Getting to Taos from Albuquerque

Hi,
I'm flying into Albuquerque for a weekend workshop on Thursday, July 15. It looks like the New MexiTour Shuttle only runs on weekends. Anyone know the best (cheapest) way to get to Taos on a Thursday; or, even better, anyone also traveling from Albuquerque to Taos on the 15th?

Thanks,

Richard Parisio
845-705-0640 (cell phone)

More Wonderful News for Debra Monroe

Debra Monroe's new book, On the Outskirts of Normal, has been receiving excellent reviews and tremendous attention. The book will be featured in "The Reading Room" section of Oprah's magazine, O the Oprah Magazine, this August. The memoir is also the cover story on the new Barnes & Noble Review: http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Reviews-Essays/On-the-Outskirts-of-Normal/ba-p/2719; Salon.com also has fantastic things to say:
http://www.salon.com/books/our_picks/index.html?story=/books/feature/2010/06/11/outskirts_of_normal_debra_monroe

Debra Monroe's workshop at this year's Conference - The Search for an Orderly Story in the Disorderly Tangle of Memory: Memoir - has a few openings remaining!

Returning - but with sadness in my heart

As I get ready for another conference in Taos I can't help but remember the week I spent getting to know Barbara Robinette Moss last year. I was a member of Barbara's last class. Her husband Duane has asked us each to write about Barbara, about the impressions she left on us. I haven't done it yet. My impressions of that week are still being formed. One of the sharpest images is Barbara sitting across from me playing with the sausage biscuit Duane had brought her. "He's trying to fatten me up. He wants me to hit 100 pounds." We began the week as strangers and by the end of the week we were family. Barbara didn't hold anything back. We followed her lead and poured our hearts out to each other. There was some first class teaching done in that workshop and she pulled writing out of me that I hadn't known was there. I'm sure that was true of all of us. I have continued working on the memoir I began that week. It has taken me in directions I didn't expect - directions I didn't like - but when I've felt lost or discouraged Barbara's voice has pulled me back. Next month I will bring the almost finished memoir back to Taos and I'll continue working on it in Dorothy Allison's workshop. My fondest wish would be to walk into the workshop and find myself with Melanie, Sheila, Robin, Jenna, Lucy, Andrea, Joelle, Briarly, Nan and Quentin. I know Barbara will be there.

Good News for Michelle Zive

Long time Taos Conference participant, Michelle Zive's book Holding On and Letting Go: A Mother's Story, has been awarded Best Unpublished Memoir by the San Diego Book Awards!

Michelle workshopped this manuscript last year in Rob Wilder's Master Class for Memoir.

Michelle will be attending again this year, so if you see her, give her a high five!

lodging to share 2010

Sagebrush---double room---female roommate wanted for entire week.

Thank you, Donna Lee Brown (cell no. 512-657-7630)

Debra Monroe's Memoir "Required Reading"-- Vanity Fair Magazine

Debra Monroe's forthcoming memoir (June 2010) entitled On the Outskirts of Normal: Forging a Family Against the Grain is about "being a white mother raising a black daugther" in a small, rural Texas town. The book has received rave reviews from Kirkus, a trade review journal for the publishing industry, and has been added to Vanity Fair magazine's "Required Reading" list.

As many of you already know, Debra will be an instructor at this year's Taos Summer Writers' Conference. Her workshop is called "The Search for an Orderly Story in the Disorderly Tangle of Memory." Only a few spots remain.

Wonderful news, Debra! On the Outskirts of Normal is only one of the author's acclaimed books. Her works of fiction include: The Source of Trouble, A Wild, Cold State, Newfangled, and Shambles. For more about the author, visit her website: http://debramonroe.net/.

Kercheval's Award-Winning Novella, Brazil, Released

Taos Instructor Jesse Lee Kercheval's novella, Brazil, was just released. Brazil won the 2008 Ruthanne Wiley Memorial Novella Contest, which was judged by Josip Novakovich. This is Kercheval's 11th book.

Here is an excerpt from Brazil:

"It was my birthday, my nineteenth birthday, and I was in the bar of one of the Art Deco hotels on the beach when I met her. They were always using this hotel on Miami Vice, although they were careful to take tight shots of the pink front and not show the bums and junkies down the street, not until later in the episode, so it seemed like they were miles away, in another Miami."

Kercheval's novella promises to be an excellent summer read. The cover alone is intriguing!


