The 56th session of the Community of Writers Summer Writing Workshops has come to end, and after a few weeks to recover, all of us here at the Community of Writers want to express our gratitude to all of you who were a part of our summer programs.
Read on to hear about the summer and the wonderful people who came together and made it happen. Thank you to all of our community members – near and far. Without you, we wouldn’t be a Community of Writers.
Poetry Program
We want to thank our brilliant and generous teaching staff. In poetry this year, in addition to returning staff Kazim Ali (this year’s Lucille Clifton Poetry Chair), Carmen Gimenez and Matthew Zapruder, we were joined by two new staff poets: Brian Teare, and Ama Codjoe.
Essential to it all is our Poetry Director, Brenda Hillman. Brenda worked all year in collaboration with Lisa and Brett to develop this year’s program, through staffing choices and programming decisions; her work is manifest in all of the incredible experiences had by our participants and staff this year.
From the inception of our planning for the 2026 Poetry week, from the creative to the administrative and logistical, we need to express our gratitude to the folks who worked so hard to make it happen: Lisa Alvarez, Leah Skoyles, Catie Van Dyke and Hunter Jones.
Our gathering in the Sierra Nevada benefited from a bit of meteorological serendipity; poets and prose writers experienced mild weather for the most part, though we had a few wonderful rainstorms throughout the summer. In public health news, we hosted another COVID-free gathering! Our testing requirements ensured that we had a healthy and productive week.
Poetry week shone this year with brilliant first drafts written by our visiting poets who came from all over the country and beyond. The Headquarters was a hubbub of printers printing and copiers copying poems for the morning sessions. And one of the best things ever this year was six-month-old baby Molly Jane Jones who spent her mornings with us, greeting harried poets from a low vantage in her green bouncer. Thanks to her parents (Hunter & Lindsey Jones) for sharing her with the poets.
We owe a big thank you to our incredible Poetry Elves this year: Burton Scheer, Abby Shaffer, Elaine Vinh. And thanks to Bubba Henson (aka “Walt Whitman”) our biggest-ever “elf” who knows how to both carry a refrigerator and quote the good grey bard, and is a fine fine poet in his own right. And thanks to Graham Knibb who helped us this year during breaks in his tour schedule and, besides assisting with the heavy lifting, sound equipment, and poem collating, spent a good amount of time making Molly happy too. Thanks also to our Housing Director Emerita Kaitlin Klaussen, who, as always, summoned some of her past expertise to ensure that the registration process went smoothly. Thanks also to Audrey Rawson (Kaitlin’s daughter), who worked the podium during registration.
And bless the wonderful Laura Howard (shared with us by ZZYZZYVA and Bomb Magazine) who, though not an elf, comes with a magical quality which fills every gap, and makes everyone feel lighter and happier. And deep appreciation for Deborah Ruth, friend, supporter, and poet who has attended the Poetry week more than any other participant
How to thank someone whose generosity and care truly managed to capture the spirit of the week. Poet and Photographer Nic Nichols joined us this week and was seemingly ubiquitous, always behind the camera photographing each moment. So often we might think to ourselves, I wish we were photographing this moment, and, sure enough, there was Nic, elbow up, with his eye to the viewfinder. Nic is a rare talent and we truly cannot express our gratitude to him for joining us again this year, and for documenting the week so effectively.
This year in the Palisades Tahoe ski area, our poets were outnumbered by competitive long-distance alpine trail runners. We are pretty sure the poets didn’t run and the runners didn’t write poems, but we could be wrong, though certainly both camps were engaged meaningfully in their respective solitary endeavors. Some poets braved the dawn to watch the runners for the Western States 100 Mile Endurance run set out to run right up and over the mountain to a clacking of cowbells at 5:00 AM.
And, in a spirit of collaboration, further (orchestrated) serendipity and absolutely non-competitive good sportspersonship, the annual poetry softball game between the Boneyard and the Sapphos ended in a perfectly poetic tie. The rousing seven-inning spectacle was followed by a picnic and swim in the stunning Lake Tahoe.
Once again, the annual Community of Writers poetry reading benefit, livestreamed for viewers at home, raised spirits and funds for our scholarship program. Introduced by Nevada County Poet Laureate and past participant Karen Terrey, our teaching staff poets shared some of their best work, including some poems actually written during the week.
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: Kazim Ali, Ama Codjoe, Carmen Giménez, Brenda Hillman, Brian Teare and Matthew Zapruder.
(You can watch the recording of the Benefit Reading, and other past benefit readings, here.)
Thank you to everyone who attended, in person or online, and supported this project. Thank you to our Benefit Sponsors: Palisades Tahoe, North Tahoe Community Alliance, North Tahoe Chamber, the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, Bomb Magazine, Alta Journal, ZYZZYVA, and Palisades Press. Thank you!
