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21-475: Every other day for 10 days, the 220 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, College Park and director of the conference, told Seven Days newspaper of Vermont

42-663: A 2021 James Merrill House Fellow in Stonington, CT. He is married and has two sons. Collier's poems often reveal a fascination with objects and their significance. In a 2005 interview, Collier stated that he has "always been drawn to more formal poets like Robert Frost " and continued by saying that other "early influences included Anthony Hecht and early Robert Lowell …and W.H. Auden , Philip Larkin ." He added "I strongly identify with Philip Larkin , Thomas Hardy , Randall Jarrell , and George Herbert ." Christopher Castellani Christopher David Castellani (born 1972)

63-723: A Thomas Watson fellowship and worked with editor William Cookson on the British literary magazine Agenda . After graduating cum laude from Connecticut College in 1976, and receiving his M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Arizona in 1979, he was a writing fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts , from 1979 to 1980. He moved to the Washington, D.C. , area in 1981, where he began teaching part-time at George Mason University , Trinity College and

84-815: A day to the paying guests. Besides the Waiterships, applicants who have been published can try for tuition scholarships, and those with a published book can become Bread Loaf Teaching Fellows. Waiters, Tuition Scholars, and Fellows are given the opportunity to give public readings. Noted authors who have been associated with the conference over the years include Richard Wright , James Brown , John Ciardi , Bernard DeVoto , Robert Frost , John Gardner , Richard Gehman , Donald Hall , John Irving , Shirley Jackson , Barry Lopez , Robie Macauley , George R.R. Martin , Carson McCullers , Norman Mailer , Toni Morrison , Linda Pastan , May Sarton , Anne Sexton , Eudora Welty , Stanley Elkin , Tim O'Brien and Richard Yates . In

105-574: A fellow in 1986, and as associate faculty in 1992 and 1993. In 1994, the trustees of Middlebury College appointed him Director of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. Founded in 1926, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is the longest-running writers' conference in the United States. In 2002, Houghton-Mifflin Publishers appointed Collier as its editorial consultant for poetry. He has edited books by

126-531: Is an American poet, teacher, creative writing program administrator and editor. He has published five books of original poetry, a translation of Euripides' Medea , a book of prose pieces about poetry, and has edited three anthologies of poetry. From 2001 to 2004 he was the Poet Laureate of Maryland . As of 2011, he is the director of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference , a professor of creative writing at

147-767: Is currently administered by director Jennifer Grotz and assistant director, Lauren Francis-Sharma. Recent Fellows at the Conference have included Christopher Castellani , Geri Doran , Thomas Sayers Ellis , John Engels , Ilya Kaminsky , Suji Kwock Kim , Naeem Murr , Peter Orner , Eric Puchner , Richard Siken , Monique Truong , Vendela Vida , Tiphanie Yanique and C. Dale Young . Well-known recipients of waiterships have included Julia Alvarez , Amanda Davis , Samuel R. Delany , Carolyn Forche , Jonathan Galassi , Jean Kwok , Justin Torres , Tama Janowitz , Antonya Nelson , Tiphanie Yanique and Joy Williams . Beginning with

168-462: Is currently being adapted into a feature film by playwright Matthew Lopez (writer) . Castellani taught English literature at Tufts University (1997–2000) and creative writing as a visiting professor at Swarthmore College (2007). In 2004 and 2005, Castellani was a Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference at Middlebury College , and has served on the Bread Loaf faculty as well as the faculty of

189-692: Is the author of four novels and artistic director of the creative writing non-profit GrubStreet . Christopher Castellani, the son of Italian immigrants, was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware , and graduated from Salesianum School in 1990. He holds a B.A. in English literature from Swarthmore College , an M.A. in English literature from Tufts University , and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Boston University . He resides in Boston, Massachusetts . He has been married to Michael Borum since May 21, 2004. Castellani

210-408: Is the author of four novels. His first book, A Kiss from Maddalena , won the 2004 Massachusetts Book Award . That novel and his next two, The Saint of Lost Things and All This Talk of Love , are devoted to the same Italian-American family and constitute, in one reviewer's phrase, "something of an opera buffa of the immigrant experience". He is also the author of The Art of Perspective: Who Tells

