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March 20-22, 2009
Point Reyes Station, California
The Geography of Hope Conference is sponsored by the following organizations to benefit the Tomales Bay Library Association’s Writer in West Marin Program. For more information, please visit:
Heyday Books
Marin Agricultural Land Trust
Marin Arts Council 
Marin Organic
Point Reyes Books
Tomales Bay Library Association
Toby's Feed Barn
Author and peach farmer David Mas Masumoto will chair the 2009 Geography of Hope: A Conference Celebrating Writing on Farming & Rural Life, in Point Reyes Station from March 20 to 22, 2009.
Listen to a rebroadcast of a conversation with Elisabeth Ptak, Rose Castillo Guilbault, and David Mas Masumoto about Point Reyes conference/art exhibits/walking tours March (courtesy of KWMR radio)
The first Geography of Hope conference, held in 2008, was one of the most exceptional literary events ever to take place in northern California. It was dedicated to Wallace Stegner , whose writings often reflected on the relationship between people and the land. Building on that theme, this year’s event will take as its focus writing on farming and the rural life featuring authors who are farmers, ranchers, and growers, people who—to paraphrase Barbara Kingsolver—have devoted their lives to the health of their habitat and food chain.
Conference chair David Mas Masumoto grows organic peaches and grapes on his family farm in Del Rey, in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Author of Harvest Son, Epitaph for a Peach, and Four Seasons in Five Senses, the author has won numerous awards for his writing, which also has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and USA Today. You can visit his website at www.masumoto.com.
Held in the heart of Marin County where the predominant land use is agriculture, the “Geography of Hope: Writing on Farming and the Rural Life” will explore the duality of inspiration and cultivation as expressed by some of the finest writers in the nation.
Joining Masumoto will be leaders in publishing, arts, culture, conservation, and literature, including Malcolm Margolin, Wendy Johnson, Verlyn Klinkenborg, Wes Jackson, Patricia Klindienst, Stanley Crawford, Rose Castillo Guilbault, Mildred Kalish, Greg Sarris and Warren Weber (partial list).
Field trips to nearby family farms and ranches will give conference attendees a chance to experience local agriculture, a tradition in western Marin County since the mid-19th century. Art installations, spirited panels and conversations, and delicious meals prepared with food from local farms and ranches will be hallmarks of the weekend as attendees gather in barns, gymnasiums, and community buildings, on farms and in parklands to explore the relationship between people and the land.
The phrase “geography of hope” ended Wallace Stegner’s famous 1961 Wilderness Letter and was a major factor in the passage of the landmark Wilderness Bill a few years later. The ideas in the letter also encompassed his wider concepts of the American West. Point Reyes Station, located adjacent to Point Reyes National Seashore, is the commercial hub of an area where many land use concepts advocated by Stegner have taken root, including both wilderness protection and farmland preservation.
Full conference tickets priced at $250 per person, and include passes to all panels, one fieldtrip, and some meals. Attendance is limited to 150 people. A limited number of per panel tickets will be available at the door. Tickets to some fieldtrips may be available for $25 per person, on a first come, first served basis. See the FieldTrips section below for a complete list of destinations and schedule.
Friday only tickets are priced at $100 per person, and include a pass to one fieldtrip, the opening conference panel, and dinner at Toby’s Feed Barn.
Saturday only tickets are priced at $125 per person, and include a pass to the three conference panels offered on Saturday, the boxed lunch with a pair of panelists, and dinner at Toby’s Feed Barn.
Attendance is limited to 150 people. A limited number of per panel tickets will be available at the door at a cost of $25. Tickets to some fieldtrips may be available for $40 per person, on a first come, first served basis. See the Field Trips section below for a complete list of destinations and schedule.
