"Home in the World": Emily Rapp in Santa Fe Reporter

If you haven't had a chance to already, check out Taos instructor and memoirist Emily Rapp's incredibly moving story, recently published on the cover of the Santa Fe Reporter, called "Home in the World."

It's about her young son, Ronan, who was recently diagnosed with Tay Sachs disease, a rare and terminal illness. Emily's writing transforms a story that could be devastatingly sad into one that is truly beautiful, inspiring and hopeful.

Emily's weeklong workshop is called "A Matter of Love: Beginning Memoir"--and there's only one spot left!

BookPage Interview With Summer Wood!

Congratulations again to Summer Wood, who keeps getting more and more great press about her new book, Wrecker!

Check out this video interview, posted on the website BookPage--Summer even managed to get in a plug for the conference towards the end! And note that BookPage currently has Wrecker listed as one of it's top 20 books of the year, so far! Other titles on the list include Tea Obrecht's The Tiger's Wife and Swamplandia by Karen Russell--pretty decent company!

Thanks for the mention, Summer, and congrats again on your continuing success!

Ride Available from Albuquerque to Taos!

First-time attendee Karla Linden, a massage therapist here in Albuquerque, has offered to make her car available for a couple of folks who need rides up to Taos!

Karla will be driving up from Albuquerque on Saturday July 9th and back on Saturday the 16th. She's got an SUV and says she should have room for two people to travel along with her and her Boston Terrier, Lulu!

Send us an email at taosconf@unm.edu if you're interested and we'll pass your info along. Thanks, Karla!

UNM Recognizes Taos Conference for Commitment to Diversity and Social Justice!

 A bit of good news for the conference to share: we recently learned that the University of New Mexico's Office for Equity & Inclusion nominated the Taos Conference for a Presidential Luminaria Award.

That award recognizes individuals and groups on campus for their dedication to diversity and social justice work.

We can think of few things more important to celebrate, and are honored by the nomination!

Update on Transportation to Taos!

It's just come to our (dismayed) attention that Taos Shuttle, the company we had been recommending for those of you who need a ride from Albuquerque to Taos, has closed down.

Apologies for any confusion we've caused! We're currently scouting other options and will post, both here and on the website, as soon as we figure out the best alternative.

In the meantime, anyone who has room in their vehicles from Albuquerque to Taos, or anyone looking for a ride, is more than welcome to email us at taosconf@unm.edu and we'll be happy to help coordinate!

Stay tuned!

Mark Sundeen Travel Piece in New York Times!

Nonfiction writer Mark Sundeen will be teaching two workshops at this year's Taos conference: an intermediate weeklong course called "The New Nonfiction: What Everyone is Reading but MFA Programs Aren't Teaching" and an all levels weekend workshop called "Mapping Memory: Finding Your Story."

Mark recently published a travel piece in the New York Times on trekking in the highlands of Guatemala.

Check it out! It's a great read, and a great means of vicarious adventure! Congrats, Mark!

Priscilla Long in current issue of American Scholar!

We recently wrote a post about Priscilla Long's new book, "A Writer's Portable Mentor:" a great book for anyone serious about writing.

While you're at the bookstore grabbing that, you may also want to nab a copy of "The American Scholar:" Priscilla's also got an essay in their Spring issue. The essay is called "Interview with a Neandertal: What I always wanted to ask our distant cousins about love and death and sorrow and dinner."

Congratulations, Priscilla! And happy reading!

New Interview With Margaret Randall!

Check out this new interview by Maria Maloneywith accomplished poet and Taos faculty member Margaret Randall.

Margaret talks about her exraordinary experience living in places like Mexico, Cuba and Nicaragua as a writer, activist and mother.


We're so excited that Margaret Randall will be teaching at this year's Taos Conference: her weekend poetry workshop is open to all levels.

Jane Ciabattari Moderating Panel on Family and Writing at Tennesee Williams Festival

 

The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival gets underway this week (in, of course, New Orleans), and several Taos faculty will be on hand to participate! Jane Ciabattari, who is returning for her second year as an instructor at this year's Taos Conference, will be moderating a panel on March 26th called "It's a Family Affair." The panelists two other former Taos folks, Dorothy Allison and Valerie Martin. If you're attending the Festival, make sure to attend! Here's a description of the panel, from Jane:

It’s been said that families are like fudge, mostly sweet with a few nuts. Making use of the crazy aunts, the uncles who like to take a drink or two, the wild siblings, writers have long been mining the nut bowl for material, transforming a family’s less than perfect habits into pitch-perfect narratives. From secrets to skeletons in the closet to the hair-brained schemes and heartbreaks, writing about the family is one way to make the dysfunctional work. Dorothy Allison, Valerie Martin, Rosalyn Story, and Susan Straight share their strategies for creating stellar narratives from the ties that bind.

 

Panelists: Dorothy Allison, Valerie Martin, Rosalyn Story, and Susan Straight.

Moderator: Jane Ciabattari.

Royal Sonesta Grand Ballroom, 300 Bourbon Street

Wish we could be there!

 

Rideshare from Albuquerque to Taos, Sunday 7/10

One of the continuing functions we hope this blog will have is to help anyone who's interested coordinate travel to the conference!

And we've already got our first posting from a participant: Greg Winkler will be driving up to Taos from Albuquerque no later than 2 pm on Sunday July 10th. If you plan to come in before then and need a ride, email Greg at winkler@dogmail.com.

And if you're looking to offer or share rides and would like to post on the blog, email me (Elizabeth) at taosconf@unm.edu and I'll be happy to post your information.

Looking forward to July!

Memoir Scholarship for 2011 Will Honor Barbara Robinette Moss

On June First, we will invite participants enrolled in menoir and nonfiction classes to apply for a scholarship being offered at this year's conference in memory of Barbara Robinette Moss, a dear friend of the conference. A note about the scholarship, from Founding Director Sharon Warner:

At the 2011 Conference, Barbara Robinette Moss will be with us in spirit if not in fact.   An accomplished visual artist (that's her self-portrait, above) and the author of two acclaimed memoirs—Change Me Into Zeus’s Daughter and fierce—Barb Moss was also a beloved instructor at the Taos Summer Writers’ Conference. 

Word about her beginning memoir workshops-- “fantastic,” “incredible,” “fabulous,” “inspiring,” and “productive”-- traveled quickly from one year’s participants to the next, and she brought her magic to Taos for four sweet years—2006-2009.  Those of us who knew her well were deeply touched by the joy she brought to every experience, by her humor and humanity, and her unwavering will to live.  We knew the extent of her illness and that she grew a bit frailer with each passing year, and, yet, when news of her passing reached us in October of 2009, we were stunned.  How was it possible?  How could someone so full of life be gone?  

Barb’s husband, Duane DeRaad, and members of her 2009 Beginning Memoir Workshop (pictured below), have made it possible to remember her this year with the 2011 Barbara Robinette Moss Scholarship in Memoir.  

 We encourage attendees participating in memoir and nonfiction classes to apply for this one-year award.

In Memoriam: Taos Participant Sandra Jones, December 18, 1948-November 27, 2010

Sandra Jones, who attended the Taos Conference last year, passed away in November after many years of illness. She took Jane Ciabbatari's workshop--that's her on the far right in the above photo. Sandra was a beloved member of her writing community in Seattle. Wilhemina Condon, who also came to Taos and knew Sandra well throughout her cancer, wrote this remembrance:

Sandra received a small reprieve last summer, a small, but valuable, gift of time.  By July her battle with cancer was at an uneasy stalemate.  She wanted to spend her time writing.  She wanted to go to the Taos Summer Writers’ Conference.  She wanted to work on her craft.  She had become a serious writer.  It was a good week.  She was a diligent student, completing every assignment and attending every lecture.  She took copious notes.  She worked hard and felt she was making progress.  Her teacher, Jane Ciabattari, recognized her talent and praised her work.  She was writing strong and well. 

