I just wanted to add my voice to the chorus about what a fabulous conference it was. Even though this was my fifth time attending, I got to meet a bunch of Spherians for the first time (including Alex P, Catherine C, Allen T, Peter C, Gregory D, and Andrew S, of those posting or mentioned so far in this thread) as well as to greet many friends from previous years. Alex, my memory is actually rather foggy, but thankfully I had saved my Able Muse emails from 11 years ago--or your "pantyhose" instructions could have been lost to literary history forever!
I don't want to echo what has been said about many of the highlights of the programming, but I did want to mention that the readings by new faculty members Allison Joseph and Rafael Campo were wonderful, and that Amit Majmudar's Donald Justice Prize reading from HEAVEN AND EARTH was a knock-out. I also purchased his brand new novel, PARTITIONS, which gets my crystal ball prediction for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in fiction (you read it here first!) Someone mentioned Tyehimba Jess's interlocking sonnets that could be read in many different directions, but I don't think it was mentioned that they were on the subject of a pair of 19th-century conjoined twins, nor that Marilyn Nelson also read from a rondeau redouble sequence (note the fittingness of the form, in each case!) on the subject of the same conjoined pair--a stunning performance by both poets, though it was lightly attended on account of being the last panel of the last day.
Drat, I hate that I missed the raucous pool party--though I did make the dance party on the last night, where a number of Spherians (who shall remain anonymous) and some of the young staff members literally danced up a storm (we needed the rain to cool off from the week's heat wave). Hope to see even more of y'all next year!
|