MFA Celebrates Its Tenth Birthday

On August 10, a group of MFA students and alumni joined the staff in the Mansion to celebrate the program's tenth anniversary. Amid flowers, cakes, and multicolored balloons, a gathering of alumni and current students sang "Happy Birthday to Us" and raised a toast to the program's first ten years. Spalding President and MFA alum Tori Murden McClure (Spring 2005) joined the party to commemorate the program, where she drafted and revised her award-winning book A Pearl in the Storm. Student Ron Schildknecht videotaped MFAers sharing stories of their days in the program.

The festivities in August served as a prelude to a much larger celebration. On November 13, the first Sunday of residency, Spalding MFAers will welcome the wider community for a 10th-anniversary gala that begins with a faculty reading followed by a celebratory cake-cutting, a birthday song composed by George Schricker (Fall 2010), and the Celebration of Recently Published Books. All MFAers are encouraged to attend and contribute to the good cheer!

Ten years ago, in August 2001, Program Director Sena Naslund and Administrative Director Karen Mann were busy putting together the first residency of Spalding's MFA in Writing program. “Our goal was to create a superior innovative creative writing program of national importance. We wanted the Spalding MFA to be intellectually stimulating and emotionally supportive—a uniquely wonderful place to work and study,” Sena says.

On October 12, 2001, forty students (still our largest class ever) and eight faculty members arrived at Spalding's campus. They came from as far as Alaska and California and as near as Louisville itself. Sena stood at the lectern in the Lectorium and, for the first time, delivered her now-famous welcome—not the “welcome home” it has become, but a heartfelt welcome to the charter class of the Spalding MFA program, comprising fiction and creative nonfiction writers, poets, and writers for children. Later, she lectured on stylistic modalities, and the group discussed the book in common, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. When Gaines came to campus for his featured-author presentation, Spalding's 700-seat auditorium filled to capacity.

Jerriod Avant, poetry student, and alums Bob Sachs (Spring 2009), Nathan Gower (Fall 2008), and Joe Peacock (Fall 2008)

Ten years later, much has changed. The program has more than tripled in size, screenwriters and playwrights have joined the student body, there's now a summer semester with residency abroad, and the curriculum has been analyzed and improved innumerable times. The number of low-residency MFA in Writing programs in the U.S. has jumped from five to about fifty. Poets & Writers has named the Spalding program one of the Top Ten low-residency MFA in Writing programs.

Kim Crum and Thelma Wyland, members of the first class

Watch for announcements by email and in the Thursday Memo for ways to celebrate the anniversary. In September, the MFA staff will launch a birthday webpage where all MFAers are encouraged to post video, photographs, and written greetings.
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Fall 2011 Residency Program Book in Common Is The Caged Owl
The MFA Program’s Book in Common area for the Fall 2011 residency is poetry, and the program directors have selected Gregory Orr’s The Caged Owl: New and Selected Poems as the featured book. All students and faculty, regardless of their area of concentration, read The Caged Owl and prepare comments to add to the plenary discussion led by Program Director Sena Jeter Naslund, which takes place November 11, the first Friday of residency. Later in the residency, on Friday, November 18, Gregory visits to present a talk on his work to the MFA students, faculty, and community at large.  The next morning, Gregory attends a closed Q & A session for the MFA students and faculty. After both presentations, MFA students and faculty may have their books signed.

The Caged Owl is published by Copper Canyon Press (ISBN-10: 1556591772 or  ISBN-13: 978-1556591778). Students and faculty can purchase this book at their local bookstore or online, but Joseph Bednarik from Copper Canyon Press wants to encourage all to order the book directly from their press. He says: “If you would be so kind, please instruct your students [and faculty] to give us a toll-free call 877-501-1393 and we’ll cover the shipping costs . . . and even throw in a surprise treat. . . .”

