Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference 2011
September 1, 2011 at 12:18 pm 2 comments
I was lucky enough to be able to attend Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference this year as a fiction work-study scholar. Bread Loaf is a legendary annual writers conference held in the Vermont mountains. In its 86th year, the 200 people who attend the conference spend ten days packed with readings, lectures, craft classes and workshops – full immersion of all things writerly. And for you fans of the Simpsons television show, this may sound familiar – Moe and Lisa attended “Word Loaf” in this episode (watch about ten minutes in).
Since I received a work-study scholarship, I worked as a waiter, along with 24 others, for the entirety of the conference. We served dinner every night, and rotated breakfast and lunch shifts. As odd as it sounds, this is an honor – this year, 623 poets, nonfiction and fiction writers applied for this scholarship, and only 25 received it. To read more about the work-study scholarship/waitership read this great article in the Huffington Post by novelist Ru Freeman.
I came back from the conference tired, but inspired and excited to continue working on my novel. And thanks to technology, even if you didn’t attend, you can access all the lectures and the majority of the readings here. I’ve already listened to a lot of them for a second, even third time – I highly recommend them!
-Shuchi
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1.
T Mackenzie | September 19, 2011 at 9:37 pm
Good to hear your voice, Shuchi. I also did my own math to figure out the odds of acceptance after having attended this summer (not as a waiter, just an older woman writer without accolade, MFA or within spitting distance of a literary journal).
So goes: 220 attendees. 25 waiter spots, for which I could not/did not apply. Divide the remainder by three: poetry, fiction, non-fiction. Subtract all the scholars from Middlebury and awardees. . .factor in gender, as they do have to balance those dorm rooms. I came up with a very slender reed, a wrinkle in time that sucked me through the door out of a general field of 1500 general applicants. Not to say I take this as some sort of encomium as to my writing. . .it is what it is and the world turns on its own axis on its own time, independent of my small self. But if I had known what I know now, I would have been less intrepid in applying. A lesson to all those out there who have applied and been rejected. Do not take it as some sort of oracle. Same for those of us who were accepted. Excepting you, of course! Waitership is a high honor, a true litmus, a springboard for certain success, and the math does not apply. Best regards! T Mackenzie
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Shuchi | October 6, 2011 at 10:30 am
Thanks for your comment, T! I was asked to blog about the conference and I found it difficult, especially so close to the conclusion of it and to readers who have likely heard of it but don’t know very much about it. Also, because the experience is so intensely personal in a lot of ways. There is a sincere love for reading and writing that connects all the attendees, but how the lecture, craft class, workshop, and friendships speak to you and your work is very different. In many ways, I guess I didn’t feel distant enough from the conference to write about it adequately. So…I ended up doing a pretty general post and referring to articles that could better articulate it than I. And, I really wanted to refer to the lectures and readings on iTunes, because I think it’s so great that they are on there. The numbers came in to play as a way of explaining it, I guess…I hope it didn’t come off as boastful…I certainly didn’t intend that. As for the math: I think it’s always important to remember that there are readers on the other side. Your work connected to a reader in enough of a way for them to think you should attend. And you should definitely be proud of that!! I hope you had a great time this year, and if I waited on you or served you coffee, I hope it was with a smile.