By Jan Bowman
In
my previous Entry # 226 – Interview with Julie Wakeman-Linn, we spoke
mostly about her experiences as an Editor of the Potomac Review. Today
my blog entry presents a post she shared with me – written about
Breadloaf Conference on day four in August 2014.Jan: In August you returned for the third time to the Breadloaf Conference. Please tell us about your experiences there. Who taught your workshop and who impressed you in the craft talks. What new things did you discover about your own writing?
Julie: Ursula Hegi, who is amazing, taught me a lot about point of entry into fiction. Andrea Barrett gave an incredible craft talk on Point of View. And as for my own writing? Breadloaf is so much fun but it also gave me a nice shot of confidence in my work. It is a competitive admission conference and being there makes a writer feel good. Being surrounded by other serious and talented writers leads to marvelous conversations about the writing life, too.
Julie's Blog Notes from Day Four – Breadloaf Writers Conference – 2014
Vermont, whether cold and rainy or sunny and balmy, is beautiful. The mountains around us soothe. I am always optimistic but somehow it seems people check their egos at the bottom of the mountain before they come up. The US Poet laureate asked my table of regular writers, if she could join us. She was lovely, by the way. There is a flood of hope for opportunities, a sharing of information and don’t get me started on the swapping of books-essays-poems-you must read. I think only at end of semester English Major parties or in grad school after the killer comprehensives do you participate in such a sharing of ‘you must read this.
I’m studying with Ursula Hegi, an
incredible writer and teacher. The workshop leaders’ credentials are too
extensive to list here. Check out the conference website for that. The
workshop group of ten is acting like old friends, although we’ve only
been together 4 days. Certainly it is a competitive admission conference
and even within that there are hierarchies—the talented hard working
waiters are here on full scholarship. The Scholars have been granted the
competitive tuition scholarships and our Fellows selected for their
publication records and awards. I’m here as a participant. I’m lucky
because my college foots my bills as professional development so I’ve
never even applied for a scholarship and that probably takes away any
concern I have about who is who.
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Ursula Hegi is a bi-cultural writer who has published twelve books. Her Burgdorf Cycle encompasses Stones from the River, Floating in My Mother’s Palm, The Vision of Emma Blau, and Children and Fire.
Hegi’s work has been translated into many languages. Her awards include
the Italian Grinzane Cavour prize, a National Endowment for the Arts
Fellowship, and the PEN/Faulkner Award. She is on the MFA faculty at
Stony Brook Southampton. She has also taught at Barnard College and at
the University of California at Irvine. She has served
as a juror for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics
Circle Award.
online search website link: Ursula Hegi
Andrea
Barrett is the author of six novels, most recently The Air We Breathe,
and three collections of short fiction, Ship Fever, which received the
National Book Award; Servants of the Map, a finalist for the Pulitzer
Prize; and Archangel, which was published in 2013. She has received
fellowships from the MacArthur Foundation, the New York Public
Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, the Guggenheim
Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives in
western Massachusetts and teaches at Williams College. search online or go to website: http://andrea-barrett.com
Julie says: As Potomac Review editor, I am looking among the scholarship writers for likely contributors to the next issue.
In a way, I’m here as triple threat– writer, editor and
friend. Yes, I also come to be with writer friends and study with them.
So it’s day four of another great year at Breadloaf, although it is the
coldest of the three times I’ve been here. Here’s contact information
if someone wants to follow up with me about writing, my work and the
Potomac Review.
I also met a wonderful Literary Consultant at Breadloaf. Here are her contact links: in
Professor of English
Professor of English
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