News | Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conferences

COVID-19 UPDATE

In consultation with Middlebury College’s medical experts and senior administration, we have decided not to host in-person conferences this summer on the Bread Loaf campus. Read the director’s letter to learn more about plans for the summer, including our largest ever workshop series and lecture series.
Click here to read the FAQ.

BEFORE THKSGVG - November 15 to 22

We’re pleased to share news about the virtual festival BEFORE THKSGVG, November 15 to 22. Centering Native anti-racism, the arts-fueled festival celebrates Native culture and Decolonizing Thanksgiving. Festival cofounders and writers Cleyvis Natera and Magogodi OaMphela Makhene are extending a warm invitation to the Bread Loaf community and offering a special promotional code to Bread Loafers to attend all events for free. When registering just use BreadOnNativeLand for the promo code.

Visit https://www.lovekindcure.com/ for more details.

black and white photo of Louise Gluck looking at camera

Congratulations to Bread Loaf faculty member Louise Glück for winning The Nobel Prize in Literature 2020. The Swedish Academy notes “her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.”

Listen to Louise Glück read in the Little Theater during the 2000 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.

The link to this reading is also available via the Dream Loaf page featuring a curated selection on online programming from the August and June conferences.

Randall Kenan in conference with a student on Front Porch of Bread Loaf Inn.

Bread Loaf Mourns the Loss of Randall Kenan

We are sad to share the news of Randall Kenan’s death on August 28. Randall attended Bread Loaf as a faculty member for the first time in 2000 and worked with writers at Bread Loaf over ten summers through 2017. He was truly part of the Bread Loaf family, such a warm and lovely person, and we will miss him.

On September 20 we joined with Sewanee Writers’ Conference to offer a Memorial Reading for Randall Kenan. The Memorial starts with a welcome by Leah Stewart and Jennifer Grotz, and readers include Mia Alvar, Jericho Brown, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Amina Gautier, Crystal Hana Kim, Margot Livesey, Jill McCorkle, Michael Parker, Wyatt Prunty, Adam Vines, and Daniel Wallace.

We would like to share this beautiful piece written by Alane Mason about her friendship with Randall and available on Literary Hub: The Joy of Editing—and Knowing—Randall Kenan.

Photo: Randall Kenan in conference with Shideh Etaat on the Bread Loaf Inn Front Porch in 2011.

Randall on Bread Loaf campus holding stuffed bunny and smiling.

Photo: Randall Kenan posing with Tai Chang Caputo’s stuffed bunny in 2017 (photo shared by Lan Samantha Chang).

National Book Awards Longlist Announced

Congratulations to the following Bread Loafers included on the 2020 National Book Awards Longlist for Poetry, Fiction, and Translated Literature: Rick Barot, The Galleons; Christopher Beha, The Index of Self-Destructive Acts; Victoria Chang, Obit; Eduardo C. Corral, Guillotine; Natalie Diaz, Postcolonial Love Poem; Elisabeth Jaquette, Minor Detail by Adania Shibli; Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, The Age of Phillis; and Randall Kenan, If I Had Two Wings.

Bread Loaf Mourns the Loss of Linda Frazee Baker

We are sad to share the news that Linda Frazee Baker passed away on September 2. Linda’s friends and family let us know that Linda felt a close connection to Bread Loaf, where she attended three of the four conferences, including BL Writers’ in 2014, BL Sicily in 2015, and BL Translators’ in 2015 and 2016. She especially loved BL Translators’ and sharing her passion for literary translation. Linda’s family is holding a digital life celebration in honor of Linda via Zoom on Sunday, September 6 from 4-6 p.m. EST (4 p.m. music and photos; 5 p.m. service) and invites friends from Bread Loaf to attend. Meeting URL: https://brunswickgroup.zoom.us/j/99510905569?from=msft

sun visible through flowers on Bread Loaf campus — (Credit: Ananda Lima )

Dream Loaf - August 12 to 22

The August Dream Loaf schedule of free online programming is now available! Visit the Dream Loaf page for the full lineup and mark your calendars! You’ll also find the June schedule with videos to watch now, including all of the lectures, readings, and special live events.

Julia Alvarez standing and smiling — Julia Alvarez, Author and Co-founder of The Scheherazade Project
“Together we can create a groundswell of creative expression to carry us forward.” (Credit: Brandon Cruz González )

The Scheherazade Project and “101 Nights”

The Scheherazade Project is a women’s activism through storytelling arts movement that uses the power of art, female creativity, solidarity, and courage in promoting social justice, nourishing our spirits, and enabling a more beloved community. They invite you to join them for “101 Nights,” a countdown to election day that features a live program every night at 8 p.m. EST July 25 to November 2. Watch the videos here. To get involved in the movement and/or submit a story click here. Stories can be of any art form, including spoken word, poetry, music, dance, painting, sculpture, and they need not be political in nature. Lisa Leibow, Co-founder of the Scheherazade Project, adds, “We are encouraging everyone regardless of gender to join the movement by posting their own stories and art on social media, using #101nights and tagging us @1001USnights.”