A limited number of partial scholarships are available. For an application, please email books@ptreyesbooks.com or call 415.663.1003
For more information, or to receive an invitation, please email books@ptreyesbooks.com or call 415.663.1003
Conference Schedule
| 11:00 am – 6:00 pm | Conference registration at Toby’s Feed Barn |
| 1:00 – 4:00 pm | Fieldtrips |
| 4:00 – 7:00 pm | "Art Walk” featuring Gallery Route One (GRO), Marty Knapp Gallery, Pelican Studio and Toby’s Feed Barn Gallery. This event is free and open to the public. |
| 5:30 - 7:00 pm | Supper, no-host wine bar and live music at Toby’s Feed Barn |
| 7:30 pm | West Marin School Gymnasium
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| 9:30 | Coffee and tea at the West Marin School gymnasium |
| 10:00 am | Conference Panel:“Planting the Seeds of Story” How does working the land plant the seeds of stories? Does writing, like farming, have seasons? How do these authors balance the jobs of farmer/rancher and writer? Taiko Drumming: Mas Masumoto & Nikiko Masumoto Moderator: Mas Masumoto Panelists: Stanley Crawford, Linda Hussa, Wendy Johnson, Wes Jackson, Verlyn Klinkenborg. |
| 12:00 – 1:30 pm | Boxed lunch with paired panelists
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| 2:30 pm | Conference Panel: “Stories from the Land” Learn about the experiences, characters, successes, or hardships that have influenced these authors and inspired them as storytellers. Moderator: Wendy Johnson Panelists: Rose Castillo Guilbault, Millie Kalish, Mas Masumoto, Patricia Klindienst, Lisa Hamilton, and Greg Sarris. |
| 5:30 – 7:30 pm | Supper, no-host wine bar and live music at Toby’s Feed Barn |
| 8:00 pm | Conference Panel: “Farming As Personal, Farming As Political” Taiko Drumming: Mas Masumoto & Nikiko Masumoto The rural life is about hard work, land, family, community—belonging to a place. But it’s also about politics—from water issues to land use concerns to the price of eggs in China. Is writing about farming where the personal and political intersect? Moderator: Warren Weber Panelists: Stanley Crawford, Linda Hussa, Wes Jackson, Verlyn Klinkenborg, Nikiko Masumoto, Mike Madison |
| 10:00 am – 11:30 am | Conference Gathering: “Rooted in Place” at the Giacomini Dairy |
| 12:00-1:30pm | Screening of “Hidden Bounty of Marin” film at Pelican Studio |
| 1:30 – 3:30pm | Conference Panel: “The Writing Life” followed by “Speed Dating for Writers” An informative and fun discussion of thinking, writing, trying to get published, re-writing, editing, etc. followed by a freewheeling question-and-answer session with many of the conference panelists. Moderators: Malcolm Margolin & Mas Masumoto Panelists: All |
Fieldtrips
Meet at 12:30 pm, Friday, March 20th. Fieldtrips will depart at 1:00 pm sharp.
Meeting Place: The Dance Palace parking lot (located at the corner of 5th St. and B St. in Point Reyes Station)
Transportation: We will be car pooling to the tour sites. Bring your car to the meeting place and we will organize car pools from there.
What to bring: Tours will be offered rain or shine so be prepared for all kinds of weather. Bring hiking boots, rubber boots, rain gear, backpacks, water, hats, and sunblock.
Readings on the farm: On each tour a local writer will be a featured guest and give a short reading of some of work inspired by the rural West Marin landscape.
Walking tour of Hostoric Point Reyes Station
with Historian Dewey Livingston
This historic town, once a hub of the dairy industry laid out along a narrow-gauge railroad line, has experienced ups and downs since its founding in 1875. Dewey Livingston provides an illustrated talk on the history of the town and surrounding area, followed by a walking tour. Learn about the history and listen to the stories of this dynamic small town as you visit the old Cooperative Creamery, the old Northwestern Pacific Rail Road engine house and depot, as well as many other fascinating buildings. Dewey has written several books on West Marin and its history and will share many of his stories with us.
Black Mountain Hike
with Constance Washburn, Education Director, Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) and Rancher Sally Gale
Black Mountain, overlooking Point Reyes Station and Tomales Bay, is one of the largest properties protected by a MALT agricultural conservation easement. The spectacular lands that we will view from the top of the 1,280-foot peak are a valuable resource. They provide not only food for the body, but food for the soul as well. Black Mountain is named for pioneer cattle rancher James Black. In 1851, he bought a tract of land which included the landmark for $2000. Sally’s family has been ranching in Marin County for five generations. She and her husband raise grass-fed beef and organic apples in the Chileno Valley.
