Thank You for an Incredible 15th Annual Conference!

On behalf of all of us, thanks for making the 15th Annual Taos Summer Writers' Conference so great! We hope you all are feeling as inspired as we are. Until next time!

- TSWC 2013 Staff

Meet the Leo Love Awardee in Prose: Christine Fadden

Christine Fadden has lived across the United States from Delaware to Oregon, and her wanderlust propelled her to travel the world teaching English. Her love of language and communication led her back to her childhood passion for writing, and in 2009 she received her MFA from Warren Wilson College. She is currently based in Story, Wyoming where she does freelance writing, teaches community classes, and is hard at work on a novel. “Just as there is no substitute for living in another country if you want to master a foreign language, there is no substitute for committing yourself to a passionate and engaged writing community if you want to write,” Fadden says. She will be taking the weeklong master class with instructor Antonya Nelson, an intensive workshop for fiction manuscripts. 

On Friday, July 19th at 12:30 pm in the Sagebrush Inn Conference Center in Taos, NM, Fadden will read from her novel-in-progress, The Geometry of Changing Course, which is set in southern New Jersey and honors all things 1980–including that year’s World Series Champs, the Philadelphia Phillies. This event is free and open to the public.

Fadden’s work has been published in many journals including New South, Sou’wester, Painted Bride Quarterly, and The Louisville Review. An excerpt from her forthcoming novel will be published this year in the American Literary Review. Fadden has received numerous fellowships, residencies, and awards from organizations including the Jentel Artist Residency, Vermont Studio Center, Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, and the Wyoming Arts Council.

The Leo Love scholarships are offered annually in prose and poetry to honor the life and contributions of Leo Love, a writer and devoted supporter of the Taos Summer Writers’ Conference. This merit-based award is given to a Conference participant whose work stands out as excellent and captivating. The scholarship provides full tuition for a weeklong workshop. Past recipients in prose include: Kim Bradley, St. Augustine, FL (2012), Emma Rainey, Fairfield, IA (2011), and Sally Smith Hutchins, Brentwood, TN (2010).

Meet the Leo Love Awardee in Poetry: Adam Crittenden

Albuquerque poet Adam Crittenden has been awarded the Leo Love Scholarship in Poetry for the 2013 Taos Summer Writers Conference. Crittenden will share his work at a lunchtime reading Thursday, July 20th at 12:30 pm at the Sagebrush Inn Conference Center. This reading is free and open to the public.

Crittenden will be attending the Conference for the first time and is enrolled in Daniel Mueller’s Flash Fiction Workshop. Crittenden believes that, “Mueller's expertise will give me the opportunity to make my narrative blend better with the poetic techniques that I use.” He is currently working on a manuscript comprised of flash and prose poetry.

Adam Crittenden holds an MFA in poetry from New Mexico State University where he was awarded an Academy of American Poets Prize. He also serves as an editor for Lingerpost, Puerto del Sol and Apostrophe Books. His work has appeared or will appear in Whiskey Island, Bayou Magazine, Metazen, Matter Press, and several other journals. He teaches writing at Central New Mexico Community College and online courses at New Mexico State University.

The Leo Love Scholarship is a competitive, merit based scholarship awarded to one poet and one prose writer each year. The Scholarship honors the life and contributions of Leo Love, a longtime supporter and attendee of the Conference.

Meet the Taos Resident Award Winner: Jan Smith

Jan M. Smith is an active member of writing communities from New England to New Mexico. She is working on her Masters of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Goddard College in Plainfield, VT, and currently lives in Taos, New Mexiso. Smith says, “I think creatives are attracted to Northern New Mexico--especially Santa Fe and Taos. I felt the call to stay here after only visiting for two hours -- after living my entire life in New England!” In 2008, Smith left a twenty-five-year career in social work to pursue her dream of becoming a writer. In addition to writing, she curates the Society of the Muse of the Southwest (SOMOS) Winter and Summer Writing Series. She is a successful writer across genres, publishing poetry and short stories in Howl, the UNM journal, Chokecherries, and The Pitkin Review. She is currently working on a coming-of-age memoir titled, Blink Like Crazy.

The Taos Resident award recognizes excellence in fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, and provides paid tuition support to a resident of Taos County, New Mexico for the Taos Summer Writers’ Conference. The Conference, named one of the top ten writers’ conferences in the US and now in its 15th year, will be held at the Sagebrush Inn Conference Center in beautiful Taos, New Mexico, July 14-21. Participants from worldwide convene in weeklong and weekend workshops led by acclaimed writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and screenwriting.

Jan Smith will be participating in a fiction workshop led by the highly admired author of four bestselling novels, Wally Lamb. She says, “When I saw that he was teaching at the TSWC this year, I HAD to come.” Smith will be reading on Wednesday, July 17th at 12:30 p.m. at the Sagebrush Inn Conference Center. This event is free and open to the public.