Welcome to our Events & Happening page. Here, you can find information about events which happen from time to time during the year. For information about events which are presented as part of our Summer Workshops, please visit our Events in the Valley page.
- 2020 Writing from the Senses on October 9, 2020
- 2020 Alumni Reading Series (1) on October 18, 2020 5:30 pm
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Fiction (and Memoir) First Aid: Private Consultations by Appointment:
September 25, 2020, between 10 am and 5 p.m (Pacific)
First-come first-served: appointments are limited.
Quick fifteen-minute consultations will be offered on Zoom with some of our wonderful writer-teachers, including Janet Fitch, Sands Hall, Krys Lee, and Margaret Wilkson Sexton Come with a question. Or come with a page! Having a thorny problem with a story? Worried about the end of your novel? Do you have issues about the writing life? This is the place to get fresh insight. The focus of your session is up to you. Sands Hall will work with Memoir and Fiction.
Private 15-Minute Appointments $25
This program is open to alums of the Community of Writers as well as members of the public.
More Details
Writing from the Senses: A Weekend Intensive with Janet Fitch
Oct. 9-11, 2020, five two-hour sessions
The weekend intensive class combines lecture and generative exercises, in-class discussion and experiential assignments. Suitable for fiction writers, memoirists, poets and anyone ready to reconnect with the artistic potential of sensual reality. This class is led by bestselling novelist, Janet Fitch and will be held entirely on Zoom.
Discounted tuition ($280) before October 1. After that, the Regular tuition is $330.
This program is open to alums of the Community of Writers as well as members of the public.
More Details
Recent Events:
Please join us for these Public Events at the Community of Writers during Memoir Week in the Virtual Valley. These events are on Zoom and are free. (Please consider a donation.)
Monday, 8/3, 4:00 PM (Pacific): “Effective Strategies for Memoir & Nonfiction,” featuring:
Debra Gwartney • Elizabeth Rosner • Grace Talusan
moderated by Sands Hall
Tuesday, 8/4, 4:00 PM: “Who Am I This Time? Revisioning Memoir,” featuring:
Alex Espinoza • Christine Hemp • Sands Hall • Amy Tan
moderated by Debra Gwartney
RESERVE TICKET
Ticket reservations will close one hour before the event. Reserve early
Our Memoir staff talk about and read from their memoirs:
Tuesday, 8/4, 5:30 PM:
Debra Gwartney • Sands Hall • Grace Talusan
Thursday 8/6, 5:30 PM:
Alex Espinoza • Christine Hemp • Elizabeth Rosner
RESERVE TICKET
Ticket reservations will close one hour before the event. Reserve early
Join us for private consultations: Fiction First Aid*
July 31, 2020, between 10 am and 5 p.m (Pacific)
Quick fifteen-minute consultations will be offered on Zoom with some of our finest writer-teachers, including Alex Espinoza, Janet Fitch, Glen David Gold, Sands Hall, Dylan Landis and Krys Lee. Come with a question. Or come with a page! Having a thorny problem with a story? Worried about the end of your novel? Do you have issues about the writing life? This is the place to get fresh insight. The focus of your session is up to you.
Private 15-Minute Appointments $25
First-come first-served: appointments are limited. Sign up before 5:00 PM on Thursday, 7/30.
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♦ This session offered only to alums of the Writers Workshops ♦
Below are the Times When the Writers Are Scheduled
(Subject to availability)
10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon
Alex Espinoza
Janet Fitch
1:00 – 3:00 PM
Glen David Gold
Sands Hall
3:00 – 5:00 PM
Dylan Landis
Krys Lee
Come with a question: Issues about dialogue, prose style, characterization? Come to the session prepared with a question or more than one! The time is yours.
Or come with a page: Need help with dialogue or prose style? Submit one page, double spaced (limit 250 words), and a staff member will respond to what’s on the page and beyond.
