Alumni, current students, and anyone affiliated with the Goddard/Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers or Friends of Writers (FOW) are welcome to attend evening readings either in person or remotely. If you wish to attend in person, contact one of the registrants for information on when and where readings take place, or send us a message on our Contact form.
As we have in recent years, we will be broadcasting the evening readings via Zoom, and we invite you to attend. The readings will begin at 7:30 PM EDT from Sunday, July 12 through Saturday, July 18. You can find a schedule of readers on the Schedule page. Find a link in the message sent to anyone on the FOW mailing list or the Wally listserve. If none of those work for you, use the Contact page on this website and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Please let us know what your affiliation with the MFA Program is.
You can arrive any time after 7 PM. You will be muted throughout the reading, but you can share your praise in the chat. After the readers have finished, you can unmute and visit with other Zoom attendees.
Given that 2026 is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the MFA Program for Writers at Goddard College, and that Ellen passed away last year, we thought it fitting to honor her with a tribute during the alumni conference that she held so dear. Kathleen Collison and Debra Allbery have dreamed up a beautiful event.
During the summer 1995 residency Kathleen co-produced a recording of Ellen’s newly released collection of linked sonnets, Kyrie, with the sonnets read in different voices. It was recorded onto cassette tape, the current technology. As time went on, the hope was that it could be redone in CD format, but that wasn’t possible until last year, when tireless efforts by Deb Allbery and Reed Turchi produced this remastered edition. Readers include Lux, McIlvoy, Baxter, Boruch, Wilner, Turchi, and more. Cello interludes by Kathleen Collisson.
Debra Allbery has composed a slideshow to accompany the poems which you will be able to view while you listen. Following the reading, attendees on site will sit together in Quaker meeting style with the opportunity to speak as so moved. Zoom attendees will be muted throughout so as to help preserve the atmosphere in the room, but may share written responses in the Zoom chat.
Use the same link as for the evening readings (ignore the meeting time on the link).
Over 50 alums are registered and eager to spend our money on your auction items. All auction proceeds benefit Friends of Writers, and all of your donations are guaranteed to give you a warm, fuzzy feeling that can never be taken away.
Here’s how you can contribute:
Donate your signed books, broadsides, artwork, secret recipes, writerly memorabilia, whatever.
Offer a week’s stay (or an overnight) at your cabin in the woods / chalet in the Swiss Alps / cottage on the Cape, etc. to the highest bidder.
Donate whatever objects, services, or ideas you can think of that might induce us to part with our money.
Please send us a message using our Contact form to get Helen Fremont's mailing address, where you can send your tangible offerings to be received no later than July 9. If you have intangible items that only need a written description, send it to us using the Contact form.