Poetry Workshop: July 17 - 24, 2010

Deadline to receive submissions is May 10.

Beloved poet and staff member LUCILLE CLIFTON died on Saturday, February 13, 2010. Read our remembrance.

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. In the mornings we meet in workshops to read to each other the work of the previous twenty-four hours; each participant also has an opportunity to work with each staff poet. In the late afternoons we gather for a conversation about some aspect of craft. On several late afternoons staff poets hold brief individual conferences.

Tuition for the Poetry Program includes six evening meals and daily photocopying of poems. A limited amount of financial aid is available.

2010 Guest Director: Brenda Hillman

Deadline: Monday, May 10, 2010
Make sure we receive your application submission on or before the May 10 deadline. Note: We make no admissions decisions before all the submissions have been read and evaluated

In the mornings we meet in workshops to read to each other the work of the previous twenty-four hours; each participant will have an opportunity to work with each staff poet. In the late afternoons we gather for a conversation about some aspect of craft. On several late afternoons staff poets hold brief individual conferences.

	KAZIM ALI's books of poetry include The Far Mosque, The Fortieth Day, and a cross-genre memoir Bright Felon: Autobiography and Cities. He is also the author of two novels, Quinn's Passage and The Disappearance of Seth, and a translation of Marguerite Duras' novel Love. In 2010, his Orange Alert: Essays on Poetry, Art and the Architecture of Silence will be published by the University of Michigan Press in their Poets on Poetry Series. In addition to his work as a yoga teacher and political organizer, Kazim teaches at Oberlin College and in the Stonecoast low-residency MFA program. Kazim first came to Squaw Valley as a work-study student in 1998 and co-founded Nightboat Books in 2004 with fellow Squaw Valley alum Jennifer Chapis. www.kazimali.com
	FORREST GANDER has degrees in geology and English literature. His recent books include the novel As a Friend, the book of poems Eye Against Eye, and the translation Firefly Under the Tongue: Selected Poems of Coral Bracho (PEN Translation Prize Finalist), all from New Directions. A United States Artists Rockefeller Fellow, Gander is recipient of fellowships from the NEA, the Guggenheim, Howard, and Whiting foundations. His forthcoming titles include Core Samples from the World, a collaborative book of photography, haibun and poetry, and Watchword, a translation of Pura López Colomé’s Villaurrutia Prize-winning poetry. He is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Brown University. www.forrestgander.com
	BRENDA HILLMAN is the author of eight collections of poetry, all published by Wesleyan University Press, the most recent of which are Pieces of Air in the Epic and Practical Water, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry. Hillman has also published three chapbooks: Coffee Three A.M, Autumn Sojourn, The Firecage; has edited an edition of Emily Dickinson’s poetry for Shambhala Publications; and with Patricia Dienstfrey, co-edited The Grand Permission: New Writings on Poetics and Motherhood. Hillman is involved in anti-war activism with CodePink and teaches at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California where she is the Olivia Filippi Professor of Poetry.
	EVIE SHOCKLEY is a poet and literary scholar. Her poetry collections include a half-red sea (Carolina Wren Press) and two chapbooks: 31 words * prose poems (Belladonna* Books, 2007) and The Gorgon Goddess. Her poems also appear widely in journals and anthologies. Currently, she co-edits jubilat and, in 2007, guest-edited QUEST, a special issue of MiPOesias featuring the work of contemporary African American poets. Her literary criticism has appeared in African American Review, Center: A Journal of the Literary Arts, Rainbow Darkness: An Anthology of African American Poetry, Talisman, and elsewhere. Shockley is completing a book of criticism, tentatively titled Renegade Poetics: Black Aesthetics and Formal Innovation in African American Poetry. She is on the faculty of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, where she teaches African American literature and creative writing.
	DEAN YOUNG has published nine books of poems including embryoyo, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and, most recently Primitive Mentor, a finalist for the Griffon International Poetry Prize. A book of prose, The Art of Recklessness is forthcoming from Graywolf Press as is another book of poems, Fall Higher from Copper Canyon Press. He has received two National Endowment for the Arts grants and a Guggenhiem. He is the William Livingston Chair of Poetry at University of Texas, Austin.
	DAVID LUKAS DAVID LUKAS is a naturalist and writer whose writings have appeared in Audubon, Orion, Sunset, and Wild Bird, and in a weekly column in the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of Watchable Birds of the Great Basin and Wild Birds of California. He revised the classic guidebook Sierra Nevada Natural History (UC Press) and just wrote a book for Lonely Planet called A Year of Watching Wildlife. He leads an morning walks and informative hikes up Shirley Canyon through meadows and forests, with vistas of Squaw Valley for the participants and staff. http://www.sierranaturalist.com

The Community of Writers rents houses and condominiums in the valley for participants to live in during the week of the conference. If, when you are accepted, you would like us to arrange your accommodations, you can choose between Single( $525*), Twin ( $325*) and Multiple ($200*) rooms within these units. Some of the houses are within walking distance; some require a short drive, so please indicate whether you will have a car with you in the valley. Every unit will have a kitchen and will be supplied with linens. Vist our FAQ page for more information.

Dinners are provided six nights. You may prepare your breakfasts and lunches in your house, or visit one of the cafes in the valley. There is a small market within walking distance and supermarkets in the nearby towns of Truckee and Tahoe City.

*Price is for 7 nights and may change slightly without notice.

Limited financial aid is available. Requests for financial aid must be made in your application. Please indicate the amount of financial aid you would need to get, in order to attend. Financial aid decisions are made after admission decisions. If an applicant is accepted, but we don’t have enough aid for him or her, we will still issue an invitation in the hopes that other means of support may be able to be found by the applicant to attend. Likewise, if an applicant has indicated that she needs a certain amount of aid, but we can’t provide the full amount, we will grant out what we can.

Deadline for receipt of submission/application: May 10, 2010
Application Fee (Due with submission): $25
Notification Date: June 1
Tuition: $760 - A deposit of $400 will be due upon acceptance.
Tuition & Housing Balance: Due on arrival TBA

POETRY APPLICATION GUIDELINES:

Past Poetry participants: If you wish to attend this year, contact us for information about the lottery procedure: (530) 470-8440 or brett "at" squawvalleywriters "dot" org. Put "Lottery" in the subject line.

• Send two complete copies of submission: 4 or 5 pages of recent poems, typed, 12 pt., stapled.
• Please put your name in the upper right hand corner of each page.
• Include two copies of a cover sheet with home address, day and evening telephone numbers, and email address.
• Requests for financial aid should be made on the cover sheet. Please indicate whether attendance is possible without it.
• Requests for consideration for Work-Waivers should be made on the cover sheet. (Up to $150 may be taken off housing costs for light work done during the conference.)
• Enclose $25 reading fee, payable to: Community of Writers-Poetry.
• No manuscripts can be returned; they will be recycled instead.
• Deadline for receipt of application/submission: May 10, 2010
• Questions? Please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions page or contact Brett Hall Jones.

Send submissions to:

Brenda Hillman c/o Brett Hall Jones
S.V. Community of Writers - Poetry
16191 Indian Flat Rd.
Nevada City, CA 95959

Notification of acceptance by June 1, 2010.

QUESTIONS? Please go to our Frequently Asked Questions page.