Sign Ups open 12:00 Noon Monday, July 27,
and close 5:00 Noon on Thursday, July 30. (Pacific)
SIGN UP
You may request time range and staff members. Appointments subject to availability. Once you register, we will be in touch with your appointment details.
(Cancellations for full refunds, to be considered, must be requested before 5 pm on Thursday, July 30.)
*Thanks to Sharon Olds who originally coined this term for the Poetry Workshop’s “Poem First Aid.”
The Community of Writers is made possible with substantial support of these organizations. Thank you !
Recents Events:
The Community of Writers Fiction Workshop in the Virtual Valley is proud to present
“Short Takes” Fiction Readings
These readings are presented to the public as part of our first-ever Fiction workshop held entirely online.
These readings are free to attend. Donations needed and welcome.
Tuesday, July 21st • 5:30 PM Pacific
Tom Barbash • Devi S. Laskar • Krys Lee • Kirstin Valdez Quade • Gregory Spatz
Emcee: Tom Lutz
Thursday, July 23rd • 5:30 PM Pacific
Janet Fitch • Michael Jaime-Becerra • Dana Johnson • Tom Lutz • Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
Emcee: Oscar Villalon
Register Now!
An Extraordinary Evening of Poetry
Click on the author portraits to learn about these poets and their work. Or view their bios as a list here.
Camille Dungy • Robert Hass • Brenda Hillman
Major Jackson • Ada Limón • Matthew Zapruder
This year we are pleased to welcome six extraordinary poets including one Pulitzer Prize winner, a recipient of the Griffin International Prize, a former U.S. Poet Laureate, two National Book Critics Circle Award winners, and a recipient of the Pushcart Prize.
Thursday, June 25, 2020 via Zoom
5:30 p.m. Pacific Time
Admission is free, but donations are greatly appreciated.
Reserve your space today!
This gathering of the community—all staff poets from this year’s Community of Writers’ Summer Poetry Workshop in Squaw Valley—will raise money for our scholarship fund, and we are delighted to announce that a portion of the proceeds raised during the reading will also benefit our friends at Cave Canem and their scholarship program. Books by the poets will be available for purchase online before and after the reading.
Community of Writers beloved and longtime poetry staff member Sharon Olds will welcome the audience to the event, and Community of Writers Poetry Workshop alum Diannely Antigua will emcee.
A 50th Anniversary Event:
An Evening at Bo’s in Manhattan with #YeahYouWrite
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Unfortunately, as concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic have grown, we are increasingly aware of the importance of limiting gatherings. We believe it’s critical that we are cautious and consider the possible risks. Thus, we are postponing the #YeahYouWrite event.
#YeahYouWrite, a standout-out reading series in Manhattan, will partner with Community of Writers for an inaugural event, the first of many across the country, to celebrate our 50th Anniversary!
The evening will feature the CW alum authors Dylan Landis, Shobha Rao, Lev Grossman, Cynthia Robinson, as well as C.W.’s own Sands Hall, who, following the readings, will host a mini-version of a COW tradition—a “Follies” talent show. #YYW Follies! All are welcome. Think five minutes. Perform flamenco, sing a song, tell a joke—anything goes!
More information about #YeahYouWrite.
A 50th Anniversary Event:
The Best of the West: The Community of Writers comes to the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Join Us on April 16, 2020 at The Annenberg Community Beach House for an evening of readings to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Community of Writers.For fifty years the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley has assembled in the California Sierra Nevada led by writers, agents, and publishers and has encouraged the careers of hundreds of writers of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. In this 50th anniversary celebration, local So Cal writers read on behalf of this legendary experiment in collaboration and sustenance of the art and craft of writing and the imagination.Our extraordinary readers this evening once attended the Community of Writers as participants.Click on the photo to view bio. Or view as a List
Emcees: Dana Johnson and Janet FitchFREE (More on tickets coming soon.)6:30 – 8 PM
After-Party:
