This is the first day of my one-year contract as program director of the West Chester Poetry Conference on Form and Narrative. I hope to build on the 20 earlier conferences put together by Mike Peich and Kim Bridgford and offer a 2016 event (June 8-11) that will include old and new workshop leaders, several resident younger poets, and panels that will address exciting topics that haven't been covered before. So far we have faculty members committed--Dick Davis, Caki Wilkinson, Sarah Cortez, William Logan, Pat Myers, and our own John Whitworth; I hope to announce the rest of the faculty soon. Dana Gioia, Timothy Murphy, and Alfred Corn will offer one-day workshops, and there will be two or three critical seminars. I am still working on the keynote speaker.
My first priority is to get the conference website updated and running. Please be patient as we work to restore it. Feel free to email me at
rsgwynn1@cs.com or call me at 409-350-9602 (not until this evening, please, as I have medical appointments in Houston today). This is a part-time position, and I will be working primarily from home--circumstances that fit nicely with my plans to retire from full-time teaching after 40 years at Lamar University. Ann Mascherino, also part-time, will be handling the logistics of the conference at West Chester, and her contact information will be posted on the website.
I have been in on the planning of the conference from before the first one, and I have attended 19 of 20 past conferences, serving as faculty member, critical seminar leader, and participant on so many panels (4 of them in 2014) that I can't list them all. One of the many pleasures of past years has been meeting so many eratosphereans in person, and I hope to see many of you there. I hope you'll share my excitement in putting together the best possible conference for next year.
Sam Gwynn