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Novelist, short story writer, and poet Tiphanie Yanique is among the literary figures who will serve on the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference faculty this summer.

RIPTON, Vt. — The Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the oldest writers’ conference in the country, will hold its 93rd session when it begins Wednesday, August 15, and ends Saturday, August 25. Held every summer since 1926 on Middlebury’s Bread Loaf campus in Ripton, the conference remains one of America’s most respected literary institutions. Ten days of workshops, lectures, classes, and readings provide writers with rigorous practical and theoretical approaches to their craft. The mountain campus has attracted many renowned authors and poets such as Robert Frost, Carson McCullers, John Irving, Terry Tempest Williams, Ted Conover, and Julia Alvarez.

Conference lectures and readings take place daily and are free and open to the public.

Writer David Treuer is among the literary figures who will serve on the conference faculty. Treuer, who is Ojibwe and grew up on the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota, is the author of four novels and two books of nonfiction. His latest novel, Prudence, was published in 2015, and his next work of nonfiction, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, will be published in 2019.

Other faculty include writer Tiphanie Yanique and poet Stephanie Burt. Yanique is the author of the short story collection How to Escape from a Leper Colony, the picture book I Am the Virgin Islands, the novel Land of Love and Drowning, and a collection of poems, Wife. Burt is the author of several books of poetry and literary criticism, among them Advice from the Lights, Belmont, and The Poem Is You: 60 Contemporary American Poems and How to Read Them.

Writer David Treurer, a member of the conference faculty this year, is the author of four novels and two books of nonfiction.

“What makes Bread Loaf exciting is its ability to serve as a source of encouragement to writers in their more formative years,” said Jennifer Grotz, director of the conference. “The talent of the experienced writers on our faculty, the stunning setting, and the conference’s history combine to inspire budding poets and authors as they find their voices and work on their craft of poetry, fiction, or nonfiction.”

This session will be the first with poet and translator Grotz in the role of director. She is the first woman to lead the cluster of conferences that also includes the Environmental Writers’ Conference, the Translators’ Conference, and the Bread Loaf in Sicily Conference.

This year, more than 285 writers, students, faculty, literary agents, and editors will gather to participate in the 93rd session of the conference. The general public is invited to attend a daily schedule of free readings and lectures that take place in the Little Theater, located on the Bread Loaf campus on Route 125.

The 2018 series of public events will begin on Wednesday, August 15, at 8:15 p.m., with a welcome by Middlebury President Laurie Patton and Grotz, who is the author of three books of poems, Window Left Open, The Needle, and Cusp. Her most recent translation work is the novel Rochester Knockings and the poetry collection The Psalms of All My Days, both originally published in French. After Grotz’s opening remarks, poet A. Van Jordan—also a Bread Loaf faculty member—will give readings. The public events will wrap up with readings by Burt and novelist and short story writer Akhil Sharma on Friday, August 24, at 8:15 p.m.

For a complete schedule of lectures and readings, see the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Web page. Events are subject to change. Call to confirm dates and times at 802-443-5286 through August 14; 802-443-2700 after August 15.

The Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences include the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference, designed for those who want to bring more depth of knowledge to their writing about the environment, and the Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference, which highlights the important role that literary translators of poetry and prose play in the United States and beyond.