Black Hills State University Professor of English Dr. Courtney Huse Wika was accepted to the highly competitive 2026 Bread Loaf Environmental Writers' Conference, held in June in Ripton, Vermont.
Founded in 1926 by Middlebury College with the assistance of renowned poet Robert Frost, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference is the oldest and one of the most prestigious writers’ conferences in the United States. Frost taught at the conference for decades, helping establish its enduring legacy as a premier destination for writers and poets.
The Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference brings together writers dedicated to exploring ecology, conservation, climate, and the natural world through poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Cosponsored by the Middlebury College Environmental Studies Program and the Franklin Environmental Center, the conference offers a week-long program centered on small, faculty-led workshops.
Participants are placed in workshops of no more than ten writers, allowing for in-depth discussion of manuscripts and individualized mentorship. In addition to workshop sessions, attendees meet one-on-one with faculty mentors, attend lectures and craft classes, participate in daily public readings, and have opportunities to meet with literary agents, editors, and publishers.
This year's distinguished faculty included poets Jennifer Chang and Amber Flora Thomas; fiction writers Ramona Ausubel and Nina McConigley; and nonfiction writers Ben Goldfarb, Helen Macdonald, and Abe Streep. Huse Wika was mentored by Joseph O. Legaspi, a Fulbright and New York Foundation for the Arts fellow, and author of six books of poetry, including his most recent collection, “Amphibian.”
Acceptance to the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference is highly competitive, bringing together emerging and established writers from across the country to develop new work while engaging with leading voices in environmental literature.
Huse Wika described the experience as exhilarating.
“I was surrounded by writers deeply committed to rendering the natural world on the page. It was a rare gift to be part of a community so devoted to craft, where every conversation offered an opportunity to learn from one another, deepen our understanding of the world, and return to the page with greater intention. I look forward to bringing those conversations about writing, observation, and revision back into my creative writing classes, where I hope we can cultivate the same spirit of curiosity and community."
