Things Are Yummy at the Yale Publishing Course

Let me tell you about the food.

The Yale Publishing Course, which kicks off this Sunday, July 14th, takes place in the Greenberg Conference Center on the Yale campus. This lovely facility is bright, open and airy. Upstairs is a large dining room/lecture hall, where attendees of the week-long conference are served delicious meals while they listen to insightful speakers like Michael Jacobs, President & CEO, Abrams Books. Sometimes the meal is served at table, sometimes it’s buffet. Most meals are taken in this sunny, spacious room, except for the special activities, like when the Old World Pizza truck comes for a visit or the outdoor barbecue is held.

Downstairs in the conference center is a comfortable tiered lecture hall where the lessons take place, where you sit for intensive hours for five days while program Director Tina C. Weiner parades a cast of high-profile publishers before you, and you imbibe publishing lessons designed to be put to use directly upon returning to your office (where they most likely do not serve you 3 delicious healthy meals a day).

This year, the magazine track (July 14-19) features publishing luminaries such as Michael Clinton of Hearst and Cynthia Leive of Glamour. The book track the following week (July 21-26) includes pub stars like Liisa McCloy Kelley of Random House and Kirsty Melville of Andrews McMeel. Plus there’s insight from other perspectives—you definitely want to hear what Yale School of Management professor Richard Foster has to say about publishing and the stock market!

Outside the lecture hall is a snack set-up with a big urn of freshly brewed unsweetened iced tea, which is really all I need or desire in this world, plus a selection of other beverages. To the side there is always a lovely selection of fruit, fresh and dried, and nuts. The Yale Publishing Course wants to make sure you eat healthfully! Oh, and some of the students help the cause as well. In the photo you’ll see Marie Piccone, publisher of Telos Press, and the homemade cookies she brought for the group last year.

The Yale Publishing Course, launched in 2010, is a unique educational opportunity for magazine and book publishers. You’ll surely learn a lot, listen to and talk to great instructors, meet amazing co-student publishers from all over the world, and have a good time on the lovely Yale campus. But really, it’s all about the food.