Helen Simonson, MFA Candidate
What is truly amazing about this program is that not only have I had the chance to learn craft from some of today’s greatest writers in their fields, but also that these famous talents treat the students as fellow writers. To have my work taken completely seriously was at first a shock and then a complete joy. This leadership also encourages the student body to treat each other exceptionally well and it has been very valuable to attend workshops where tough criticism is delivered in an atmosphere of trust and mutual growth. I have made valuable friendships here and discovered that there can be room for many kinds of voices in the writing world.
Essays with Roger Rosenblatt, humor writing with Jules Feiffer, poetry with Billy Collins—this is what a writing program should be. The chance to work with, and soak up craft from, the very best writers in their fields makes this program and summer conference a truly special experience.
They say you can’t teach writing and yet I can feel my skills expanding weekly in this program. I’ve learned to prize the story over the individual beautiful sentence. I’ve learned that every verb, every comma, and every white space between words matters in a poem. I’ve learned to give myself permission to wander wherever an essay takes me and then to shave every last unnecessary thought to achieve brutally crisp prose. Maybe you can’t teach writing, but the faculty at Southampton teaches inspiration every day.
There’s something in the water of the East End of Long Island that nourishes art of all kinds. The concentration of master writers out here is truly spectacular and Southampton has become a kind of central meeting point. Not only do you have professors like Roger Rosenblatt and Jules Feiffer but then E.L. Doctorow drops by at the summer conference or Alan Alda comes to chat with students in the evening.
JB McGeever, MFA Candidate
Much like the concept of six degrees of separation, almost everything I’ve ever achieved in writing has come as a result of my involvement in Southampton’s writing program and its wonderful Writers Conference. Every story or article published, every opportunity to read work, if I peel back the layers, like checking the notches on a tree, the foundation is always Southampton…
Carole O’Malley Gaunt, Writers Conference Participant, 2007
When I ignore my need to write, I begin to feel an almost physical anxiety, a blurred sense that there is something I would like to be doing and I just can’t focus on what it is. About then I might stumble on a trapezoidal-shaped bookmark, a scribbled scrap of copy paper I keep. There I have jotted down in green ink the wise advice from a faculty panel of the Southampton Writers Conference—the “write the hot spots” dictum of Frank McCourt; Roger Rosenblatt’s take that students view writing as a “privilege and celebratory”; Billy Collins’ advice to “lighten up and play”; and Melissa Banks’ urging that we develop a respect for how we spend our time and less for how the world regards us. The Conference’s gift to me—that bookmark—is that I sit myself down to write.
My memoir, Hungry Hill, was published by the University of Massachusetts Press in June 2007, shaped in part by what I learned at the Southampton Writers Conference— from Frank McCourt’s wise advice to Stephen O’Connor’s urging me to abandon my autobiographical third-person stories and write a memoir in the first person. Finally, I owe a great debt to Robert Reeves, masterful impresario, who produces a well-planned, carefully thought out conference year after year with aplomb and quiet humor.
George J. Searles, Ph.D., Former Carnegie Foundation New York State “Professor of the Year” and Writers Conference Participant, 2004 to 2007
Having attended many writing conferences over the years, I rate Southampton the very best, hands-down. It’s large enough that everyone can easily locate kindred spirits, and personal enough that nobody is excluded. The all-star faculty, the glamour and natural beauty of the Hamptons, and the lively social component make this conference a real winner! I’ve participated three times, learning a great deal while having a lot of fun. I’ll certainly be back!
Sande Boritz Berger, MFA Candidate
Years ago as a young working mother, I’d been struck by an enticing advertisement appearing in the The New York Times for a writing workshop to be held on Long Island.
I’d always written but parenthood and a career in video marketing allowed little time for personal writing. So I made the necessary arrangements and drove out east (I’d never been past Exit 44 of the LIE) and checked into the Shinnecock Motel. I enrolled in a fiction workshop taught by writer Judith Rossner of Looking For Mr. Goodbar fame. That week changed my life forever. I promised myself that no matter what, I’d find the time to keep writing.
Though for years afterward I studied in workshops held in the city—The Writers Voice being one—I was thrilled when Southampton’s Writing Program, under the direction of Robert Reeves, rapidly evolved into one of the finest writing programs in the country. As an attendee from the program’s inception, I was struck by the congeniality and fine quality of the writing faculty, the varied background and talent of those enrolled, and the exceptional beauty of the environs: the natural habitat and inspiring atmosphere in which the program was cradled. Perhaps it was the power of these surroundings that created a less intimidating workplace for both faculty and students—a wonderful place in which to learn, to teach, especially to write creatively.
Over the years I’ve continued to participate in the Southampton Writers Conference studying under such generous and brilliant writers as Frank McCourt, Roger Rosenblatt, Matt Klam, and Melissa Bank. As a six-year attendee, I was encouraged to enroll as a candidate in the school’s MFA program in Writing and Literature, and I am writing my thesis— a novel that I’d begun long ago when I was a harried working mom with barely time to breathe. The graduate writing program and annual conferences have stood as a cultural and educational center for so many, providing a vehicle for people like myself…that rare and unique opportunity to expand personally, regardless of age, origin, or experience.