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REGISTER TODAY!

DO NOT MISS OUT ON THE COURSES YOU WANT!

DEADLINE THIS YEAR IS AUGUST 1.

NO MORE REGISTRATION AT CONFERENCE!

FOR THE 46TH ANNUAL SUMMER CONFERENCE, THERE ARE MANY CHANGES IN THE REGISTRATION PROCESS, SO PLEASE READ THE CONFERENCE SCHEDULE PAGE THROUGH BEFORE SIGNING UP. GET YOUR REGISTRATION FORM IN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO GET INTO ALL THE CLASSES YOU WANT. REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN, BUT CLOSES THIS YEAR ON AUGUST 1.

*IF YOU ARE TAKING A FIVE-DAY WORKSHOP YOU MUST PAY A CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FEE OF $35, AND YOU WILL RECEIVE A CONFERENCE REGISTRATION BADGE. PLEASE WEAR IT AT ALL TIMES TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF CONFERENCE REGISTRATION BENEFITS.

*IF YOU ARE COMING IN FOR INDIVIDUAL CLASSES ONLY, THE CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FEE IS NOT REQUIRED.

*MOST IMPORTANTLY, IF YOU ARE A CURRENT MEMBER, THERE IS NO CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FEE. YOU WILL BE GIVEN A CONFERENCE REGISTRATION BADGE WITHOUT PAYING

*THE PURCHASE OF A CONFERENCE REGISTRATION OR A CAPE COD WRITERS' CENTER MEMBERSHIP ENTITLES YOU TO BENEFITS: ACCESS TO THE MANUSCRIPT EVAULATIONS AND MENTORING, AN INVITATION TO ATTEND THE FACULTY RECEPTION AT WIANNO ($32), AND COMPLEMENTARY DAILY BOX LUNCH BRIEFINGS.  THEREFORE, YOUR BEST BET: BECOME A MEMBER, GET CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FOR FREE AND ACCESS THE BENEFITS.

Our handsome conference program brochures, enhanced by the photography of our friend Ken Brynildsen, have been mailed to members and last year's attendees, and the full program is listed on the Conference Schedule page.

Our Monday evening speaker is a journalist who has written a memoir about the last two weeks of her husband's life -- the renowned Eleanor Clift, Contributing Editor to Newsweekand longtime member of the McLaughlin Group! After speaking she will sign Two Weeks: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Politics, available in the conference bookstore.

Get your copy Sunday evening when the conference bookstore opens.

On Tuesday evening David R. Godine, who established a unique publishing house in Boston 40 years ago, whose high quality books and firm continue to win awards of distinction, will speak in the Tabernacle. On Wednesday, he will represent the publisher in our mock editorial board meeting, as part of the five-hour Master Class on publishing (2:30 to 8:30) with optional casual dinner mingling with the panel. Godine acquiring editor and specialist in marketing rights, Sue Berger Ramin, will address aspects of publishing she finds authors most commonly ask. Publicity guru Lissa Warren and assistant director of the Editorial Institute of Boston University, Frances Whistler, will also give their perspectives on what writers need to know about finding literary agents, working with editors, and having patience in the process of seeing a manuscript become a book, and get distributed and marketed. NYC literary agent Adam Chromy and Kathleen Thut, co-owner of Inkwell Books, will round out the panel.

FROM THE DESK OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: CULTURAL DIPLOMACY

The first conference registration for 2008 to come into the office was faxed from Toyko! We have a new member from Beijing. Geraldine Mills returns to the Cape from Ireland as a faculty member with the support of her country's cultural organizations. Our new website is getting global attention, and we see unlimited possibilities in this multicultural participation. Traditionally, there is cultural empathy among writers, but there is no substitution for personal interaction and friendships to broaden perspectives and mend misunderstandings among nations. We hope as writers to contribute in some small way to a more peaceful world.

The progress in negotiations between North Korea and the U.S. regarding nuclear developments, coincidental with the performance of the New York Philharmonic in that country, is considered a miracle by some. But we know the healing power of art, and a lasting world peace may come yet out of the work of writers around the world sharing values.

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By the way, the winner of the question, "How many writers are there on Cape Cod?" is Dianne Finney, for being the only CCWC member to attempt an answer! We still do not have a final number, but continue to work with our friends at other arts organizations to define the potential growth of our organization, and should be able to announce an approximate number soon.

As we research these statistics, and embark on a campaign to grow our membership and attendance at the annual summer conference, I invite your thoughts on how we might do a better job of marketing both.