Hog Island Oyster Co. & Straus Organic Dairy
with Hog Island owner Terry Sawyer and Dairyman Albert Straus and Playwright Vivien Straus
Learn all about oyster farming and water issues as you tour Hog Island Oyster Company. Taste oysters grown in Tomales Bay, while enjoying great views. Then tour the Straus family’s organic dairy at milking time and learn about their innovative methane digester which turns manure into energy and reduces greenhouse gases. Straus Dairy is a member of Marin Organic and protected by a MALT conservation easement. Albert has time and again proven himself an innovator in the world of sustainable food production. Vivien is a playwright and will read from her new work.
Star Route Farms and Gospel Flats farm in Bolinas
with author Wendy Johnson
These farms in Bolinas are part the Pine Gulch Creek watershed, are certified salmon safe and support a diversified ecosystem. Learn about their organic techniques, see the cover crops, greenhouses, and wander along the creek searching for salmon. Star Route farms, founded in 1974 by Warren Weber, is the oldest continuously certified organic farm in California. They grow salad greens, lettuce, leafy greens, cool-weather vegetables, herbs, edible flowers. All crops certified organic by Marin Organic. Gospel Flat farmer Mickey Murch and his family grow food in a variety of styles, raising organic vegetables and flowers along with pigs, rabbits, chickens, ducks and geese. This farm is increasingly dedicated to its role in the community, not only as a provider of local vegetables, but inspiration towards handmade food through mobile kitchen workshops, after-school education, and school tours. You will be informed of the efforts of Marin Organic to support local organic agriculture for the health of the community and the planet. Organic Farmer and Educator Wendy Johnson has recently published a book on gardening and will read from her work.
Drakes Bay Family Farms, Oyster and Beef operations
with Rancher and Oyster Farmer Kevin Lunny and author Mark Dowie
Take a tour of this oyster farm on Drakes Estero which has been in commercial production for 100 years. Learn the process for creating single oysters and growing the oysters in the rich tidal waters of the Estero. Then visit the beef ranching operation which has been in his family for three generations and produces certified grass fed organic beef. The Lunny’s were the first to certify their pastures organic and raise grass fed beef on 1,500 organic acres. Enjoy the scenery of the gorgeous Point Reyes National Seashore as you hike over the pastures and walk along the shores of the Estero. Mark Dowie is teaches science and environmental reporting at UC Berkeley and has written extensively on land issues. He will share an excerpt from his upcoming book.
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Art Exhibitions
Conference attendees are invited to the first annual “ArtWalk” in Point Reyes Station on Friday, March 20th from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. Take a stroll through town, with stops for art viewing and refreshments at Gallery Route One, Pelican Studio, Marty Knapp Gallery and The Gallery at Toby’s Feed Barn. THIS IS A FREE EVENT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Please see below for exhibition information.
The Wild Book Show: Farm Books
February 20th – March 29th, 2009
Closing Party & final bidding, Sunday, March 29, 4:00 – 5:00pm
Gallery Route One, 1101 Shoreline Hwy, Point Reyes Station, CA
(415) 663.1347 website: www.galleryrouteone.org
In its sixth year, the annual “Wild Book Show” has established itself as a unique opportunity for some 35 artists to create an original book on a changing theme, such as ocean, forest and wetland. This year’s theme is food and farming. The event is sponsored by Point Reyes Books and GRO to benefit GRO’s Artists in the Schools Program. Books will be for sale through a silent bidding process. Artists interested in participation should visit the GRO website for more information.
Barn Art: A Public Art Installation
March 15th – March 31st, 2009
25 established and emerging artists will contribute their work to a major outdoor public art installation on sites in and around Point Reyes Station, and at the Marin French Cheese Company in Petaluma.
Participating Artists: Diane Bouchard, Sheri Clyde, Colleen Connelly, Nick Corcoran, Lucie Duclos, Paula Fave, Vickisa Feinberg, Kathleen Goodwin, Toni Littlejon, Richard Lyttle, Reuben Margolin, Miz Maze Theater, Hannah Mott, Pamela Palma, Heather Pratt, Stephen Pring, Lorca, Stephanie and Sage Rossman, Laurie Sargent, Irwin Segal, Nancy Stein, Will Thoms, Betty Woolfolk.
Art on the Farm
March 8th – March 29th, 2009
Claudia Chapline Gallery, 3445 Shoreline Hwy, Stinson Beach, CA
(415) 868.2308 website: www.cchapline.com
Ten years ago, Alan Mart of the InterNatural Harvesters organic farm founded Art on the Farm, an effort to bring artists and organic farms together. This group of artists selects a day, often Sunday, and goes to a particular farm. There the artists pick out images that are of interest and paint, draw, or photograph whatever image seems right. They produced a benefit art exhibition for the Marin Organic Loan Fund. Their most recent exhibition was at Toby's Feed Barn in Point Reyes Station during the Point Reyes Harvest Festival last November.
