BWC 2009 keynote speaker's latest in Vanity Fair

Our keynote speaker for 2009, Mark Bowden, also contributes to Vanity Fair. Here's an excerpt from his latest, an examination of the New York Times, its ownership, and what forces of economy and character have combined to endanger one of the country's great newspapers.

America is not kind to the heir. He is a stereotypical figure in our literature, and not an appealing one at that. He tends to be depicted as weak, pampered, flawed, a diluted strain of the hardy founding stock. America celebrates the self-made. Unless an heir veers sharply from his father’s path, he is not taken seriously. Even in middle age he seems costumed, a pretender draped in oversize clothes, a boy who has raided his father’s closet. The depiction may be unfair, but it is what it is.

Award-winning poet to appear at BWC 2009

Jane Satterfield, a poet and nonfiction writer, will lead the BWC 2009 craft session on poetry. Satterfield is the author of two books of poetry and has just published a memoir called Daughters of Empire: A Memoir of Year in Britain and Beyond. She is also the literary editor for the Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering. Her work has won awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Towson University, and the Maryland State Arts Council, among others.