Writing at the Mark Twain House: THE WRITERS' WEEKEND

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

THE WRITERS' WEEKEND

I came out onto the sunny Mark Twain Museum Center patio mid-day Saturday, April 21, when the First Annual Mark Twain House Writers’ Weekend was breaking for lunch, and saw a sight like something out of the Bible. A short, dark-haired, impassioned woman was standing at the head of a table, reading aloud, while eighteen or twenty crowded around her, rapt, like the crowd around a prophet on some dusty mountain. This was Bessy Reyna, a rare and eloquent poet from Bolton, who had let it be known that her seven morning poetry participants hadn’t wanted to stop at an hour – they wanted to work though lunch. As they did, others joined them; the blue polo shirts of our hardworking UConn interns could be seen in the growing multitude. “I didn’t even like poetry,” said Audrey Eckert of Thomaston, who came upon the group and stayed. “But I heard the most wonderful poet.”

I could see then that the miracle of the Writers’ Weekend had come off. There were loftier celebrities, from the eloquent editor Lewis Lapham and the powerful novelist Jon Clinch to the brilliant playwrights Alfred Uhry, A.R. Gurney, and Donald Margulies. All of them had generously given of their time to make this a success. So had fourteen other writers in sessions small and large on a range of subjects. There were dozens of moments of discovery like Audrey’s, all compressed in an evening and a good long day. When it was all over, the evaluations of the Weekend came in – 22 excellent, 19 good, plenty of praise. “Every moment was terrific!” wrote a woman who went on to lecture us gently on our food choices. “Addressed issues and areas I needed resolved as a writer,” wrote another attendee. And more: “Well organized, balanced; great presenters and accessible.” “Respectful of the novice.” Some commented on the non-academic atmosphere as being a boon. There were suggestions: a two-day weekend with longer sessions and more breaks; children’s literature; a humor-writing session – and tea! tea! tea! in the morning, not just coffee.

We think we can find the tea for next year. Let me add my thanks to Julia’s more timely ones earlier this week to everybody who took part in this, in preparation and aftermath, as well as those who, on the days of, gave so much to this effort. The Mark Twain Memorial said in 1955 it would do something like this. Things in Connecticut take a little while. Now it’s getting done. Thanks to you.

-- Steve Courtney

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Write Where Mark Twain Wrote

Early in 2010, The Mark Twain House & Museum, following the lead of a 1955 mission statement calling for a literary center at the museum, launched a series of writing courses and programs called Writing at the Mark Twain House.

Noted authors, teachers and editors Lary Bloom and Suzanne Levine suggested and pioneered the effort, with a community-based course, A Class in Memoir. Over eight weeks, the participants worked, reworked, and honed their stories, sometimes aided and abetted by prominent writer guests.

The writing produced was outstanding, true and vital. A fall class with Susan Campbell followed, and in 2011 Bloom and Levine reprised the memoir class. In the fall Campbell returned -- and fiction was added to the roster with a class taught by novelist Mary-Ann Tirone Smith.

In Spring 2012 the Bloom-Levine memoir class returned -- along with events featuring writers Denis Horgan (Ninety-Eight Point Six) and Susan Schoenberger (A Watershed Year). And the museum held its first-ever Writers' Weekend April 20-21, featuring keynoter Lewis Lapham and playwrights A. R. Gurney, Alfred Uhry and Donald Margulies.

Keep your eye on this blog and the Mark Twain House & Museum website (http://www.marktwainhouse.org/) for announcements and details of Writing at the Mark Twain House's offerings.