Brazil is available through amazon.com and other retailers.

A Whole Host of Updates from Conference Attendees

In the last few months, we've received updates from several folks who've come to the Taos Summer Writers' Conference in the past and want to share their success stories...

Fred Andresen, who took John Dufresne's master class in 2006 emailed to let us know his historical novel Dos Gringos, was just released and is available on amazon.com. It tells the true story of Andresen's immigrant Norwegian father's escapades in the Mexican Revolution. More information is available at http://www.andersen.com/.

Theresa Layton's short story, "The Other Side," recentently won the Perilous Adventures Short Story Competition in her native Australia. Theresa took Dan Mueller's fiction workshop last summer. Congratulations!

Kate Buckley's young adult novel, Choices, was a 2009 finalist in the New Mexico Book Awards. It also received a 2009 Gold Mom's Choice award in the Young Adult category. Read an excellent review of the book at MomsChoiceAwards.com or through the author's website: http://www.katebuckleybooks.com/. Kate participated in the Taos Summer Writers' Conference in '08 and '09. Excellent news, Kate!

If you've had some recent writing success, send us an email letting us know. Great work, writers!

Rob Wilder Reading In Albuquerque May 16 @ 3pm

Greetings Taos Summer Writers' Conference Participants & Followers--

Rob Wilder will be reading with Diana Joseph on their Bada$$ Motherfather Tour of New Mexico in Albuquerque this Sunday evening. The reading will take place 3pm May 16th at Bookworks, 4022 Rio Grande NW.

Wilder will read an essay from the newly published anthology, What I Would Tell Her: 28 Devoted Dads on Bringing Up, Holding Onto, and Letting Go Of Their Daughters.

We hope to see you there!

North by Northwestern is On the NYT Bestseller List!

Congratulations to Mark Sundeen, who is teaching two workshops at the Taos Summer Writers' Conference this year! His new book, North by Northwestern, co-written with Sig Hansen, is now #33 on the New York Times Bestseller List: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/books/bestseller/besthardnonfiction.html?ref=bestseller.

WRECKER -- Updates from Summer Wood

Summer Wood's new novel, WRECKER, due out in winter 2011, will be published by Bloomsbury here in the U.S. and in the U.K. Excellent news, Summer!

Also, for those of you attending the AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) in Denver, a group of Taos-based Writers - including Summer - will be reading at the Mercury Cafe from 6-7:30pm TONIGHT (Wednesday).

Summer's weeklong workshop at this year's Conference, "Writing the Where of It," has only 2 spaces left!

Read Mark Sundeen's North by Northwestern: A Seafaring Family on Deadly Alaskan Waters

Mark Sundeen's new book with the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch star, Sig Hansen, promises to be a gripping story about enduring and thriving in the harshest conditions. Sundeen is returning to this year's Taos Summer Writers' Conference to teach two workshops: "The New Nonfiction: What Everyone is Reading and No One is Teaching" (weeklong) and "Mapping Memory: Finding Your Story" (weekend). As you might imagine, only a handful of spaces remain.



Congratulations, Mark!

"To be a successful fisherman, you need to be a mechanic, navigator, welder, painter, carpenter, and sometimes, a firefighter. To be a successful fisherman year after year, you need to be a survivor.

This is the story of a family of survivors; part memoir and part adventure tale, North By Northwestern brings readers on deck, into the dockside bars and into the history of a family with a common destiny. Built around a gripping tale of a deadly shipwreck like The Perfect Storm, North By Northwestern is the multi-generational tale of the Hansen family, a clan of tough Norwegian-American fishermen who, through the popularity of The Deadliest Catch, have become modern folk-heroes."

-- For more on North by Northwestern, visit http://www.fvnorthwestern.com/stores/north-by-northwestern/ and to order via Amazon.com, visit: http://www.amazon.com/North-Northwestern-Seafaring-Family-Alaskan/dp/0312591144/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270666749&sr=8-1

Excitment Building for Gwin's The Queen of Palmyra

Check out the gorgeous cover art for Minrose Gwin's forthcoming novel, The Queen of Palmyra! As we mentioned on a previous post, the novel has been selected by Barnes & Noble to be included in the "Discover Great New Writers" series. Minrose Gwin is teaching the "Advanced Memoir: Challenges and Struggles" workshop at this year's Taos Summer Writers' Conference. We are delighted to have Minrose back to Taos.

