Middlebury College Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Aug. 13-24

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - The Middlebury College Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the oldest writers’ conference in the country, will begin Wednesday, Aug. 13 and continue through Sunday, Aug. 24. Held every summer since 1926 on the college’s Bread Loaf campus in Ripton, the conference remains one of America’s most respected literary institutions. Two weeks of workshops, lectures, classes and readings provide writers with rigorous practical and theoretical approaches to their craft, and offer a model of literary instruction. A dynamic setting, the mountain campus has attracted many renowned literary figures such as Robert Frost, Carson McCullers, John Irving, Terry Tempest Williams, Ted Conover and Julia Alvarez.

“Rather than a retreat for working in solitude, Bread Loaf is a community creative experience,” said Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Director Michael Collier. “The location and program provide an opportunity for a diversity of voices to exchange ideas and test assumptions, and to seek advice about our progress as writers.”

This year, 270 writers, students, faculty, literary agents and editors will gather at the 83rd session of the conference. The general public is invited to attend a daily schedule of readings and lectures that take place in the Little Theatre, located on the Bread Loaf campus on Route 125.

The 2008 session of public events will open on Wednesday, Aug. 13, at 8:15 p.m., with a welcome by Collier, who will also give a reading on Saturday, Aug. 23, at 8:15 p.m. Collier is the author of five books of poems, including “The Ledge,” which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2000. Collier’s welcome will be followed by readings by Bread Loaf faculty members Margot Livesey and Heather McHugh.

Following is a schedule of lectures and readings:

2008 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference
Aug. 13-23




All events will take place on the Bread Loaf campus in the Little Theatre, in Hancock off Route 125.
*Please note the later start time for the reading on Aug. 14 and lecture on August 18.

Wednesday, Aug. 13
8:15 p.m. 
Welcome by Michael Collier and readings by Margot Livesey and Heather McHugh

Thursday, Aug. 14
9 a.m.   
Lecture by Lynn Freed, “A Traitor in the House: Autobiography & Fiction”
*4:30 p.m. 
Readings by Edward P. Jones and Susan Orlean
8:15 p.m.  
Readings by James Longenbach and Luis Alberto Urrea

Friday, Aug. 15
9 a.m.   
Lecture by Edward Hirsch, “Poetry and Walking”
4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Jennifer Grotz, Katie Peterson and Martha Southgate
8:15 p.m.  
Readings by Joanna Scott and Dean Young

Saturday, Aug. 16
9 a.m.  
Lecture by Thomas Mallon, “Space and the Literary Imagination”
4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Aaron Baker, Dustin Beall Smith and Steven Wingate
8:15 p.m.  
Readings by Lucy Corin, Amaud Jamaul Johnson and Ted Conover

Sunday, Aug. 17
9 a.m.   
Lecture by Patricia Hampl, “The Dark Art of Description”
4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Joanne C. Hillhouse, Alexander Parsons and Ginger Strand
8:15 p.m.  
Readings by Rus Bradburd, Darcie Dennigan and Robert Boswell

Monday, Aug. 18
*10:30 a.m.  
Lecture by Dean Young, “The Art of Recklessness”
4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Linda Bierds and Stacey D’Erasmo
8:15 p.m.  
Readings by Edward Hirsch and Antonya Nelson

Tuesday, Aug. 19
9 a.m.   
Lecture by Robert Boswell, “On Omniscience”
4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Andrew Altschul, Janice N. Harrington and Bich Minh Nguyen
8:15 p.m.  
Readings by Patricia Hampl and Randall Kenan

Wednesday, Aug. 20
9 a.m.    
Lecture by Carl Phillips, “On Restlessness”
4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Connie Voisine and Helena María Viramontes
8:15 p.m.  
Readings by Lynn Freed and Garrett Hongo

Thursday, Aug. 21
9 a.m.   
Lecture by Margot Livesey, “Shakespeare for Writers”
4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Louise Glück and Charles Baxter
8:15 p.m.  
Musical Program with Gary and Roland Clark

Friday, Aug. 22
9 a.m.   
Lecture by James Longenbach, “Poetic Amplitude”
4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Will Allison, Sandra Rodriguez Barron and Ellen Litman
8:15 p.m.  
Readings by Ursula Hegi and Carl Phillips

Saturday, Aug. 23
9 a.m.    
Lecture by Luis Alberto Urrea, “The Road Out of Tijuana is Paved With Ink”
4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Dan Albergotti, Margo Rabb and Preeta Samarasan
8:15 p.m.  
Readings Michael Collier and Thomas Mallon
 
Please note the later start time for the reading on Aug. 14 and lecture on August 18. Please contact the Middlebury College Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference to confirm days and times. Prior to the first week of the conference, call 802-443-5286; after Aug. 11, call 802-443-2700. 

For more information, see the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Web page at http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/blwc/.