After a summer of workshops, craft talks, readings, panels, and community, we wanted to express our gratitude to all of you who were a part of it – near and far.
Our Poetry Program in June began with a snowstorm, with speedy, wet flakes on the valley floor. But higher up we could see the snow sticking to the craggy monolith of the rock face that oversees our summer work. As the week proceeded, and with the weather steadily warming, we provided participants and staff poets the space and the time to write new poems—and some remarkable poems were written. Our photocopy rattled away each morning, delivering poem copies in time for the morning sessions. Our annual Benefit Poetry Reading was a hybrid event – both online and in-person under the stars. (You can watch the recording here.) It was hugely inspiring to hear from our Staff Poets, as well as special guest Robert Hass. Many read poems they had written that week. We hiked among waterfalls and plunged into the icy waters of Lake Tahoe, had a game of Poetry Softball, and, as is tradition, on the final night poets recited their favorite poems from memory.
Our Writers’ Workshop week was packed with literary events and community. The week was populated and busy with workshops, individual conferences, craft talks and panels, as well as three special afternoon workshops (Adaptation, Open Workshop, and new this year: Samuel Freedman’s “The Book Proposal” Seminar). We hosted two published alumni: Tara Dorabji and Eugenie Montague.
And for the second time, we updated our podcast feed where anyone could keep up with the afternoon events. You can listed to most of the craft talks and panels on your podcast app of choice by searching “Community of Writers.” And we ended the week with the invitational Follies where the elves detailed a day-in-the-life, Amy Tan played a cardboard fiddle, and some ankles were sprained during a raucous guided dance.
In sum it was a beautiful summer, full of joy, friendship, craft and community. As such, we need to acknowledge people who made it possible.
We are grateful to Palisades Tahoe, who has partnered with us to ensure that we can stay in our valley home of more than fifty years. Christine Horvath, Mike DeGraff, and Brad Barth on the administrative side, and in the day-to-day the whole food and beverage team who worked so hard to make our workshops work. Fernando, Justin, Harry, Charlotte – thanks to all of you. We also would like to thank Rocky and Katja who allowed us to use their premises at Le Chamois, where, only once, Oscar Villalon’s workshop was locked inside when, unaware of the workshop upstairs, a Palisades security guard found the door unlocked. (They were later released.)
Thanks also to the North Tahoe Community Alliance and the North Tahoe Chamber, who facilitated an event support grant that helped us to offset the cost of bringing our esteemed staff here to the North Tahoe region. This support was made possible through TOT-TBID Dollars At Work. Thank you!
The greatest debt of gratitude we owe is always to our generous teaching staff members in Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction who make the summer workshops an unforgettable and productive experience. Thanks to our program directors: Lisa Alvarez, Julia Flynn Siler, Sands Hall, Brenda Hillman, and Louis Jones. And thanks in particular to Sands for her leadership and for organizing the fabulous Follies! Thank you as well to Michael Carlisle whose friendship and generosity makes all the difference.
A big thank you to Patricia K. Meyer and Stacy Spruill who joined us again this summer to teach their special adaptation class, and especially to Diana Fuller, who founded and shepherded this program from a full screenwriting program to an adaptation program for fiction and nonfiction writers. She has been with this organization from the very beginning.
Also, we were proud to host esteemed Columbia Journalism School Professor Emeritus Sam Freedman, who led a new special afternoon workshop based on his popular course: The Book Proposal Seminar. It was a resounding success and we have heard nothing but positive things from those who participated.
Andrew Tonkovich (our A&R man) was essential every step of the way: from the management of all the manuscripts during registration, to moderating panels, he was central to it all. Year round, Andrew edits the OGQ, hosts the Bibliocracy radio show on our podcast feed, and assists with the planning of the workshops, among many other roles.
Our Elves (and all-around helpers) were Rong Pan, Alex Dawson, Rishona Michael, Anna Carter, Hannah Ross, Claire McNerney, Livia Blum and Nicolle Delgado. With high energy and good spirits, they all made things happen seamlessly. They baked muffins, boiled eggs, wrapped cables (a lot), and even carried a fridge. The eggs peeled so well this week.
Thank you also to Laura Howard, Graham Knibb, Lindsey Jones, and Dashiell Jones for their support and hard work during the summer. Thanks also to Sands Hall for everything she brings to the workshop week from her Making Workshops Work presentation to The Open Workshop, to her brilliant teaching, and the Follies, which she emcees and puts together.
Thanks to Robert Hass, who directed the Poetry Program for decades, who continues to inspire us, and to Sharon Olds who has been so central to this program for so many decades.
