Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Operation Homecoming | ![]() |
Press release:
“U.S. troops returning from duty will be encouraged to write about their wartime experiences through a new National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) program, called Operation Homecoming. NEA Chairman Dana Gioia announced the initiative in a news conference today [20APR04] at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial in Arlington, Va.
“The program will provide writing workshops led by distinguished authors such as Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down; Tom Clancy, author of The Hunt for Red October; Bobbie Ann Mason, author of In Country; and James McBride, author of The Color of Water. Operation Homecoming will also include a CD containing interviews and readings by military writers, an online writing tutorial, and an anthology of new wartime writing contributed by the military and their families.”
A brief synopsis of the program in the Spring ‘04 issue of On Point notes that “reflections in a variety of forms--fiction, letters, essays, memoirs, and personal journals” will be accepted. And of course, members of all ranks from all service branches are welcome.
Submissions accepted through 31DEC04; full story here.

