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. Gander has authored 12 books of poetry, a novel, a book of essays, and a “hybrid book,” and [...]
A Bit More About Arthur Sze
When Arthur Sze was named a Chancellor of the Academy of AmericanPoets last month, Academy Chancellor Naomi Shihab Nye called his poetry “a nourishing tonic for the mind.” The word tonic, with its connotations of both musical tonality and promotion of muscular health, is a particularly apt one for Arthur Sze’s [...]
Tayari Jones on NPR
Tayari Jones was heard on NPR today with this essay about the death of Trayvon Martin in Florida. She writes and speaks with the elegance and heart-breaking honesty so present in all her work.
Ron Carlson, Man of Many Genres
This year, we welcome the return of Ron Carlson, whose renown as a master of the short story is matched only by his excellence and generosity as a teacher—as those in his workshop are bound to discover. And this year, Carlson returns with a just-published first book of poetry under his belt. With five novels, [...]
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 [...]
Applications will open in only ten days!
We’ve cleared our desks from last year’s mess – we’re ready and eager to review your submissions! Meanwhile, skip over to Alumni & Faculty News to read about Valerie Fioravanti, an alum from 2009, her thriving writing center in Sacramento and an upcoming weekend workshop featuring Peter Ho Davies, faculty from that same year…
Publication and Prize for Valerie Fioravanti (2009)
We recently heard from Valerie Fioravanti, (participant in 2009), that her first book,Garbage Night at the Opera, won the 2011 Chandra Prize and is forthcoming from BkMk Press. Congratulations are in high order! Valerie seems to be the very center of a vibrant writing community in Sacramento, CA,where she teaches, coaches and encourages writers. She [...]
Introducing Kevin Brockmeier
In an interview last year with Granta magazine, Kevin Brockmeier was asked about the premise of his highly acclaimed novel, The Illumination (2011), in which human suffering and pain become visible. Brockmeier cites G.K. Chesterton’s The Poet and the Lunatics in his response, “[Chesterton] says of St. Peter that, dying upside [...]
Scholarship Opportunity!
Eager to attend the conference but could use some financial support to pull it off? Here’s a scholarship opportunity offered throughthe Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP). The $500 award, offered to a poet and a fiction writer each, can be applied to any member conference of the Writing Conference and Centers, a division of AWP. We are [...]
NaNoWriMo: Significance Beyond the Purple Bar
It’s the first of November already, and across the land thousands of NaNoWrimo participants are feverishly writing their first 1,666-word installment — the magic number to attain daily if they’re to complete a 50,000-word novel by month’s end. The appeal of NaNoWriMo (short for National Novel Writing Month) is simple and potent: Participants pledge to [...]
About the Blog
This blog is for the Napa Valley Writers' Conference community: once and future attendees, friends of the conference, faculty and staff. Please contribute comments, which are reviewed before publishing (usually within 24-48 hours of submission). We look forward to the conversation!