Bread Loaf Event Formats

WORKSHOP

A two-hour or two-and-a-half-hour (on the first and final day) meeting of up to ten students to discuss manuscripts submitted prior to the conference for review. Workshops (comprised of the same ten students) meet five times over the course of the ten-day conference. Workshop participants are chosen by Bread Loaf and are assigned to Faculty based largely on participant preference. In addition to offering feedback during the workshop, Faculty arrange to meet with participants individually during the session to discuss the manuscript and further refine what is discussed in the group. Faculty members will schedule the 30-minute individual meeting with each participant.

Bread Loaf Faculty members are chosen because they have vast experience teaching writers at all levels. Bread Loaf’s goal is to invite Faculty who will help participants grow as writers. Faculty do this by bringing their own experience, style, and methodology to the workshop. Our goal is also to invite Faculty who will join us in fostering the open and welcoming community that is Bread Loaf. Some previous faculty have asked workshop members at the start of the conference to share their gender pronoun, and new this year we would like to encourage all faculty to ask participants this question at the start of the session. Also new this year, participants and faculty have the option to include gender pronouns on their Bread Loaf name tags.

In addition to a Faculty member there will also be a Fellow present during workshop. Fellows are authors who have published one and not more than two books in the past four years. They are assigned to a workshop and the role is shaped by how the Faculty member would like the Fellow to assist. Faculty should discuss this with the Fellow prior to the first workshop. The list of Faculty/Fellow pairings is arranged by the Conference Director and available in July. Faculty receive a copy of the Fellow’s most recent book in advance of the session and have a chance to meet and talk with the Fellow during the Faculty/Fellow orientation meeting on Tuesday, August 16.

LECTURE

Usually held at 9 a.m. in the Little Theater and open to the entire conference community, a lecture is a presentation on a literary topic or aspect of craft, usually delivered or read from written notes or text. Faculty who deliver a lecture may choose to allow a 10-minute question and answer period after their presentation. Lectures (including the question and answer session) last for a total of one hour. Many faculty members ask their workshop students to attend all lectures, regardless of genre, and indeed, lectures tend to form the heart of a conference-wide conversation about the state and the practice of the literary arts. While some Faculty choose to deliver lectures with visuals or PowerPoint presentations, it’s often hard to project text that is readable to the entire Little Theater audience. If you choose to do this, Bread Loafers would also appreciate handouts, which our Back Office staff will make and distribute for you at no charge.

CRAFT CLASS

Fifty minute or one hour and fifteen minute hands-on classes usually limited to twenty-five students who sign up two days in advance. Craft classes usually discuss a specific problem, concept, or topic of literary craft and often look at specific texts and/or have generative in-class exercises. They are enormously popular and well-loved by Bread Loafers and are held in the afternoon at 2 p.m. in various classrooms in the Barn and Library. Most classrooms at Bread Loaf are “smart” classrooms and have easy access to technology and projection for the workshop and craft classes. Close to the conference Bread Loaf staff will ask those with tech needs to let us know so we can be sure your workshop and class locations will meet your needs.

READING

Reading aloud from published or new work by a Faculty member or Fellow, usually held in the Little Theater twice a day, at 4:15 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. Readings should be planned in advance and timed carefully not to go over the time limits of twenty five minutes for Faculty, fifteen minutes for Fellows. The date and time of your reading will be provided upon your arrival on the mountain. Readings include two or more faculty or faculty and fellows. With this in mind, we request that readers opt not to include visuals or PowerPoint during the reading because of the logistical matters that can come up around using a screen, etc.; however, if you feel it is essential, it will be possible for staff to accommodate this. It will be important to let a Bread Loaf staff member know in advance of the session so they can plan accordingly.