CAVE CANEM RETREAT

"Cave Canem is a hard place. Safe space is paradoxical. It doesn’t mean freedom to write anything without critique. Cave Canem is a place where you are free to risk."
— Toi Derricotte, Gathering Ground

Cave Canem’s week-long retreat is held annually at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Adult African American poets are invited to apply. Once accepted, poets become "fellows" and are encouraged to attend three retreats within a five-year period.

Retreat residencies offer an unparalleled opportunity to study with a world-class faculty and join a community of peers. Some fellows hail from the spoken word tradition, others focus on the text. Some are formalists, others are at the cutting edge of experimentation. All are united by a common purpose to improve their craft and find safe space "where black poets, individually and collectively, can inspire and be inspired by others, relieved of any obligation to explain or defend their blackness." (Harryette Mullen)

Tuition is free. Participants are asked to pay a $500 room-and-board fee. Once accepted, they may request financial assistance; limited aid is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

2009 Program

Dates: June 21 — 28

Faculty:
Confirmed as of December 9, 2008: Toi Derricotte, Cornelius Eady, Angela Jackson, Colleen J. McElroy and Ed Roberson.

Guest Poet:
Natasha Trethewey.

Application Period:
January 15 - March 5, 2009

Application Guidelines

Please view Sample Application

Retreat FAQs

Copyright © 1997-2008 by Cave Canem Foundation, Inc.

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