Books & Anthologies

The Community of Writers has produced several books and journals that represent the fruits of our conference. For announcements of new publications, please join our mailing list.

The 50th Anniversary Poetry Anthology

The Community of Writers celebrates fifty years of its annual poetry workshop with an extraordinary collection by some of the country’s most prominent contemporary poets. “Why To These Rocks: 50 Years of Poetry from the Community of Writers” includes over 140 poems inspired by or written in High Sierra during the annual workshop week.

Edited by Lisa Alvarez, and introduced by long-time poetry director and former Poet Laureate, Robert Hass. Why to These Rocks tells part of the story of the Community of Writers through work produced in the valley by both staff and participant poets, using three self-explanatory lenses: Over the Mountains: Poems about the Place; Scrupulous Mercy: Poems about the Process; and After Surfacing: Poems Produced by the Process in the Place.

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The Annual Poetry Anthology

One of our most notable publications has been Written Here: The Community of Writers Poetry Review, where alumni poets continue the tradition of publishing a collection of poems begun during the Poetry Workshop. Poets from the most recent workshop submit three poems, completely revised or exactly the same as the day the poem was first imagined. Volunteer alumni editors select the poems to appear in the Review. Proceeds benefit the Scholarship Fund, enabling talented poets to attend. See annual issues below.

Written Here and There 2021: The Community of Writers Poetry Review

$17 (shipping included)

Each June at the Community of Writers, poets gather in the High Sierras to write. In 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, participants and teaching staff gathered in the Virtual Valley from all over the world. They continued the tradition of writing a poem each day, and bringing their new draft to workshop the next morning. All of the poems in Written Here 2021 first emerged during the Poetry Workshop week. This edition of Written Here (and There) contains work by 2021 participants, as well as poems first written during that week by the six teaching staff poetsThis edition of Written Here (and There) contains work by 2020 participants, as well as poems first written during that week by the six teaching staff poets: Kazim Ali, Blas Falconer, Forrest Gander, Brenda Hillman, Sharon Olds, and Evie Shockley. Proceeds benefit the Poetry Workshop’s Scholarship Fund.

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Written Here and There: The Community of Writers Poetry Review 2020

$16 (shipping included)

Written Here: The Community of Writers Poetry Review 2020 is yet another impressive collection of all of the extraordinary poetry to come out of the 2020 Poetry Workshop. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, participants and teaching staff gathered in the Virtual Valley from all over the world. They continued the tradition of writing a poem each day, and bringing their new draft to workshop the next morning. All of the poems in this anthology first emerged during the Poetry Workshop week. This edition of Written Here (and There) contains work by 2020 participants, as well as poems first written during that week by the six teaching staff poets Camille T. Dungy, Robert Hass, Brenda Hillman, Major Jackson, Ada Limón, and Matthew Zapruder. This edition of Written Here was edited by Neysa King and Jill Bergantz, as well as Jeremy Graves, Anneka Hooft, Karen Llagas, Marty Krasney, Judy Crowe, MJ Pramik, Young Eun Yook, Tom Laichas, Cynthia Randolph, Eduardo “Lalo” Ramos Ruiz, and Elizabeth McMunn-Tetangco. Book design and production by Cody Gates and Maureen Forys at Happenstance Type-O-Rama.

Proceeds support the Community of Writers Poetry Scholarship Fund. 

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Written Here: The Community of Writers Poetry Review 2019

$16 (shipping included)

Written Here: The Community of Writers Poetry Review 2019 is an impressive collection of all of the extraordinary poetry to come out of the 2019 Poetry Workshop. Once again, volunteer editors, alumni from the same annual workshop, sort through all of the participant submissions and select the poems that appear in the Review. The 2019 Poetry staff featured Forrest Gander, Brenda Hillman, David Tomas Martinez, Jane Miller, Sharon Olds, and Gregory Pardlo, with special guest Robert Hass. This edition of Written Here was edited by Veronica Corpuz, Jeanne Morel, Jon Riccio, Jennifer Sperry Steinorth, and Leah Xue. Book design and production by Cody Gates and Maureen Forys at Happenstance Type-O-Rama. The cover photograph was taken by Eva Melas.

Proceeds support the Community of Writers Poetry Scholarship Fund. 

