Tidbits from the Squaw valley Community of Writers Conference

So I am up at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers Conference, the land of so many dreams. This is the place were aspiring writers come to workshop their short stories, novel excerpts and essay. They listen to the encouraging/discouraging words of editors, publishers, agents and other writers. Some of the big names this year include Michael Pietsch, publisher of Little Brown, Jack Shoemaker, longtime publishers of many imprints, authors Amy Tan, Dorothy Allison, Diane Johnson, Lynn Freed, Janet Fitch, Mark Childress, Jason Roberts, Rick Wartzman, Molly Gilles, and many more.

A few things heard or overheard:

On the demise of book criticism and book reviews, from author Alan Cheuse (after he lambasted the Washington Post for shutting down its stand along book review section) “We’re in a horrendous moment for American writers. It is so difficult to get attention for a book for someone who doesn’t have name recognition … and even for people with name recognition”

Lynn Freed: Most book reviews are book reports and are boring. She wants reviews to have opinions, to put books in broader context of writer’s work as well as the work of other authors. She and others agreed that reviewers are often writers and are reluctant to criticize one another's work.

(At which point I thought to myself: try doing all that contextual work when some places only pay $50 for a review)

The panel was short of discussion on the on-line chatter about books. In fact, the entire conference is missing a vibrant dialogue about the future of books, ebooks, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. It is a conference that really focuses on writing rather than publishing.

On the agents panel: Susan Golomb, Peter Steinberg, Leslie Daniels

Golomb: Unfortunately publishers are now asking about an author’s platform, which they expect to be as high as a skyscraper, even when it is a debut novel.

Steinberg: It’s hard to give an average advance. They range from $1,000 to $5 million.

A participant asked what the agents thought of the online personality of Ms. Snark. None of them had heard of her. (I informed the questioner that it was agent Janet Reid)

Overheard: A woman came back from her one-on-one with a staff person complaining that the staff person asked what her vision of the book should be. After the participant talked a bit, the staff person said they only had 5 more minutes of the conference and they would have to wrap things up. The participant didn’t feel like she got any critique.

Also overheard: staff writer talking with someone whose manuscript he had critiques that day in class and setting up an extra session to discuss it with her.

Dorothy Allison read an except from a story that is out in the summer issue of Tin House. It concerned a young man named Jason who dreams of fame. Allison has lived in west Sonoma County on and off for ten years and says she is just now publishing stories about the area. This may be because Allison often writes as many as 18 drafts of a story.

Squaw Valley Community of Writers

I am heading back to Lake Tahoe tomorrow to do a bookstore book signing and a few appearances at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.

The Community of Writers has a nice tradition: it invites alumni who have published books to come back and read. It's a way to showcase the work of people who have gone through the writing program and also show those still aspiring to publish that it can be done. The organizer of the conference, Brett Hall Jones, tries to make sure there is a good turnout by offering free food.

I will be talking at 1:15 pm Wednesday at the Olympic Village Inn along with others alums, including Tanya Egan Gibson, Jamie Lee Ford, Vicki Forman, and David Bajo.

On Thursday at 2 pm, I will be on a panel called Using Historical Record to Create Scene, with Jason Roberts, Glen David Gould, and Sandra Scofield. Rick Wartzman will moderate.

As soon as I finish that panel, I will rush to Bookshelf at the Boatworks, the last independent bookstore in Tahoe City. I will be doing a signing there at 4 pm.

I have been attending the Squaw Valley Community of Writers on and off, as a participant and as a visitor, since 2003. It's a wonderful workshop and a wonderful organization. I always feel that its philosophy is to connect accomplished writers with aspiring writers and to show that they are the same .... just at different places on a continuum. Before I published, I found this attitude encouraging and inspiring.

Poetry in the Mountains

Sorrow seemed to be the theme last week at a benefit for the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.

Five acclaimed poets read some of their work to a large and appreciative crowd at the ski resort nestled in a valley in the Sierra Nevada. It was the capstone to a week of workshops and lectures that brought together 60 emerging poets with an internationally-known faculty.

It was the first time in 30 years that Oakley Hall, the co-founder of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, was not on hand. Hall died in May. His absence cast a pall over the evening.

Sharon Olds read a poem she had written that week that was an ode to Oakley and all that he had done to create a nurturing environment. She, and others, kept referring to the ‘extended family” that was Squaw. Olds has been teaching at the workshop for much of her professional life; there was a picture of her as a young woman hanging on the wall of the lecture hall.

Robert Haas read two poems that he had written that week. They dealt with the sorrow he felt on the recent death of his brother. In the poems, Haas pictured his brother on a slab in the mortuary and went from there to reflect on their relationship. While Haas has achieved international success – he was the U.S. Poet Laureate -- it seems that his brother was troubled, had difficulty holding down a job, and lived in a small and not altogether attractive apartment. Despite the sadness of his brother’s life and death, Haas managed to include some lighter moments that elicited laughs from the audience.

Lucille Clifton was rolled to the podium on a wheelchair, although she insisted she really could walk. I had never heard Clifton before and I was delighted by her sense of humor and short, yet penetrating poems. (That's her picture above)

Actually, that was my feeling for the entire evening. I only read poetry occasionally, but after hearing these poets (Dean Young and CD Wright also read) I know I have been missing something wonderful. I was fully engaged and delighted. It probably helps to have poets talk about how they came to write a particular poem, which these authors did.

The workshop for fiction, non-fiction and screenwriters begins August 2. There will be another benefit on August 3 where writers read short snippets from the work of Oakley Hall. This should be fun, as Hall has written more than 15 books, and the roster of talent at Squaw is always amazing. The readers could include novelists Amy Tan, Diane Johnson, Mark Childress, and others.

Oakley Hall, a man who inspired hundreds of writers

I was saddened to read of the death of Oakley Hall, a novelist who has done so much to encourage and nurture emerging writers.

Oakley was the author of 20 books, many of which took place in the west. He did a lot to transform the image of the Wild Wild West into something more complex than a war between settlers and Native Americans.

I first met Oakley when I attended the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, a writers’ conference he started almost 40 years ago. I went to the conference without knowing a lot about it and was amazed at the number of writers who have come from its ranks. There is Michael Chabon, Amy Tan, Jennifer Egan, Joshua Ferris, Glen David Gould and Alice Sebold. Once aspiring writers at Squaw, they have ascended into the highest literary circles in the country.

There are scores of others, including Julia Flynn Siler, Christina Meldrum (whose book Madapple is being released just this week) Meg Waite Clayton, Regina Louise, Anita Ammirezvani, Lindsey Crittenden, Janice Cooke Newman, and so many more. And that is just from the writing workshop. There are other workshops in poetry and screenwriting. (Read about the past participants here.)

I believe Oakley set the tone for Squaw Valley, as well as the tone for UC Irvine writing program which he led for 20 years. There was a sense at Squaw that even if you were unpublished, your writing was worthy of being treated with respect. Everyone at the conference was on a continuum. Some were just starting out, some were world-famous, but everyone was part of the same universe.

Oakley was 87 when he died, so he lived a productive life. His novel Warlock was a finalist in 1958 for the Pulitzer Prize and the book, The Downhill Racers, was made into a movie staring Robert Redford. Few could have asked for a fuller life. Still, it’s sad when someone who has done so much for literary culture is gone.

Heidi Benson of the San Francisco Chronicle has a nice obituary.