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The Adirondack Center for Writing will host their second Anne LaBastille Writer Residency program at Twitchell Lake October 10-24, 2015. This residency offers quiet space to work with other writers. Be inspired by the gorgeous setting and a community of talented writers. This year’s residencey will be for two weeks.
The residency was provided by the estate of Anne LaBastille, who was a widely published writer whose books like Woodswoman and Beyond Black Bear Lake, written from her cabin on Twitchell Lake, inspired a generation of women writing about the outdoors. She became a licensed guide in the 1970s, and served 17 years as an Adirondack Park Agency commissioner. Until shortly before her death in 2011, she lived part-time at her Twitchell Lake cabin. Residency participants will paddle out to visit her property at least once during their two-week stay.
The Residency at Twitchell Lake carries on Anne’s belief that “the cabin is the wellspring, the source, the hub of my existence. It gives me tranquility, a closeness of nature and wildlife, good health and fitness, a sense of security, the opportunity for resourcefulness, reflection and creative thinking.”
“The point of this residency is to provide space, time, and an inspiring landscape for regional and writers from outside the area to work on their writing projects, a chance to unplug and connect with other writers, and to tap into your creative self,” an announcement to the press said. “To that end, there will be no internet or cell-phone at the residency.”
There is space for six writers; half are reserved for regional writers and half are open to writers outside the region. The Center for Writing has announced that they will accept writers in any genre, and the quality of written submissions will be their primary consideration.
Submission guidelines and applications are accepted through their online submission form through May 20th.
Photos: Above, Anne LaBastille’s cabin, as it sits today; and below, Anne LaBastille.
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Applicants for the residency should be aware that the judging panel selecting the winners is not revealed to the residency entrants, or anyone else. Nor are the winning names revealed, ever.
This lack of transparency keeps me from applying again for the residency as an out of state entrant. Nathalie Thill, the exec. director of the writing center, said to me, “We don’t want writers writing to please a particular judge.” Really? Any serious writer, successful or not, will tell you that’s ludicrous. The first necessary ingredient for successful and influential writing is to know WHO and WHAT you’re writing for. OTOH, if you enjoy a crap shoot, go ahead and apply. I suggest any entrant curious about who the judges might be, look at the Center’s Advisory Board and Board of Directors, to start.
I have no ax to grind against the admins of the Center or the Anne Labastille estate admins, some of whom I know personally. I’ve read most of Anne’s books and admire her. She’s in the same class as the great Adk guides, wilderness explorers, and artists.
Per sources at the Center, last year the residency had 84 applicants. Entrant fee is $25. Do the math; the residency is a fundraising event as well as a competition…nothing wrong with that… Wilderness places of refuge and sanctuary, like the Adirondacks, will always be controversial on how to appreciate and preserve them, a subject Anne and her admirers care about, and continue to write and agitate about.