>Bread Loaf: Day 4 (Saturday)

>First up on Saturday was David Baker’s Lecture: Lyric Poetry and the Problem of Time. While I didn’t attend–I had final preparations to do for workshop–I heard later that it was wonderful and I was happy to pick up a copy of the lecture and handout. I may report on that later after I try to digest it.

The Kevin McIlvoy workshop met in the morning–we workshopped a chapter of a novel and also a short story, both providing a lot to admire and discuss–followed by lunch together in the dining hall at the Inn. (Mac confirmed, as I should have remembered, that the story he’d read the night before appeared in Harpers, not that long ago. I knew I’d seen it somewhere.)

Greg Donovan from Blackbird gave a special talk after lunch (he later saw me wearing my Webb for Senate t-shirt and we talked about living in Virginia . . .) and in mid-afternoon I attended a clas with Robert Boswell in which we read very closely “Pretty Ice” by Mary Robison, with a special emphasis on how every unit of the story was “multi-tasking,” and how she created resonance throughout. Boswell’s a good teacher, and I’m looking forward to reading his work.

Then we had readings by fellows Gonzalo Barr, Tim Bascom and David Tucker, all quite different and yet all dealing with people outside of their accustomed environments. All good.

The evening readings were by poet Linda Bierds (wonderful stuff about science and art) and by Randall Kenan. Randall read the same story he read at Sewanee, and it was a big hit. Again. The last event was a staff reading–4 minute performances by various poets and fiction writers on the staff. Good stuff and the audience gets rowdy for this kind of fast-paced event. Wait till we get to the one-minute readings next week!

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