FOW FORUM
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At long last, I am able to share the very probable dates of the Summer 2023 Warren Wilson/Goddard MFA Alumni Conference (aka Wally Camp) – with one caveat: We won’t be able to finalize a contract until the middle of January, but I know many of you are trying to make summer plans. So, while it’s not a 100% sure thing, it’s VERY likely that the conference will run on the following dates:
Saturday, August 5 – Saturday, August 12
Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts
As ever, there will be three options for attending: Full Stay (7 nights), Short Stay (4 nights), and Commuter. Prices are not yet finalized, but will be close to previous in-person rates, with expected increases due to inflation.
For those of you who have not attended a conference at Mt. Holyoke, this page shows transportation options: https://meetatmhc.com/about-
Note that the college will be in the process of installing a campus-wide geothermal system, so campus appearance may be a little disrupted, but this should not interfere with our activities (and should only augment the challenge of spontaneous disk golf contests).
We will likely be staying in a non-air-conditioned dorm. I will see if we can arrange for rental of a few window air conditioners, but otherwise you should consider investing in a portable fan. Hopefully August in New England will be pleasant.
Those are all the details I can offer at this point, so hang tight until things are finalized mid-January. At that point I will make another announcement, including prices and scholarship info, and instructions for registering.
Until then, start dreaming up those class offerings, polishing manuscripts for workshops, and reveling in the prospect of communing with your Wally tribe!
Most sincerely,
David Ruekberg
2023 Warren Wilson MFA Conference Coordinator
Dean Bakopoulos
Marianne Boruch
Liam Callanan
Gabrielle Calvocoressi
Daisy Fried
Jennifer Grotz
David Haynes
Caitlin Horrocks
C.J. Hribal
A. Van Jordan
Sally Keith
Ana Menéndez
Antonya Nelson
Matthew Olzmann
Michael Parker
Hanna Pylväinen
Carter Sickels
Marisa Silver
Brian Teare
Daniel Tobin
Connie Voisine
On behalf of the Board, I want to thank everyone who donated and volunteered, and made this a dynamic and eventful year of change for Friends of Writers. Here are a few highlights:
Recap of Scholarship and Fundraising
FOW awarded over $107,850 to 60 students and alumni in grants and scholarships, including 15 Grants for Change totalling $10,500. We had 100% participation from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College class of 2022. We have raised $58,000 for Grants for Change and are 19% of the way toward our goal of raising the $300,000 that we will need to endow the fund. We are immensely grateful for your enthusiasm and generosity.
July Graduation Ceremony
This summer, the MFA Program for Writers held the first in-person Graduation Ceremony at WWC since the pandemic. Keynote speaker, Peter Turchi, delivered a moving speech to the graduates and their families, focusing on the individual nature of the writing journey, and the kinds of support that makes writing possible. You can read Pete’s speech here.
Alumni Conference
Over 70 alumni registered to share writing, workshops, panels, and the annual auction at the third virtual Wally Conference. We are grateful to new alumni, particularly Liza Duncan (Poetry ‘22) who dove right in and led a class and Sebastian Merrill (Poetry ‘21) who stepped up to help one participant with technical problems. Together, the conference raised over $4,000 through the annual auction and raffle. Thank you to all who attended!
A Piece of FOW History
Larry Levis once wrote “…writing is the act of discovering something in the process of writing, and that fresh ‘something’ becomes the being of the poem, its identity which is somehow final and independent, when complete, of the poet.”
The Larry Levis Post-Graduate Stipend opens for submissions September 15th through November 1st 2022. Two stipends, one in fiction and one in poetry, support alumni who are completing first books. For any questions, please contact Nathan McClain at [email protected]. We will be hosting a Levis Reading on November 10th, so mark your calendars!
Upcoming Event October 13th!
Join us for a reading and conversation with our board member Natalie Baszile on October 13th 2022 at 7 pm EDT via Zoom. Natalie’s new non-fiction book, We Are Each Other’s Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land & Legacy, brings together essays, poems, conversations, portraits, and first-person narratives to tell the story of Black people’s connection to the land from Emancipation to the present. Her previous novel, Queen Sugar, was named one of the San Francisco Chronicles’ Best Books of 2014, was long-listed for the Crooks Corner Southern Book Prize, and nominated for an NAACP Image Award. It is currently being adapted for a seventh television season by writer/director Ava DuVernay, and co-produced by Oprah Winfrey. Click here to register for Natalie’s reading!
Staff
Please welcome our new staff member – Nuha Fariha. As FOW’s Administrative Manager, she is overseeing donor engagement, communication and more. Nuha is a second year MFA student at Louisiana State University. In addition, she serves as Development Assistant at Laal NYC, a nonprofit providing resources for Bengali women in the Bronx. She has worked in the nonprofit industry for over four years and currently lives in Baton Rouge with her partner and one year old son. You can contact her at [email protected].
We also want to thank the incredible Jessica Lane for her continued support. Jessica has worked for Friends of Writers since 2015. Prior to that, she worked as a Project Manager for the MFA Program for three years. In her position with FOW, she works primarily with constituent and donation management and reporting. During the day, she serves as the Director of Education + Public Programs for the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, WA. She has worked in the museum and nonprofit world for over 20 years and currently lives in Everett, WA with her husband, Ross, and their dog, Addie.
Have FOW history or news to share?
Email Nuha at [email protected]. We welcome any news past, present and future to celebrate with the FOW community!
All best,
Abby
President, Friends of Writers
P.S. If you recently changed your contact information, please send it to Nuha ([email protected]).
The Tiny & Intangible auction is back for another year! Once again, we’ll be raising money to benefit Friends of Writers.
Conference attendees can bid on “tiny things” (stuff) in a silent auction beginning July 13.
Anyone connected to the program (students, instructors, staff) can attend the live auction for “Intangible” things (getaways, services, etc.) will be auctioned live on Saturday, July 16 from 4:45 to 6:15 PDT.
The Hat Contest will also be returning, so be prepared with your virtual finery!
If you’re not attending the conference and would like a link to the auction, send an email to wallycampmfa at gmail [[email protected]] by Friday, July 15. Put “Auction” in the subject line. Please include your real name, the year you graduated, and the genre you studied at Goddard or WWC (or other affiliation).
The MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College is delighted to announce its faculty for the July-November 2022 semester:
Debra Allbery (Director)
Sally Ball
Oliver Baez Bendorf
Robert Boswell
CM Burroughs
Maud Casey
Christopher Castellani
Adrienne Celt
Carolyn Ferrell (visiting)
Daisy Fried
David Haynes
Christine Kitano
Maurice Manning
Alix Ohlin
Matthew Olzmann
Peter Orner
Hanna Pylväinen
Jason Schneiderman
Dominic Smith
Anna Solomon
Peter Turchi
Alan Williamson
C. Dale Young