Attendee Handbook - Napa Valley Writers` Conference

Transcription

Attendee Handbook
Contents
Welcome
Page 1
Conference History
Page 2
About the Napa Valley
Page 3
Logistics
 Transportation Tips
 Housing & Lodging
 Food
 Conference Facilities
 What to Bring
 Travel Companions
Page 5
The Conference Week
 Workshops
 Faculty Conferences
 Evening Readings
 Draft Schedule At-a-Glance
Page 14
Things to Do
Page 19
Map & Directions
Page 21
Napa Valley Writers’ Conference – Attendee Handbook – Page 1
Welcome
We’re pleased you’ll join us for the 2014 Napa Valley Writers’ Conference. Since its beginning in 1980 as
an informal summer gathering of writers, the conference has grown in stature to become one of the
best and most prestigious summer writing programs in the country.
At a time when more attention is being paid to commercialism and marketing in the field of literature,
the conference has maintained its emphases on process and craft, featuring a faculty as renowned for
the quality of their teaching as for their work. It has also remained small and personal, fostering an
unusual rapport between faculty writers and conference participants, who find the Napa experience
nurturing and challenging.
We hope this handbook provides all the information you need in advance of the conference – from
travel logistics to how the conference week will proceed. If after reading the handbook you have further
questions, don’t hesitate to contact us via email at [email protected]. Or feel free to post
your question on our forthcoming Google Groups discussion board, where repeat attendees as well as
conference staff can chime in with suggestions.
Conference History
The Napa Valley Writers’ Conference began in the summer of 1981 when Dave Evans, a professor of
English at Napa Valley College, assembled a group of distinguished Berkeley poets and a small group of
students in the quiet beauty of the Napa Valley to share their knowledge and perfect their craft.
The program has flourished ever since, growing in size and reputation with each passing year. In 1986,
Dave met John Leggett, recently retired from directing the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, at the Napa post
office, and the two decided to add fiction workshops to the young conference. After Dave died suddenly
during the 1987 conference, faculty and staff have carried on the tradition he began.
Napa Valley college, one of only two community colleges in the U.S. to host a writers’ conference, has
been steadfast in its sponsorship. So have the valley’s businesses and philanthropic community: Twenty
percent of the conference’s budget comes from local supporters.
As we look back on the last thirty-two years, we’re struck by the relationships and sense of community
that have developed in our midst over time. Pulitzers and National Book Awards have been won by our
faculty; established writers have mentioned new, uncertain ones; alumni have published their own
works, enrolled in MFA programs, and started publications and workshops of their own; friendships and
writing partnerships have been formed; stories, poems and books have been written.
A sampling of past faculty members includes:
Poetry
Louise Gluck
Robert Hass
Carolyn Kizer
Czeslaw Milosz
Robert Pinsky
C.D. Wright
Fiction
Andrea Barrett
Michael Cunningham
Peter Ho Davies
Anne Lamott
ZZ Packer
Jane Smiley
We’ve been especially fortunate to forge long-term faculty relationships with outstanding teachers from
writing programs across the nation. Poets Jane Hirshfield and Brenda Hillman, who directs the creative
writing program at St. Mary’s College, and fiction writers Lan Samantha Chang, director of the Iowa
Writers’ Workshop, and Ron Carlson, who leads the fiction program at the University of California at
Irvine, are among the faculty who return to Napa summer after summer to partake of the rich
experience we offer.
For a full list of past faculty, visit our Web site, napawritersconference.org.
About the Napa Valley
“Napa valley has been long a seat of the wine-growing industry. It did not here begin, as
it does too often, in the low valley lands along the river, but took at once to the rough
foot-hills, where alone it can expect to prosper. A basking inclination, and stones, to be a
reservoir of the day’s heat, seem necessary to the soil for wine; the grossness of the earth
must be evaporated, its marrow daily melted and refined for ages; until at length these
clods that break below our footing, and to the eye appear but common earth, are truly
and to the perceiving mind, a masterpiece of nature.” — Robert Louis Stevenson,
Silverado Squatters, 1883
The Napa Valley has been a place known for its natural abundance for centuries. Originally home to the
Onastis, or later named Wappo Native Americans, the 30 mile-long Napa Valley has long been a place of
fertile land and striking beauty.
Beginning in the 1840s, settlers traveled from San Francisco through San Pablo Bay to the Napa River
and quickly established cattle ranches, quicksilver mines and lumber mills. These days the Napa Valley is
known as one of America’s premier wine regions with more than four hundred wineries. It is visited by
more than five million people each year.
The valley is made up of seven regions which include American Canyon, Napa, Lake Berryessa,
Yountville, Oakville/Rutherford, St. Helena, and Calistoga.

