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 Middlebury’s Bread Loaf campus

in Ripton, Vt., the conference remains of one of America’s 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 Loaf’s 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 Glück

will give a reading on Aug. 22.

The Bread Loaf faculty for this year’s

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 Harper’s, 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

WRITERS’ CONFERENCE DAY

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 Vermont’s 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 O’Brien, 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

Glück

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

— end —