231-620: The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA . He is the artistic director of the creative writing non-profit GrubStreet , and serves on the faculty of the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers . As a result of the lawsuits between writers Sonya Larson and Dawn Dorland described in a 2021 New York Times article Who Is the Bad Art Friend , some of Castellani's private emails were made public, including one where Castellani wrote of Dorland, "my mission in life

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252-664: The University of Maryland, College Park and the poetry editorial consultant for Houghton Mifflin (now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Collier was born in Phoenix, Arizona and graduated from Brophy College Preparatory in 1971. He attended the Santa Clara University for one year, then transferred to Connecticut College in 1973 to study with the Pulitzer prize-winning poet William Morris Meredith, Jr. In 1977, he moved to London on

273-657: The University of Maryland, College Park . From 1983 to 1984, Collier was the coordinator of public relations and the poetry program at the Folger Shakespeare Library . In 1984, he was appointed full-time to the English faculty at the University of Maryland. In the summer of 1981, he attended the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference for the first time as the Margaret Bridgman Scholar in Poetry, followed by stints as

294-892: The 1960s the conference director was John Ciardi , who lost the support of the executives (particularly that of assistant director Paul Cubeta, who agitated strongly for increased salaries). Cubeta was replaced by Edward A. "Sandy" Martin in 1965. Dissent from the participants continued to grow over the next few years as pressure increased to abandon the principles of earned hierarchy and adopt more egalitarian structures and behaviours. Recent Faculty have included Julia Alvarez , Andrea Barrett , Charles Baxter , Linda Bierds , Robert Boswell , Lan Samantha Chang , Ted Conover , Mark Doty , Percival Everett , Lynn Freed , Linda Gregerson , Patricia Hampl , Edward Hirsch , Brigit Pegeen Kelly , William Kittredge , Rebecca Makkai , Antonya Nelson , Carl Phillips , Natasha Trethewey , Ellen Bryant Voigt , Daniel Wallace , and Dean Young . The Conference

315-405: The 2020 conference, the new director, Jen Grotz, discontinued this form of scholarship, redirecting funds to scholarships without work requirements as a more generous way of supporting the same participants. This decision considered the fact that some felt that the "waiterships" though well respected created a sense of racist distinction (in recent years many waiters have been writers of color). There

336-502: The American poets Michael Ryan , Spencer Reece , and Alan Shapiro and the British poet Glyn Maxwell , as well as the books Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey which won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize and Space Walk by Tom Sleigh , which won the 2008 $ 100,000 Kingsley Tufts award from Claremont Graduate University. From 2001 to 2004, Collier served as the Maryland state poet laureate. He was

357-527: The Story , an installment in the writing craft series from Graywolf Press. His short fiction and essays have been included in several anthologies. Castellani's most recent book, Leading Men, is a fictionalized version of the relationship between Tennessee Williams and Frank Merlo . Writing in The New York Times , David Leavitt called it "intricately designed as a Lego kit" and said: "Engineering may be

378-415: The aspect of novel writing that deserves the most praise and gets the least, and Castellani is a first-rate engineer. At its best, his novel not only exults in the historical synchronicities and proximities he has discovered but catches the reader up in its rapture." The novel is divided into two narratives and includes the full text of an invented, and intentionally bad, Tennessee Williams play. Leading Men

399-520: The event should not 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 an article 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. According to Seven Days ,

420-446: The likelihood of general admission to Bread Loaf (in 2005) stood at about 17 percent, given a total applicant pool of 1,500. Of those accepted, 170 students pay full fare. These people are called Contributors (because they contribute to the workshops with their writing). The New Yorker wrote that the most coveted scholarships to Bread Loaf are the 25 "Waiterships", in which promising writers earn their keep by serving three meals

441-587: Was a recognition that the meal service role unintentionally created the perception that some scholarship recipients were being categorized as servants. In the 2006 episode " Moe'N'a Lisa " of the animated sitcom The Simpsons , some of the plot takes place at the "Wordloaf Literary Conference" in Vermont, based on Bread Loaf. The episode features the authors Michael Chabon , Jonathan Franzen , Tom Wolfe and Gore Vidal , all voice acting as themselves. Michael Collier (poet) Michael Robert Collier (born 1953)

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