Tayari's Blog: "VONA Has Saved My Life"

LECONTE: I’ve been back multiple years, too. VONA is like a family reunion, a college homecoming.
TERI: I feel you LeConté. It is definitely like a college homecoming, at least from my experience at an HBCU

LECONTE: Right, except instead of the Battle of the Bands and Step Shows, there are Student Readings..and Salsa Dancing in Frisco!

TAYARI: Okay, Ladies. Here’s a business question: what is the schedule like at VONA?

LECONTE: For the Poetry Workshop, we started at 9:30 every morning and went until 12:30 in the afternoon. During our sessions, we workshopped two or three manuscripts per day and also discussed craft, music, art, politics, family. After our individual pieces were workshopped, we had 1 1/2 hour or so one-on-one sessions with our instructor. There are also daily specials like a publishing seminar and the faculty readings.

TAYARI: Teri, you did a Residency with David Mura this year…how is that different than a workshop and what was your schedule like?
TERI: The main differences are that my residency group had a lot of individual time to work on our manuscripts/projects and had two really intensive private meetings with our workshop leader, David Mura. During those sessions, he would review my work and give me reading and writing assignments. Each day at 12, the whole group would meet with David.

LECONTE: Did you miss the workshop atmosphere where you critiqued each other’s work?
TERI: A little, LeConté… But, I had a specific goal this year and that was to figure out how to complete a manuscript I’ve been working on for years and I knew I needed this type of time and attention to support that process.

TAYARI: Teri, you lived in the dorm, right?
TERI: I stay on campus each year. To be honest, I look forward each summer to leaving my house, car, bills, and other responsibilities. Besides, Phelan Hall, is a really nice place and some of my greatest VONA friendships started in those early morning hours in the communal bathroom.

TAYARI: Most writing programs are out in the boonies somewhere. How was it taking a workshop in the Bay Area?
TERI: For me, VONA is as much about being in the Bay area as it is about the writing. You hear the experiences of the city in the writers work each year. Also being exposed to poets and writers from the West Coast that I, unfortunately, hadn’t been to before…like June Jordan, for instance. She passed away right before I came to VONA in 2002 and that year the faculty did a tribute reading for her following one of the weeks. Since then, I’ve filled my library with every book of hers I can get my hand on.

TAYARI: Let’s wrap this up. What was the highlight of this year’s VONA?
LECONTE: The most memorable experience for me is that I felt transformed after VONA 2007. I left the week feeling lifted—in a mind-altering drug, hot air balloon ride, got the Holy Spirit kinda way. VONA 2007 was an incredible journey, and oftentimes, I feel like I can’t even begin to do it justice by describing it. What I can say is that VONA pushed me to to be more present and authentic in my writing and my life, and to allow my emotions to come forth.

TERI: I’d say mine was an awakening I had about how intertwined the way I write and the way I live are. Meaning I can only be as honest in my writing as I am in my living. And when I speak of honesty in this case, I mean authentic living, you know. Facing it on the page and releasing some of the inhibitions in my writing was life saving for me.

more info on VONA here.