Four months later I drove Sandra home from the hospital late at night in an artic snowstorm that hit Seattle just before Thanksgiving.  Her time was running out.  We drove slowly through the empty snow hushed streets.  There were abandoned cars on the road and the moon was bright.  Everything looked familiar and unfamiliar under the mounds of snow.  Time seemed to pause and then mercifully stopped and we were alone in the universe, just two travelers in time, together in those suspended seconds.  I remembered such a moment at Taos driving with Sandra down a red clay road on a hot July afternoon.  We had taken a wrong turn that turned out to be right and found ourselves in the middle of nowhere stunned into silence by the sheer magnitude of a New Mexico sunset.  I remember feeling small and important at the same time as the universe expanded before us.  

Sandra must have thought of that sunset too because she smiled at me and said, “Taos.”

Laura Dave's New Book Now Available for Pre-order!

Writer and journalist Laura Dave is a Taos success story: she attended the conference in 1999 and 2000--and then in 2007 (and 2008) she returned as an instructor!

She's already published two successful novels, "The Divorce Party" and "London is the Best City in America."

And now her third novel is coming out, from Viking Press in May--and copies are now available for pre-order on Amazon!

Congratulations, Laura!

Check Out Priscilla Long's "Writer's Portable Mentor"!

Those of you gearing up to attend this year's conference may want to help prepare with faculty member Priscilla Long's new book "A Writer's Portable Mentor: A Guide to Art, Craft and the Writing Life"!

The book is designed for both beginning and advanced writers, and is a great resource for anyone who wants to focus on the pursuit of writing. Priscilla's book offers help with the micro as well as the macro: from the sentence level all the way through getting your work out in the world. 

You can buy the book through Amazon (or your favorite local independent bookstore, of course) and find more details about the book via the publisher, Wallingford Press.

Priscilla will be teaching a weeklong workshop at this year's conference, called "The Art of the Sentence, The Art of the Paragraph"--and there are still six spaces left!

Weekend Workshop in Poetry with Margaret Randall--Now Open to All Levels!

 Poet Margaret Randall's Weekend Workshop, formally an advanced class, will now be open to all levels! Take a look at the new course description:

Margaret Randall is now offering a weekend workshop for anyone who ever wanted to write a poem. "Adrienne Rich wrote "Poetry never stood a chance / of standing outside history..." Poets are still arguing about what that means. "A man walks by with a loaf of bread on his shoulder," begins a poem by Peruvian Cesar Vallejo, one of the richest voices in contemporary poetry. This weekend-long workshop will emphasize place and voice, encouraging the development of unique individual voices. It will focus on giving published poets who may be experiencing shifts or questions in their work an opportunity to look at the tension that exists between voice and place, and to use that tension to the poem's benefit. It will also give beginning poets a chance to look critically at their own work, and experience the art of revising engaged in by those who are more advanced. All participants are expected to bring work in progress, and all are expected to critique the work of others—in an atmosphere both nurturing and conducive to making the difficult choices."

You can register for Margaret's workshop, as well as the others still open (have we mentioned how fast registrations are flying in? They are! ) at our website. 

Summer Wood's "Wrecker" Out Today!

We congratulated Taos faculty member Summer Wood recently on all the positive reviews coming out in advance of her new novel, "Wrecker."

So we thought we'd remind you that today, you can finally go out and BUY the book!

Order it on Amazon, or come by one of Summer's many upcoming readings and get her to sign your copy.

Once again, congratulations, Summer!

New at this Year's Taos Conference: Screenwriting Workshop With Acclaimed Writer Peter Chiarelli!

Over the years we've received numerous suggestions that we include a screenwriting workshop at the Conference in addition to courses in Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry.

