Sewanee: Day 6

This is close to the halfway point and although today was a slow day--the Sunday schedule is not as jammed as other days--from now on things speed up. Breakfast was later today and the first event was a John Casey craft lecture at 11:00 (although some folks went for a hike to Piney Point).

John's lecture was about the mentor/mentee relationship, but he told it with the assistance of a doll, and that made it pretty entertaining.

In the afternoon there was a fellows' reading and although I wanted to attend, I was working on revisions to a story and that, frankly, took precedence.

Then we had a reading by Richard Bausch (a wonderful new story) followed by a party at the bookstore where people signed their books. When I talked to Bausch there he told me he had seen my review of his recent novel, and that stunned me.

After dinner we had a reading by Brad Leithauser, most of which was light verse. Brad is a serious looking guy who writes some very funny poetry, which somehow makes it even funnier.

There was an open mic session at one of the dorms but since there were more than 50 people in attendance, I went on to the French House, where the crowd was smaller than other nights. But among other entertainments, Claudia reprised her song from her reading and Bausch also sang. Lots of fun.

I've learned of three more folks who are blogging from the conference, bringing the total now to six. The new ones are Donna Trussell, Sandra Beasley and Leslie Harrison.