Per tradition, poets gathered on our final night together to recite from memory their favorite poems, in multiple languages, from Whitman to Lucille Clifton to Lorca and more.
Writers Workshops
The generous, wise, affirming Welcome Address from Pulitzer Prize winner Jason Roberts set the tone for our spectacular week of fiction and nonfiction. His conference opening congratulatory message touched on the theme of “having arrived,” both as conference participants, and as dedicated, sincere practitioners of writing:
“You’ve taken your work seriously enough to apply to the Community of Writers, and you’ve gotten in. You’ve found the time to step outside of your life. And–and this is more important than you know–you’ve found the courage to be here. Welcome. You are here. And you’ve arrived.” You can listen to Jason’s Welcome Address here.
Highlights of the prose week — beyond excellent workshops, fascinating panels and readings — included an ad-hoc Latinx Adventures in Publishing conversation suggested by Dagoberto Gilb and featuring Borchard fellow Francisco Goldman, plus Lisa Alvarez, Chris Feliciano Arnold, Hector Tobar and Oscar Villalon. And we doubt that anyone present for the final night of readings will ever forget Amy Tan’s remarkable and moving reading made up of her correspondence to Russell Banks as he neared the end of his life, and her remarks earlier this year as she accepted the Preston Award for Distinguished Service to the Literary Community given by the Author’s Guild. “I have always been a subversively political writer by virtue of my compassion,” she said. “Compassion is political. It is the opposite of a blinkered mind.”
This year we continued to offer special lunchtime meetings as as well as three popular special afternoon workshops (Adaptation, Open Workshop, and Samuel Freedman’s “The Book Proposal” Seminar) plus a new one: novelist alum Dylan Landis presented a special (limited enrollment) single session seminar on Close Reading, a session examining one particular story, in this case Kate Braverman’s “Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta.”
This summer’s published alumni reading (AKA the ‘This Could Be You’ Reading) was especially impressive, featuring writers from many genres who are already gaining acclaim: Jeanne Carstensen (who this year was a finalist for the 2026 PEN/Galbraith Award for Nonfiction), Vishwas Gaitonde, AnnElise Hatjakes, A. M. Sosa and Daniel Pope. Board member Julia Flynn Siler hosted the event, and honored our late alumna Pamela Rorke Levy, whose memoir, Return to Blue Water, was published posthumously. It’s inspiring to witness the triumphant return of alums to the Valley, hear them read, and watch their books sell out.
Our annual final night “Follies” talent show included song, skits, and a final sing-along group goodbye performance of “Shenendoah,” a conference closing tradition. Two of this year’s three (returning) elves performed a loving send-up of the administrative and organizational insanity required to run a nonprofit literary event. Naturally, the third was working the sound mixing board. Thanks to musical director and Follies impresario Sands Hall.
Novelist, teacher, and podcaster (check out his The Lonely Voice) Peter Orner delivered the week’s closing talk, highlighting the role of class consciousness and persistence in the under appreciated writers Lucia Berlin and poet Edward Dorn.
This year, throughout the week, we again featured most events on our podcast feed where listeners could keep up with the afternoon events from afar. We also, for the first time ever, livestreamed nearly all of our public afternoon and evening events, allowing our broader community to join us online and reap the benefits of our remarkable and diverse literary panels, talks and readings, from wherever they may be. You can find all of those recordings, including a schedule of the events therein, here.
Naturally, we have some essential people to thank for helping us with this complex undertaking.
First, a particular, and unusual thanks goes to Jared Drake of WildBound PR a wonderful Literary PR firm with whom we have partnered for many years on numerous projects. Jared was instrumental in helping us obtain and learn how to use the infrastructure for our first ever livestreamed Writing Workshops. Thank you Jared!
Of course, the greatest debt of gratitude we owe is always to our generous teaching staff members in 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, and Louis B. Jones. Thank you as well to Michael Carlisle whose leadership, friendship and generosity sustain us.
Last year, esteemed Columbia Journalism School Professor Emeritus Sam Freedman’s Book Proposal workshop was a huge success and so we invited him back. He seems to be building a cult following of enthusiastic participants. If you are interested in his book proposal seminar, he led something similar in the Writers’ Annex earlier this year. You can learn more about, and get access to the recording of his two-hour online course here.
A big thank you to Patricia K. Meyer and Mel Storm Bloomer for their special screenplay adaptation class, and especially to Board Member Diana Fuller, who long ago founded and shepherded our screenwriting program (along with the late greats Tom Rickman and Gill Dennis). She has been with this organization from the very beginning, and commitment, guidance, and inspiration mean so much.
Andrew Tonkovich (our, ahem, A&R man) was essential every step of the way: from management of manuscripts during registration to moderating panels, he was central to it all. Year round, Andrew edits the in-house invitation-only journal of the Community, the Omnium Gatherum Quarterly, and hosts Bibliocracy Radio, which he generously shares with us to syndicate on our podcast feed. He does a lot of proofreading, and loves it.