At the southern end of the valley is the region’s largest city, Napa (2010 population: 76,000).
The main campus of Napa Valley College, which hosts and sponsors the conference, is in Napa;
our Wednesday night reading will be held on the main campus at the Educational Center for the
Performing Arts.

Yountville, which was named after its founder George Calvert Yount, is considered by many
food critics to be home to some of the finest restaurants in the world, including The French
Laundry, the only Michelin 3-star restaurant in northern California.

Further north is the Oakville/Rutherford region, which began in the 1860s as a water stop for
the steam train owned by The Napa Valley Railroad Company. These days the region is a stop
on the Napa Valley Wine Train and home to The Robert Mondavi Winery, the venue for our
Tuesday night reading, and the Oakville Grocery, a great place to pick up gourmet picnic
supplies.

A few miles north of Rutherford, St. Helena is where the bulk of the writers’ conference events
are held. Nestled at the foot of the upvalley hills, St. Helena was originally established by
Edward T. Balein in 1841. These days the town is home to the Culinary Institute of America and
many of the finest wineries of the region, including the venue for our Monday night reading,
Beringer Vineyards, and the Napa Valley College Upper Valley Campus, where daytime
workshops and lectures are held throughout the week.

Furthest north is the historic town of Calistoga. Known since the late 1800's as the “Hot Springs
of the West,” Calistoga has hosted generations of guests who have come to "take the waters" of
its mineral-rich volcanic hot springs—famous for their purifying, rejuvenating and deeply
relaxing effects.
Travel Times
The Valley is only about 30 miles long from Napa to Calistoga, but travel along two-lane highways can be
slow, so give yourself plenty of time to get to our off-campus venues. For example, you should count on
40 minutes to get from the Upper Valley Campus to the Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center in
Napa, our Wednesday night reading venue.
Climate
During the summer, the climate of the Napa Valley is very Mediterranean. The Napa Valley is far
enough inland to escape most of the fog that lingers along the California coast during the summer
months. Yet, unlike California's Central Valley, it's close enough to the ocean to take advantage of the
cooling effect of that fog. Summer temperatures typically range from low 70s to high 90s during the
day, and can drop into the 50s at night.
For more on the weather as it relates to clothing, see “What to Bring,” page 12.
Travel Logistics
Transportation Tips
The conference will be held at the Upper Valley Campus of Napa Valley College, 1088 College Ave., St.
Helena, CA, 94574, about 25 miles north of the city of Napa and about 60 miles north of San Francisco.
For maps and directions, see page 21.
Flights
The regional airport hubs served by the most carriers are San Francisco (SFO – flysfo.com), Oakland (OAK
– flyoakland.com), and, increasingly, Sacramento (SMF – sacairports.org). Budget carrier Southwest
services all three airports; JetBlue services Oakland and San Francisco.
The closest airport to the Napa Valley that offers commercial service is the Sonoma County Airport in
Santa Rosa (STS), which is currently served by Horizon/Alaska Air only from Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas
and LAX.
Airport Shuttle
Oakland and San Francisco airports are serviced by Evans Transportation, which offers shuttle service as
far as the city of Napa for $29 one-way. If you request drop-off at a Napa or Yountville hotel, the fee is
$45 one-way. evanstransportation.com
On Car Travel
Our conference takes place at several venues spread around the Napa Valley, which is rural and not well
served by public transportation. Additionally, if you’re from out of town, your housing or lodging is likely
to be at least a mile from campus. You will spend less time worrying about how to get to and fro and
more time benefiting from the conference if you have ready access to wheels.
We strongly recommend that you bring your own vehicle, or make plans via our Google Group to
carpool with fellow attendees. If you are traveling to the conference by plane, we urge you to hop online
as soon as possible to connect with attendees who are bringing their cars to the conference, and who
will likely be more than willing to help you get around from venue to venue.
We urge you not to drive, however, if during the conference you imbibe much of the Valley’s signature
product. Not only is driving under the influence of alcohol dangerous, but an expensive DUI citation
and/or arrest will certainly ruin your conference experience. Please be safe and use the taxi services
listed below if needed.
Shared Rides
Rides from the airports are typically sought and offered on the conference-wide Google group. We hope
those of you with cars will be willing to help with rides during the week. Not only is it good to carpool
for environmental reasons, but we'll have a lot of participants from out of the area who need
transportation. At orientation on Sunday evening, we will have the opportunity to make final
arrangements for those who need rides to and from their lodging. Our experience has been that our
participants with cars are generous in offering rides and that those without cars are generous in
chipping in for gas or treating their drivers to a meal. Some long-lasting friendships have been forged in
this way.
Buses and Trains
The Napa Valley is not serviced conveniently by rail or long-distance bus service. If you live far away, we
strongly recommend flying and/or driving.
Within the Napa Valley, the county bus service, called the VINE, offers routes up and down the valley
between 5:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. For schedule information, visit nctpa.net.
Local Taxi Services
Although we recommend you have access to a private vehicle during the conference week, you may
want to use a taxi service if you plan a night on the town that involves alcohol. Do not drink and drive!
California Taxicab Co., napataxicab.com, 707-648-2222
Yellow Cab of Napa Valley, yellowcabnapa.com, 707-226-3731
Lodging & Housing
Most conference attendees will need to arrange their own lodging for the conference. Financial
assistance recipients receive community housing in private homes; if you are awarded community
housing, please read the introductory material below and stay tuned for detailed information via email,
which should arrive in early July.
Lodging
Napa Valley is a major tourism destination, so there are many lodging options around the Valley, at a
variety of price points. Because properties fill up quickly for the peak summer months, however, we
urge you to make reservations as soon as possible. Among the options:

