Friday, December 28, 2012

Wally Lamb Workshop - Waiting List


If you are interested in being placed on the waiting list for Wally Lamb's class, please email us at taosconf@unm.edu. The office reopens Wednesday, January 2.

We recommend taking a look at the other fiction workshops that are being offered. We are proud to announce that Laura Brodie is again teaching a novel-in-progress workshop for intermediate and advanced writers, while Frank Huyler will be offering one for beginning writers. Pam Houston will also be joining us again in 2013, as will Robert Boswell and Demetria Martinez. Do not miss Priscilla Long's Prose Style workshop, which has become an annual favorite. You can find more information here.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Class Updates and Holiday Hours






Registration for the 2013 Conference opened December 3. There are currently three spots open in Wally Lamb's class and John Dufresne is opening a waiting list. You can still submit for Jonis Agee, Antonya Nelson and Summer Wood if you are interested in a novel master class.

This year we are offering two novel-in-progress workshops one with Laura Brodie (int/adv) and one with Frank Huyler. We are also offering two memoir classes, one with BK Loren and one with Brent Spencer.

Check the workshops page for more information. Be sure to read instructor letters which are linked to each instructor's page for detailed class information.

Our office will be closed until January 2, 2013 due to the UNM Winter Break. We will be checking e-mail sporadically and the "open space" numbers may not be accurate.

Taos Summer Writers' Conference wishes you Happy Holidays and a wonderful 2013. We hope to see you in July to celebrate our 15th birthday with us!

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Faculty New Releases: Demetria Martinez - The Block Captain's Daughter



Demetria Martinez's newest book, a novella set in Albuquerque called The Block Captain's Daughter, has just been releasedIn this story Martinez paints a portrait of six characters whose lives intertwine through their activism as they seek to create a better world and find meaning in their own lives. Published by the University of Oklahoma Press, the book encompasses political themes that have long been the author's passion and the landscape and people of New Mexico from which she draws sustenance.

The Block Captain's Daughter, Demetria Martinez
You can find out more about this and other books on Demetria Martinez's new website: www.demetriamartinez.com/DemetriaMartinezBooks.htm



Click here for The Block Captain's Daughter on Amazon.com




Demetria Martinez is teaching at the 2013 Taos Summer Writers' Conference. Below is her class description.

The Freedom to Write: A Fiction Workshop for Beginners (All Levels - Weeklong PM) - Demetria Martinez
Starting a work of fiction should be a joyful experience. You will have the freedom to write without knowing much about your characters or even how the story will end. Your work is to be open to surprise as your characters reveal their lives. Like a reporter you will take notes until you have the makings of a story you and others will want to read. 
In this workshop we will employ a variety of  exercises that bring characters to life. We will get to know their surroundings and their secrets, their manner of speech and what they struggle with in silence. We will write in class and read our work out loud. Our goal is also to gather material for you to take home and use to build your story long after the workshop ends.
As part of the workshop, I offer an hour of creativity coaching to each participant to discuss what it will take to keep you inspired after the workshop ends. Many people depart from a creative writing workshop lacking techniques to remain motivated. We’ll make sure this doesn’t happen.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Sharon Oard Warner Teaching Online Novella Class



Founding Director of the Taos Summer Writers' Workshop, Sharon Oard Warner, will be offering the class:
 “Writing (and Reading) the Novella,”  a three-credit graduate workshop offered entirely online.  
This semester-long, three-credit workshop will be part of the curriculum for UNM's new low-residency program, which was introduced at the 2012 Taos Summer Writers' Conference.  Credits earned will count towards an eventual degree, but the class can also be taken for personal enrichment reasons, or just to write a novella in the new year.  
Sharon Oard Warner comments: "I am intrigued by the novella form and by the opportunities it offers to teach plotting and story structure.  In recent months, I have revised and submitted a novella of my own, and in February I’ll be giving a conference presentation on the topic of teaching the novella workshop." 
You can request the tentative syllabus and policies here. This link  takes you to the tuition information at the Bursar’s Office. 
It is necessary to enroll as a non-degree student of UNM to register for the class. Anyone interested in this class should feel free to contact Sharon with questions or in order to get additional information.   

Past Participant Publications - Congratulations Larry Stillman!


Larry Stillman work-shopped a chapter of this book with Joseph Skibell in Taos a few years ago and it was just published. Larry has been awarded the I-Universe Rising Star and an Editor's Choice designation. Rope Catcher is available through amazon, B&N, and of course, your local bookstores.

Congratulations, Larry!


It is April of 1942, and twenty-eight-year-old Jimmie Goodluck leads an aimless existence on the Navajo reservation, where he knows only poverty, prejudice, and lack of opportunity. Everything changes when he hears a US Marine Corps recruitment message on the radio. Without a second thought, Jimmie heads out toward what he hopes will be a new and meaningful life.
As a marine recruit, Jimmie becomes a code talker. He and his small, all-Navajo platoon develop a highly-classified code using the Navajo language—the only code in World War II the enemy cannot break. For the first time ever, Jimmie experiences equality, respect, and even admiration—everything he’s dreamed about all his life. But it is only when he returns home four years later that he discovers the devastating truth about what can happen after your dreams come true.
Hope, disillusionment, and redemption line Jimmie’s journey of self-discovery as he immerses himself in a world war and in the turbulent changes that sweep across the Navajo reservation—forever changing his own destiny.

Published:
11/12/2012
Format:
Perfect Bound Softcover(B/W)
Pages:
376
Size:
5.5x8.5
ISBN:
978-1-47595-552-1
Print Type:
B/W

Monday, December 10, 2012

WC&C Scholarship Competition Application Deadline March 30, 2013



Taos Summer Writers' Conference is a member program!

WC& C Scholarship Competition

AWP offers two annual scholarships of $500 each to emerging writers who wish to attend a writers’ conference, center, retreat, festival, or residency. The scholarships are applied to fees for winners who attend one of the member programs in AWP’s Directory of Conferences & Centers. Winners and four finalists also receive a one-year individual membership in AWP.


The WC&C Scholarship Competition, which runs each year between December 1st and March 30th, is now accepting submissions! Winners apply their $500 cash prizes toward attendance at the WC&C member program of their choice.

Last year WC& C received 49 poetry entries and 77 fiction entries--so it's a relatively small competition, but a great way to spread the word about the wonderful writing centers, conferences, festivals, residencies, and retreats that make up WC&C.

Here is a link to the AWP page: https://www.awpwriter.org/contests/wcc_scholarships_overview

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Conference Synergy Once Again Inspires Published Works!



The Winter 2012 issue of El Palacio magazine includes a beautiful essay by Brenda Mantz, "Canned Corn and River Water." Brenda has regularly attended the Taos Summer Writers Conference and another participant, Cynthia Baughman, solicited this piece for a special food issue that was put together in conjunction with a show opening (Friday, December 7) at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, "New World Cuisine: The Histories of Chocolate, Mate y Mas."

You can find Brenda's piece here: www.elpalacio.org - 
http://www.elpalacio.org/articles/winter12/cannedcorn.pdf

R. Flowers Rivera Publication News



Troubling Accents, the collection Raquel Flowers Rivera work-shopped during the Taos Writers' Conference with Valerie Martinez, has been accepted for publication by Xavier [University] Review Press in New Orleans.

Find out more about Raquel Flowers Rivera at her website: http://www.promethea.com