Well, this year we're finally doing it--and we couldn't be more excited about who we've gotten on board as in instructor!

Peter Chiarelli is a Hollywood producer-turned-screenwriter, perhaps best known for penning the Sandra Bullock romantic comedy "The Proposal."

Before turning to screenwriting full time, Peter worked at several big name studios including Dreamworks and Red Wagon Entertainment. Among many other credits, Peter served as Executive Producer for the acclaimed indie film "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh."

Peter will welcome writers of all levels in his weeklong workshop, "Writing for your Audience: A Practical Guide to Screenwriting." Check out the course description below:

Producers, financiers and filmmakers are the people who decide what screenplays are bought and made, so understanding who these people are and what they are looking for is critical to the ultimate success of any screenplay that you write. This course will examine who the players are in the filmmaking process and will explain screenwriting techniques you can use to improve your screenplay's chances of becoming a film. Furthermore, we will demystify "the development process," so you can use it to improve your screenplay on the road to a greenlight. Whether you have a drawer full of screenplays, or are just working on your first, this class aims to be a helpful guide to getting your work into a theater near you.

You can register for Peter's workshop, as well as all our other 2011 offerings, on our website.

Upcoming Book release for Taos Alum Philip Cioffari!

Philip Cioffari was the the D.H. Lawrence fellow at the 2007 Conference.

He recieved that award for his second story collection, "A History of Things Lost or Broken."

His third book, a novel called "Jesusville" is based on material Philip gathered during his attendance at two Taos conferences! The book comes out in May. Check out Cioffari's description of the book below:

When Joshua Farley—a cult figure searching for an hallucinogenic plant rumored to allow the user to see God—disappears under mysterious circumstances, his disciples gather in the New Mexico desert to await his return. But they aren’t the only ones looking for him and the legendary plant. Other desperate people have also made the trek to this remote section of the world: a disillusioned journalist hoping to restore his lost faith; a small-time hood on the lam from the mob; Farley’s disinherited son; a teenage sexpot who claims to be Farley’s mistress; and a gang of mobsters come to even an old score. They meet in a darkly comic, twenty-first century equivalent of Judgment Day.

Congratulations, Philip!

Summer Wood Soon to Hit the Road With New Novel, "Wrecker"!

Beloved Taos faculty member Summer Wood has a new novel coming out with Bloomsbury Press this month, called "Wrecker," and we aren't the only ones eagerly anticipating its release!

Publishers Weekly gave the book a terrific review in November, and last week Library Journal did the same (scroll down the page to check hers out...and note the comparison to fellow Taos teacher, Pam Houston!).

Summer's got a fabulous page up for the book--which comes out February 15th--on her website. You can read more about (and pre-order!) the book there and read an interview with Summer about the novel, too.

She'll be taking off on her book tour soon: check out the events planned here. Those of you in New Mexico, note that she'll be reading at Collected Works in Sante Fe on February 18th (with Taos teacher Robert Wilder), at Moby Dickens in Taos on the 18th, and in Albuquerque with yet another Taos instructor, Gregory Martin, on Sunday the 19th.

Congratulations, Summer!

Memoirist Gail Caldwell to Deliver Taos Keynote!

We're delighted to announce that Gail Caldwell, author of this year's acclaimed memoir, "Take the Long Way Home," has accepted our invitation to speak at this year's Conference!

"Take the Long Way Home" is Gail's incredibly moving account of her friendship with fellow writer Caroline Knapp. Knapp, best known for her memoir of alcoholism, "Drinking: A Love Story," died of lung cancer in 2002.

Gail is an accomplished journalist: she served as chief book critic for the Boston Globe and in 2001, won the Pulitzer Prize for her criticism. She published her first memoir, "A Strong West Wind," about growing up in Texas, in 2007.

We're thrilled that Gail will be joining us at the conference, and look forward to welcoming her to New Mexico!