Hello dearies,

The last time we wrote, the snow was swirling and the winds were howling. Today is calm and lovely with Spring finally making an appearance. If you could hear the peepers outside, see the birds, and the greening lawns, you'd know how exciting it is to watch Spring come to Millay....

And meanwhile, here are some photos from our Master Class program, bringing free classes in writing and art to Germantown and Chatham High Schools...

Here is alumni artist and Master Teacher Carl Ferrero at Chatham High this month, presenting his work...

Photos from Germantown coming soon. We LOVE working with the local schools and are so grateful to the marvelous teachers, principals and administrators who make this work possible -- and to the lovely students whose work is so impressive and amazing.

We also also greatly thank all the marvelous folks at the following community organizations for their enthusiasm and support: The Hudson River Bank & Trust Foundation, The Rheinstrom Hill Foundation, and The Berkshire Taconic Community Trust/Germantown Student Education Arts and Humanities Fund.


More soon, xox

Hello world,

The report from snowy Boston...we are at the Associated Writing Programs Conference, a huge literary conference that happens each February or March somewhere in a big US city convention center. This year it's Boston and the city is greeting us with lots of love and snow...

At the Heinz Convention Center, we have a table in the amazing bookfair. We are sharing the table with lovely Belladonna Series and so enjoying the conviviality...

We also had a sweet small gathering at 29newberry last night, with howling snow outside and nice red wine inside...

So nice to see alums and friends and to meet a few new people as well...

Here are some photos...

And now, back into the howling snows....more reports to come...

Love, Caroline, Cara, Millay...

Millay Colony at AWP!

 

We will be sharing a table with Belladonna* Collaborative and Stonecutter Journal at the bookfair. Stop on by!

 

Also, while in town....a Millay Colony get-together:

Thursday, March 7, 2013; 5 to 7 pm

Join us for some friendliness in the literary maelstrom!

 

Alums, fans, future residents, all are welcome. We will gather at 29 Newbury, a Restaurant, bar, and gallery just blocks from the convention center.

 

29 Newbury St.

Boston, MA

617-536-0290

www.29newbury.com

 

Congrats to Millay Alum Amy Brill!

Amy Brill was a resident with us in 2004 (and one of the very first Winter Shakers, too!). The novel she was working on back then, now called The Movement of Stars, will be published by Riverhead Books on April 18, 2013!

 

 

"In spare yet luminous prose, Brill shows Hannah achieving emotional and spiritual growth to match her intellectual gifts…Probing yet accessible, beautifully written and richly characterized: fine work from a writer to watch.” —Kirkus, starred review

http://www.amybrill.com

From Amy:

"It's hard to believe that nine years have gone by since I first sat in the Millay Colony barn, gazing out the window at the single, beautifully twisted tree outside, and pondering the fate of the protagonist in my novel, The Movement of Stars. In the years since, I've seen that tree in every season: blooming in summertime during my first residency, when I still thought I was writing an epistolary novel hewing closely to the true life-story of the first professional female astronomer in America (I wasn't); still and snow-covered in winter, when I was one of the first "Shakers" and spent some of time painting said barn and the remainder trying to tell the story I wanted to tell (not epistolary, and not "about" Maria Mitchell, after all). I saw the tree in autumn, when I returned to visit then-director Drake Patten one weekend with a fellow former resident. And I saw it in the spring, on a road trip with my now-husband, to whom I wished to point out the special and beautiful place that so inspired me. It was at Millay that I had the time and breathing room to lie under the wide night sky, memorizing the constellations; it was there I met an artist who gave me wisdom I never forgot: "How do I feel about my work?" he mused one day over dinner. "Who cares? It's my work. How I feel about it isn't that important." In so many ways, my time at Millay was fundamental to both my novel and myself: the Colony shaped both, indelibly, and I'll forever be grateful."

 

Planning an event or retreat?

The Millay Colony for the Arts is available to rent for retreats, parties, think-tanks, weddings, and many other group gatherings. During the Residency Season (April - November), we have inter-residency breaks of three to six days each month. After the Residency season (December - March), we have several week-long periods open.

Our spectacular campus in the Berkshires is located on the former property of legendary poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. Bordering Harvey Mountain State Forest, The Millay Colony is nestled on seven acres of meadows and wooded land and offers stunning views, lush fields, and historic walking trails.

Our facility can board groups up to fourteen, with seven double beds, and we can arrange further lodging with discounts at nearby locations for events with larger numbers. The Colony has hosted parties of up to 300 and has also been an intimate home for retreats of creative collaborative groups of four members.

Whether it is a pastoral retreat, think-tank, party, or working vacation, our dazzling Upstate New York location is an idyllic location.

http://www.millaycolony.org/rental

Millay Colony Fall Reading at Poets House, NYC




Join us for a reading featuring new work and bon mots from esteemed and bedazzling poets Anthony Madrid, Michael Robbins and Susan Wheeler. Then walk up the curvacious stairway at Poets House to sample autumnal wines, eat some delicious snacks and talk the evening while watching the moon rise over the Hudson River.

ADMISSION IS FREE. JOIN US!!

Wednesday, October 24

7:30 pm

Poets House

10 River Terrace

NY, NY 10282

ANTHONY MADRID lives in Chicago. His poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in AGNI Online, Boston Review, Fence, Gulf Coast, Iowa Review, Lana Turner, LIT, Poetry, Washington Square, and WEB CONJUNCTIONS. His first book is called I AM YOUR SLAVE NOW DO WHAT I SAY (Canarium Books, 2012). 

MICHAEL ROBBINS is the author of Alien vs. Predator (Penguin, 2012). His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, Harper's, Boston Review, and elsewhere. He reviews books regularly for the London Review of Books, Poetry, The New York Observer, the Chicago Tribune, and several other publications. He received his PhD in English from the University of Chicago.

SUSAN WHEELER is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Meme from the University of Iowa Press, and a novel, Record Palace, published by Graywolf Press. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Witter Bynner Prize for Poetry from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she teaches at Princeton University and lives in the New York area.



Deadline for Applications: October 1!

Each year Millay Colony invites 52 visual artists, writers and composers for a colony residency. Residents are chosen anonymously by a panel of jurors in each discipline. The application process is competitive and based solely on on the merit of the artist statement and work sample. Past jurors and their bios can be viewed on our Juries page. An article on the jury process can also be found in our Spring 2008 newsletter.

The Millay Colony for the Arts is pleased to announce that, starting this year, we are adding three new offerings to our roster of artist residencies on its pastoral upstate New York/Berkshire area campus. While continuing to offer month-long residencies to visual artists, writers and composers, the Millay Colony is now offering three new ways to spend time as a resident: Two-week Residencies in the month of September, Virtual Residencies and Group Residencies.

The Millay Colony accepts residents on the basis of artistic merit. Our admissions policy does not discriminate with regard to race, sex, sexual preference, religion, marital status, disability or nation of origin.

http://www.millaycolony.org/apply