Lance Olsen has posted a summary of last week's The Writer's Edge Conference in Portland, Oregon at the Now What? collaborative blog, including a few photos. Click here to read. Lidia Yuknavitch, co-sponsor, has also posted a bit of a more personal response here.

What I can say about the conference that hasn't already been said? Simply that it was a great experience for me. Never before (never!) have I been in the presence of such a diverse group of writers/artists in pursuit of that elusive something one gets from writing &/or reading prose &/or poetry that goes beyond mere narrative or staid description to open new worlds (possibilities) to the writer and reader alike. Each of the panels introduced me to some new perspective/s about conceptualizing my own work -- i.e. through the work of others, &/or through generative exercises -- and each of the five seasoned faculty members put a different spin on what "experimental" writing/fiction is or might be (if this is even the best term to describe "it" in all, or even most, cases). Having been going through somewhat of a dry spell -- at least in my world, where I used to be able to write thousands of words per week (in part because I had more free time between teaching classes in Japan than I do now) -- it was good to be able to scribble for a while at the conference and thereby to rediscover my voice[s] in an open, encouraging environment, rather than in isolation, as is the norm. It was also stimulating to discuss literature and MFA/PhD programs, both inside and outside the classroom, with faculty and attendees alike. I have lists of book recommendations to track down, and a modest though anything-but-lightweight stack of books I bought at Powells in downtown Portland to read (incl. two Huysmans novels, one by Bataille, Sade, Irwin, etc.), a bookstore which makes The Tattered Cover here in Denver seem small -- the sucker covers an entire city block! I was there three times and could have spent an entire day just browsing the shelves...

At any rate, a big "thanks" to everyone involved with the conference for making it such a great experience. I am currently reading one book recommended to me by Brian Evenson (Gerard de Nerval's Aurelia -- a 19th c. surrealistic work of Romanticism) and one by Lance Olsen (David Markson's The Last Novel, which is a collage of quotations/anecdotes interspersed with sparse observations &/or commentary by "Novelist," who is apparently moving toward the end of his life...). I only hope that, in future, I have a chance to once again interact with people whom I met at the conference, perhaps even to collaborate with one or two, or at least to be published side-by-side in either a journal or anthology at some point in the future.

It's good to realize I'm not the only one who reads and writes this stuff, even if it sometimes seems that way. Experimental/innovative/non-conventional fiction is still alive and well in America, even if it's mostly "underground." Isn't this how it's been throughout most of history, after all, at least in this country? Unfortunately, this isn't a place where Robbe-Grillet's Repetition will ever hit the bestseller list (as it did in France), though it is one that occasionally embraces the likes of McCarthy, Marcus, and Wallace, which means that there's hope yet.

~m