Just found out from the Sirenland organizers that Andrew Sean Greer, author of The Story of a Marriage (which I read and loved) and The Confessions of Max Tivoli (which I have not read but now plan to) is going to be the visiting writer at this year’s Sirenland conference. I can’t wait! That’s one of the most exciting things about these sorts of conferences; back in 2008 at Sewanee I was fortunate enough to have John Casey as one of my workshop advisors, and you can’t help but learn something when you’re rubbing elbows with a writer of that caliber. I’m looking forward to a similar experience with Andrew.
Another bit of happy news; I was recently awarded the Mark Farrington Personal Writing Award for 2011 by the Northern Virginia Writing Project. While the $500 award will not pay for all of my Sirenland-related expenses, it’s certainly a nice boost. I’m honored by the award and grateful to the Project for selecting me from among this year’s applicants. I’m also grateful to Mark Farrington, now the Assistant Director of the M.A. in Writing Program at Johns Hopkins, for endowing the award three years ago.
It’s hard to believe that I’m just over a month away from Positano!