The Burlington Free Press

Seven authors to see for free at this year's Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in VT

By Brent Hallenbeck, Burlington Free Press,

4 days ago

The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference runs through Saturday, Aug. 24, giving Vermonters the chance to attend free talks and readings by some of today’s top fiction authors, nonfiction writers and poets.

The event on Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf campus in Ripton began in 1926. The gathering that offers workshops, classes and readings to developing writers has attracted renowned authors in the past, including Robert Frost, Carson McCullers, John Irving, Anne Sexton, Richard Wright, Eudora Welty, Terry Tempest Williams, Toni Morrison and Julia Alvarez.

This year’s 11-day conference features nearly 20 faculty and guest speakers . Here are seven of those writers and related events (all held in Little Theater) that the public can attend.

Jenny Boully

Boully, a nonfiction writer, is a Guggenheim fellow who wrote “Betwixt-and-Between: Essays on the Writing Life.” The teacher at Bennington College has a pair of books due out soon, “close cover/strike gently” and “Parallax.”

4:15 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 21, readings by Jenny Boully and Mat Johnson

Jamel Brinkley

A native of New York City, Brinkley wrote “Witness: Stories,” a finalist for the Kirkus Prize in Fiction, and “A Lucky Man: Stories,” a finalist for prizes including the National Book Award. Brinkley teaches at the renowned Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

8:15 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, readings by Jamel Brinkley and Margot Livesey

Xochitl Gonzalez

Gonzalez’s novel “Olga Dies Dreaming” was named to the best of 2022 list by The New York Times, The Washington Post and NPR. As a staff writer for The Atlantic, Gonzalez was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist in commentary last year. Her latest novel, “Anita de Monte Laughs Last,” was published in March.

8:15 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 14, welcome ceremony featuring a reading by Xochitl Gonzalez

Samantha Hunt

A University of Vermont graduate, Hunt published a nonfiction book in 2022 about death and hauntings titled “The Unwritten Book: An Investigation.” She is also the author of novels including “The Invention of Everything Else,” a fictionalized account of the life of Nikola Tesla.

9 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 18, a lecture by Samantha Hunt on “An Atlas of Everything: Maps, Unseen Worlds and Writing”; 4:15 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, Readings by ‘Pemi Aguda , Erin Marie Lynch and Samantha Hunt

Rebecca Makkai

Makkai is an alum of Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English, known for her novels “The Great Believers,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and “ I Have Some Questions for You ,” a New York Times bestseller. She spends summers living on a lake in Addison County .

8:15 p.m. Monday, Aug. 19, readings by Rick Barot and Rebecca Makkai ; 9 a.m. Friday, Aug. 23, lecture by Rebecca Makkai , “Can’t Go Over It, Can’t Go Under It”

Adrian Matejka

The native of Germany who grew up in Indianapolis was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and the National Book Award for his third book, “The Big Smoke,” in 2013. He is also the author of a graphic novel, “Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century,” published in 2023.

8:15 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, readings by Paul Lisicky and Adrian Matejka

Dinaw Mengestu

Mengestu, who was born in Ethiopia and raised in Illinois, is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Award and a Guggenheim fellowship. His novels include “How to Read the Air,” “All Our Names” and “Someone Like Us,” which was published July 30.

8:15 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 15, readings by Carmen Giménez and Dinaw Mengestu