Pacific Union College, about 8 miles from campus in the village of Angwin in the hills to the east
of St. Helena, offers inexpensive lodging in its dormitories through its summer housing service.
Shared rooms start at $49 per night, while single-occupancy rooms are available at $75 per
night. The conference does not handle placement or reservations; to make arrangements and
for further information, consult the guest accommodations section of the PUC Web site
(http://www.puc.edu/campus-services/campus-housing/guest-housing) or call (707) 965-6313.

The El Bonita Motel on the outskirts of St. Helena offers good value close to campus. Book by
phone to secure special conference pricing. Elbonita.com; 800-541-3284.

The Spanish Villa Inn in St. Helena offers special rates for conference participants booking by
phone. Napavalleyspanishvilla.com, 707-963-7483.
Further resources for finding lodging:

Napa Valley Reservations is a free, locally-owned central reservation service for lodging in the
area. The service can match you with lodging that suits your preferences and budget.

StHelena.com, the official tourism site for the city of St. Helena, lists local lodging options.
VisitNapaValley.com is the county-wide tourism site, offering lodging listings for the city of Napa
and other areas of the Valley. DoNapa.com lists options in the city of Napa, where budgetminded lodging is most plentiful.

NapaValley.com is a commercial tourism site offering comprehensive listings for lodging and
other amenities.

Airbnb.com and VRBO.com list vacation rentals in the Valley.
Camping
The college campus does not provide showers, so you will be most comfortable at a site with showers,
or in an RV with hookup. Potential camping sites include:

Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, just north of St. Helena, offers tent and RV camping with showers.
For further information, visit parks.ca.gov/?page_id=477.

Skyline Wilderness Park is situated in the valley’s foothills on the quiet outskirts of the city of
Napa. There are 39 RV spaces and 20 tent spaces available. skylinepark.org; 707-252-0481.

Lake Berryessa, about an hour east of St. Helena, is home to six privately-operated resorts with
a range of RV and tent camping sites. lakeberryessashores.com; 707-966-7088.
Community Housing
The conference arranges accommodations for financial assistance recipients through its community
housing program, which matches those attendees with local residents who have a room to spare.
Community housing accommodations are typically single rooms in private homes, sometimes with a
shared bath. Spaces in community housing are quite limited, and the more flexible you can be in your
preferences, the more easily we can place you.
Most community housing spots are in Napa, about 40 minutes from our St. Helena campus, so
community housing recipients should arrange to have their own car, or to carpool with other attendees,
in advance of arrival. Please do not expect your community housing host to provide transportation.
Additionally, community housing hosts are not expected to provide meals, internet or computer access,
or phone service; nor are they expected to accommodate your pet.
We hope you acknowledge the generosity of your community housing host and respect their home as
you would your own. Please don’t entertain in your host’s home, or bring overnight guests to your
room; please do clean up after yourself and maintain quiet when you return in the evenings. We
recommend you write your host a thank-you note and/or bestow a small token gift (perhaps a book by
one of our conference faculty members).
If you are a community housing recipient, further details will be forthcoming by early July. If you have
questions meantime, email [email protected].
Food
We provide breakfast and lunch on campus Monday through Friday, provided by The Farmer's Wife,
whose offerings are locally-sourced and sustainably farmed and whose gourmet sandwiches are a
favorite at local farmers' markets.
In addition, on Sunday night we’ll have an informal reception featuring wood-fired pizza, wine and other
beverages, and we’ll host a paella picnic on Thursday.
While the menu will vary depending on what’s fresh and in season here are a few notes on what to
expect:

A light breakfast buffet is available every morning from 8 a.m. until 9 a.m. Coffee is available
until 10:30 a.m.

Lunch is served beginning just after 12 noon, as workshop sessions end; service ends at 1:15
p.m., just before the afternoon fiction lecture.

Vegetarian options will be available at every meal. We cannot cater specifically to vegan, glutenfree, no-carb, hypo-allergenic and other specialty diets. If you follow such a regimen, please
understand that some of our menu items may fit within your diet, but also make plans to
provision yourself as necessary. (See below for a listing of local markets to stock up on basics.)

