"Cave Canem gave me an invaluable education. I feel as though I have already completed an MFA! I used to feel very intimidated by the formal and academic writing community — Cave Canem gave me the support and guidance to see I could hold my own."

R. Erica Doyle,
Cave Canem Fellow 1997-1999
poem featured Best American Poetry, 2001

The challenge of creating a poem every day. African American traditions and their transformations. Fellowship and solitude. Safety and risk. A week of writing, studying, and talking poetry. The best readings you’ll ever hear, the best audience you’ll ever have…. These are some elements that make the Cave Canem retreat an extraordinary experience for the poets who attend.

OUR SUMMER PROGRAM

Workshops
The Cave Canem summer workshop/retreat is a place to take creative risks. Participants write a poem every day for discussion in afternoon workshops. Each poet joins with eight to ten fellows to meet with the six faculty members in turn over the course of the week. Faculty members are all experienced teachers, bringing their own aesthetic concerns, grounding in the history and craft of poetry, and mix of exercises and critique to the workshop sessions.

Participants have identified these important aspects of the summer workshop/retreat:

"The time to write. The freedom to express your true voice. The community that cradles you."

"The idea of craft. The possibility for an honest, loving, communal and disciplined space that reinforces the necessity of craft."

Optional morning workshops allow fellows to share their experience and knowledge. Participants have given workshops on such varied topics as haiku, translation, the revision process, using hip-hop to teach poetry, and improvisational techniques. Guest faculty members also give morning seminars.

Readings
The range of styles and voices of faculty and fellows make the evening poetry readings a highlight of the week for many. Tim Seibles (Cave Canem faculty, 1999 – 2001) called them, "some of the best times I’ve ever spent as a listener."

"The participant readings were simply knockouts. It was a way to find out what everyone is working on, to introduce newcomers to Cave Canem, to flex your reading muscles."

A '24-7' Experience
Lively explorations of the art of poetry go on around the clock at Cave Canem, at meals and impromptu discussions in rooms and common areas. For some, however, the need for rest and reflection — and time to write — sends them to the beautiful grounds at Cranbrook.

"I’ve never before had the opportunity to concentrate so totally and completely on the craft of poetry. It was truly a life-changing experience."

CAVE CANEM FELLOWS

Our 2005 retreat will include 52 fellows, six full-time faculty members, and a guest poet. As part of our effort to build a community of black poets and foster their careers, Cave Canem allows fellows to attend three workshop/retreats within five years. New fellows are chosen based on the quality of their submissions and the availability of space. We recognize that African American poetry is as varied as the poets who make it, and welcome writers with diverse backgrounds, styles, and subjects.

LOCATION

University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg

The University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg is located 35 miles east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on a 219 acre campus noted for its natural beauty. Cave Canem will be housed in one of the Academic Villages, with classrooms, auditoriums and dormitories in close proximity. There is access to recreational activities and a nature trail is adjacent to the campus.

For photographs of past summer retreats, see our scrapbook.

2005 FACULTY

Cyrus Cassells is the author of four books: The Mud Actor, Soul Make a Path Through Shouting, Beautiful Signore, and, most recently More than Peace and Cypresses. He is the recipient of a Lannan Literary Award and a Lambda Literary Award, and teaches at Texas State University.

Toi Derricotte is the author of five books including the memoir, The Black Notebooks, winner of the 1998 Annisfield-Wolf Book Award, and Tender, winner of the Paterson Poetry Prize. She is Professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh.

Cornelius Eady's sixth book of poetry, Brutal Imagination, a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award, and as a play won an Oppenheimer Award. His musical theater piece, Running Man, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He teaches at American University.

Erica Hunt is the author of three books of poetry, including Arcade, with artist Alison Saar, and Piece Logic. Her essay, “Notes for an Oppositional Poetics” in Charles Bernstein’s The Politics of Poetic Form, has put her in the forefront of experimental poets.

Marilyn Nelson's latest collection, Carver: a Life in Poems, won the 2001 Boston Post/Hornbook Award. Poet Laureate of the State of Connecticut, she teaches at the University of Connecticut, Storrs.

GUEST FACULTY

Cecil Giscombe is the author of two books of poetry, Here and Giscombe Road, and a work of prose about family and race in Canada, Into and Out of Dislocation. He teaches in the MFA program at Penn State.

FEES AND SCHOLARSHIPS

To keep the cost to participants low, there is no tuition. Room and board fees are $495 for the week-long session. Participants can apply for limited scholarship assistance to help meet the room and board fee after acceptance into the workshop.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Mail two copies of six to eight poems, with your name included on each page, along with a cover letter explaining why you would like to attend the workshop/retreat and what you want to get out of the experience. Include your address, telephone number, and email address. Include a SASE postcard if you would like to be notified that the manuscript was received. Manuscripts are not returned. No electronic submissions accepted.

Send by U.S. mail to:

Cave Canem Workshop/Retreat
Cave Canem Foundation, Inc.
584 Broadway, Suite 508
New York, NY 10012

REGISTRATION CLOSED.

The Summer Workshop/Retreat is funded in part by the Vira I Heinz Endowment and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. Individual donors have also generously contributed to the Scholarship Fund, making possible the participation of poets who otherwise could not otherwise attend without their support.

Copyright © 1997-2005 by Cave Canem Foundation, Inc.

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