SHORT COURSE AT SUMMER CONFERENCE, MONDAY, 2:30 TO 5:30

Before you take in Monday evening's speaker, Newsweek Contributing Editor Eleanor Clift, attend Cape Cod's own Larry Brown's three-hour workshop on column-writing. Brown, a columnist for the Cape Cod Times and teacher at Cape Cod Academy, has published hundreds of editorials over the years on economics, faith, and politics. When he could not find a geography textbook from which to teach, he wrote his own, and Addison-Wesley published parts of it under the title, Thinking About the World. He has also published a book on being Hindu in Western society, which he is. His BODHI BEAUTIFUL, How to be a Hindu in America, explains Hinduism in Western terms. An experienced sailor, he has also written scores of articles and three books on yachting.   

In his workshop for CCWC, Larry addresses the interests of the student, but also looks back over 22 years of writing about what was going on in America during that span of time. He will address concerns of the columnist about offending readers, showing anger appropriately, realizing your responsibilities in the role of columnnist with respect to community causes, and other challenges, including how to say it all in 700 words. 

Larry is a fascinating man, from whom you will learn much more than just column-writing in three hours with him.

LET US HELP YOU TO SELL YOUR BOOKS AROUND THE GLOBE

At the May, 2008 Board of Directors meeting, a decision was made to offer CCWC members an opportunity to take advantage of the global attention our new website has been receiving. Any Patron with an active annual membership now may target our international community of readers and writers by linking his or her website to ours. The earliest ones to do this will also be profiled in our newsletter.

Sell your books around the globe!

The new Patrons Page will be up soon.

NEW PATRONS  

Linda Leblanc has become a Patron member of the Cape Cod Writers' Center in celebration of her many successes as a poet, which she attributes in part to her participation in CCWC summer conferences. On Trains is the title of her first poetry collection, from which she has been invited to read at the Joiner Center Writers Conference in June.

Poet Afaa Michael Weaver, a former faculty member of CCWC's summer conference, writes of On Trains, "The eyes in the window of this train are deeply sympathetic, and give us this treaty made by a disciplined heart with beauty and ugliness. On Trains is LeBlanc's succinct and sculpted faith in our world, our lives."

Linda, who lives on a cranberry bog in Marstons Mills, holds an M.A. in British Literature, and taught high school English and creative writing for 26 years.  She began writing poetry in 1999, and has previously published in the Aurorean.

Finbarr M Corr has upgraded his membership to Patron, as well. He is the author of A Kid from Legaginney, Bridges from Legaginney, The Many Loves of Joe Carroll [a memoir] and Living, Laughing and Loving thru Marriage, all reflecting on his life journey from country priest in Ireland to married life on Cape Cod by way of Columbia University, where he earned his doctorate.

Dr James D. Murphy, Chair of Franklin Forum, Eastpointe, Palm Beach Gardens, FL describes Finbarr's Bridges from Legaginney as "the story of powerful life change by a priest from an Irish Catholic family of generations of priests. Finbarr Corr shares the challenge and emotion of his transition from pastoral leader of a vibrant parish community of 1800 families to a married lay professional, forced to start a new career alone as a marriage and family therapist. Dr. Corr’s story is ultimately about the comfort and joy of reaching out to others as the secret to sustaining a personal spirit."

Linda and Finbarr's books will be for sale, along with those of other Cape Cod Writers' Center members in the conference bookstore opening Sunday night, August 17.

THE FIRST MASSACHUSETTS POETRY FESTIVAL TO BE HELD IN LOWELL ON OCTOBER 10-11, 2008

As Executive Director of the the Cape Cod Writers' Center, I have been invited to participate in the committee to organize events at the festival. This two-day celebration will affirm our state's position as a literary leader since Colonial days when Anne Bradstreet put her thoughts into beautiful poetry.

Massachusetts' contribution to poetry is unsurpassed by any state in the nation and it is time to show it off!

The goal of the festival is to raise the profile of poetry in Massachusetts and to help to make poetry part of the culture of our communities. The celebration in the Merrimack Valley will include a small press book fair, poetry slams, workshops, panel discussions, and readings by well-known as well as emerging poets

If you or any Cape poets you know are interested in helping to accomplish these objectives, please contact me at writers@capecodwriterscenter.org.

STREAMLINING JOINING THE CENTER AND REGISTERING FOR THE CONFERENCE

Cape designer Sally Harvey (LondonEye Graphics) has completed work on branding the Cape Cod Writers' Center with a new logo and look for several CCWC products, and Darlene Billmair (Insite Media Design) has finished the design of our website and beautiful new conference program brochure, including a much simpler registration form than we have had in the past.

If this newsletter arrived by mail, you have seen that it has a new shape and size as well, all part of the new look.