Artists-in-the-Schools
March 20th-22nd, 2009
West Marin School 11550 Shoreline Hwy, Point Reyes Station, CA
Photography and poetry created by West Marin students.
Farming in Bolinas
March 4th –March 25th, 2009
The Gallery at Toby’s Feed Barn, 11550 Shoreline Hwy, Point Reyes Station, CA (415) 663.1223
website: www.tobysfeedbarn.com
An exhibit of the history of farming in Bolinas, featuring photography, interviews and historical documents.
Growing Art from the Land: Ranches & Rolling Hills
A selection from the Marin Agricultural Land Trust’s annual landscape art show
March 4th – March 25th, 2009
The Gallery at Toby’s Feed Barn
11550 Shoreline Hwy, Point Reyes Station, CA
SSince 1998, artists from Marin County and from Santa Barbara's Oak Group have joined forces on the third weekend each May to participate in Ranches & Rolling Hills, a landscape art show and sale to benefit Marin Agricultural Land Trust. Their work depicts farms protected by MALT easements, ranches located in Point Reyes National Seashore, and other private farmlands—all of them reflecting the human and natural history that make West Marin such a special and beloved place. As a prelude to this year’s Ranches & Rolling Hills show, several of the artists will illustrate how their art “grows from the land.” Each participating artist in this unique exhibit will present a series of studies to demonstrate the artistic process that shows their particular style that culminates in a finished landscape painting. Except for the stunning quilts created specially for this installation by local organic grower Sandy Dierks, the artwork at Toby’s Feed Barn will not be for sale.
Marty Knapp Photographs
Marty Knapp Gallery, 11245 Shoreline Hwy, Point Reyes Station, CA
(415) 663.8670 website: www.martyknapp.com
Photographer Marty Knapp specializes in traditional Black and White photographs of the Point Reyes wilderness area.
Movement of the Liberation of the Coca Plant by Amy Franceschini in collaboration with Wilson Diaz
March 1st – April 10th, 2009
Closing Party, April 10, 5:00 – 7:30pm
Beulah Gallery, 9980 Shoreline Hwy, Olema, CA
(415) 663.0380
website: www.futurefarmers.com
Amy is a new media artist and educator. Her work is pervaded with images of growth - reminding us that both nature and our own creative natures are precious commodities that must be nurtured and sustained whether it is on the web or in our own backyards. Amy founded Futurefarmers in 1995, as a means to bring together multidisciplinary artists to create new work. She is currently teaching Media Theory and Practice courses at Stanford University and the San Francisco Art Institute.
Wilson Diaz is an artist and organizer living and working in Cali, Columbia. He creates videos, drawings and installations that focus on the social and cultural impact of the politics. His work has been exhibited internationally including the Utopia Station at the 50th Venice Biennale, Portikus Gallery in Frankfurt, 2009 Havana Biennale and James Colman gallery in London.
Perspectives on Land, Hope and Optimism: Photography by Art Rogers, Madeleine Blake, Robert Campbell & GRO Latino Photography Project
March 1st – March 22nd, 2009
Pelican Studio, 11101 Shoreline Hwy, Point Reyes Station, CA
(415) 456-1739
website: www.pelicanstudio.com
website: www.artrogers.com
website: www.madeleineblake.com
Pelican Studio exhibits local fine art, with an emphasis on West Marin landscape photography.
Madeleine Graham Blake makes her living documenting the lives of rural people in the American West and in the far western regions of China. She is co-author of Balancing Water: Restoration in the Klamath Basin and Mandeville Island: A Fine Balance. Her latest book project illustrates The Family Ranch: Land, Children and Tradition in the American West, text by Linda Hussa, published by University of Nevada Press, 2009.
Art Rogers has documented the agricultural community on the North Coast for over 35 years. He is widely known for his portraits of families, children and babies, large groups, and the rural scenes and landscapes of West Marin. In his current work, he utilizes 100-year-old antique wooden view cameras to produce a series of agricultural landscapes.He is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and has also received fellowships from The National Endowment of the Arts and The Marin Arts Council and the SECA Art Award from The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Art lives in Point Reyes Station, California, with his wife Laura, their daughters Julia and Hannah, their dogs Nellie and Louie, Gus the turtle, and Monty the cat.
