At Long Last...the Faculty Lineup for Taos 2012!

Well, we just couldn't wait any longer to share with you our faculty lineup for the 2012 Taos Conference: yes, that's how excited we are about it.

We need a few more weeks to get you the full bios and course descriptions (keep your eyes peeled), but for now, here's what we've got lined up:

Teaching weeklong workshops in Fiction: Laura Brodie, Alice Elliott Dark, Robert Boswell and Eric Puchner.

Carolyn Meyer will be teaching a weeklong class in Young Adult Fiction; Hilda Raz and Amy Beeder will both teach weeklong workshops in Poetry.

Sarah Sentilles and Justin St. Germain will be teaching weeklong classes in Memoir, and Mark Sundeen will be doing a Travel Memoir class.

In addition, Ruth Ozeki will lead a weeklong workshop in Meditation and Writing, called "Retraining the Writer's Mind," and Priscilla Long will be reprising her infamous Prose Style class, "The Art of the Sentence, the Art of the Paragraph."

We'll also have six master classes available: John Dufresne, Antonya Nelson, and Summer Wood in the Novel, Rob Wilder and Greg Martin in Memoir, and Joy Harjo will be teaching a master class in Poetry!

We've also got great stuff lined up for weekend workshops: Emily Rapp will be doing a Memoir class; Carole DeSanti will be doing Fiction, and Daniel Mueller will be doing Flash Fiction/Prose Poetry. There will also be a Poetry class with Valerie Martinez, Children's Picture Books with Ana Baca, Screenwriting with Michael Amundsen, and Publishing with Emily Forland and Wendy Weil.

Back with more details soon!

Mark Sundeen on Huffington Post!

We've already shared the exciting news that Taos Instructor Mark Sundeen's newest book, "The Man Who Quit Money," will be coming out in March from Riverhead Books.

And while you wait, you can get a small taste from reading a new essay from Mark, up today on the Huffington Post: it's called "The Other One Percent," and it explores the connection between the Occupy Wall Street movement and Mark's subject in the book--a man named Daniel Suelo who, in 2010, decided to stop participating in the normal economy. (You know, quit money.)

It's a super interesting read, and Mark raises some questions about the OWS movement that we haven't read before.

Check it out! Congrats, Mark! (And, oh yeah, Happy Halloween!)

Attnention Albuquerque Locals: Joy Harjo and Tanaya Winder Reading This Saturday at UNM Bookstore!

Well, first of all, there's the exciting news that Joy Harjo is going to teach a Master Class in Poetry at this year's Taos Conference. Yay.

Then, there's the exciting news that Joy, along with UNM MFA student Tanaya Winder, has a new book out:  "Soul Talk, Soul Language: Conversations with Joy Harjo." The book uses all kinds of different forms--interviews, columns, essays--to explore, among other themes, Joy's artistic output as a poet and musician and the influence of her tribal heritage.

And, finally, the headline: Joy and Tanaya will be appearing at the UNM Bookstore this Saturday, October 29th (at the intersection of Central and Yale) at 1 pm, to read and sign books. They will also both appear at Alamosa Bookstore (8810 Holly Ave. NE, Ste. D) on Sunday, the 30th, at 2:00 pm.

Congratulations, Joy and Tanaya! Everyone else: go hear those brililant ladies read!

D. H. Lawrence Fellow Darlin' Neal Interviewed on Public Radio!

We were wowed by the stories (as well as the lovely, warm personality!) of 2011 D.H. Lawrence Fellow Darlin' Neal, who participated in Robert Boswell's workshop this past summer.

And we were so excited to hear her get the chance to talk about her background, her inspiration, and her time in Taos on the public radio show Images, which airs on the Southern New Mexico NPR affiliate KWRG.

Darlin' was interviewed by Carrie Hamblen, and gives wonderfully thoughtful, articulate responses to her questions about writing and teaching. (She also tells a really great anecdote about reading True Grit as a young girl...) You can listen to the full interview here.

Congratulations, Darlin'! We're very proud!

Ruth Ozeki to "Re-Train" our Writer Minds at this Year's Taos Conference!

