For the past 85 years, the workshops, lectures, and classes, held in the shadow of the Green Mountains, have introduced generations of participants to rigorous practical and theoretical approaches to the craft of writing, and given America itself proven models of literary instruction. Bread Loaf is not a retreat—not a place to work in solitude. Instead it provides a stimulating community of diverse voices in which we test our own assumptions regarding literature and seek advice about our progress as writers.

In August we will again welcome more than two hundred talented writers to the historic Bread Loaf Inn, along with our distinguished faculty, and many agents and editors from major publishing houses and literary firms.

Come prepared to join fully in the busy schedule and to enjoy the beauty of the wilderness setting. No one who has done so has failed to be inspired, encouraged, or changed by Bread Loaf.

The first scheduled event is a welcome and reading at 8:15 PM on August 11, but we ask that Bread Loafers plan to arrive by 5 PM that day.  The last day of the Conference, August 21, is a travel day; Bread Loafers have breakfast that day and plan to leave by noon.

During the Conference, writing workshops in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction are the core of the curriculum. Each faculty member conducts a small workshop, most often of ten contributors, meeting for five two-hour sessions over the course of the Conference. All participants also meet individually with their workshop leader to amplify and refine what was said in the workshop itself.