Terroir: A Sense of Place
March 20th – June 21st, 2009
Art at the Marin French Cheese Factory, 7500 Red Hill Rd., Petaluma, CA 94952
(800) 292.6001 x112; www.artatthecheesefactory.org
A juried outdoor sculpture exhibition.
2009 Geography OF Hope Panelists
David Mas Masumoto (Honorary Chair) grows organic peaches and grapes on his family farm in Del Rey in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Author of Harvest Son, Epitaph for a Peach and Four Seasons in Five Senses, he has won numerous awards for his writing, which also has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. You can visit his website at: www.masumoto.com
Rose Castillo Guilbault is the author of Farmworker's Daughter:Growing Up Mexican in America. She was born in Sonora, Mexico, and grew up in the Salinas Valley of California. She is currently Vice President of Corporate Affairs at AAA of Northern California, Nevada, and Utah, and is Publisher of Via Magazine. She serves on the Board of Governors for the Commonwealth Club of California where she previously served as Chairperson.
Stanley Crawford farms and writes in Northern New Mexico. He is the author of five novels and three works of non-fiction, including A Garlic Testament: Seasons on a Small New Mexico Farm, and Mayordomo: Chronicle of an Acequia in Northern New Mexico. Active in the Santa Fe Farmers’ market for the past 20 years, he was instrumental in the creation of its new $4 million permanent facility.
Lisa Hamilton is a journalist who focuses on agriculture, particularly the stories of farmers and ranchers. As a writer and photographer she has traveled from sacred rice paddies in the Philippines to castration time on a Wyoming sheep ranch, and her work has been published in The Nation, Harper's, National Geographic Traveler, Orion, and Gastronomica. She is the author of Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in the Age of Agribusiness (Counterpoint, 2009).
Linda Hussa is the author of Sharing Fencelines (2002) which elaborates on issues facing rural communities and their desert landscape; Lige Langston: Sweet Iron (1999) and Diary of a Cowcamp Cook (1990). She is on the Board of Directors of the Western Folklife Center. Her most recent book, The Family Ranch offers readers a personal, inside view into the lives of six diverse ranching families and the land that shapes their days and nights. Photographer Madeleine Graham Blake provides engaging and often moving images that portray each family at work and at play.
Wes Jackson is the founder and current president of The Land Institute. Jackson is the author of several books, including New Roots for Agriculture and Becoming Native to This Place and is recognized as a leader in the international sustainable agriculture movement.
Wendy Johnson is one of the founders of the organic Farm and Garden Program at Green Gulch Zen Center in Marin County, California, where she lived with her family from 1975-2000. She is the author of the recently published Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate: At Work in the Wild and Cultivated World.
Mildred Kalish is a retired professor of English who grew up in Garrison, Iowa, and taught at several colleges, including the University of Iowa, Adelphi University, and Suffolk County Community College. She now lives with her husband in northern California. She is the author of Little Heathens – Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression.
Patricia Klindienst is the author of The Earth Knows my Name: Food, Culture, & Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans. In her own description, this book is the first to "restore the cultural meaning of gardens created by ethnic Americans, including Native Americans, Gullah descendants of West African slaves, Hispanics whose ancestors came with the conquistadors, and immigrants from across Europe and Asia." She has taught at Yale, Wesleyan and Connecticut College.
Verlyn Klinkenborg is a writer for The New York Times. He is the author of "Making Hay" (1986), "The Last Fine Time" (1991) and "The Rural Life" (2003). His work has appeared in many magazines, including The New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire, National Geographic, The New Republic, Smithsonian, Audubon, GQ, Gourmet, Martha Stewart Living, Sports Afield and The New York Times Magazine. He has taught literature and creative writing at Fordham University, St. Olaf College, Bennington College and Harvard. He lives in rural New York.
Judith Larner Lowry has been the proprietor of Larner Seeds, specialists in California native plants and seeds, for the last thirty years. Her work involves wildland seed gathering, seed propagation and increase, designing homeowner restoration projects, and promoting native plants as food. She is the author of two books published by UC Press, Gardening with a Wild Heart (1999) and The Landscaping Ideas of Jays (2006). In 2005, she won the John Burrough Society Award for Best Published Nature Essay. She lives in Marin and Mendocino Couty with her husband.