 Here we are again, to announce another exciting addition to our line-up of instructors for this year's conference! (A full list coming soon, we promise...)

In the meantime, we're thrilled to spread the word about novelist Ruth Ozeki: author of two acclaimed novels, "The Year of Meats" (best title ever, no?) and "All Over Creation."

This will be her first time at the Taos Conference, and she'll be teaching a workshop based on one that she's designed and taught in the past, called "Re-Training the Writer's Mind." It's designed to help us combat those infinite distractions, the ones that often keep us from our best--or any--writing: you know, email, Facebook, blogs...

Anyhow, the course will include some meditation as well as writing, and what better place to sharpen your focus than Taos?

You can read more about Ruth and her many accomplishments here on her website. And stay tuned: registration for Taos 2012 is just around the corner!

Emily Rapp in the NYT!

Emily and her son, Ronan

Taos instructor, memoirist and novelist and teacher extroardinaire Emily Rapp has an article featured in the Sunday Review section of this week's New York Times.

The essay, called "Notes from a Dragon Mom," is about Emily's experience with her son, Ronan, who has Tay Sachs disease: a terminal illness.

Some of you may have met Ronan when he and Emily's husband paid a visit to the conference: he's a beautiful boy, and Emily's writing is equally stunning.

Congratulations, Emily. All our hearts are with you and your family.

Hilda Raz To Teach Poetry Workshop!

Another instructor who we're really excited is coming BACK to teach at Taos (it's a frequent pattern, you may have noticed...) is the super accomplished poet, editor and teacher Hilda Raz.

Hilda will be teaching a weeklong poetry workshop. She's the author of numerous collections of poetry, co-author of the memoir "What Becomes You," and editor of several anthology collections.

In addition to her writing credentials, Hilda also has rich experience as an editor. She's been editor of the journal Prairie Schooner since 1987 and is a past president of AWP, the Association of Writing Programs.

Hilda recently relocated to New Mexico, where she has taken on the charge of editing the poetry collection for UNM Press.

In their September/October issue, Poets and Writers Magazine featured an interview with Hilda about her new position--for which she is constantly scouting for strong poetry manuscripts.

We're thrilled to welcome Hilda to Taos in 2012!

Wendy Weil and Emily Forland to Teach 2012 Publishing Workshop!

Back with another exciting addition to the 2012 conference!

Wendy Weil

 Literary agents Wendy Weil and Emily Forland will be returning to Taos to reprise their weekend workshop on publishing!

Wendy and Emily work together at the Wendy Weil Agency  in New York, where their impressive list of clients includes Andrea Barrett, Alice Walker, Anthony Doerr, Lawrence Wright and Sarah Vowell.

Emily Forland

Participants in their workshop will have the opportunity to learn about all the nitty gritty of navigating the publishing world: acquiring an agent, working with an agent, selling rights, "platforms," etc. It should be a useful class for published and unpublished writers alike.

You can find more information about Wendy and Emily at the Agency's website.

Stay tuned for more announcements!

Sarah Sentilles Coming to 2012 Conference!

Greetings from Albuquerque!

The fall weather is finally showing up here, and as it does we are getting closer and closer each day to finalizing our lineup of faculty for the 2012 Conference!

In case you haven't checked the website, we've announced the dates: July 15-22. Mark your calenders!

There's lots to be excited about...and we couldn't resist sharing some of that with you before it all gets settled!

 For one, we're super psyched to welcome first time instructor Sarah Sentilles. Sarah's most recent book is a (highly readable, wonderfully thought-provoking) memoir called "Breaking Up With God: A Love Story." She wrote two books before that, has a bachelors from Yale, a Masters in Divinity and Doctorate in Theology from Harvard. In other words, she's super smart and has done a lot of stuff. You can find out more about her and all her writings and accomplishments at her website.

She's also a good friend--they went to Divinity School together--of our beloved Emily Rapp, who plans to come back and teach this year, too!

Stay tuned for details on Sarah's weeklong workshop, Emily's weekend workshop, and lots of other cool happenings for 2012!