Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conference takes place August 12-23

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - The Middlebury College Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the oldest writers’ conference in the country, will begin Wednesday, Aug. 12, and continue through Sunday, Aug. 23. 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.

“The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference continues to provide a diverse and engaging forum for writers to exchange ideas, seek advice and develop their craft,” said Director Michael Collier. “By nature of its remote location and intensive programming, it is truly a community of creative experience.”
This year, more than 270 writers, students, faculty, literary agents and editors will gather to participate in the 84th 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 2009 session of public events will open on Wednesday, Aug. 12, at 8:15 p.m., with a welcome by Collier, who will also give a reading on Saturday, Aug. 22, 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, and, most recently, “Dark Wild Realm.” Collier’s welcome will be followed by readings by Bread Loaf faculty members Patricia Hampl and Brigit Pegeen Kelly.

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

2009 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference
Aug. 12-22

Lectures and readings are free and open to the public.
All events take place in the Little Theatre on the Bread Loaf campus on Route 125 in Ripton.
Events are subject to change. Call to confirm days and times at 802-443-5286, through August 10; 802-443-2700, after August 10.

*Please note the later start time for events on August 13 and 17.

Wednesday, Aug. 12
8:15 p.m.     
Welcome by Michael Collier, followed by readings by Bread Loaf faculty members Patricia Hampl and Brigit Pegeen Kelly

Thursday, Aug. 13


9 a.m.       
Lecture by Ellen Bryant Voigt, “Double-talk and Double Vision”

*4:30 p.m. 
Readings by Lorrie Moore and C. K. Williams

8:15 p.m.   
Readings by Lynn Freed and Alan Shapiro

Friday, Aug. 14


9 a.m.       
Lecture by Thomas Mallon, “Epistler in Chief: Six Presidents in Their Letters”

4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Charles Bardes, Stephanie Brown and Alex Espinoza

8:15 p.m.  
Readings by Maud Casey and Ted Conover

Saturday, Aug. 15


9 a.m.     
Lecture by Patricia Hampl, “You’re History or How to Get the Me Out of Memoir”

4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Vicki Forman, Leslie Harrison and Skip Horack

8:15 p.m.  
Readings by Lauren Groff, Jennifer Grotz and Tom Sleigh

Sunday, Aug. 16
9 a.m.   
Lecture by Charles Baxter, “Lush Life”

4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Jaed Coffin, Aryn Kyle and Paul Otremba

8:15 p.m.  
Readings by Paul Austin, James Allen Hall and Thomas Mallon

Monday, Aug. 17
* 11 a.m.  
Lecture by David Shields, “Trials by Google”

4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Randall Kenan and Luis Alberto Urrea

8:15 p.m.  
Readings by Robert Cohen and Natasha Trethewey

Tuesday, Aug. 18
9 a.m. 
Lecture by Tom Sleigh, “Thom Gunn’s New Jerusalem or How to Voice Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n Roll”

4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Doreen Gildroy, Salvatore Scibona and C. Dale Young

8:15 p.m.  
Readings by Sigrid Nunez and Ellen Bryant Voigt

Wednesday, Aug. 19


9 a.m.   
Lecture by Lynn Freed, “Travel and the Creative Impulse”

4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Matthew Dickman, Cecilia Rodríguez Milanés and Ann Hood

8:15 p.m.  
Readings by Vikram Chandra and Arthur Sze

Thursday, Aug. 20
9 a.m.   
Lecture by Alan Shapiro, “Translation as ‘Linguistic Hospitality’ ”

4:15 p.m.  
Reading by Louise Glück

8:15 p.m.  
Musical Program with Gary and Roland Clark

Friday, Aug. 21
9 a.m.   
Lecture by Jennifer Grotz, “An Anxiety of Influence for Girls”

4:15 p.m.  
Readings by David Barber, Frances de Pontes Peebles and Josh Weil

8:15 p.m.  
Readings by Charles Baxter and Edward Hirsch

Saturday, Aug. 22
9 a.m. 
Lecture by Maud Casey, “The Secret History: The Power of Imagined Figures in Historical Fiction”

4:15 p.m.  
Readings by Peter Campion, Myronn Hardy and Kirsten Menger-Anderson

8:15 p.m.  
Readings by Lisa Fugard, Michael Collier and David Shields