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, [...]
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 [...]
It’s book season!
Here in Wine Country, most associate autumn with the grape harvest. But we at the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference are celebrating a different bounty — the wealth of local literary festivals this month and next, often featuring Napa faculty, attendees and staff. The word harvest began with last weekend’s Petaluma Poetry Walk, which gave participants [...]
Meet the 2011 Faculty: Jane Hirshfield
Poet, essayist, teacher, translator: Jane Hirshfield’s writing persona is multi-faceted, her body of work diverse. But if there is a unifying element in her pursuits, it lies in her formative experience as a student of Zen Buddhism, which has guided her writing and led to her engagement with not only the Western canon but with [...]
Meet the 2011 faculty: Lan Samantha Chang
Lan Samantha Chang was born and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin, to Chinese immigrant parents. Growing up, she experienced both the Chinese cultural traditions her family upheld and Midwestern sensibilities — a contrast that honed Chang’s powers of observation and yen for writing. In an interview on the Penguin Web site, she says: … our family [...]
Meet the 2011 faculty: Major Jackson
Our last faculty profile described how Adam Haslett’s law school studies have informed his work. Like Haslett, poet Major Jackson has a white-collar profession in his past: accounting. Yes, accounting. In fact, his first job in the arts was as a number cruncher, he told Identity Theory. “I started work at the Painted Bride Art [...]
Meet the 2011 faculty: Adam Haslett
The beginning of Adam Haslett’s literary career is the stuff of fiction writers’ dreams: An undergraduate degree at Swarthmore, where he worked with novelist Jonathan Franzen; a year-long fellowship at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center; an MFA from the University of Iowa; and a debut short story collection, 2002′s You Are Not a Stranger [...]
Meet the 2011 faculty: Daniel Alarcón
New conference faculty member Daniel Alarcón was born in Lima, Peru. When he was three, he and his family moved to Birmingham, Alabama. He was educated in the United States, returned to Peru on a Fulbright scholarship, and attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He’s currently both a visiting scholar at the University of California at [...]
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!