CWC: On Our Way from 1997 to 2017!

by | Mar 18, 2016 | Clockhouse Writers Conference

Registration is still open for the 2016 Clockhouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat!

Photo by Joe DuPont

Photo by Joe DuPont

Nineteen years ago, in the summer of 1997, several alumni of Goddard’s MFAW program returned to campus to see their friends graduate from the same program and to once again gather around their own writing.   I wasn’t fortunate enough to be there–I wouldn’t enter the MFAW program until 2003—but I’ve long heard of the burst of inspiration that brought these recent alums back together, of the wonderful lasagna dinner shared by all, of the certainty among those first few congregants that this was the start of something lasting.

And so it was!

The Clockhouse Writers’ Conference, the alumni association of the MFAW program that was born that summer, will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year. As I said, I wasn’t there, but I have to guess that no one gathered around that dinner table would have imagined all that’s unfolded since that founding event.

A summer Clockhouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat on Goddard’s Plainfield campus.

A winter Lighthouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat at Goddard’s Port Townsend program site.

CLOCKHOUSE, a national-submissions literary journal published by the Clockhouse Writers’ Conference in partnership with Goddard college.

And countless intangible, wonderful moments of connection.

Wow.

This summer’s Clockhouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat will be the twentieth such gathering and the inaugural event of the twentieth year, and it would be great to have a full house to raise a glass in honor of that.  Great too, to have many on hand to add to the reminiscences that are being collected for a CWC 1997-2017 history and to offer thoughts on how best to celebrate our Twentieth Anniversary. There are still Conference & Retreat spots available, so it’s not too late to register!

With the greatest of thanks to CWC’s founders (and I’m sure many join me in thanking you),

Kathryn

The 2016 Clockhouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat will take place from June 27 through July 1 on Goddard College’s Plainfield, Vermont, campus.  Registration forms are available here.   Please note that CWC&R is capped at 25 participants and that registrations are accepted on a first-come, first serve basis.

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CWC

CWC is the alumni association of Goddard's MFAW Program. It holds the annual summer Clockhouse Writers' Conference & Retreat in Plainfield, Vermont, and the annual winter Lighthouse Conference & Retreat each winter. Its national literary journal CLOCKHOUSE is published in partnership with Goddard College and the MFAW Program. For more information, please visit www.clockhousewriters.com or contact CWC's lead steward, Lucy Turner.