Our brilliant Elves (and all-around helpers) were Anna Carter, Hannah Ross, and Livia Blum. With high energy and good spirits, they all made things happen seamlessly. They boiled eggs for the morning snack bar, wrapped sound cables (a lot), ran our livestream seamlessly, and generally made the week a whole lot better for everyone. If we blink twice it is possible at least one of them may be running this circus in a few years.
Thank you again to Graham Knibb, Lindsey Jones, and Laura Howard, for their good humor, friendship, and hard work. Thanks also to Caridwen Spatz for helping out in so many ways.
Thanks to Will Richardson for leading such informative Nature Walks during both our poetry and prose weeks. Year-round, Will is the executive director of the Tahoe Institute for Natural Science, a nonprofit dedicated to science and research in the Tahoe Area.
We are also so proud to acknowledge our friends and board members, Eddy & Osvaldo Ancinas and Amy Tan & Lou Demattei, who have been so tremendously generous with their time and support over the years. We couldn’t ask for a more responsive, engaged, and wise Board of Directors, especially President Carlin Naify, and Board Vice President Margaret Wilkerson Sexton. Thanks as well to board members who attended this summer to support what we do and/or teach: Eddy Ancinas, Michael Carlisle, Ken Haas, Katy Hover-Smoot, Jason Roberts, Clyde Rodriguez, Amy Tan, Nancy Teichert, and Oscar Villalon for helping out during the weeks. And to Board Members Michelle Latiolais and Dana Johnson for hosting a Board event on the fly with grace and humor. And particular gratitude goes to our friend and board member, the poet Steve Rempe, who has done so much for us these last few years. Steve, we really cannot thank you enough. For their year round stewardship and care, we must also thank our other board members: Reagan Arthur, Nancy Cushing Evans, Diana Fuller, Lester Graves Lennon, Jim Naify, Sameer Pandya, and Christopher Sindt. What a Board!
Thanks also to 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 Catie Van Dyke, Hunter Jones and Leah Skoyles who did so much to make these programs shine. Along with her usual administrative duties, Leah managed our pop-up bookshop as well as deftly organizing lodging for participants and staff. Hunter took on myriad roles too numerous to name but including managing the sound system, creating the hybrid benefit event, recording, and producing podcasts, livestreaming our events and so much more. How to thank our operations Manager, Catie Van Dyke except adjectivally: Industrious, cheerful, proactive, cool, creative, conscientious and seemingly indefatigable. They all earned a restful vacation, one in Greece, one in Portugal, and the other at home with baby Molly!
Of course, we are grateful to Palisades Tahoe, partnering with us to ensure we have a venue for our programs and a long-term future in California’s high Sierra. Gratitude to Blair Lewis, our new partner at Palisades Tahoe who looks after us so well, and with such kindness. Christine Horvath for helping us get the word our about our Benefit and public events. And to the entire food and beverage team who worked so hard to make our workshops work. Fernando, Justin, Harry, Charlotte and more– thanks to all of you. Danny, Jeanette, and the whole Palisades Security team for always unlocking doors for us at odd hours. We also thank Rocky and Katja who allowed us to use their premises at Le Chamois, which served us as workshop spaces during both conference weeks.
Thanks also to the North Tahoe Community Alliance and the North Tahoe Chamber, which facilitated an event-support grant helping to offset the cost of bringing our esteemed staff here to the North Tahoe region. That support was made possible through TOT-TBID Dollars At Work.
Thank you also to the incredible people at the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation. Always agile and responsive to the needs of this region, their support boosted our spirits and galvanized us to continue to bring excellent programming to the Tahoe-Truckee region once again. Thank you!
Gratitude to Michael Spurgeon of the Albert & Elaine Borchard Foundation for providing us the support to bring remarkable Borchard Literary Fellows to the Community of Writers to teach. Over the past two years, this support has facilitated many new voices in our community. This year, Francisco Goldman travelled all the way from Mexico City with his family to join us thanks to the Borchard Foundation.
And to our Donors: What a community this is! Your support is essential to the special work we do. Nearly half of all participants’ attendance this year was made possible specifically because of your support. We have no formal membership, and no traditional fundraising structure. Instead, it is the generosity of past participants that keeps us going each year, so we quite literally could not do this without you.
We are deeply grateful to our participants and staff, who, all together, bring the magic of the community. Our hope is that you’ve returned home inspired and with new friends who can be part of your writing journey. We at the Community of Writers can do only so much to create the circumstances of a good workshop session. We are proud of our work but ultimately it is our teaching staff and participants who make the week and, hopefully, what follows, so wonderful.
With love and gratitude,
-Brett Hall Jones
Executive Director
