Paine, Antonya Nelson
Thurs., August 17 Lecture, 9:00 a.m.
Patricia Hampl
Reading, 4:15 p.m. Josh Russell,
Toi Derricotte
Reading, 8:15 p.m. Richard Blanco,
Robert Cohen
Fri., August 18 Lecture, 9:00 a.m.
Charles Baxter
Reading, 4:15 p.m. Terrance Hayes,
Helen Schulman
Reading, 8:15 p.m. Joel Brouwer,
Susan Shreve
Sat., August 19 Lecture, 9:00 a.m.
Michael Palmer
Reading, 4:15 p.m. Elissa Schappell,
Linda Gregerson
Reading, 8:15 p.m. Catherine Bush,
Yusef Komunyakaa
Sun., August 20 Lecture, 9:00 a.m.
David Huddle
Anniversary Reading, 4:15
p.m. Paul Mariani, Nancy Willard
Anniversary Presentation,
8:15 p.m. Julia Alvarez
Mon., August 21
Guest Reading, 4:15 p.m. Louise
ұü
Reading, 8:15 p.m. Barry Lopez, Patricia
Hampl
Tues., August 22 Lecture, 9:00 a.m.
Edward Hirsch
Reading, 4:15 p.m. Amanda Davis,
Garrett Hongo
Reading, 8:15 p.m. D: J: Waldie,
Michael Palmer
Wed., August 23 Lecture, 9:00 a.m.
Barry Lopez
Reading, 4:15 p.m. Sylvia Brownrigg,
Jay Parini
Reading, 8:15 p.m. Olena Kalytiak
Davis, David Huddle
Thurs., August 24 Lecture, 9:00 a.m.
Linda Gregerson
Reading, 4:15 p.m. Heidi Julavits,
Edward Hirsch
Concert, 8:15 p.m. Vermont Symphony
Trio
Fri., August 25 Reading, 9:00 a.m.
Jill Essbaum, Adria Bernardi, Kevin Oderman
Reading, 4:15 p.m. Robert Clark Young,
Randall Kenan
Reading, 8:15 p.m. Victor LaValle,
David St: John
Sat., August 26 Reading, 4:15 p.m.
Barbara Ras, Peter Turchi
Reading, 8:15 p.m. Nick Flynn, Charles
Baxter
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