Copies of the book, due out in April, may be preordered at http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Queen-of-Palmyra/Minrose-Gwin/e/9780061840326/?itm=3.

Priscilla Long's Essay Featured in American Scholar

"My Brain on My Mind" by Priscilla Long is the lead essay in the current issue (Winter 2010) of American Scholar. The essay explores what we know about the human brain and its relationship to memory and writing. Long has made her discussion of brain science and the mind accessible through the structure of the essay itself (there is a section for each letter of the alphabet) and through her exquisite prose. Long is truly a writer's writer, and we are delighted she is a returning Taos Summer Writers' Conference faculty member!

Long's workshop is called "The Art of the Sentence, the Art of the Paragraph" and is open to all levels. To read this lovely prose piece crafted by a master, visit http://www.theamericanscholar.org/my-brain-on-my-mind/.

Pam Houston Spotted on the Feb 2010 Cover of the Writer's Chronicle

Check out the February 2010 edition of The Writer's Chronicle for a terrific interview with Taos Summer Writers' Conference fiction instructor, Pam Houston (Houston is leading an Advanced Short Fiction weeklong workshop, and a weekend workshop called "Into the Deep End: Getting a Piece of Writing Off to A Running Start").

The interview, which covers topics ranging from Houston's forthcoming book to her love of travel (including, even, rides on the Hertz bus), reveals her thoughtfulness and sense of humor. In one of my favorite quotes, Houston says, "Sometimes I think I'm writing the same story, over and over again, which is: smart woman in love with the physical world tries to make relationship work, fails repeatedly, loves dogs." Ah yes -- but with what richness, depth, and humor!

Houston's books include Cowboys Are My Weakness, Waltzing the Cat, A Little More About Me, and Sight Hound. We are so delighted to have Pam Houston back again this year at the Conference!

John Dufresne Featured in Jan/Feb 2010 Poets & Writers

Longtime and much admired Taos Summer Writers' Conference instructor, John Dufresne, addresses the question "Where do you begin writing a novel?" in the current issue of Poets & Writers. In the article, Dufresne discusses the origins of his excellent novel, Louisiana Power & Light, and offers "Nine Ways To Begin Writing" for writers struggling with the daunting task of getting started. The essay is smart and funny, just like the author himself.

Dufresne's new book, Is Life Like This? A Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months, promises lots of sage advice from a writing master, who also happens to be one instructor of this year's Master Class in the Novel (Jonis Agee is leading the other section of our Master Class in the Novel). The book may be preordered at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Life-Like-This-Writing-Months/dp/0393065413/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264623085&sr=1-1. For Louisiana Power & Light, visit: http://www.amazon.com/Louisiana-Power-Light-John-Dufresne/dp/0393330524/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264623085&sr=1-6.

Minrose Gwin's New Novel Selected as Barnes & Noble "Discover Great New Writers" Book!

Taos Summer Writers' Conference returning workshop instructor, Minrose Gwin, has fabulous news! Barnes & Noble has chosen The Queen of Palmyra, Gwin's forthcoming novel, as a "Discover Great New Writers" selection. From the back of the book:

"Florence Irene Forrest lives in Millwood, a segregated town like any other in the South in 1963. Florence's father is a burial insurance salesman with dark secrets. Her mother is stuck in a marriage far from her educated, liberal upbringing and makes secret trips to the local bootlegger. This leaves Florence with her grandparents' longtime maid, Zenie, named for Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra. As Florence spends time in Zenie's home, she sees how race truly divides her town, but nothing prepares her for what happens with the arrival of Zenie's niece, the vibrant college student Eva Greene. Soon Florence, who has moved fluidly between two families, between two races, finds herself stuck in the middle, a witness to the brutality and the truth of her times, in Minrose Gwin's astonishing and moving novel."

The book, due to come out this April, may be pre-ordered at Barnes & Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Queen-of-Palmyra/Minrose-Gwin/e/9780061840326/?itm=3&usri=Minrose+Gwin and Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Palmyra-Novel-P-S/dp/0061840327/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264449936&sr=1-1

Summer Wood's Second Novel To Be Published

Summer Wood, who will be teaching Writing the Where of It (All Levels) at the 2010 Taos Conference, has emailed us with great news! Her second novel, WRECKER, will be published in the United States and the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury in winter 2011.

Summer says, "Thanks for your support, Sharon and Barb!"

