Fellowship application postmarked by April 15, scholarship applications by May1 or May 15
Registration is underway for the University of New Mexico 's eighth annual Taos Summer Writers' Conference, July 8-14, at the Sagebrush Inn and Conference Center in Taos, New Mexico. The conference is sponsored by the UNM Creative Writing Program and the Department of English. The conference, named one of “10 great places to get write with the word” by USA Today, focuses on intensive weekend and weeklong writing workshops.
Painting: "Taos Gorge," by Ed Samuels
Topics for 2006 cover the novel, short fiction, poetry, memoir, writing for social change, screenwriting, publishing, master classes in novel and poetry and more. The program also includes evening readings, morning yoga classes and special events free and open to the public.
Faculty for 2006 includes Anya Achtenberg, Amy Beeder, Lisa Chavez, Jeff Davis, John Dufresne, Greg Glazner, Pam Houston, Susan Lang, Julie Mars, Demetria Martinez, Matthew McDuffie, Barbara Robinette Moss, Daniel Mueller, Maritza Perez, Hild Raz, Diane Thiel, Lisa Tucker and Judith Van Gieson.
Sharon Oard Warner, novelist and director of the UNM Creative Writing Program, founded and directs the conference. “The conference is designed to be inclusive rather than exclusive, and so we welcome beginning as well as advanced writers,” Warner said. “Writers are part of a community that stretches back though time. The Taos conference offers an opportunity to come together and learn from one another, to honor our past—D. H. Lawrence, for instance—and to re-imagine our future.”
The conference offers seven merit-based awards to writers and applicants. The D.H. Lawrence Fellowship is presented each year to an emerging writer of fiction or poetry with one book in print or at press. Applications for the D. H. Lawrence Fellowship are due April 15.
The two Merit Scholarships—one for poetry, one for fiction/nonfiction—provide tuition remission for a week-long workshop (up to $550) based on submitted writing samples. The A Room of Her Own Scholarship, sponsored by A Room of Her Own Foundation, is open to any U.S. woman writer and covers the cost of tuition (up to $550). Merit and AROHO Scholarship applicants must register for a workshop before applying and applications are due by May 15.
The Taos Resident Writer Award, Native Writer Award and Hispanic Writer Award offer support to New Mexico writers. The Taos Resident Writer Award provides the cost of tuition (up to $550). The Native Writer Award, sponsored by Joy Harjo, was established in 2003 in the memory of Louis Owens and is available to one Native American resident of New Mexico. The Hispanic Writer Award, sponsored by Robert Anderson, is open to any New Mexico resident of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish heritage. Both awards provide the cost of tuition (up to $550) and lodging. Applications for all three New Mexico awards must be postmarked by May 1. Winners of these three awards will be announced by May 15.
Writers from across the U. S., Canada , and even Africa and Australia attend workshops at the Taos Summer Writers' Conference. Tuition costs are $275 (weekend), $550 (week-long), and $750 (combination), which covers registration fees and special events such as the weekend social, an opening night New Mexican dinner, writers' craft panels, visits to the D. H. Lawrence Ranch and the closing evening barbecue.
Registration forms are available at the conference website, Taos Summer Writers' Conference, along with information about conference awards and answers to frequently asked questions. For information, call Director Sharon Oard Warner, 505-277-6248, or Assistant Director Kate Fitzgerald, 505-277-5572.
Conference Contact
Sharon Oard Warner, 277-6248 (W), 890-1421 (H); swarner@unm.edu
-- Author of Deep in the Heart (novel)
-- Associate Professor of English, University of New Mexico
-- Director, Creative Writing Program, UNM
-- Director, Taos Summer Writers' Conference
Kate Fitzgerald, 277-5572 (W); katefiz@unm.edu
-- Program Coordinator, UNM English Department
-- Assistant Director, Taos Summer Writer's Conference
2006 Faculty available for comment/interview
Diane Thiel, diane@thiel.net
-- Author of Echolocations; Writing Your Rhythm: Using Nature, Culture, Form and Myth; The White Horse: A Colombian Journey; Resistance Fantasies; Crossroads: Creative Writing Exercises in Four Genres, and Open Roads: Exercises in Writing Poetry
-- Associate Professor of English, University of New Mexico
-- 2006 Taos workshop: Writing from Family History
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu