22nd
Annual Rutgers Camden
Summer Writers' Conference
JUNE 23 through JULY 2, 2008
An intensive program of workshops and readings, featuring a staff of
nationally-known writers, poets and editors.
The series of workshops, lectures and lunch meetings is open to both Rutgers students and the community, though some prior workshop or professional experience is required. It may be taken for either undergraduate or graduate credit as well as on a non-credit "certificate" basis. See the course listings for Undergraduate and Graduate course numbers.
EVENING READINGS
The 2008 Summer Writers' Conference features evening readings by the staff members and students. These affairs with refreshments begin at 7pm and are free and open to the general public. All readings will be in the Stedman Gallery in the Fine Arts Center.
SUMMER 2008 SCHEDULE
Monday, June 23: J.T. Barbarese and Lisa Zeidner
Tuesday, June 24: Aaron Hamburger and Karen Karbo
Wednesday, June 25: Moira Crone and Jim Daniels
Thursday, June 26: Rodger Kamenetz and Sidney Wade
Monday, June 30:Jonathan Galassi and Rachel Pastan
Tuesday, July 1: Victoria Chambers and Lauren Grodstein
Wednesday, July 2: Students from the program
SCHEDULE
Please note that the sessions are subject to change. All evening readings are free and open to the public. Workshops are open only to conference registrants.
SCHEDULE FOR 2008
Monday, June 23
11:00am - 12:00pm: Orientation Session
12:00pm - 1:00pm: Lunch
1:15pm - 2:30pm: Panel discussion: Barbarese, Grodstein, and Zeidner: "Writing While You Live, or, Strategies for Living Creatively"
7:00pm-9:00pm: Reading: J.T. Barbarese and Lisa Zeidner
Tuesday, June 24
10:00am - 12:00pm: Fiction Workshop: Aaron Hamburger
2:00pm - 4:00pm: Nonfiction Workshop: Karen Karbo
7:00pm-9:00pm: Reading: Karen Karbo and Aaron Hamburger
Wedesday, June 25
9:00am - 10:00am: Coffee Session: Karen Karbo
10:00am - 12:00pm: Fiction Workshop: Moira Crone
2:00pm - 4:00pm: Poetry Workshop: Jim Daniels
7:00pm-9:00pm: Reading: Jim Daniels and Moira Crone
Thursday, June 26
9:00am - 10:00am: Coffee Session - Daniels, "On Working in Mulitple Genres"
10:00am - 12:00pm: Poetry Workshop: Sidney Wade
2:00pm - 4:00pm: Nonfiction Workshop: Rodger Kamenetz
7:00pm-9:00pm: Reading: Rodger Kamenetz and Sidney Wade
Friday, June 27
11:00am - 12:00pm: Coffee Session: Sidney Wade
1:00pm - 3:00pm: Fiction Workshop: Rachel Pastan
Monday, June 30
10:00am - 12:00pm: Fiction Workshop: Victoria Chambers
2:00pm - 4:00pm: Poetry Workshop: Jonathan Galassi
7:00pm-9:00pm: Reading: Jonathan Galassi and Rachel Pastan
Tuesday, July 1
9:00am - 10:00am: Coffee Session: Lauren Grodstein
10:00am - 12:00pm: Poetry Workshop: J.T. Barbarese
2:00pm - 4:00pm: Agent Session: Julie Barer
7:00pm-9:00pm: Reading: Victoria Chambers and Lauren Grodstein
Wednesday, July 2
5:00pm: Class dinner
7:00pm: Reading in the Stedman Gallery: Students from the program
STAFF FOR 2008
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JULIE BARER Julie Barer started her own agency, Barer Literary, in 2004 after working for six years at the New York literary agency Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. Julie represents a wide range of fiction and non fiction writers, including National Book Award finalist Joshua Ferris, author of the bestselling novel Then We Came to the End, and award winning short story writer Gina Ochsner. Before becoming an agent, Julie worked at Shakespeare & Co. Booksellers in New York City.
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J. T. BARBARESE is the author of four collections of poetry and a translation of Euripides Children of Herakles. His most recent collection, The Black Beach, won the Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry. His fiction and essays have appeared in Story Quarterly, Narrative, and The Georgia Review. He teaches at Rutgers University in Camden.
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VERONICA CHAMBERS is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, Mama’s Girl. Her non-fiction work focuses on women and culture. In 2007, the Free Press published her most recent book, Kickboxing Geishas: How Japanese Women Are Changing Their Nation. Her other non-fiction books include The Joy of Doing Things Badly: A Girl’s Guide to Love, Life and Foolish Bravery. She has also written five books for children, most recently Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa. Currently residing in Philadelphia, she is also writing a quarterly column for Philadelphia Home Magazine called "My New Best Friend."
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MOIRA CRONE's books include a novel in stories, What Gets Into Us; a collection of stories, Dream State; and a novel, A Period of Confinement. Her fiction has been published in numerous magazines, including The New Yorker, Mademoiselle, Ploughshares and TriQuarterly. She is a professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and lives in New Orleans.
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JIM DANIELS published three books in 2007, Revolt of the Crash-Test Dummies, Mr. Pleasant (short fiction), and In Line for the Exterminator. In 2005, he wrote and produced the film “Dumpster.” He has received the Brittingham Prize for Poetry, two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and two from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. His poems have appeared in the Pushcart Prize and Best American Poetry anthologies. He is the Thomas Stockman Baker Professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University.
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JONATHAN GALASSI became an editor in the trade division of Houghton Mifflin Company in 1973. He was a senior editor at Random House from 1981 to 1986, when he joined Farrar, Straus and Giroux as vice-president and executive editor. He was named president of the firm in 2002. He has published two books of poems and has translated several volumes of the work of the Italian poet Eugenio Montale. He is honorary chairman of the Academy of American Poets.
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LAUREN GRODSTEIN is the author of a collection of stories, The Best of Animals, a novel, Reproduction is the Flaw of Love, and a young adult novel, Girls Dinner Club. A graduate of Columbia University, she is an Assistant Professor at Rutgers-Camden.
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AARON HAMBURGER was awarded the Rome Prize by the American Academy of
Arts and Letters for his short story collection, The View From Stalin’s Head, which was also nominated for a Violet Quill Award. His next book, the novel Faith for Beginners, was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. His writing has appeared in Poets and Writers, The Village Voice, Tin House, Details, and Nerve. Currently he teaches creative writing at Columbia University.
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RODGER KAMENETZ is the author of the international bestseller The Jew in
the Lotus and the Award-winning Stalking Elijah. He also wrote the memoir Terra Firma: A Memoir of My Mother's Life in Mine. His five books of poetry include The Lowercase Jew. He is a Professor in the Departments of English, Philosophy and Religious Studies at Louisiana State University and the founding director of the MFA program in Creative Writing and the Jewish Studies Program. Rodger Kamenetz is also a certified dream therapist.
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KAREN KARBO Novelist, journalist, and social commentator, Karen Karbo is the author, most recently of How to Hepburn: Lessons on Living from Kate the Great. Karbo is also the author of the Minerva Clark Gives Up the Ghost, the third installment in a trilogy about a seventh-grade girl detective who has a peculiar gift: self-confidence. Karbo’s debut novel, Trespassers Welcome Here, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist; The Stuff of Life, her memoir about her father, was a People Magazine Critic’s Pick and winner of the Oregon Book Award. Karbo lives in Portland, Oregon. |
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RACHEL PASTAN is the author of the novels Lady of the Snakes and This Side of Married, which was selected for Barnes and Noble’s Discover Great New Writers program. Her short stories have won many awards and appeared in such magazines as The Threepenny Review, Prairie Schooner, and Mademoiselle. She teaches at the Bennington Writing Seminars MFA program and at Swarthmore College.
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SIDNEY WADE has published five collections of poems, the most recent of which is Stroke, from Persea Books in January 2008. Her poems and translations have appeared in a wide variety of journals, including Poetry, The New Yorker, Grand Street, Paris Review, The New Republic, The Gettysburg Review, Two Lines, and The Kenyon Review, among others. She translates the poems of Guven Turan, Yahya Kemal, and Gulseli Inal from the Turkish. She recently served as President of the AWP, the Association for Writers and Writing Programs, and has taught at the University of Florida in the Creative Writing Program since 1993.
