Telling a person how to do something is not the same as teaching them to do it. There is some experiential element to good instruction that can only be found in a setting like an apprenticeship or a workshop.
That was especially true for me at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, where screenwriter Gill Dennis opened my heart one summer to the idea that in writing, as in life, we back away from the things that are extremely painful or frightening to us. This isn’t something he told us; he allowed us to experience it for ourselves. A dozen of us sat around a table with him for a week telling stories about our lives while our peers tried to write it all down. I came away from the experience determined to rewrite my novel. It was my second pass through the summer workshop, and I hadn’t yet fully appreciated that the process could be as meaningful for me as the product.
Admissions are competitive. For those fortunate enough to be offered a spot, Squaw is filled with regular morning workshops where writers learn important lessons about their own work by critiquing the works of others under the tutelage of authors, agents, and book editors. Afternoons and evenings, which are open to the general public, are packed full with lectures, readings, and panels addressing the enormity of the field, from subtle craft issues to the mechanics of finding an agent.
The late Alex Cushing, who founded Squaw Valley Ski Corp., was such a fan that he donated venue space for almost 20 years, but the era of free and discounted space came to an end with the sale of the ski area to Colorado-based investment firm KSL Capital Partners. Now in its 43rd year, the nonprofit finds itself paying market rates for this popular venue while struggling to continue to provide financial assistance to those writers who would not otherwise be able to attend. (In 2011, for example, more than half of the participants received financial aid.)
The economic pressure has many asking whether this literary treasure will be able to stay at the resort for which it’s named.
“Squaw Valley has become a destination resort, and we’re no longer the only thing going on here in the summer,” said Brett Hall Jones, the group’s executive director.
The workshop is widely regarded to be one of the three finest in the nation, but locally it remains somewhat of an under-utilized gem, says bestselling author Amy Tan, a SVCW board member.
“It is indeed amazing that the community in the Tahoe region is largely unaware of this major literary conference,” she said. “Here are the writers whose books they read. Here are untapped opportunities to take advantage of [the workshop’s] presence — for example, radio interviews, news articles during the poetry and fiction conference, and opportunities to attend panel discussions. With support, that can easily happen.”
Info: The Squaw Valley Writer’s Workshop kicks off its poetry week on Saturday, June 22 with staff to include former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass, followed by workshops in fiction, nonfiction, and memoir, as well as screenwriting on Monday, July 8 with the return appearance of Pulitzer-prize-winning author Richard Ford and many other well-known authors. Applications are being accepted through Tuesday, April 2. The workshop relies heavily on donations, which are tax deductible. A schedule of events will be posted in June at squawvalleywriters.org. Most events are free and open to the public.
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