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Written Here: The Community of Writers Poetry Review 2018

$16 (shipping included)

Written Here: The Community of Writers Poetry Review 2018 is another impressive sampling of all of the extraordinary poetry to come out of the 2018 Poetry Workshop. Once again, volunteer editors, alumni from the same annual workshop, sort through all of the participant submissions and select the poems that appear in the Review. The 2018 Poetry staff included in Written Here 2018 are Kazim Ali, Mónica de la Torre, Robert Hass, Sharon Olds, Evie Shockley, and Dean Young.  This edition of Written Here was edited by Masha Lisak, Judy Brackett Crowe, Christine H. Cummings, Nancy Kangas, Diane Martin, Joan Baranow, Ted Lardner, Jack Martin, and Kate O’Neill. Book design and production by Cody Gates and Maureen Forys at Happenstance Type-O-Rama. The cover photograph was taken by Christopher Upham.

Proceeds support the Community of Writers Poetry Scholarship Fund. 

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Written Here: The Community of Writers Poetry Review 2017

$16 (shipping included)

This edition of Written Here contains a historic first for the Community: it contains work by each and every one of the poets who attended in 2017. The result is an astonishing look into what this generous and supportive week can produce. In addition to work by every 2017 participant, poems first written during that week by the six teaching staff poets also appear within these pages. 2017’s Guest Director Brenda Hillman’s “Dawn Tercets with Blake & Nuthatch” opens the collection, which also includes Francisco Aragón’s “Helen Speaks”, “Life Coach” by Forrest Gander, “Small Act of Homage” by Robert Hass, “I Do Not Know If It Is True, But I Think” by Sharon Olds and “Convertible” by Gregory Pardlo.

Proceeds benefit the Poetry Workshop’s Scholarship Fund.

Edited by Aaron Graham and Roger Soffer. Cover art courtesy of Ananda Lima.

Proceeds support the Community of Writers Poetry Scholarship Fund. 

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Written Here: The Community of Writers Poetry Review 2016

$16 (shipping included)

Invite some of the magic of wind on the mountain and warm days in the valley into your mailbox. From the turbulent summer of 2016, 43 poets bring you 67 poems. This edition of Written Here presents a selection of the pieces that emerged from our week of poetry workshops. Edited and designed by participant volunteers from the workshop, it’s a beautiful anthology that reflects a range of subjects, a variety of styles, and concerns that continue today. Edited by Amy Elisabeth Davis, Richard Sime, Christine Gosnay, Abriana Jetté, Trisha Peck, and Roberto Santiago and designed by Cody Gates and Maureen Forys, the book’s profits go to the Community of Writers Scholarship Fund. Every copy you get for yourself or someone else is also a gift to a future participant in the workshop.

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Written Here: The Community of Writers Poetry Review 2015

2015 cover$16.00 

The 2015 Review, dedicated to the late C.D. Wright,  The poems appearing in Written Here: The Community of Writers Poetry Review 2015 all had their genesis during the 2015 Poetry Workshop. The anthology was edited and designed by volunteers from the workshop, including KB Ballentine, Judy Brackett, M.D. Myers, Caitlin Neely, Jon Riccio, Carolyne Whelan, Emily Wolahan, and Jules Wood. Proceeds benefit the Poetry Workshop Scholarship Fund.

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Written Here: The Community of Writers Poetry Review 2013

2013 cover $16.00 

The 2013 Review is dedicated to Galway Kinnell, and was edited by William Clark, Jennifer C. Humbert, and Lori Singer Meyer. Written Here: The Community of Writers Poetry Review 2013 continues the tradition of publishing poems that first emerged during the summer’s Workshop. The poems appearing in Written Here were selected by a team of editors, themselves workshop participants, from the work submitted by their fellow poets. Proceeds benefit the Poetry Workshop Scholarship Fund.

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Books

Writers Workshop in a Book

Writers workshop in a book$14.95

Since 1969, the Community of Writers  has helped develop the art and craft of many who are now household names. Instructors such as Michael Chabon, Mark Childress, Diane Johnson, Anne Lamott, Robert Stone, and Amy Tan have distilled their advice and wisdom from seminars and lectures, and the result is a book that captures the workshop experience of complete submersion in the writing process. With an introduction by novelist and short story master Richard Ford, himself a conference attendee in the 1970s, this volume gives the writer and dedicated reader a jolt of inspiration, sharp insight into matters of technique, and a feeling of camaraderie with a writing community.

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Staff Books & Projects

Please also see individual workshop pages to view a list of books and projects by our staff:

Peruse our Notable Alumni pages and the Omnium Gatherum & Newsletter for news about alumni books and projects.