Iced tea, lemonade or other cold beverages are served with lunch, along with water. No alcohol
is served during the daytime.

At lunchtime, please be accommodating to faculty members who are trying to wolf down a meal
before conducting one-on-one conferences: let them “cut” in line if necessary, and if they don’t
have time for a leisurely chat, please know there will be other opportunities during the
conference week to socialize.
On campus between meals, sodas and snacks may be purchased from vending machines, and water is
available for filling your own reusable water bottles (such as our handsome logo bottles, available for
purchase at the box office table).
If you need further provisions, St. Helena groceries include:
 Sunshine Foods, Main Street, open 7:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m. sunshinefoodsmarket.com; 707-9637070.
 Safeway, Hunt Avenue, open 6 a.m. to midnight. local.safeway.com/ca/saint-helena-2605.html;
707-968-3620.
For a caffeine fix beyond the morning coffee provided on campus, try:
 The Napa Valley Roasting Company, Oak Avenue at Adams Street, open 7 a.m. – 8 p.m.
weekdays. napavalleycoffee.com; 707-963-4491. The NVCRC is a conference supporter, so we
encourage you to patronize this cafe -- especially on Wednesday, when we'll hold a "Caffeinate
and Donate" event during which a percentage of sales will be donated to the conference.
 The Model Bakery, Main Street, open 6:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. weekdays. themodelbakery.com;
707-963-8192.
On evenings when the conference does not provide dinner, we encourage you to try a local restaurant.
The Napa Valley is home to some of the finest dining in the country, at a wide variety of price points.
Restaurants do close relatively early – by 9 p.m. on most weeknights – so we recommend eating before
you head to evening readings.
Just a few staff favorites:
St. Helena
Inexpensive
Pizzeria Tra Vigne, travignerestaurant.com/pizzeria
Gott’s Roadside, aka Taylor’s Refresher, gotts.com
Azteca Market y Taqueria, facebook.com/azetecamarket
Moderate
Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen, cindysbackstreetkitchen.com
Fancy – Reservations Recommended
Press, presssthelena.com
Farmstead, longmeadowranch.com/farmstead-restaurant
Rutherford/Yountville
Inexpensive
Taqueria La Luna, lalunamarket.com
Moderate
Rutherford Grill, hillstone.com/#/restaurants/rutherfordgrill
Bouchon, bouchonbistro.com - * open late
Redd, reddnapavalley.com
Once in a Lifetime
The French Laundry, frenchlaundry.com, reserve 60 days in advance
City of Napa
Inexpensive
Misc. casual options at the Oxbow Market, oxbowpublicmarket.com
Moderate
Barbers Q, barbersq.com
Pizzeria Azzurro, azzurropizzeria.com
Norman Rose Tavern, normanrosenapa.com
Pearl, therestaurantpearl.com
Bistro Don Giovanni, bistrodongiovanni.com
Morimoto, morimotonapa.com
Oenotri, oenotri.com
Conference Facilities
The conference is hosted at the Upper Valley Campus of Napa Valley College. This is a small, intimate
campus with seven classrooms, a library, a computer lab and a cooking school. It is composed of two
classroom wings that meet at right angles with a lobby and administration office at the nexus. The wings
frame a fan-shaped, grassy courtyard that looks out across vineyards to the Mayacamas mountain range
to the west.
The box office table, where tickets, raffle entries and mugs may be purchased, is located in the lobby,
along with a table on the opening and closing days of the conference staffed by Readers’ Books and
featuring works by our faculty.
All daytime activities occur at the campus: workshops are held in the classrooms and library; lectures
and panels meet in the multipurpose room; breakfast and lunch are served in the courtyard and eaten
under the covered patios. While the campus is small, we have it to ourselves; no other activities are
scheduled for this week.
The patios and courtyard are pleasant outdoor places to relax, read, write, talk with friends, throw
Frisbees, or practice a bit of yoga or Tai Chi. Indoors, the lobby area has some comfortable chairs, and is
the crossroads for most of the people-traffic. For quieter indoor places, the library and classrooms are
available outside of workshop sessions.
Computers
The computer lab (UVC-3) has approximately 16 PC computers networked to printers that are available
to us during campus operating hours. The library (UVC-5) has a small collection of 6 PC’s available
before and after the workshop sessions held there.
If you are bringing your own laptop, you can use email, an online service such as Dropbox or Google
Documents, and/or a flash drive to access documents from your own laptop via the campus computers
and printer. We suggest you plan a backup method, such as saving your drafts using a web-based email
service, in addition to your preferred method, such as a flash drive. As with all technology, expect
glitches and be prepared.
Internet Access
Wireless Internet access on campus is provided by AT&T. If you are an AT&T customer, you can use your
login to access the network; you may also purchase access by the day or week. If you have a cell phone
that acts as a WiFi hotspot or an AirCard, you’re welcome to try using them, but the campus seems to be
in a pocket of spotty access, so there are no guarantees.
In addition, the computer workstations in the lab provide Internet connections.
Regardless of how you choose to go online, we encourage you to view the week as an opportunity to set
aside your “always-on” devices and absorb the conference experience.
Most local hotels do have reliable access and there are several places in town with free WiFi:



The St Helena Library, 1492 Library Lane, open 2-6 p.m. Monday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 9
p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. shpl.org; 707-963-5244
Napa Valley Roasting Company, 1400 Oak Avenue (cross with Adams St.); see listing on page 9
The Model Bakery, 1357 Main Street, St Helena; see listing on page 9
The latter two come with fabulous coffee and delicious treats.
What to Bring
Based on more than 30 years of hosting the conference, we find that the following items come in
especially handy:

With the dry climate and the many hours of talking, you'll want to stay hydrated. Water is
served at all meals, and there will be a water station near the lobby. We ask you to bring a




personal water bottle or cup (or buy one of our handsome conference water bottles at the box
office table), so that we can avoid sending disposable cups to the landfill.
A light sweater, jacket or shawl, as the evenings get cool (see below for more on clothing)
Comfortable shoes and/or sandals
A thumb drive, handy for transferring files or saving work. Please note there is no campus store
for office supplies, nor anyplace nearby that stocks computer accessories. (The city of Napa is
your best bet, with both an Office Depot and Staples.)
Notebooks and pens, of course!
Clothing
The Napa Valley in summer can be a very dry place, practically a desert compared to say, New Jersey or
Georgia. The days can be quite hot – or they might be foggy. Typically, morning fog will burn off before
noon and the afternoon can reach the 90s; if the fog returns, the evening and night cool down
considerably. If the day dawns clear, the temperature could climb into the high 90s – and once in a
while, triple digits. Generally, though, the high heat does not linger past sundown – even in a heat wave.
With temperatures swinging so widely, we recommend bringing summery clothes AND a sweater or
jacket; layering is the way to go. Casual dress is appropriate for everything--photos on the conference
website give an idea of what people wear.
Travel Companions
The Napa Valley is an enticing vacation destination, so you may well have a friend or spouse tagging
along for the conference week. Companions are welcome at selected conference events as follows:

Companions may attend the Sunday night dinner and/or the Thursday night barbecue for an
additional fee per person per event. For further details, email [email protected].

Companions may attend any of the morning poetry or afternoon fiction lectures for $25 per
lecture, $90 for four lectures or $175 for all eight lectures. Fees are payable at the box office
table at the door. Admission is free if your companion has a valid student ID.

Additionally, they may attend any of the evening readings for $10 per reading. Fees are payable
at the box office table at the door. Admission is free if your companion has a valid student ID.
A note on four-footed companions
With the exception of service dogs, pets are not allowed on campus or at winery venues. For that
reason, we strongly recommend that you leave your pets at home.
While the El Bonita Inn (listed in Lodging, above) offers pet-friendly accommodation, many other local
inns do not. Community housing recipients should not expect hosts to house their pets.
If you insist on bringing your pet, we recommend working with Napa Valley Reservations (listed in
Lodging, above) to find suitable accommodations.Kennel options include:


Ruff, in downtown Napa, is a pet-friendly hotel that offers “doggie day care.” ruffhotels.com;
707-258-2020.
Wine Country Pet Resort, located in the Carneros district about 45 minutes south of campus,
offers boarding and day care. winecountrykennels.com; 707-252-7877.
The Conference Week
To facilitate planning, all participants will be invited to join the conference-wide Google group, which
will serve as a forum for offering and requesting rides to and from the conference and as a place for
asking questions. Previous participants often chip in with wisdom and sage advice. Fiction writers will
have an additional Google site specific to their workshop for the organization and retrieval of their
manuscripts before the conference starts. Invitations to the individual fiction workshop groups will be
sent out by early July.
A few notes on the week’s proceedings:
Check-in at the Upper Valley Campus of Napa Valley College begins at 3:45 p.m. on Sunday, with
Orientation beginning at 4:30 p.m. You’ll have a chance to meet briefly with your workshop leader, and
then will immediately proceed to the opening reception and supper in the courtyard, followed by the
first readings of the conference. The readings tend to wrap up before 9 p.m. Please bring a sweater or
light wrap as the evening may get cool.
During the week, most days kick off with a poetry lecture, followed by poetry and fiction workshops,
lunch, and the fiction lecture, followed by a block of free time for writing, relaxing and supper before
heading to the evening reading.
A participant reading is scheduled for Thursday afternoon after the fiction lecture. We encourage you to
attend and bring a page of work to read out loud; reading participants will be entered in a prize raffle!
Thursday evening we host the picnic and a brief closing ceremony, with no evening reading. We
encourage you to relax, bring and play musical instruments, toss a Frisbee and wind down from the
week’s events.
Friday morning before the final workshop we’ve scheduled the first books panel, featuring new authors
who will talk about their publication experiences. Often the panel features past conference attendees.
Departures from campus on Friday should be scheduled between the end of the final workshop and
1:30.
Workshops
We hope this week of workshops will inform and invigorate your work all year long. Don’t hesitate to ask
Nan, Lakin, Patrick, Iris, or any member of the staff, if there is anything we can do to help you.
Workshops meet Monday through Friday from 10:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Fiction Workshops
Your workshop will work exclusively with one faculty fiction writer. He or she will lead a thorough
discussion of your manuscript in workshop, and will also meet with you in a brief 10-15 minute tutorial
to discuss your work. Workshops focus on the various aspects of craft (narrative technique, use of
language, characterization, realization of theme/idea).
The general format of the workshop is to address approximately three manuscripts during each
workshop. There is no standard procedure on who goes first; the workshop leader will arrange that
during the first meeting on Sunday, or might post an arrangement ahead of time on the Google Site for
their workshop.
The manuscript you’d like critiqued in workshop is to be submitted well ahead of the conference, by the
due date mentioned in your acceptance letter. A few further notes on the manuscript:

