Napa Valley Writers' Conference | Summer Poetry & Fiction Workshops in the Napa Valley

Napa Valley Writers' Conference - July 22-27, 2012

The Napa Valley Writers' Conference is heading into its 32nd year as one of the best and most prestigious summer writing programs. Since its beginning as an informal summer gathering of writers, the Conference has remained a place to convene for fellowship, serious work with a focus on craft, and a week spent beside the hills and vineyards that have made the Napa Valley famous. The Conference is sponsored and hosted by Napa Valley College.

Faculty Profile: Crossing Borders with Forrest Gander

Born in California’s Mojave desert with roots in the South, schooled in Virginia and California, now living in Rhode Island, but frequently traveling abroad: Forrest Gander’s itinerant physical existence is mirrored in his writing, which travels widely. read more…

A Bit More on Arthur Sze

Arthur Sze

When Arthur Sze was named a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets last month, Academy Chancellor Naomi Shihab Nye called his poetry “a nourishing tonic for themind.” The word tonic, with its connotations of both musical tonality and promotion of muscular health, is a particularly apt one for Arthur Sze’s work. read more

The Application Gates Are Open

Along with the plum blossoms, the first flurries of applications are arriving!

There’s nothing quite like the smell of fresh applications in the morning, still warm from the friction of electron-transmission.

Though, to be sure, paper and snail-mail are perfectly acceptable and have their own appeal. The satisfying rip of the envelope flap to extract the clipped packet, the flutter of pages, the slant of penmanship,the size of text and font.

Whatever the method, the applications all make one promise: writers gathering the last week of July under the Napa sky, (fogged over or bright with sun), to hone their craft, talk shop, write, listen, write some more.

2012 Application Materials Now Available!

Application information and forms are now available, along with guidelines for applying for scholarships. Applications will be considered for rolling admission beginning March 1, 2012. The scholarship deadline is April 2, 2012.

Apply Now | Scholarships

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2012 Faculty

Faculty for the 32nd Napa Valley Writers’ Conference, July 22-27, 2012:

Poetry: Eavan Boland, Forrest Gander, Brenda Hillman, and Arthur Sze
Fiction: Kevin Brockmeier, Ron Carlson, Lan Samantha Chang, and Tayari Jones

For more details, visit the Faculty page.