The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, called by The New Yorker, "the oldest and most prestigious writers' conference in the country" was founded in 1926. It is held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, a historic spot near Bread Loaf mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont. The conference is sponsored by Middlebury College and at its inception was very closely associated with Robert Frost, who attended a total of 29 sessions, according to The New Yorker. Frost lived in nearby Ripton. The New Yorker is an American magazine that publishes reportage, criticism, essays, cartoons, poetry and fiction. ... This is a list of worldwide conferences for writers of all genres. ... See also: 1925 in literature, other events of 1926, 1927 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Middlebury, Vermont Main Street Otter Creek Falls Middlebury is a town in Addison County, Vermont, United States. ... Middlebury College is a small, private liberal arts college located in the rural town of Middlebury, Vermont, United States. ... Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was an American poet. ...

Every other day for 10 days, the 230 participants attend 10-person workshops, where their writing is assessed by the faculty and others in the workshop, including Scholars and Fellows. Numerous readings, craft classes, events, and agent meetings are also included. Michael Collier, a poet and professor at the University of Maryland and director of the conference, told Seven Days newspaper of Vermont the event shouldn't be confused with the more leisurely model of a writers' retreat. It's "designed for learning rather than for on-site writing." USA Today in a piece on summer literary gatherings, said of Bread Loaf, "There is nowhere in America where you can hear more great writers reading more great work in such a short space of time." Seven Days notes that participants are warned to pace themselves to avoid exhaustion. USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. ...

Noted authors who have been associated with the conference over the years include John Ciardi, Bernard DeVoto, Robert Frost, John Gardner, Donald Hall, John Irving, Shirley Jackson, Barry Lopez, Carson McCullers, Norman Mailer, Toni Morrison, May Sarton, Anne Sexton, Eudora Welty, and Richard Yates Authorship redirects here. ... John Anthony Ciardi (June 24, 1916 - March 30, 1986) was an American poet, translator, and etymologist. ... Bernard Augustine DeVoto (January 11, 1897 - November 13, 1955) was an American historian and author who specialized in the history of the American West. ... Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was an American poet. ... John Champlin Gardner, Jr. ... Donald Hall (born September 20, 1928) is an American poet and the U.S. Poet Laureate. ... John Winslow Irving (born March 2, 1942 as John Wallace Blunt, Jr. ... Shirley Jackson (December 14, 1916 [1]– August 8, 1965) was an influential American author. ... Barry Holstun Lopez (born January 6, 1945) is an American essayist, fictionist, and poet whose work deals with nature and ecological concerns. ... Carson McCullers, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1959 Carson McCullers (February 19, 1917 – September 29, 1967) was an American writer. ... Norman Mailer, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1948 Norman Kingsley Mailer (born January 31, 1923) is an American novelist, journalist, playwright, screenwriter and film director. ... For the Louisiana politician, see deLesseps Morrison, Jr. ... May Sarton (May 3, 1912-July 16, 1995) was an American poet, novelist, and memoirist born in Wondelgem, Belgium. ... Anne Sexton, 1974 Anne Sexton (November 9, 1928, Newton, Massachusetts – October 4, 1974, Weston, Massachusetts), born Anne Gray Harvey, was an American poet and writer. ... Eudora Welty (b. ... There have been several people by the name of Richard Yates: Richard Yates (governor) Richard Yates (novelist) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Recent Faculty have included Julia Alvarez, Andrea Barrett, Charles Baxter, Linda Bierds, Robert Boswell, Lan Samantha Chang, Robert Cohen, Ted Conover, Mark Doty, Percival Everett, Lynn Freed, Linda Gregerson, Patricia Hampl, Edward Hirsch, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, William Kittredge, Antonya Nelson, Carl Phillips, Natasha Trethewey, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Daniel Wallace, and Dean Young. Julia Alvarez is a writer who was raised in the Dominican Republic and immigrated to the United States in 1960. ... Andrea Barrett (born November 16th, 1954) is an acclaimed American writer. ... Charles Baxter is an American author born in 1947 in Minneapolis. ... Linda Bierds is an American poet and professor of English and creative writing at the University of Washington, from where she also received her B.A. in 1969. ... Lan Samantha Chang is an Asian American writer of novels and short stories. ... Robert Cohen is a Canadian comedy writer. ... Ted Conover (born January 17, 1958, in Okinawa, Japan) is an American author of nonfiction books typically having to do with subjects of sociology or a particular subculture. ... Mark Doty (born 1953 in Maryville, Tennessee) is an American poet. ... Percival Everett (born 1956) is an American writer and Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. ... Linda Gregerson is an American poet and member of faculty at the University of Michigan . ... Edward Hirsch (born 1950) is an American poet and academic who wrote a best seller about reading poetry. ... Image:BrigitPegeenKelly. ... William Kittredge became a major voice with his 1987 collection of essays, Owning It All, about the modern West. ... Antonya Nelson (b. ... Carl Phillips (born 1959) is a gay American writer and poet. ... Natasha Trethewey (b. ... Ellen Bryant Voigt (b. ... Daniel Wallace may refer to the following people: Daniel Wallace (author), American author of the novel Big Fish Daniel Wallace (Star Wars), author of several Star Wars books Daniel Wallace (Congress), 19th century U.S. Congressman from South Carolina Daniel Wallace (plaintiff), plaintiff in suit against the GPL Daniel Wallace... Dean young is The writer and cartoonist of the popular comic strip Blondie and is 65 years old. ...

Recent Fellows at the Conference have included Christopher Castellani, , Geri Doran, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Ilya Kaminsky, Suji Kwock Kim, Naeem Murr, Peter Orner, Eric Puchner, Richard Siken, Monique Truong, Vendela Vida, , and C. Dale Young. Christopher Castellani (Photo by Neil Giordano) Christopher David Castellani (born 1972, Wilmington, Delaware, USA) is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, A Kiss from Maddalena (2003) and The Saint of Lost Things (2005). ... Geri Doran was born in Kalispell, Montana in 1966. ... Thomas Sayers Ellis is a poet and Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY and a core faculty member of the Leslie University Low Residency MFA Program. ... Ilya Kaminsky (born April 18, 1977) is a Russian-American poet. ... Suji Kwock Kim is a Korean American poet born in 1968. ... Naeem Murr (born March 1965) is a British-born novelist and short story writer of Lebanese descent. ... Peter Orner is an American writer of fiction. ... Richard Siken Richard Siken is an American poet. ... Monique Truong is a writer that is caught between her country of birth and her country of refuge – neither of which she can fully call home. ... Vendela Vida (born September 6, 1972) is an American novelist, journalist and editor. ... C. Dale Young (born 1969) is an American poet who practices Medicine full-time, edits poetry for New England Review, and teaches in the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. ...

See also

• Literary festival
• New England Review
• Writer

A literary festival, also known as a book festival or writers festival, is a regular gathering of writers and readers, typically on an annual basis in a particular city, A literary festival usually features a variety of presentations and readings by authors, as well as other events, delivered over a... Founded in 1978 by poets, Sidney Lea and Jay Parini, New England Review (NER) is a quarterly literary journal published by Middlebury College. ... A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ...

External links

• Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
• An account on what it's like to be a work-study scholar, a waiter, at Bread Loaf.
• New Yorker piece by Rebecca Mead on the conference and its history
• Bread Loaf profile in Seven Days Newspaper--which elaborates on The New Yorker piece by Rebecca Mead