Taos Conference Faculty Member Jane Ciabattari Hosts 2009 PEN Beyond Margins Awards

We're a bit overdue yet want to share the following news submitted by 2010 Faculty Member Jane Ciabattari as posted (with a few updated changes) on http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/pen_beyond-margins/.

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On Wednesday, December 2, 2009, Jane Ciabattari, president of the National Book Critics Circle, hosted an evening of readings and conversation celebrating the winners of the 2009 PEN Beyond Margins Awards at Housing Works Bookstore and Cafe, 126 Crosby Street, New York City. Recent Oprah Book Club pick Uwem Akpan (Say You're One of Them; Little, Brown and Company), Juan Felipe Herrera (Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems; University of Arizona Press), and Lily Hoang (Changing; Fairy Tale Review Press) read from their winning works. W. W. Norton editor Brendan Curry joined them for a panel discussion moderated by Jane Ciabattari about the pathway to critical and commercial success and how the winning titles borrow from multiple genres to create works that are vital and engaging. This event was free and open to the public.

Uwem Akpan was born in Ikot Akpan Eda in southern Nigeria. After studying philosophy and English at Crieghton and Gonzaga Universities, he studied theology for three years at the Catholic University in Eastern Africa. He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 2003 and received his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan in 2006. Say You're One of Them was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. The collection was also nominated for the Guardian First Book Award, the Caine Prize for African Writing, and the Story Prize. It received the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book, African Region, and was chosen by Oprah Winfrey as a 2009 selection for Oprah's Book Club.

Juan Felipe Herrera is a Chicano poet born in Fowler, California. In addition to his 24 previously published books, his recent books are Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems (Univerity of Arizona Press)--one of the New York Times Best Books of 2008 and winnter of a 2009 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry and a 2009 Latino International Award in Poetry--and 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can't Cross the Border: Undocuments (City Lights), which won the 2008 PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles National Poetry Award.

Lily Hoang's first book Parabola won the Chiasmus Press Un-Doing the Novel Contest in 2006. She is also the author of the forthcoming novels The Evolutionary Revolution (Les Figues Press) and Invisible Women (StepSister Press, 2010). She is Associate Editor of Starcherone Books.

Jane Ciabattari is a fiction writer, book critic, and widely published journalist who has reported from Brussels, Havana, Hong Kong, London, Marrakech, Paris, Rome, and Shanghai. She is the author of the short story collection Stealing the Fire, and president of the National Book Critics Circle. Her reviews and interviews have appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian online, npr.org, Bookforum, The Daily Beast, the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Columbia Journalism Review, Ms., and other publications.

The PEN Beyond Margins Award is one of the many ways in which PEN American Center's Open Book Program encourages racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities. The Open Book Committee works to increate the literature by, for, and about African, Arab, Asian, Caribbean, Latin, and Native Americans, and to establish access for these groups to the publishing industry. Its goal is to ensure that those who are the custodians of language and literature are representative of the American people."

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Annie Dawid's "Darkness" Reviewed

We just received the following review via email from 2010 Faculty Member Annie Dawid who will be teaching a weekend workshop, (Fictional) Character Wanted (All Levels), next July:

Published in Jewish Book World, Winter 2009

"This sprawling, warm-hearted story spans six continents and one hundred years, from the 1900 Sabbath table of Reizl and Lazar Solomon and their young sons, in Radautz, Bukovina, to a glorious millennial reunion in Paris.

"Dawid presents the family history in twenty-four accounts of varying length, rich in personal vignettes though mindful of the overriding historical arc. Here is Hans, a grandson of Reizl and Lazar, 'resident alien' of Tientsin, North China,1939; Berthold, another grandson, on day 555 of his imprisonment in a Cmmunist prison cell, 1950; great-granddaughters Toni and Marguerite, 'les Belles Jumelles,' internationally acclaimed Belgian duo-pianists, 1990s.

"The final story, set in Neuilly, a suburb of Paris, is an amazing set piece. From far-flung corners of the world, e.g., Dakar, Liverpool, Haifa, San Francisco, Saigon, Moscow, Capetown, Rio, Brussels, Dublin, New York, the descendants of Reizl and Lazar -- gay, straight, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-racial, multi-talented -- assemble in boisterous celebration of the ninety-second birthday of Freda, granddaughter of Reizl and Lazar, oldest surviving member of the family, and the birth of the new millennium."

Congratulations, Annie!