Important Dates
• June 10: The balance of your fees due, if any. Also the deadline for submitting our Air Travel Form if a ride from the airport is needed.
• June 21: Travel Day. Registration in Olympic Valley (Opening Day)
Important Dates
• June 10: The balance of your fees due, if any.
• June 21: Travel Day/Opening Day. In-person Registration will be Saturday, June 21 from 1:00 – 3:30 PM in the Olympic House, our headquarters for the week. If you cannot arrive during that time frame, please let us know. Registration consists of distribution of information packets, schedules, housing assignments, and other business.
• June 27: Closing Day / Travel Day
Registration is Saturday, June 21 from 1:00 – 3:30 PM in the Olympic House, our headquarters for the week. If you cannot arrive during that time frame, please let us know. Registration consists of distribution of information packets, schedules, housing assignments, and other business.
Once you have visited your room and settled in, you will return to the the Olympic House for the 4:30 PM Opening Meeting and dinner. Note: Due to the proximity of July 7th to the 4th of July weekend, your accommodations may not be ready until 3:00 or 4:00 PM.
The closing day is Friday, June 27, with a last (optional) workshop from 9 – 10:30 AM. Goodbyes take place immediately following workshop.
Fees
Thank you for paying your nonrefundable deposit. The balance of your tuition and housing fees will be due on or before June 10. Please refer to your invoice for the balance amount. If we are arranging your lodging, you will see it is confirmed on the invoice. You may pay online, or you can mail a check today to our Nevada City address. (A 3.20% service fee applies to online payments.)
What to Expect
The Poetry Program is founded on the belief that when poets gather in a community to write new poems, each poet may well break through old habits and write something stronger and truer than before. To help this happen we work together to create an atmosphere in which everyone might feel free to try anything. Each day we meet in morning sessions to read to each other the work of the previous twenty-four hours.
Each morning session will have roughly 12 participants, and you will have an opportunity to work
with each of our six staff poets during the week.
Most days there will be a craft talk, and during the week you will have a couple of opportunities to have a very brief private consultation with a staff poet. The rest of the time is free for writing.
A Benefit Poetry Reading will be livestreamed from the valley this year, and will be open to the public.
Dress is casual. Weather can be changeable, so pack accordingly. (See “What to Bring,” below.)
Writing
As you know, you will be writing a poem each day. For the first morning’s session (Sunday), please be prepared to bring a poem you wrote in the previous 24 hours. We have an efficient system for printing and/or photocopying your daily poems for workshop which will require you to email and/or drop-off your draft poem to the office early in the morning. There are several computers available for the typing of poems, if needed. If you require a typewriter or laptop, please bring your own. We cannot provide a desk in each room; however, there are shared areas in each house or condo, and quiet areas are available in the conference venue. We can print from most PC and Apple applications, but we prefer Microsoft Word or PDF. It might be a good idea to bring a USB flash drive. If you want to write your poems by hand, bring a pad of paper and pens.
Travel Details
Please arrive in time for registration on Saturday, June 21, from 1:00 – 3:30 PM in the Olympic House.
Ground Transportation: Olympic Valley is located near the North Shore of Lake Tahoe, a four-hour drive
from the Bay Area, and a one-hour drive from the Reno Airport.
Carpooling: If you requested carpooling information, we will send you a Carpool Network contact list
for your use finding a ride, or finding passengers if you will drive your car. We provide this list for your
convenience: we have no knowledge of drivers’ record or insurance, nor can we take responsibility for the safety of the journey.
Bus & Train: There is a bus station in Truckee, 15 miles (20 minutes) from Olympic Valley. The TART Yellow Line (Highway 89 Route) leaves Truckee for Olympic Valley/Tahoe City every hour on the half-hour. Arrive in Truckee no later than 2:30 pm, June 21. More details here. The service is free and it takes about 18 minutes to arrive at the Clock Tower in Olympic Valley. Further directions on last page, or you can call us when you arrive for help.
Air Travel & Airport Transportation: The airport to use is the Reno-Tahoe International Airport in Reno,
Nevada. Olympic Valley is a one-hour drive from Reno. If you will be flying into the Reno Airport make sure to submit your flight details to our office by June 10, and let us know if you will be renting a car, or taking the shuttle.
Airport Shuttle:
The cost of the shuttle is $60/$115 (rt), due in advance. (We will include these charges in your invoice.)
See travel information sheet in acceptance package. If you requested a shuttle, you will receive
information about the shuttle schedule a week or so before your travel date. You will meet the driver of
your shuttle in the baggage claim area.
Alternate Shuttle Service
If your flight time won’t allow you to use our shuttles, contact North Lake Tahoe Express.
You will have to schedule and pay for the trip in advance. (For the alternate shuttle the drop off location is: Palisades Tahoe Lodge. Pickup location: The Village at Palisades Tahoe)
Rental Car: If you plan to rent a car, please request the driving directions from the Reno Airport.