Thanks to Will Richardson for leading such informative Nature Walks during our Poetry week.
The Benefit Poetry Reading raises important scholarship funds which we look to expand each year in the face of rising costs. Thank you to Hunter Jones who made real again our hopes to create a live-streamed event from this beautiful valley; and to Lisa Alvarez, who emceed the event, as well as the seven participating poets: Victoria Chang, Anthony Cody, Forrest Gander, Robert Hass, Brenda Hillman, Jane Miller and Gregory Pardlo. A heartfelt thanks especially to Jared and Julia Drake of Wildbound Media for all of their help producing the event and immersing our virtual audience in our mountain community. To view the video, click here. We have tremendous gratitude to everyone who came to the event, in person or online, to support this project. Donations welcome. And thank you to our Benefit Sponsors: Palisades Tahoe, North Tahoe Community Alliance, North Tahoe Chamber, Bomb Magazine, Alta Journal, ZYZZYVA, and Palisades Press. Thank you!
We also have some sad news to share this year. Our dear friend Robin Radin passed away unexpectedly this month. He has been a friend of the conference for many years and, along with his brother David Radin, helped us uild the Paul Radin Memorial Dream Wagon now in its fifth year. We cannot express the enormity of our loss, which came at an extremely hard moment, with the dream wagon in full use as our summer stage and bookshop. We are sending love to the Radin family as well as to Robin’s long-time partner Georgia Court. We are holding you in our thoughts.
We also want to thank Ken Haas, who galvanized us to create the Writers Annex, which brings poetry and literature and world-class teachers into your living rooms, and Brenda Hillman and Lisa Alvarez who have helped create this remarkable program that allows the Community of Writers to continue to produce our summer workshops affordably.
We would like to acknowledge our friends and board members, Eddy & Osvaldo Ancinas and Amy Tan & Lou Demattei, who have been tremendously generous with their time and support over the years. We couldn’t ask for a more responsive, generous and wise Board of Directors, especially president Carlin Naify. Thanks as well to board members Katy Hover-Smoot (Katy Hays), Jim Naify, Amy Tan, and Nancy Teichert for pitching in and helping with various events. And a warm congratulations (and thanks) to long-time board member Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, who has accepted the position of Board Vice President. And a warm wqelcome to our two newest board members, Sameer Pandya and Clyde Rodriguez. Welcome aboard! Thanks also to our Literary Committee: Michael Carlisle, Dana Johnson, Michelle Latiolais, and Oscar Villalon. And thanks to Reagan Arthur, Lester Lennon, and Jason Roberts (congratulations on the Pulitzer, Jason!). And gratitude to our friend and board member Steve Rempe, who has done so much for us this year and last.
Thanks also to alum and friend Bob Austin for his generous wine donation. And thank you to our angel in Tahoe, Alice Calhoun, of Alice’s Mountain Market, who along with her brother Mark, have created the only market in the world where if you tell someone you’re a poet, they’ll give you a discount.
I want to thank my year-round colleagues Hunter Jones and Leah Skoyles who did so much to make these workshops shine. Along with her usual duties, Leah managed our pop-up bookshop as well as deftly organizing the lodging for all the participants and staff. Hunter took on a myriad of roles too numerous to name but included creating COVID-safe pleasant outdoor spaces, devising the sound system, creating the hybrid benefit event, recording and producing podcasts, and so much more. They deserve a restful vacation soon!
We are also privileged to welcome a new administrative staff member, Catie Van Dyke, who will be serving as the Community of Writers’s Operations Manager. Catie is a brilliant administrator with years of experience in production, administration and event coordination. Welcome aboard Catie!
We are deeply grateful to our participants and staff, who, all together, bring the magic of the community. You showed care for one another, following our COVID protocols and treating each other with love and respect in the workshops and beyond. Our hope is that you’ve made life-long friends. We are so glad to have had a safe and healthy summer without COVID joining us.
Thank you to the intrepid staff at Palisades Tahoe who made us feel so welcome and taken care of through the week. You rolled with the punches, and the food has never been better.
And to our Donors: What a community this is! Your support is essential to this thing we do. There were many participants whose attendance was made possible specifically because of your support.
Finally, we want to thank our participants who made these workshops so productive through your active participation in building this brief, seasonal community, and for your warmth and good will. We at the Community of Writers can only do so much to create the circumstances of a good workshop session, but ultimately it is our teaching staff and participants who make the week so wonderful.
With love and gratitude,
-Brett Hall Jones
Executive Director