Napa Valley Writers' Conference welcomes locals to lectures, readings, poetry workshops
By Sasha Paulsen
NAPA, Calif. — In 1981 Dave Evans, a poet and professor of English at Napa Valley College, invited poets from Berkeley to come to Napa to meet with students. It was the beginning of the Napa Valley Poetry Conference.
Five years later the fledgling project expanded when Evans met Jack Leggett, the retired director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, on the steps of the Napa post office. Leggett, who then was living on Partrick Road in the west Napa hills, proposed adding fiction workshops. He remained active as co-founder and program director of the new Napa Valley Writers’ Conference until his death in 2017.
Today, as the organizers prepare for the 42nd Napa conference taking place from Sunday, July 30 through Friday, Aug. 4, the emphasis on craft and community continues.
Whereas many writers’ conferences focus on finding agents and publishers, Angela Pneuman, the current director of the conference, decided to keep it “communal and convivial,” as it draws aspiring wordsmiths from across the country to work with established writers.
“We want a committed haven for writers to focus on their craft, on learning, improving and paying attention,” she said. “Once you bring in agents, the whole atmosphere changes. It becomes competitive. And the joy is lost.”
The conference includes the community as well as the participants who apply and are accepted for a week of study.
Public events take place throughout the week, and this year the conference is adding more activities for interested locals to “to create, read and engage.”
A new drop-in poetry-writing workshop, free and open to the public, will take place daily at Napa Valley College’s main campus in Napa. At these morning writing sessions poet and translator Katie Farris will provide exercises to inspire creativity as well as feedback on drafts.
Farris is the author of “Standing in the Forest of Being Alive,” among other volumes. She has also written for outlets that include Oprah Daily and The New York Times. Farris’ class will be held Monday, July 31, through Friday, Aug. 4, at 10:30 a.m. in the McCarthy Library Community Room.
In addition, Bay Area poet and teacher Caroline Goodwin offers free afternoon seminars exploring the works of visiting faculty authors. Goodwin’s most recent poetry collections are “Madrigals” and “Old Snow, White Sun.” She teaches writing at California College for the Arts and at Stanford and UC Berkeley’s continuing education programs.
Goodwin’s seminars are Monday, July 31, through Thursday, Aug. 3, at 4:30 p.m. in the Community Room of the McCarthy Library on the Napa Valley College campus.
“We’re delighted to offer free programming that encourages the community to engage with literature – both as creators and as readers,” Pneuman said. “Combined with our public daytime lectures and evening readings, our free classes offer attendees the flexibility to immerse themselves for the week, drop in for a full day of programming or join for just a few hours.”
Public lectures and readings
The public is also invited to attend daytime lectures and evening readings featuring the conference’s faculty, which this year includes Pulitzer Prize winners, a former U.S. poet laureate and a winner of the NAACP Image Award.
Evening readings begin on Sunday, July 30, and continue through Thursday, Aug. 4, at the McCarthy Library Courtyard at Napa Valley College, with one exception, a reading at Silverado Vineayards, on Tuesday, Aug. 1. The cost is $20 per person, with free admission for students.
Daytime poetry, fiction and translation lectures will be held at NVC’s Performing Arts Center. Admission to the daytime lectures is $25 or $15 for students.
The 2023 faculty
The visiting poetry faculty includes:
Carl Phillips, winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for “Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007-2020.”
Victoria Chang, whose work “The Trees Witness Everything” was selected as one of the Best Books of 2022 by The New Yorker and The Guardian.
Brenda Hillman, Bay Area author of 11 collections of poetry and winner of the Griffin International Poetry Prize for Seasonal Works with “Letters on Fire.”
Ilya Kaminsky, author of three collections of poetry, including “Deaf Republic,” a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Poetry, making his debut at the conference
The fiction faculty includes:
Crystal Wilkinson, an NAACP Image Award-winning poet for “Perfect Black” and the author of three works of fiction, most recently “Birds of Opulence.”