You should submit a workshop manuscript via the online form link supplied via email, as a Word
document or PDF attachment.

Your workshop manuscript should be double-spaced, in a legible 12-point font (Times New
Roman, Roman, Palatino, etc), with numbered pages, standard one-inch margins and the
author’s name on the first page. Maximum 7500 words.

Generally we discourage submissions of more than one story. If you have two short shorts (each
1,250 words or less), please get in touch with Lakin for permission to submit them.

Novel excerpts should be clearly identified as such. If the excerpt is the beginning of the novel, it
is not necessary to include a synopsis. If a later chapter(s), please include a synopsis of no more
than two pages. The entire excerpt, including synopsis, may not exceed 7,500 words.

All participants benefit — especially the writer — when the stories and novel excerpts under
discussion have been carefully and thoughtfully prepared yet still have room for growth. Avoid
the two extremes of workshop submission — the over-workshopped, ossified story on the one
hand, and the draft that is barely a gleam in someone’s eye on the other.
Once all the manuscripts for your workshop have been received, Lakin or Patrick will email you an
invitation to join the online group and download your fellow participants’ work. Our expectation is that
you will retrieve, print and mark-up each manuscript.
During the workshop, you will give your fellow authors your marked-up copies of their manuscripts,
along with any summary notes you’ve written. In return, you’ll receive eleven copies of your own
manuscript filled with notes and responses, plus one from your workshop leader.
Critique Tips
Each instructor has his or her own particular approach to the process of critique, sometimes asking for
specific responses from the readers, sometimes looking for a global reaction. Often, the merits of a
piece are discussed, followed by suggestions for improvement and an opportunity for the writer to ask
further questions about points brought up during the critique.
All writers appreciate a thoughtful, considered evaluation of their work, which will then inform the
workshop discussion. We find that most readers respond to the manuscripts with a variety of techniques
and to a varying degree of detail and completeness, depending on previous experience and instruction.
As a standard practice, you should make written notes and comments on each manuscript, sometimes
condensing and organizing them into the form of letter addressed to the author or several paragraphs
written on the last blank page. Some participants, though certainly not all, attach a typed-up response
to the manuscript. In any case, the manuscript is returned to the writer at the end of that workshop.
We suggest you read the manuscript twice (at least), responding in whatever manner you find
comfortable. Sometimes the different approaches and insights that each reader brings to the story
reveal new aspects of the work.
Printing Manuscripts and Comments
The campus has a computer and printer facility with PCs for you to print workshop comments; see
“Conference Facilities,” starting on Page 10, for details.
We ask that fiction participants, aka Fictioneers, yield computers as needed during the breakfast hour,
when poets are often putting the finishing touches on their work and printing them out for copying in
advance of the morning lecture. We thank you in advance for your consideration!
Poetry Workshops
In the poetry workshops, you work exclusively with one faculty poet for the week. The focus is on
generating new work, so expect to be given daily assignments in most workshops. Workshops will vary
in their assignments and in how they spend workshop time.
If your workshop leader has a message or assignment for you in advance of the workshop, you will
receive that by email in mid-July. Otherwise, arrive well rested and ready to write!
Daily Poem Logistics
The campus has a computer and printer facility with PCs for you to print your poems; see “Conference
Facilities,” starting on Page 10, for details.
Monday through Thursday begin with a poetry lecture at 9 a.m. (Friday features a panel in that time
slot). Before this lecture, drop off your poems in the designated box on the counter outside the
administrative offices; the poems will be copied by a volunteer and delivered to your workshop room.
To facilitate the schedule, poetry participants are given priority access to the computer lab workstations
during the breakfast hour. Please give yourself plenty of time for technology glitches, and be sure to
drop off your poems for copying no later than 8:55 a.m.
One-on-One Tutorial
Participants will have the opportunity to meet once in a ten-to-fifteen-minute tutorial with your faculty
poet to discuss a current poem. You may choose a poem that you think is finished or one that is very
much in progress. Your workshop leader will set guidelines for this meeting and make suggestions about
how to approach this “close focus on a poem” meeting. We suggest you bring a selection of finished
poems and poems in progress with you to Napa. In addition to your one-on-one tutorial with your
workshop leader, you’ll probably find yourself sharing work with the other poets you meet in
and out of your workshop.
Evening Readings
Evening readings are held Sunday through Wednesday. The first will be held in the courtyard on campus;
the other three are at outside venues. Two of those will be at wineries, and the last reading of the week
will be at the Performing Arts Center at the Napa Valley College main campus in the city of Napa.

