Aimee Nezhukumatathil In “The Woman Who Turned Down a Date with a Cherry Farmer,” a poem from Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s 2003 book Miracle Fruit, a narrator remembers a day swelling with “umbrellas of fruit,” “flip-flops and
Frank Oz The title of Frank Oz’s morning lecture — the second of Week Six’s “What’s Funny?” programming — is “I Don’t Know Anything About Comedy.” “It’s true,” Oz said. “It’s absolutely true.” It’s a
A workshop, according to Roy Hoffman, is “not only a round-robin of texts, but also a circle of creative souls.” The author of three novels will teach an advanced prose workshop at the Chautauqua
Jimin Han Sporting flared pants and oversized glasses, the young woman in the photo stands in front of a sign that reads “Welcome to Chautauqua.” Her parents, aunt, uncle and two small cousins — one
Deaf Republic emerges from a confession. “We Lived Happily during the War,” a narrator admits in the title of the opening poem, the first of poet Ilya Kaminsky’s long-awaited collection. The book’s cardinal, double-edged metaphor
Norma Rees remembers a couple distinct moments from last year’s annual Robert Pinsky Favorite Poem Project, which marked the event’s 10th anniversary at Chautauqua Institution. One: A woman read a poem that her mother —
David Hassler Shara McCallum There is a figure standing atop a sunset-shaded mountain. The silhouette, with arms outstretched, basks in the otherworldly glow of paint-splattered stars. This is the cover for Speak a Powerful Magic,
Young poets at Seville Intermediate School in Seville, Ohio, describe joy as “perfect,” “pouncing” and “purple.” It’s just one example of the communal creative energy that fills the book, Speak a Powerful Magic — the
Abraham Smith When he was a “squirmy, shouty” grade school student, Abraham Smith entered an environmental speech contest. “I’ve always been a performative person,” Smith said. “I think I frightened some of the older farmers
Participants of the Young Writers Institute pen essays after their class discussing the form on July 11 in the Literary Arts Center in Alumni Hall. Sarah Yenesel / Staff Photographer Last week, young writers gathered on
The personal is indeed political for Shara McCallum, a Week Five poet-in-residence at the Chautauqua Writers’ Center. However, within the context of her lived experience as an award-winning poet and a mixed-race, Jamaican-born woman who
Glick Robert Glick no longer collects barf bags. In a 2011 interview with Jacquelyn Barnes for the travel website Wanderlust and Lipstick, Glick traced the beginning of his hobby to his move in 1999 to
Once, when she was the principal cellist in the Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra, Aja Gabel played Yo-Yo Ma’s cello. During a break from rehearsing with the symphony, the renowned cellist left the stage to
Marcelo Hernandez Castillo At age 5, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo crossed a desert. It was spring 1993 when Castillo immigrated from Tepechitlán, Mexico, to the United States with his family of six, beginning his life as
Colin Struk, 2, snacks on Cheetos and watermelon during the Great American Picnic Sunday, July 15, 2018, in front of Alumni Hall. RILEY ROBINSON/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER If the Alumni Association of the CLSC is the heart of
Marcelo Hernandez Castillo Marcelo Hernandez Castillo thinks he might be afraid of the long poem. That is a somewhat provocative admission from the Week Four poet-in-residence, especially because his time at Chautauqua is in part devoted