Community of Writers at Squaw Valley

The Community of Writers at Squaw Valley is an annual writers' conference which holds its summer sessions in Squaw Valley, California (Olympic Valley). Panels, talks, staff readings and workshops take place in off-season ski lodges. Founded by novelist Oakley Hall and writer Blair Fuller in 1969, it is held each summer in Olympic Valley, California. The first conference was held in August 1970 in the lodges of the ski area. It was originally staffed by San Francisco writers including David Perlman, Walter Ballenger, Barnaby Conrad and John Leggett, the latter two of whom went on to found, respectively, the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and the Napa Valley Writers Conference.

The Community of Writers is a nonprofit 501©3 organization and has a governing Board of Directors.

In 2003, the Board of Directors voted to change the organization’s name from Squaw Valley Community of Writers, to The Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. This was in response to some Native Americans’ and others’ belief that in some contexts the name “Squaw” is derogatory. The Board decided it was best to change to name so that the word Squaw Valley referred to the place name only, to distance itself from any historical controversy or discomfort with the word.

Workshops are held in fiction, (directors Lisa D. Alvarez and Louis B. Jones), nonfiction (director Michael Carlisle), poetry (director Robert Hass), and screenwriting (director Diana Fuller). From 1980 until 2000, novelist Carolyn Doty directed the writers workshops.William Fox directed the poetry program during the years when it was integrated with prose. Later, poet Galway Kinnell reinvented and directed the Poetry Program for 17 years until 2004. The Screenwriters Workshop was founded by screenwriters Tom Rickman and Gill Dennis. The Community of Writers continues to be directed by Brett Hall Jones.

The Community has a formal and competitive admissions procedure. Applicants are asked to submit an application fee and a writing sample. Average acceptance rate is 33%. Roughly 50% of those who attend are granted some form of financial aid. Scholarships and financial aid is provided through the donations for alumni, staff and friends. The conference generally offers 8 fiction workshops of 12 participants each and two narrative nonfiction/memoir workshops of 12 each.

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