From the Director

Desert Nights, Rising Stars, will be on hiatus for 2010. This is in part a result of economic circumstances, in part a decision to take this opportunity to make use of our years of experience and the responses we’ve received from participants, faculty, volunteers and staff to reconsider some aspects of the conference. We expect preliminary information about the next conference to be available in late Spring 2010.

In this year of revision, there will be no shortage of events and opportunities for writers and readers. Our Distinguished Visiting Writers Series will host a variety of poets and prose writers in both fall 2009 and spring 2010—we’ll announce the full schedule later this summer. The Piper Writer’s Studio will also be offering a range of classes in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for everyone from beginning or casual writers looking for instruction and advice to publishing writers looking for rejuvenation and peer support.

While we are not taking advance registrations for future conferences or contracting with faculty, if you have other thoughts or suggestions regarding the Desert Nights, Rising Stars conference or any of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing programs, feel free to contact us by email at pipercenter.info@asu.edu.

All the best,

Peter Turchi
Director
Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing