The Community of Writers is the oldest annual writers' conference operating on the West Coast of the United States. Founded by novelist Oakley Hall[1] and writer Blair Fuller[2] in 1969, it is held each summer in Olympic Valley, California. The first conference was held in August 1970 in the lodges of the ski area; to this day, panels, talks, staff readings and workshops take place in off-season ski lodge facilities. It was originally staffed by San Francisco writers including David Perlman, Walter Ballenger, Barnaby Conrad[3] and John Leggett,[4] the latter two of whom went on to found, respectively, the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and the Napa Valley Writers Conference.
In 2003, the Board of Directors voted to change the organization’s name from Squaw Valley Community of Writers, to The Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. This was in response to some Native Americans’ and others’ belief that in some contexts the name “Squaw” is derogatory. The Board decided it was best to change to name so that the word Squaw Valley referred to the place name only, to distance itself from any historical controversy or discomfort with the word.
Workshop
Workshops are held in fiction, (directors Lisa D. Alvarez and Louis B. Jones), nonfiction (director Michael Carlisle), poetry (director Robert Hass), and screenwriting (director Diana Fuller). From 1980 until 2000, novelist Carolyn Doty directed the writers workshops.[7]William Fox directed the poetry program during the years when it was integrated with prose. Later, poet Galway Kinnell reinvented and directed the Poetry Program for 17 years until 2004. The Screenwriters Workshop was founded by screenwriters Tom Rickman and Gill Dennis. The Community of Writers continues to be directed by Brett Hall Jones.[8]
Admission
The Community has a formal and competitive admissions procedure. Applicants are asked to submit an application fee and a writing sample.[9][10] Average acceptance rate is 33%. Roughly 50% of those who attend are granted some form of financial aid. Scholarships and financial aid is provided through the donations for alumni, staff and friends.[11] The conference generally offers 8 fiction workshops of 12 participants each and two narrative nonfiction/memoir workshops of 12 each.
The Community of Writers once sponsored the "Art of the Wild Writers' Conference" along with U.C. Davis, but that program has been discontinued.[14][15]
Published Alumni Reading Series Each summer, recently published alumni return to the conference with their recently published books. Alumni who have been part of this reading series include Anita Amirrezvani, Eddy Ancinas, Ramona Ausubel, David Bajo, Charmaine Craig, Eileen Cronin, Heather Donahue, Cai Emmons, Amy Franklin-Willis, Joshua Ferris, Jamie Ford, Vicki Forman, Alison Singh Gee, Tanya Egan Gibson, Alan Grostephan, Judith Hendricks, Susan Henderson, Sara J. Henry, Rhoda Huffey, Alma Katsu, Krys Lee, Edan Lepucki, Paulette Livers, Regina Louise, Michael David Lukas, Peyton Marshall, Marisa Matarazzo, Mark Maynard, Janis Cooke Newman, Jessica O’Dwyer, Aline Ohanesian, Victoria Patterson, Andrew Roe, Adrienne Sharp, Jordan Fisher Smith, Scott Sparling, Ellen Sussman, Lisa Tucker, Brenda Rickman Vantrease, Mary Volmer, Dora Calott Wang, M.D., Andrew Winer, Alia Yunis, Désirée Zamorano among others including those who have returned as teaching staff.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1996.
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