Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conferences

The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, founded in 1926, is one of the oldest and finest of its kind in the country.

It is the cornerstone to all the Bread Loaf Conferences, which include the Writers’ Conference in Sicily, the Environmental Writers’ Conference, and the Translators’ Conference.

In all the programs, you’ll experience the Bread Loaf model, which includes small-group workshops scheduled among enriching readings and lectures.

Each summer, our faculty members include some of the world’s most notable writers and translators.

Two BLWC students sitting on the porch working and talking.

With a rich literary and intellectual tradition, the conference brings together emerging writers to work closely with a diverse and talented faculty, each specifically chosen for their skill at guiding developing writers.

The conference features 20 small-group workshops in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, as well as one-on-ones with mentors. You’ll attend lectures on literary writing and specific aspects of the craft, and daily readings by faculty, participants, and guests. You’ll meet with visiting editors, literary agents, and publishers, individually or in small groups.

Two students take a break outdoors during the Environmental Writers' Conference.

Cosponsored by the Middlebury College Environmental Studies Program and Franklin Environmental Center, the program is for all writers of poetry, nonfiction, and fiction whose work engages with or advocates for nature and the environment. The conference also attracts environmental professionals, journalists, and teachers who want to strengthen, explore, and share their writing in a literary context.

A speaker during the Translators' Conference.

Lectures and Readings

Listen to lectures and readings from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences, including the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference, the Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference, and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in August. Recordings from special events are also available including the October 2017 Reunion and the June and August 2020 Dream Loaf conferences.

Community

The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences create diverse and inclusive communities that give voice to writers of all ages and experience. The conferences are not retreats where writers work in solitude, but instead places where writers of all backgrounds and at all stages of their careers—unpublished and published—come together to test their assumptions regarding literature and seek advice about their progress as writers. Bread Loaf fosters communities where open-mindedness, respect, and appreciation are truly valued and where each person can thrive and benefit from their time on the mountain.

Open Gallery | 10 images

The Bread Loaf Writers' Conferences in Photos

A faculty member during the 1976 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Toni Morrison offers a lecture in the Little Theater and later in the conference will read from her book Song of Solomon that will be published the following year. Listen to Toni Morrison read from Song of Solomon in the Little Theater.

Our Mission

The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences provide a time-tested model of instruction for writers, especially in their early stages, to strengthen their command of literary craft, to examine their assumptions about the art, and to seek advice about works-in-progress.

Immersive learning experiences that take place in both national and international contexts, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences bring together diverse and talented communities of writers to take part in workshops, lectures, readings, classes, meetings with professionals in the publishing industry, and other programming aiming to prepare, educate, and inspire.

Bread Loaf Writers' Conference

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Bread Loaf Environmental Writers' Conference

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Bread Loaf Translators' Conference

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Bread Loaf in Sicily

Note regarding 2021