Students entering ENG620 in the Fall 2011 semester are required to write a 2-4 page short critical essay on The Caged Owl and send it via Digital Dropbox on Blackboard to the MFA Office by August 28; these essays are forwarded to the MFA Program’s expository writing coaches, who conduct one-hour small expository workshops during the fall residency for ENG620 students. (Current ENG610 students who are required to complete this assignment should have been notified by email in June; those who have questions about this assignment should email Kathleen Driskell, kdriskell@spalding.edu.)
All students should adjust their semester’s reading lists in order to add The Caged Owl: New and Selected Poems to their cumulative bibliographies.

Gregory is the author of ten collections of poetry. His most recent volumes include How Beautiful the Beloved (2009), and Concerning the Book that Is the Body of the Beloved, (2005), both by Copper Canyon Press. His other volumes of poetry include Orpheus and Eurydice (2001); City of Salt (finalist for the LA Times Poetry Prize); We Must Make a Kingdom of It; and The Red House.

Gregory is also a writer of nonfiction and personal essays. His memoir The Blessing was chosen by Publisher’s Weekly as one of the fifty best nonfiction books of 2002. His personal essay “This I Believe” was broadcast on National Public Radio in 2006 and included in the anthology This I Believe (Holt, 2007). His essay about working as a teenager for the Civil Rights movement in the Deep South was selected for The Best American Creative Nonfiction 2009. Poetry as Survival (University of Georgia Press, 2002), an extended meditation on the dynamics and function of the personal lyric, was described by Adrienne Rich as “a wise and passionate book.” Earlier prose collections include Richer Entanglements: Essays and Notes on Poetry and Poems (University of Michigan), and Stanley Kunitz: An Introduction to the Poetry (Columbia University Press).

Gregory is the recipient of many awards and fellowships, including an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two NEA Fellowships, and a Rockefeller Fellowship at the Institute for the Study of Culture and Violence. He teaches at the University of Virginia, where he founded the MFA Program in Writing in 1975, and served from 1978 to 2003 as poetry editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review. He lives with his wife, the painter Trisha Orr, and their two daughters in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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Fall 2011 Cross-genre Exploration: Poetry
As the cross-genre exercise for the Fall 2011 residency, all students, regardless of area of concentration, write a poem based on an art object or painting. During residency, all students are taken by chartered bus to visit Louisville’s Speed Art Museum to find a subject for their poem.

Preparation for the writing assignment includes a plenary lecture by Program Director Sena Jeter Naslund and a poetry panel that further discusses ekphrastic poetry.

All poems are read by the poetry faculty, and some are selected for presentation at a follow-up plenary session near the end of the residency.
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MFA Welcomes Randall Horton as Guest Faculty for Fall Residency
The Spalding MFA directors are pleased to announce that poet Randall Horton joins the MFA faculty as a guest during the Fall 2011 residency. He will co-lead a poetry workshop, present a lecture and a faculty reading, and participate on a panel.

Randall is the author of two collections of poems: The Definition of Place and The Lingua Franca of Ninth Street, both from Main Street Rag. He is the recipient of the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award, the Bea Gonzalez Poetry Award, and most recently a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Literature. His creative and critical work has most recently appeared in Callaloo, Crab Orchard Review, and The Packingtown Review. Randall is a Cave Canem Fellow, a member of the Affrilachian Poets, and a member of The Symphony: The House that Etheridge Built. He has a MFA in Poetry from Chicago State University and a PhD in creative writing from SUNY Albany. Randall is assistant professor of English at the University of New Haven.

Please join the MFA directors in welcoming Randall Horton!
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Summer Residency 2011 in Italy

Carolyn Flynn (fiction) at the Colosseum

From the ancient streets of Rome to the Tuscan countryside, the MFA Program’s summer residency, July 3-15, explored Italian literature and culture. A group of forty-seven students, plus faculty and guests, was joined by a group of alumni led by MFA alumni association president Terry Price (Spring 2006).

The residency began in Rome. Home was in the Trastevere district at the Ripa hotel, where workshops, lectures, and readings took place. The group discussed films in common LaDolce Vita and 8 ½, both by Fellini. Program Director Sena Naslund’s craft lecture, “Form: Subject and Significance,” asked students to consider which subjects draw them as writers and readers . As part of the curriculum, the program dedicated a day to exploring historic Rome. A morning tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum introduced MFAers to Imperial Rome; the afternoon brought a tour of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica, including works such as Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling  and Pieta. On their off hours, students explored the city on their own.

