History

The Community of Writers was established in 1969 by novelists Blair Fuller and Oakley Hall, who were both residents of the valley. It was originally staffed by a band of San Francisco writers including David Perlman, Walter Ballenger, Barnaby Conrad and John Leggett, the latter two of whom went on to found, respectively, the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and the Napa Valley Writers Conference. The Community of Writers continues to be directed by Brett Jones.

Over the years the community has mounted workshops in Fiction, Nonfiction, Screenwriting, Playwriting, Poetry, and Nature Writing (the Art of the Wild, co-produced by Jack Hicks and University of California at Davis), and Writing the Medical Experience directed by David Watts. Oakley Hall and Blair Fuller directed the Fiction program in the early years, followed by Carolyn Doty.  Lisa Alvarez and Louis B. Jones now co-direct the Fiction Program. Michael Carlisle directed the nonfiction Program for twenty years until 2023; it is now led by Sands Hall (Memoir) and Julia Flynn Siler (Nonfiction). Diana Fuller directed the Screenwriters Workshop, founded in 1974 by screenwriters Tom Rickman and Gill Dennis until 2014. The original poetry program was directed by Bill Fox. Galway Kinnell directed the current Poetry Program from 1984-2003, Robert Hass directed the program from 2004 – 2020. Brenda Hillman became director in 2021 when Hass retired.

In 2020, due the the COVID-19 pandemic, what was to be the 50th Anniversary session of the Community of Writers was cancelled. However, the Poetry Workshop was moved entirely online, and was very much unchanged from the traditional model save the poet soft-ball game and the jump in the cold Lake Tahoe. The Virtual Valley was born, a venue for Poets and Writers in the community to be able to gather for readings, workshops, individual conferences and more, entirely online. The very large Writers Workshop week couldn’t move online, so two small workshops were mounted online instead. Fiction and Memoir.

The move online into the Virtual Valley, was entirely successful. More offerings were developed for isolated writers and poets during the lockdown and beyond. Weekend intensives, micro-workshops, individual conferences (First Aid), poetry readings, panel discussions on craft and a literary festival which were begun in 2020, continued into 2021. And Weekend Intensives were led by Janet Fitch.

In 2022 The Writers Annex was established. Online, and year-round, The Writers’ Annex is composed of short courses, seminars, workshops, and more. Early offerings were led by Kazim Ali, Robert Hass, Brenda Hillman, followed by courses led by Victoria Chang, Matthew Zapruder, and Major Jackson, and is produced by Hunter Jones.