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LISA ZEIDNER, Conference Director, is the author of four novels, most recently Layover, and two books of poems. Her stories, essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, GQ, Salon, Slate and many other publications. She is also a screenwriter, currently working on an adaptation for Focus Features. She teaches at Rutgers-Camden..
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ADMISSION & WORK REQUIREMENTS
The Conference is for intermediate and advanced writing students. Writers should have taken at least one creative writing workshop or have some publications or writing experience. Address questions about admission to Lisa Zeidner, Conference Director, at (856) 225-6490 or email: zeidner@camden.rutgers.edu. Students interested in the Conference are encouraged to apply early, since space is limited.
Participants will have two pieces of writing reviewed by the staff: one by a visiting writer during the conference, and one by mail afterwards. The length limits for these submissions are:
Fiction and Personal Essay - A minimum of 7 and a maximum of 17 pages double spaced.
Poetry - A minimum of 4 and a maximum of 8 pages single spaced. Please keep margins to approximately one inch, and font size to the 10-12 pt. range.
Participants should submit 30 collated copies of the work that they wish to be discussed during the conference. The deadline for receiving in office the submissions and registration is MONDAY, JUNE 2, 2008.
All manuscripts should be typed; fiction and essays should be double-spaced. Work must be submitted electronically, in MS Word, PDF or Text File format to the Rutgers Sakai website by no later than June 2, 2008. Login ID is either your RU ID (if you have one) or your email address. You will receive an invitation to the Sakai site when your registration has been completed. Instructions on uploading papers to the site are available on the site itself.
Please note that Conference participants may only submit work in one genre (poetry, fiction or the personal essay), although they will be encouraged to attend all workshop sessions.
Those taking the Conference for credit will be required to attend at least one workshop each day in their genre (on days in which their genre is not represented, a workshop of their choice) and all evening readings. Students are strongly encouraged to attend as many sessions as possible. For course credit, students also submit final work (same length restrictions as above), to be responded to by staff members. Due date for the final work will be Monday, August 4, 2008.
Please note that it is not possible to register for individual workshop sessions.
HOUSING
Stay in a well-appointed, modern campus residence or in historic Center City Philadelphia, 10 minutes from campus by the Hi-Speed line (discount rates available at the Latham Hotel). Call (856)225-6098 for more details.
Rutgers-Camden strives to assure access to programs for all people with disabilities. Use the Rutgers-Camden TTY line for information on programs: (856)225-6648. Please notify us at least two weeks in advance of any special needs.
CREDITS
The Conference is open to the community as well as to Rutgers students. Applicants may register in the following ways for the Summer Conference:
Undergraduate Credit
50:989:401:D1:80525
50:989:402:D1:80402 - for students who have already taken a Summer Conference for undergraduate credit
Graduate Credit
56:200:525:D1:84090
56:200:526:D1:84091 - for students who have already taken a Summer Conference for graduate credit
No Credit (Certificate of Achievement awarded)
TUITION AND FEES
Fees below are for three-credit courses and include the Summer Student Fee.
Undergraduate credit - NJ resident - $951.05
Undergraduate credit- non-NJ resident - $1,847.00
Graduate credit - NJ resident - $1,672.55
Graduate credit - non-NJ resident - $2,425.70
Non-credit (Certificate of Achievement) - $450.00
Tuition and Certification Program checks payable to Rutgers University.
In addition to the tuition and fees listed above, students pay a separate Conference Fee of $50.00. This covers students for one lunch, one dinner, and the coffee sessions. Make separate $50.00 check payable to Rutgers University Arts and Culture Fund.
APPLICATION FORM
If you are interested in applying for the Writers' Conference 2008, you may print out the Registration Form provided and mail it to the address below or FAX it to (856)225-6524. To print out the hard copy form, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is freely available from the Adobe Website.
Mail To:
Summer Writers' Conference
Rutgers Summer Session
319 Cooper St.
Camden, NJ 08102
call us at (856)225-6098
or FAX at (856)225-6524
We look forward to hearing from you!
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