Maps and turn-by-turn directions will be provided the day of the reading, and you may
additionally use the computers in the campus lab to print directions from your favorite mapping
service.

If you bring a car to the conference, please offer rides to those without their own
transportation. We thank you in advance!

Because participants in the poetry workshops produce new work throughout the week, they are
often tempted to leave evening readings midway through – right after the featured poet finishes
– so they can head back to their lodgings and finish their assignments for the next day. We
recommended, however, that you stay through the entire reading. Although we’re intimately
familiar with deadline pressure, we believe the fiction presentation is as valuable for poets and
the poetry presentation is for prose writers – and who knows, maybe the fiction reading will
provide inspiration for the next day’s poem!
Conference Schedule
Things to Do
The Napa Valley offers a number of recreational pursuits to fill your free time between conference
activities. Just a few ideas follow. For dining recommendations, see pages 9- 10 in “Travel Logistics.”
Wine Tasting & Touring
With more than 500 wineries in the Valley, there’s an experience to cater to every preference and
budget.
First and foremost, we recommend that you revisit our winery hosts for evening readings, as they
donate both their lovely venues and their wines. Often there is much more to explore in terms of
history, winemaking lore and tasting options than can be appreciated during our evening events.
Beyond that, the subject of wine in the Valley is too vast to cover in this guide, so we recommend
consulting Web sites geared toured wine touring, such as:
 Napavalley.com, a comprehensive tourism directory of local wineries, lodging and attractions
 Legendarynapavalley.com, the official tourism site
Outdoor Recreation
With the warm, dry summer climate, Napa is a great place to bike, hike and swim – all excellent ways to
recharge your batteries between workshop sessions. Some handy local resources:

Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, Saint Helena Highway, St. Helena. Rugged park with elevations
from 300 to 2,000 feet, picnic grounds, hiking trails, and a swimming pool (open sporadically
due to state budget cuts). (707) 942-4575; parks.ca.gov/?page_id=477

Crane Park, 360 Crane Ave, St. Helena. Twelve-acre park offering bocce ball courts, tennis
courts, children’s playground, picnic tables, restrooms and, on Friday morning, the local farmers’
market. See ci.st-helena.ca.us for more information.

Jacob Meily Park, Pope St., St. Helena. Four-acre park includes turf area, picnic tables,
playground, and a creekside walking trail. See ci.st-helena.ca.us for more information.

St. Helena Community Pool, Grayson St., St. Helena. Open noon to 3 p.m. $2 for children under
16, $3 for adults. See ci.st-helena.ca.us for more information.

Mount St. Helena Golf Course, 2025 Grant St., Calistoga. This nine-hole golf course opens at 7
a.m. $20 weekday/$26 weekend nonresident rates. Equipment rental available. (707) 942-9966;
mtsthelenagolfcourse.org.

Robert Louis Stevenson State Park, 7 miles north of Calistoga on Hwy. 29. A two-mile round trip
hike takes you to a memorial to the author of Treasure Island and Kidnapped; for a strenuous
outing, try the 10-mile round trip trail to the summit of Mt. St. Helena, with the elevation
climbing to 1,300 feet on a mostly exposed, sunny trail with great views. (707) 942-4575;
parks.ca.gov/?page_id=472

St. Helena Cyclery, 1156 Main St., St. Helena. Hybrid bikes are rented by the hour ($11) and by
the day ($37). Helmet, rear rack, water cage, rear bag are included with rental. Road bikes are
also available. (707) 963-7736; sthelenac yclery.com
Indoor Recreation
If relaxation and pampering are more your style, there’s plenty in and around St. Helena to do without
breaking a sweat. A starter list:

Cameo Cinema, 1340 Main St., St. Helena. This lovingly-restored single-screen theater shows
independent films, with special series for family fun and art films. $9 general, $7 senior, $8
student/military, $6 matinee. (707) 963-3946; cameocinema.com.

