The Crazyhorse/Tupelo Press Publishing Institute
at the College of Charleston
June 3–30, 2008
Application deadline extended to June 3.
Apply to the institute online! Housing forms available below. Specific questions about housing or tuition may always be directed to Carol Ann Davis at davisca@cofc.edu
The Crazyhorse/Tupelo Press Publishing Institute unites two important literary institutions: an internationally distinguished, award-winning publisher and a literary journal with nearly 50 years of continuous publication. The program of study is unique in combining the opportunity for a practical internship at Crazyhorse with important lessons on the first book through an intensive, four-week course chronicling the selection of a winner in the annual Tupelo Press First Book Prize.
With over 250,000 new books published in the U.S. every year, there is a substantial demand for well-qualified editors and publishers. To address this demand—and to augment the career prospects of emerging writers—the College of Charleston and the literary journal Crazyhorse have partnered with Tupelo Press, an independent literary press, to establish the Crazyhorse/Tupelo Press Publishing Institute. The institute is a graduate-level program open to writers at any post-baccalaureate level, whether finished with a graduate creative writing program, currently enrolled or considering attending one. Students may choose either a credit or non-credit option to pursue. It will be held in June 3-30, 2008 at the College of Charleston, in Charleston, South Carolina, where Crazyhorse is published.
The Crazyhorse/Tupelo Press Publishing Institute offers:
Students enrolled in the institute work closely with, and receive instruction from, Tupelo Press Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Levine and Crazyhorse Editors Carol Ann Davis and Garrett Doherty, in both classroom and real-world settings. The seminar (The First Book Prize in Poetry: Pulling Back the Curtain on the Selection Process) combines a traditional study of first books with a look behind the scenes at the process of judging a first-book prize. Over the course of four weeks, students will work with the nationally prominent editors and publishers who judge the Tupelo Press First Book Prize. In addition to observing the judges’ deliberations, students will read manuscripts, prepare reader reports for the judges, and receive an intimate look at how a first book in poetry becomes successful. Institute participants also may intern at the literary journal Crazyhorse, where they will receive training on the inner workings and day-to-day tasks of producing a distinguished, biannual literary journal. Students will continue the aesthetic work begun in the first-books class as they read the unsolicited submissions at Crazyhorse and consider and debate the criteria upon which literary merit is decided. They will learn about layout, design, distribution, advertisement, web-based outreach efforts and other aspects of the editing and publishing world. They will contribute to the health of a literary journal in a very real way, and will learn much about literary publishing that can translate directly into professional experience.
Carol Ann Davis directs the undergraduate creative writing program at the College of Charleston where she is associate professor of English and editor of Crazyhorse. Her first book of poetry, Psalm, was runner-up for the 2005 Dorset Prize and was published by Tupelo Press in 2007. Her poems have appeared in recent issues of Agni, The Threepenny Review and The Southern Review. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the South Carolina Arts Commission.
Garrett Doherty is editor of Crazyhorse. His poetry has been published in Poetry, The New Republic, Verse, Slate, Seneca Review, The Southern Review and elsewhere.
Jeffrey Levine is the author of two books of poetry, Rumor of Cortez (Red Hen Press, 2005), nominated for a 2006 L .A. Times Poetry Book of the Year award, and Mortal, Everlasting, winner of the Transcontinental Poetry Prize from Pavement Saw Press (2002). His work has appeared in Ploughshares, The Antioch Review, Barrow Street, American Letters & Commentary, Virginia Quarterly Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Poetry International, Quarterly West, Yankee Magazine, The Seattle Review and many other literary journals and magazines. Nine times nominated for a Pushcart Prize, he has won the Larry Levis Prize from The Missouri Review, North American Review’s James Hearst Poetry Prize, the Mississippi Review Poetry Prize and the Kestrel Poetry Prize, among others. A graduate of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers, he is editor-in-chief and publisher of Tupelo Press, an independent literary press with offices in Dorset, Vermont, and Charlottesville, Virginia.
For tuition and housing information, contact Institute Director Carol Ann Davis.
This year, Tupelo Press and Crazyhorse are reinventing the first-book prize. For the first time, the annual Tupelo Press First Book Prize will be judged cooperatively by the editors of Tupelo Press and Crazyhorse – and for the first time, emerging writers will be given the chance to learn from the judging process.
The Crazyhorse/Tupelo Press Publishing Institute offers multifaceted, hands-on opportunities for writers to learn about literary publishing and earn graduate or post-graduate credit that may be transferable to other graduate programs. Participants will also earn a certificate of completion for the institute. The institute provides practical and intellectual challenges that will qualify writers to work in literary publishing while enhancing and broadening their own writing process.
For more information, contact Carol Ann Davis at davisca@cofc.edu or 843.953.7269
