Bennington College Holds Writers' Conference

Bennington College in Vermont is holding its annual writers' conference.

According to a press release from the college, "some of America's most acclaimed and celebrated writers come together for the Bennington Writing Seminars."

The event is one of two 10-day residencies in the college's MFA in writing program.

The event is expected to draw hundreds of writers from across the country.

There will be an evening reading series that is free and open to the public, which began Jan. 3 and will run through Jan. 12.

For full details and more on each writer, see the college's web site: www.Bennington.edu.

The lineup:

Friday, January 4
Rachel Pastan - "This Side of Married" "Lady of the Snakes"
Martha Southgate - "Third Girl from the Left" "The Fall of Rome" "Another Way to Dance"

Saturday, January 5
Richard McCann - "Mother of Sorrows" "Ghost Letter and Dream of the Traveler"
George Scialabba - "Divided Mind" "What Are Intellectuals Good For?"

Sunday, January 6
Tom Bissell - "Chasing the Sea" "Speak, Commentary" "God Lives in St. Petersburg" "The Father of All Things"
Valerie Martin - "The Unfinished Novel and Other Stories" "Italian Fever" "The Great Divorce" "Mary Reilly" "Property" "Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St. Francis"

Monday, January 7
Robin Hemley - "Do Over"
Major Jackson - "Hoops" "Leaving Saturn"

Wednesday, January 9
Sven Birkerts - "The Art of Time in Memoir: Then Again" "Reading Life: Books for the Ages" "My Sky Blue Trades: Growing Up Counter in a Contrary Time" "The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age" "An Artificial Wilderness: Essays on Twentieth Century Literature" "The Electric Life: Essays on Modern Poetry" "American Energies: Essays on Fiction"
Thomas Lynch - "Skating with Heather Grace, Grimalkin & Other Poems" "Still Life in Milford" "The Undertaking" "Late Fictions" "Walking Papers"

Thursday, January 10
Frank Bidart - ""Golden State" "The Sacrifice" "In the Western Night: Collected Poems 1965-90" "Star Dust" "Music Like Dirt" "Desire"
Askold Melnyczuk - "Ambassador of the Dead" "What Is Told"

Saturday, January 12
Debra Spark - "Coconuts for the Saint" "The Ghost of Bridgetown" "Twenty Under Thirty: Best Stories by America's New Young Writers" "Curious Attractions: Essays on Fiction Writing"