Our business manager Kathryn Basille is ordering attractive conference tee shirts, golf shirts, caps, travel mugs, and book bags, for sale in the conference bookstore and later at our events. Buy this summer for the holidays and help the Cape Cod Writers' Center.

REGISTERING FOR THE CONFERENCE    Our new conference registration form is simplified and straighforward. You may download it on-line or clip it out of the conference brochure without losing any important information.

JOINING CCWC ON-LINE    This week we will put PayPal on the Membership page. If you do not know the status of your membership, I encourage you to check with us, so that there will be no delays in completing your registration WITHOUT ANY REGISTRATION FEE, if you are a Cape Cod Writers' Center member. Also only CCWC members can sell their books in our bookstore.

We have a larger quantity of conference program brochures and coordinated members' brochures than usual, so please let us know if you belong to any groups to whom you wish to distribute them. The more registrants and new members we add, the faster we will be able to move towards a space all our own, where members can meet and write! It may take a few years, but we will get there. Thank you for any help you are able to give to the Center.

Writers Group Updates:

There are many opportunities to join writers groups sponsored by the CCWC.

Membership in CCWC is a requirement of participation, after a trial period of up to three weeks.

Four groups are currently open to new members:

The Non-Fiction Writers Group meets at the West Falmouth Library on the last Thursday of the month at 6 PM.  Open to those working on a memoir, history, non-fiction articles or other non-fiction projects.  Facilitator is CCWC president Sheila Whitehouse.  Please contact the CCWC office writers@capecodwriterscenter.org if you would like to join this new group.

The Evening Writers Group, working on an eclectic mix of prose projects, has moved from the Sturgis Library to Heatherwood in Yarmouthport.  Meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of the month from 7 to 9 PM.  Contact Facilitator Stephanie Boosahda boosahdas@hotmail.com for details on this group, including directions to the new location.

The Advanced Writers Group meets every Tuesday, from 10 am to noon at the Osterville Methodist Church, Pond Street, Osterville. This group includes novelists, short story writers, essayists, poets, and playwrights who are serious about their writing, most working toward publication.  Facilitator is Jack Chalfin. Interested writers are invited to show up for a meeting.

Screenwriters meet at Community Media Center, Whites Path, South Yarmouth (Exit 8 off of Route 6) from 6 to 8 pm on Tuesday nights. Please contact facilitator Jacqueline Loring for specifics about the structure of this group.  jmljake@capecod.net

Eventide Arts recently presented a staged reading of the winning play of the Second Annual Playwriting Contest, well-cast and directed by John Schofield.

The 2007 Kaplan Prize Went to Winner David Kucher for his "Sequel." David is shown in the center of photo above with (left to right) Eventide Artistic Director Ellis Baker, Sequel Director John Schofield, and Eventide Executive Director Vivien Cook.   Sequel Written by David Kucher Directed by John Schofield Sponsored by Eventide Arts, Cape Cod Writers' Center, and the Kaplan Foundation.

EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

All listings are meant to share information with our members and do not reflect an endorsement by CCWC. Please go to the direct source of these opportunities and events to confirm details.

A limited number of work scholarships are available to the Cape Cod Writers' Center's 46th summer conference. Scholarships cover tuition costs only, and do not cover travel, lodging, or manuscript evaluations. Details are in the conference booklet, mailed to all current members and last year's attendees. Hours of work at the conference will translate into hours of classes, per the needs of staff and availability of space. A scholarship committee will make final decisions by July 15. Please submit a cover letter by July 8, stating need and the class you would like to take.

Claire Cook, author of Must Love Dogs and Life's a Beach, a longtime friend of the Writers' Center, sent us news of Family Circle magazine's Fiction Writing Contest. Details of the 2008 competition are in the March issue of Family Circle, or can be found at their website, www.familycircle.com. The grand prize of $750 includes publication in Family Circle. Deadline for submissions is August 31, 2008.

These listings are meant to share information with our members and do not reflect an endorsement by CCWC. Please go to the direct source of these opportunities and events to confirm details.

Do you have news of interest to share with our members?

Recent publishing deals or promotional appearances? Please send your notices to Kathryn Basile, CCWC Business Manager writers@capecodwriterscenter.org or fax 508-420-0212. We will spread the word, as time and space allow.

Making it easier to be green.

Having our members' email addresses, and willingness to receive occasional news blasts from us, would help to cut down on paper waste. Please remember to send us your e-mail address updates too.

From time to time, an event of interest to our members comes up between newsletters, and we send out a brief e-mail notice. Writers Night Out events are exclusively publicized by e-mail due to the time frame.

The savings in time, postage and paper can't be denied!


The Cape Cod Writers' Center is supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.