Tag Archives: Bread Loaf Writers Conference

You’d Think Maybe a Writers’ Conference Would Put Writers First

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Well, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference is now over, but the consequences of an uncontrolled Covid-19 outbreak may continue for quite some time.

When last we left the situation, more than 10% of conference participants had become ill. Leadership responded by continuing activities as scheduled, including a dance, with masking suggested but not required. The infected attendees were sent home — or should I say were ousted from the conference. The departees, including some who had written about their experiences on Twitter, were not offered refunds or any help with unexpected travel costs.

Sometime during the day Friday, after several writers took to Twitter and I wrote about the situation in this space (and the paywalled Publishers Marketplace also covered the outbreak), leadership changed its stance. According to former participant and now Covid patient Caitlin Eichorn, Bread Loaf reached out to infected participants with an offer of prorated refunds for tuition, room and board — but only after, as Eichorn noted, “the bad publicity” around the Bread Loaf outbreak had begun to spread.

Better late than never, but it would have been preferable if leadership had acted on principle instead of damage control.

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Covid Outbreak at Bread Loaf

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Middlebury College’s renowned Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference has been struck by the Covid-19 virus. According to email communications with participants, conference officials had confirmed 26 cases as of yesterday afternoon. That is, according to one source, about 10% of all participants. There have been no reports of serious illness. So far.

This year’s Bread Loaf Conference began on August 16 and is scheduled to conclude on Saturday. The official response seems more focused on continuing to the finish than on containing the outbreak.

Bread Loaf attendee Caitlin Eichorn has been chronicling the experience on Twitter, which I still refuse to call X. Her Twitter feed is the source of many of the quotations included in this post.

At first, according to Eichorn, there were daily email updates on the number of cases. That practice ended after conference leaders had “conversations with Middlebury’s trusted medical advisors,” according to a message sent to attendees. The counsel from those advisors was to “turn the emphasis away from reporting the number of the cases, which health departments stopped counting awhile ago, focusing instead on hospitalizations which provide a better estimate of how COVID-19 is impacting the community.”

So far this summer, there have generally been fewer hospitalizations than in previous Augusts. That’s nice, but no guarantee. Plus, avoiding immediate hospitalization doesn’t mean you won’t get some variety of long Covid down the road.

I’d prefer not to get sick in the first place. “Trusted medical advisors” notwithstanding, if I were a Bread Loaf participant, I’d want to know what the hell is going on in every detail. And I’d want strict measures taken to limit the spread, if indeed you want to press on with the conference, including limiting the number of indoor events and requiring the use of masks throughout.

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