Vermont College of Fine Arts Summer Residency '09

I flew out to Montpelier from Seattle today - time for the intensely wonderful, intensely creative, intensely berserk Summer Residency of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA /Writing for Children and Young Adults program! Some of my best friends in the world are here on the faculty - they are talented, warm, hilarious, generous, supportive -in addition, they are committed to teaching. It's just a pleasure to see them twice a year for our on-campus gatherings -- listening to their lectures every six months is a privilege. Then there are lectures by students in the graduating class, and readings by faculty, graduate assistants, grads and scholarship winners. On the 16th, Margo Lanagan will be here to talk with us about her new book, Tender Morsels. On Saturday the 18th, we have a special all-day symposium on Good vs. Evil, with invited guests Nancy Werlin, Stephen Roxburgh and Deborah Noyes. And then there's the daily discussion of pieces submitted for workshop - I honestly am eager to get started. Students begin arriving on Friday, and by Saturday we are in full swing.

I'm going to post brief summaries of each day's lectures and readings here at The Drift Record. Come back each day through the 21st to get an idea of what's happening here in the loveliest and littlest state capitol in the nation, as well as to get an idiosyncratic interpretation (mine) of what is being talked about and discussed in the world of kids book writers. If you're wondering whether or not getting an MFA is worth your time, maybe this ten-day journal will convince you....? If you want more information about the VCFA program, just click here. And feel free to email me, too, with questions about the MFA in Writing for Children - my email is on the main page of the blog, under the photo of 19th-C Parisians drifting around.