Lyft: If your flights don’t allow you to use any shuttle, consider arranging a ride with Lyft. Make sure to
make your reservation in advance. It is a long drive. Historically, Uber isn’t available for local trips.
Accommodations
If you asked us to arrange your accommodations, you will be assigned a room in a condominium or house with other participants. (Your invoice will indicate the type of lodging you have been assigned.) You will receive your housing assignment at registration. Each unit will have a full kitchen in which you can prepare breakfasts and lunches. Each house comes equipped with a washer and dryer. Keep in mind that the bedrooms do not have locks; the keys you will be given open only the front door of the house or condo where you stay. We will provide linens, TP, soap, and trash bags; however, you will need to bring your own shampoo and toiletries. In order to keep costs down the Village condos and houses will not provide daily housekeeping.
Meals
Dinners are included in the tuition; you are on your own for breakfast and lunch. For dinners, we will
accommodate most vegetarian diets, but if you have a particular food allergy, we may not be able to prepare special meals for you. Please review the menu of the week’s dinners (to come) so you can plan ahead. There are several cafes and restaurants in the Valley, but they tend to be pricey. We will have a simple snackbar on site for coffee, tea, OJ, yogurt, muffins and fruit, and preparing your own breakfasts and lunches in your lodgings will save you quite a bit of money. If you are driving to Olympic Valley, consider stopping at the Trader Joe’s in Roseville or Reno, or SaveMart in Truckee, to stock up on breakfast and lunch foods. If you are arriving by plane, there is a small grocery store in the valley at which to buy provisions.
Special Events
We will have several special events.
Tuesday we will go to Lake Tahoe for a softball game and picnic dinner.
Friday evening, we will have the Benefit Poetry Reading, which will be open to the public, in-person, and livestreamed. This important event raises scholarship funds. Please help us spread the word!
Olympic Valley and the Weather
Olympic Valley, located in the California Sierra Nevada, near the north shore of Lake Tahoe, is a ski resort, and was the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics. In summer, the weather is changeable; days are usually warm (65 ̊- 75 ̊F) and nights are cool (35 ̊- 50 ̊F). Brief mountain rainstorms are a possibility in June , though in general it is very dry. The elevation of the valley floor is 6200 ft. Although participan ts will spend much of their time w orking on poems, there will be opportunities to hike to the local waterfalls, take nature walks up the mountain, swim in Lake Tahoe, take tram rides, rent bicycles, or visit the Truckee River. (When checking the directions or the weather online, please note that we are located in Olympic Valley close to Lake Tahoe.) To check the weather, follow this link enter the zip code 96146. Please note, as this is a high-elevation ski area, our venue and housing do not have air conditioning: Weather permitting, most programming, dinners, and the benefit will be held outdoors, so pack accordingly. (Last year, in one week, we had both snowstorms and 75-degree days with swimming at Lake Tahoe.)
Bookshop
We have a pop-up bookshop for the convenience of the Poetry Participants. The bookshop will sell staff books as well as t-shirts, book bags, broadsides, and other offerings. The bookshop accepts cash, personal checks, Visa and Mastercard. If you have a book you would like to sell, you may bring a few copies to consign in our bookshop. Keep in mind that we do not mail consigned books back; please pick them up at the end of the week. The Community of Writers keeps 20% of the sales price of all consigned books.
COVID 19
We are committed to protecting the health of our participants, teaching staff, employees, and visitors. We do require that a COVID-19 rapid test be taken twice within the 7 days (one within 72 hours) before traveling to Olympic Valley. Please refer to our evolving Health Guidelines. We urge you to work to consider your activities in the 7 days before the week begins, to limit your exposure.
Consider not attending conferences, parties or films, for instance, where you might be exposed. If flying out, please wear a mask on the airplane. We fervently hope we can gather together to make poetry and new friendships without COVID joining us. Lately, our observance of such protocols has resulted in zero COVID spread and a healthy week for all in a season when other conferences faced more challenges. If any participants become ill during the week, we will work with them to find alternative lodging. However, if this results in a requirement to stay in the area to quarantine, these costs will not be the responsibility of CW. Please refer to our evolving Health Guidelines.
Communications
If you are bringing your laptop or other mobile device, wireless connectivity is available in The Village as well as in our headquarters, The Olympic House. We will have several computers in the office with Internet service which are connected to printers. We offer these to poets to check their e-mail or to print. Cell phone reception is mostly strong in the valley, and the houses have wifi.
Code of Conduct
Respect and consideration for others, both within and outside workshop sessions, are core values to be upheld by all participants and teaching staff. The Community of Writers will not tolerate any instances of discrimination, harassment, or any other form of mistreatment in conjunction with any of our programs. Harassment or disrespect of community members on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status or ability is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. This is essential as we come together as a community of writers.
In other words, please take care of each other.
Office
Please note that I will be moving the office up to Olympic Valley between June 8 and 12. The best way to reach me is by e-mail. I do not have email on my phone.
List of What to Bring
Directions