Summer Writing Program 2026

Directed by Anne Waldman (Founder), Jeffrey Pethybridge, Swanee Astrid

Guest Artists: Dawn Lundy Martin, Carolina Ebeid, Lucia Hinojosa, Edmund Berrigan, Richard Siken, Anne Waldman, Selah Saterstrom, Karla Kelsey, Joyelle McSweeney, Julia Seko, Kazim Ali, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Caroline Bergvall, Cedar Sigo, CAConrad, Vincent Katz & others!

Do you sense it? That buzz of life underground, in the air, across water, a part of and beyond every element? That vibratory connection of all things from the pollinator to the flower, the musician to their instrument, the train to the track, the machine to the word. This is about the artistic intelligence in all things and each moment ripe with translation, whether that is in the corn fields or the urban subway station. This year, we will put our senses out in the world with antennae tuned to the various frequencies and de/crescendos of Gaia and the people and places who call her home. What reactions must occur for our multi-organism to maintain life?

The Metabollic Thrum is about our mutual experience. To quote Patti Smith from an interview with Lisa Robinson 1/19/1979, “I feel a lot of anarchy, a lot of ecstasy, a lot of anger, sometimes paranoia, sometimes total madness, total abandon, and I hope to transmit these same energies, transmit them and have them transmit back to me.”

Our inquiries and innovations will seek answers for the repair, removal, regulation, and energy production of literature; a stasis between the anabolic and catabolic states to creative sustenance.

As part of a contemplative education project, and an experiment in community, the Summer Writing Program does not engage in gatekeeping, and all writers, artists, and interested or curious students are welcome to register—there is no application fee. Scholarships available.