©2007 Sirenland
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Sirenland Writers Conference Blog
Hello to All Sirenlanders!
I first heard of Sirenland on a cold Saturday in March of 2007. I saw an ad in Poets & Writers and immediately went to the website. I had loved Dani's novel Family History, had been a subscriber of One Story for years, and had been to Le Sirenuse twice. I could not believe that the applications had closed before I even knew about the workshop.
I tried to apply anyway. I even sent Michael an email, explaining I could come if anyone had to drop out at the last minute. He answered within an hour that he and Dani and Jacob were already in Italy but that he would keep my number handy.
That Saturday I spent hours reading every word of every post on the blog, and I felt like I was going too. All the preparations were so exciting--the Italian lessons, the manuscripts arriving, the packing lists. It's all still here in the Archives for February and March of 2007.
This year will be my third at Sirenland. Last year my husband Cal came with me, and he's coming again this year. I'm happy to answer any questions about what to bring or what to wear or traveling or anything. If you'd like to see who I am, you can find me at my blog, Catching Days. There are a few posts there about Sirenland too.
One of my favorite things to do while in Positano is after the morning workshop to climb the 1700 stairs for lunch at a little trattoria high above the sea. In 2008 we climbed during a torrential rain storm that turned the stairs into waterfalls. Last year we found a new trattoria where the brothers cook from their garden and are very generous with platters of desserts and liqueurs on the house! So be sure to put comfortable shoes on your packing list.
I look forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting new ones.
Ciao, Cindy
Oh, and we bought our plane tickets yesterday!
Labels: Positano, Sirenland
cynthia newberry martin
6 comments
Sirenland is happy to announce the winner of the 2010 Sirenland Fellowship: Bruce Machart
Bruce Machart's fiction has appeared in One Story, Zoetrope, Story, Glimmer Train, and elsewhere, and has been anthologized in Best Stories of the American West. This October, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will publish his debut novel, The Wake of Forgiveness, and his collection of stories, entitled Men in the Making, will follow in the fall of 2011. A graduate of the MFA program at Ohio State University, Machart currently lives and teaches in his hometown of Houston.
The Sirenland fellowship provides travel, room and board and fees for attending The Sirenland Writers Conference in Positano, Italy. It is given to a writer who is in the process of completing a project, but has not published a book before March, 2010. The fellowship cannot be applied for; candidates are nominated by a panel of publishing professionals. All entries are read blind and the winner chosen by Dani Shapiro.
Hannah
5 comments
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