About Summer Wood

photo by Miriam Berkley

photo by Miriam Berkley

Me: fiction writer (novels, stories); teacher; editor.

The seats: supported backsides for years in the venerable Kiva Theater in Albuquerque.

My places: Taos County, NM.  San Francisco Bay Area.  Humboldt County, CA. Andalucia, Spain.  A dash of coastal Maine.  And a feeling for Glacier Bay, Alaska, that could turn out to be either a thrilling infatuation or a serious crush.

Latest good news: my second novel, WRECKER, will be published in winter 2011 by Bloomsbury US and Bloomsbury UK.

Current projects: putting together the 2010 Young Writers’ Mentorship Program for SOMOS, here in Taos.  Moving forward with a collection of related stories (is this a novel?  Starting to look like one) set in the intermountain West.

First novel: ARROYO, published in 2001 by Chronicle Books.

Special thanks to: the glorious group at A Room of Her Own Foundation.  In late 2007 they awarded me the bi-annual Literary Gift of Freedom, a $50,000 grant intended to permit a woman writer to complete a particular work.  (Follow the link to learn more about this tremendous organization.)  With the time that grant bought, I completed WRECKER and got started on the next.

Where you’ll find me in 2010:

  • March 5-7: I’ll be part of AROHO’s contingent at the Women and Creativity Conference at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque.  On Sunday the 7th, I’ll offer a full-day workshop titled “Finding Funding for your Creative Projects.”  You can register for this benefit workshop on the AROHO website.
  • April 7-10: I’ll be on two panels on at the Associated Writing Programs annual conference in Chicago.  Check back for more updated info.
  • July 12-18: Teaching “Writing the Where of it”, a weeklong workshop, at the UNM Taos Summer Writers Conference.
  • August 13: Reading for SOMOS in Taos at the RANE Gallery, 214 Ledoux St.  I’ll be sharing the stage with James Nave for the 5th night of the Summer Writers Series.  Haven’t read for SOMOS for five years… is that possible?  I love this organization.  Come support them and hear a sneak preview from WRECKER, and listen to James bring down the house with his poetry and stories.
  • September-October 2010: Teaching an eight-week workshop on “Crafting the Inside Story”.  One series offered in Taos, a second in Santa Fe.  Email for more info.