Health Spa Napa Valley, 1030 Main St., St. Helena. A day resort offering massage and body
treatments, skin and nail care; fitness center, heated pool and hot tub on site. (707) 967 8800;
napavalleyspa.com.

Robert Louis Stevenson Silverado Museum, 1490 Library Lane, St. Helena. Located next door to
the public library, this museum is devoted to the life and works of Robert Louis Stevenson. Open
to the public from Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free. (707) 963-3757;
silveradomuseum.org.

St. Helena Health & Fitness Center, 930 Dowdell Lane, St. Helena. Offers fitness classes, cardio
equipment, and weight machines. Open 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the week, with $15 daily or
$40 weekly memberships available. (707) 967-0510; macspt.com/SHHF-index.htm.
Maps & Directions
Conference activities are centered at the Upper Valley Campus of Napa Valley College in St. Helena.
Below we provide a map and turn-by-turn directions to the campus, as well as maps to evening reading
venues. Detailed directions to evening readings will be provided each day during the conference week,
and you may additionally use the computers in the campus lab to print directions from your favorite
mapping service.
Getting to the Upper Valley Campus
The conference will be held at the Upper Valley Campus of Napa Valley College, 1088 College Ave., St.
Helena, CA, 94574, about 25 miles north of the city of Napa and about 60 miles north of San Francisco.
There are several approach options:
From the Oakland airport and the East San Francisco Bay Area via U.S. Highway 80:
This route takes you through the East Bay cities of Berkeley, Richmond and Vallejo, and can be congested
at rush hour, but avoids the city of San Francisco proper.
Take Highway 80 east to Highway 37 west to Highway 29 north toward Napa.
From the San Francisco airport and San Francisco via U.S. Highway 101:
This route goes directly through the city of San Francisco on surface streets, but can be relatively painless
if you avoid rush hour.
Take Highway 380 west to Highway 280 north. The freeway will end and funnel you onto Highway
1/Junipero Serra heading north through the city. Stay on Highway 1, which will become Park Presidio.
Eventually you will merge onto Highway 101 heading north over the Golden Gate Bridge.
From Highway 101, take Highway 37 toward Napa, then Highway 12/121. Stay on Highway 121 (do not
turn off to Sonoma) and then turn left onto Highway 29.
From the Sacramento airport and points east via U.S. Highway 80:
From the airport, take Highway 5 south to Highway 80 west to Highway 12 west (Jamieson Canyon
Road) to Highway 29 north.
From southern California via U.S. Highway 5 and 680:
This route mostly skirts the Bay Area and its traffic, but highways 580 and 680 may still be congested at
rush hour.
Take Highway 5 north and exit at the signs for Highway 580 west to Tracy and San Francisco. Take
Highway 205 west, which will take you to 580 west proper. Take 680 north to Sacramento, then 780
toward Vallejo and Benicia. 780 will merge onto 80 heading east toward Sacramento. From 80, take 37
west to Highway 29 north toward Napa.
For all routes from the Bay Area – once on Highway 29:
Pass through the city of Napa and the towns of Yountville and Rutherford. The first stop light in St.
Helena will be for Pope Street; turn right. The street will zig-zag slightly, but stay on it, heading away
from the main commercial district. Turn right onto College Avenue. The Upper Valley Campus will be on
your left, at 1088 College Avenue. If you reach a stone bridge and then Pope Street’s end at Silverado
Trail, you’ve gone too far.
From the Santa Rosa airport and points northwest via Petrified Forest Road:
From the airport, take Highway 101 south to exit 494 to Calistoga. Turn left on Mark West Springs
Road/River Road, which will eventually become Porter Creek Road. Turn left on Petrified Forest Road,
then right onto Highway 29 south. Pass through Calistoga to St. Helena. At the far end of town, turn left
at the stoplight onto Pope Street. The street will zig-zag slightly, but stay on it, heading away from the
main commercial district. Turn right onto College Avenue. The Upper Valley Campus will be on your left,
at 1088 College Avenue. If you reach a stone bridge and then Pope Street’s end at Silverado Trail, you’ve
gone too far.
Map: Upper Valley Campus, 1088 College Ave., St. Helena
Map: Silverado Vineyards, 6121 Silverado Trail, Napa
Monday Reading
Map: Beringer Vineyards, 2000 Main St., St. Helena
Tuesday Reading
Map: Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center, 2277 Napa-Vallejo
Highway, Napa
Wednesday Reading
Detailed campus map below and online at
http://www.napavalley.edu/AboutNVC/C
ampusInfo/Documents/master%20plan%2
0revised%20Quadriga%205-1410%20catalog%202010-2012.pdf

Attendee Handbook - Napa Valley Writers` Conference

Transcription

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