Postscript to Dewberry and Butler

They both will be participating at this year's FGCU Sanibel Island Writers Conference.

And on a sidenote, if you check out the Sanibel Island Writers Conference web site, you'll see that there is a contest with Mangrove Review, with the winners getting the conference registration fee waived (that's valued at $350). Worth checking out. If nothing else, just to see how Dewberry and Butler are really getting along.

Comments

RegoPark said…
If Butler doesn't respect his graduate students enough not to burden them with that confessional e-mail, what kind of scintillating conversation can innocent writing types expect from him at the conference socials? He and his ex will be the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan of Sanibel.
5:40 PM
RegoPark said…
Let me rephrase that. I genuinely feel for the guy and am sure Sanibel will be a blast regardless of any acknowledged or unacknowledged drama. Nor do I overestimate conference attendees' interest in Butler's dirty laundry. But I think some writers (Ayelet Waldman comes to mind) go too far in divulging intimate feelings and details of their personal lives at the expense of others. He is in a position of power over those grad students he e-mailed, which to me is more disturbing than the content of the message itself.
7:25 PM
Jim Brock said…
First, I think Butler's comments are rather self-absorbed and foolish. Do students need this kind of hand-holding over what is the most banal of behavior. I agree, though, that it places his grad students in a terrible position.

Second, about the conference, I think it's a total non-issue. Butler is pretty well known for being a generous and entertaining writer/teacher, and I imagine the attendees will be delighted and well served. It would only be unfortunate if the local media focuses solely on this tawdry confession, at the expense of covering the other super terrific writers and editors there.

Besides, Denise Duhamel and Nick Carbo will be there, and their utter sanity will more than counterbalance this sad soap opera.
7:45 PM
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