Peter Orner, a three-time Pushcart Prize winner and author, most recently of “Still No Word From You.”
Katie Crouch, author of four novels, including “Embassy Wife,” “a devilishly au courant satire” and a nominee for the 2022 Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize
Lan Samatha Chang, author of “The Family Chao” and “Hunger” and director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Robert Hass, former U.S. poet laureate and winner of the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for his collection “Time and Materials,” serves as the conference’s faculty member for poetry translation. Hass translated many of the works of Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, and he has edited “The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa,” among other volumes.
“Our visiting faculty are among the very best writers and teachers working today,” Pneuman said, “and we’re excited to offer in-depth lectures on the craft of poetry, prose and translation as well as opportunities to hear the authors read from their works at our evening reading series.”
The lineup
All events are at the Napa Valley College, 2288 Napa-Vallejo Highway, Napa, except the Tuesday, Aug. 1, evening reading at Silverado.
Sunday, July 30
6:30 p.m.: Ilya Kaminsky, Katie Farris and Peter Orner read following a half-hour wine reception; the program begins at 7 in the McCarthy Library Courtyard.
Monday, July 31
9 a.m.: Brenda Hillman talks about poetry at the Performing Arts Center.
10:30 a.m.: Katie Farris leads a free poetry-writing workshop in the McCarthy Library.
1:30 p.m.: Lan Samantha Chang talks about fiction at the Performing Arts Center.
3 p.m.: Robert Hass talks about translation at the Performing Arts Center.
4:30 p.m.: Caroline Goodwin leads a free seminar on the works of Carl Phillips and Katie Crouch in the McCarthy Library Community Room.
6:30 p.m.: Carl Phillips and Katie Crouch read following a half-hour wine reception; the program begins at 7 in the McCarthy Library Courtyard.
Tuesday, Aug. 1
9 a.m.: Ilya Kaminsky talks about poetry at the Performing Arts Center.
10:30 a.m.: Katie Farris leads a free poetry-writing workshop in the McCarthy Library Community Room.
1:30 p.m.: Peter Orner talks about writing fiction at the Performing Arts Center.
4:30 p.m.: Caroline Goodwin discusses the works of Major Jackson and Lan Samantha Chang at the McCarthy Library Community Room.
6:30 p.m.: Victoria Chang and Crystal Wilkinson read at 7 following a reception at Silverado Winery, 6121 Silverado Trail, Napa.
Wednesday, Aug. 2
9 a.m.: Carl Phillips talks about poetry at the Performing Arts Center.
10:30 a.m.: Katie Farris leads a free poetry-writing workshop in the McCarthy Library Community Room.
1:30 p.m.: Katie Crouch talks about writing fiction at the Performing Arts Center.
4:30 p.m.: Caroline Goodwin discusses the works of Brenda Hillman and Lan Samantha Chang at the McCarthy Library Community Room.
5:30 p.m.: Brenda Hillman and Lan Samantha Chang read following a half-hour wine reception; the program will begin at 6 p.m. in the McCarthy Library Courtyard.
Thursday, July 28
9 a.m.: Victoria Chang talks about poetry at the Performing Arts Center.
10:30 a.m.: Katie Farris leads a free poetry-writing workshop in the McCarthy Library Community Room.
1:30 p.m.: Crystal Wilkinson talks about writing fiction at the Performing Arts Center.
4:30 p.m.: Caroline Goodwin discusses the works of Brenda Hillman and Lan Samantha Chang at the McCarthy Library Community Room, Napa Valley College.
6:30 p.m.: On the closing night of the conference Robert Hass will read poetry and translation, and conference participants will present their best works at the McCarthy Library Courtyard.
For more about the conference's visiting faculty writers and full details about the event schedule, visit here. To join the conference community online, follow the conference at facebook.com/napawriters or twitter.com/napawriters.
Sasha Paulsen is a journalist and novelist who lives in Napa.