Mike Madison is the author of Blithe Tomato, and Walking the Flatlands: The Rural Landscape of the Lower Sacremento Valley. He lives with his wife Diane in Winters, California, where they, grow olives, melons, apricots, citrus and flowers on thirty three acres on the Lower Putah Creek. They also operate Yolo Press, an olive oil processing mill serving Yoloa and Solano counties.
Malcolm Margolin founded Heyday Books in 1974. Heyday publishes books on California history, natural history, literature, travel and Native American life. Among the books that he has written are The East Bay Out: A Personal Guide to the East Bay Regional Parks, The Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area.
Nikiko Masumoto holds a B.A. in Gender and Women’s studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She is the daughter of David Mas Masumoto and grew up on their 80-acre family farm in Del Rey in California’s Central Valley. She is committed to building a foundation for the next generation of farmers and runs Central Valley school youth leadership programs that focus on issues of self esteem, sexism, body image, racism and language barriers. Nikiko is also a Taiko Japanese drummer, writer and poet.
Greg Sarris is a college professor, author, screenwriter, and current Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. He has published several books, including the widely anthologized collection of essays, Keeping Slug Woman Alive; A Holistic Approach to American Indian Texts.
Warren Weber, owner of Star Route Farms, operates the oldest continuously certified organic farm in California. He began farming 5 acres in Bolinas in 1974 with a horse-drawn plow and a lot of "long-haired ambition". He's long since cut his hair and grown his acreage, and now produces some of the Bay Area's most sought after leafy greens, herbs, edible flowers, legumes and tender seasonal vegetables. Weber says that from the beginning "we have really been in business for the people who consume our products, rather than in business for the yield."
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Conference Lodging
Discounted conference accommodations are available at the following lodgings, please mention you will be attending the Geography of Hope conference.
Bear Valley Inn
88 Bear Valley Rd.
PO Box 58,
Olema, CA 94950
(415) 663.1777
website: www.bearvinn.com
Point Reyes Seashore Lodge
10021 Shoreline Hwy
PO Box 39,
Olema, CA 94950
(415) 663-9000
website: www.pointreyesseashore.com
Holly Tree Inn
3 Silverhills Rd,
Inverness Park, CA 94937
PO Box 642,
Point Reyes Station, CA 94956
(415) 663.1554
website: www.hollytreeinn.com
Inverness Valley Inn
13275 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.
PO Box 429,
Inverness, CA 94937
(415) 669.7250
website: www.invernessvalleyinn.com
Golden Hinde Inn & Marina
12938 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.,
Inverness, CA 94937
PO Box 10, Olema, CA 94950
(415) 669.1389
website: www.goldenhindeinn.com
2008 Geography of Hope Attendees Said:
• "Having Hog Island owner Terry Sawyer shuck oysters for us to slurp right off the shells was a treat. And this was before we even began our discussion of Wallace Stegner's writing and legacy. . . . Russ and I talked about this conference all the way home. And we will be reading books by the panelists and remembering the richness of the experience for a long time." Blyth Carpenter, an attendee.
• "It was a real tonic to be able to talk and think about great writing." Felicity Barringer, environmental writer for The New York Times.
• "You did an amazing thing." Robert Hass, conference chair, poet, and professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley.
• "What a special gathering of diverse souls, each with a common footing in western Americana." Gary Weatherford, former deputy secretary of the California Resources Agency and legal counsel in the Department of Interior.
• "It was truly enjoyable to help out at the conference and I feel so proud and moved to have been a part of it. The assembly of authors, poets, and environmental leaders had an impact on me far beyond what I expected. I know so many other participants that felt the same way." Mary Kenny, volunteer.
• "Thanks for bringing Stegner back to life for a little while." David Rains Wallace, writer.
• "I felt a pang driving away from Pt. Reyes and that special moment created by the Stegner conference. Every one of us had a story to tell that could not have found greater resonance anywhere else." Merrill Joan Gerber, writer.
• “I thought that the setting-facilities-speakers were well-blended. Even the ‘checkers-in’ were most personable and cordial, and to the attendees such as myself and my wife things seemed to go without a single hitch! There was an uplifting, party-like spirit to the whole thing.” Stephen Fisher, the filmmaker who made a PBS documentary of Stegner.
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