Final preparations July 15th, 2010
Here is the information you will need before your arrival.
Fiction workshops
During orientation, you will meet briefly in your workshop groups; at this time, your workshop leader will give you any special instructions about how the week will run. At this point, you should have received an invitation to join the Google group for your workshop. All the manuscripts for your workshop are posted at this site. Please contact Lakin (lakhan@sonic.net) if you’re having any problems accessing your Google group or your manuscripts.
Our expectation is that you will have downloaded, read, critiqued and printed all of the manuscripts for your workshop. Computers (running Windows, Internet-enabled) and printers will be available to participants all week during normal conference hours (generally 8:30-4:30; the room may be open earlier or later depending on staff availability).
Poetry workshops
During orientation, you will meet briefly in your workshop groups; at this time, your workshop leader will give you any special instructions about how the week will run. As you know, poetry workshops at Napa focus on the production of new work. Computers (running Windows, Internet-enabled) will be available to participants all week during normal conference hours (generally 8:30-4:30; the room may be open earlier or later depending on staff availability). You can bring a USB flash drive or plan to email yourself drafts to save the work you do here.
Unless your workshop leader instructs you otherwise, you will turn in your poems by 9 am (when the morning poetry lecture begins) and a volunteer will copy them and deliver them to your workshop room by the beginning of workshop at 10:15.
Poetry tutorial
Your ten- to fifteen-minute private tutorial with your workshop leader will focus on a single poem of your choice. Your workshop leader will give you some guidance as to how he or she plans to approach the tutorial. I recommend that you bring with you a few finished or unfinished poems from which to choose, as your idea of what will be most helpful to you may change after workshop begins. This is an opportunity for you to ask questions as well as to receive feedback one-on-one with your workshop leader. Tutorials will be scheduled at intervals during the week.
Daily schedule
You can see our preliminary schedule for the week and download it in PDF or .ics format. We’ll give you a detailed day-by-day schedule when you arrive.
Arrival
All daytime events, starting with check-in, are at the Upper Valley Campus (UVC) of Napa Valley College in St. Helena. The campus is small — only one parking lot, only two buildings — so you will have no difficulty finding the place where you check in.
Check-in
Check-in at the Upper Valley Campus of Napa Valley College begins at 3:45 pm on Sunday, July 25, with orientation scheduled to begin at 4:30 pm. You’ll have a chance to meet briefly with your workshop leader, and at 6:00 pm we’ll have a reception and supper in the courtyard. At 7:30 pm, Arthur Sze and Michael Byers will read. Please bring a sweater or light wrap as the evening may get cool.
Clothing and accessories
Temperatures are typically in the 90s during the day, dipping to the 50s at night, so bring summery clothes and a sweater or jacket. Casual dress is appropriate for everything — photos on the conference website give an idea of what people wear! With hot, dry conditions during the day, you’ll want to stay hydrated. We provide water coolers; we ask you to bring a personal water bottle or buy one at the conference so that we can avoid sending disposable cups to the landfill. Please also bring a portable coffee or hot drink cup as we will not be providing disposable ones. Special NVCWC cups, suitable for hot or cold drinks, will be sold at check-in for $5.
Shared rides
Rides from the airports are being sought and offered on the Google Group Napawriters2010. Email Nan (nvwcpoetry@gmail.com), or Aaron (adifranco@napavalley.edu) if you have not yet received an invitation to join this group. We hope those of you with cars will be willing to help with rides during the week. Not only is it good to carpool for environmental reasons, but we’ll have a lot of participants from out of the area who need transportation. You are coming this summer from all over the United States, as well as abroad. At orientation, we will have the opportunity to make final arrangements for those who need rides to and from their lodging. Our experience has been that our participants with cars are generous in offering rides and that those without cars are generous in chipping in for gas or treating their drivers to a meal. Some long-lasting friendships have been forged in this way.
Guests
If a guest has accompanied you to the conference, he or she may attend the reception on Sunday, July 25, the 30th Anniversary Celebration on July 27, and the picnic dinner on Thursday, July 29 . We must ask you to please arrange this with Charlotte (writecon@napavalley.edu; 707-967-2903) by Wednesday, July 21. The cost for each guest is $25 per event; please pay us once you get to the conference, by check or cash.
Last-minute questions and emergencies
For any late-breaking questions, email Aaron (adifranco@napavalley.edu) or Lakin (lakhan@sonic.net). From Friday, July 23 through Sunday, July 25, no one will be available at the office to answer the telephone number or to receive email. In case of serious delay or emergency, call Aaron or Lakin at the numbers given in your final email.
Looking forward to seeing you all in two weeks!