Maria Hofman (poetry) and Farah Bagharib-Kaltz (screenwriting) boarding the bus in Rome

After four days in Rome, MFAers said goodbye to their guests and left for Tuscany. Students and faculty made a new home at Spannocchia, an agriturismo and educational foundation dedicated to the preservation of traditional rural Tuscan ways of life via sustainable, organic farming practices. Alumni stayed at La Casa Gialla, an art-filled farmhouse a short jaunt down the road. From these bases, the groups took day tours of Siena and Florence, with guided tours of the Uffizi museum and the Accademie, home of Michelangelo’s David.

The week at Spannocchia gave the residency a retreat-like feel. Lodging was in eight-hundred-year-old farmhouses. Communal dinners were followed by spirited student readings. In keeping with the Tuscan setting, faculty member Richard Goodman delivered a lecture on Dante. Kathleen Driskell introduced students to the Italian sonnet and then asked students to write one of their own. Guest lecturer Federico Pacchioni, a Fellini scholar, gave a presentation on Fellini’s collaborations with a series of screenwriters. Students in each concentration read a book by an Italian author or set in Italy (writing for children students studied Pinnocchio—both the Italian folk tale and the Disney movie) as well as a faculty book or script in each area of concentration. Students also took in a Tuscan cooking lesson. (Recipes, courtesy of Daniela Cesarin, are posted on Blackboard’s MFA in Writing Course under the On Extended Wings button.)

Alumni on tour in Tuscany

Meanwhile, at La Casa Gialla, alumni wrote, read, explored the Italian countryside, or cooked, as the mood struck. The alumni group included Darlyn Finch Kuhn (Summer 2009) and Brad Kuhn, who married the day before the trip began, thus becoming the first residency honeymooners in the program’s history.

Poetry 630 student Jerriod Avant, who took part in the trip, his first abroad, said of the Italian residency, “It was my first time being off the mainland. For me it was like sensory overload. I felt stretched. Broadened. Like my eyes had been opened to something.” Jerriod said contemplating the language barrier gave him something to think about, not only in terms of foreign languages but the regional differences of American dialects. He said the experience had him thinking about writing from both a standard American diction and an African-American Southern dialect in order to reach more people with his poetry.

Kelli Harmon (creative nonfi ction), Cynthia Cain (fi ction), and Leah Henderson- Diop (fi ction/writing for children & young adults), summer graduates

MFAers at the Colosseum	Faculty enjoying gelato: Mary Waters, Leslea Newman, Richard Goodman, Greg Pape
Dinner at Spannocchia	MFAers in Tuscany. Brooke Bullman and Sena Naslund in foreground

Ann Eskridge (Fall 2008), Matt Jaeger (Fall 2003), Laura Morton (screenwriting), and Amy Miller (creative nonfiction) in Siena

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Fall 2011 Residency Workshop: Emphasis on Literary Journalism
Dianne Aprile and Roy Hoffman will lead a special topic workshop at the Fall 2011 residency. It is open to all creative nonfiction students. Students in other areas of concentration who are not in ENG610 and who have not already participated in a workshop outside of their area may also participate in the workshop.

While the personal essay and memoir are popular forms of creative nonfiction, there are other areas of creative nonfiction in which reportage, observation, opinion, and cultural criticism are the driving forces. This workshop in literary journalism invites participants to contribute travel writing, nature writing, arts criticism (not reviews), profiles, personal op/ed pieces, and narrative nonfiction grounded in research and immersion reporting.

The “I” can surely be a part of literary journalism, with memory and commentary woven into the form, but the emphasis is less on the experience of the self and more on the surrounding world. Creative nonfiction has long appropriated conventions such as scene-making, dialogue, point of view, character development, and storytelling from the fictional realm. This workshop in literary journalism encourages an energetic style and colorful use of language. Participants do not have to be journalists—or have journalistic experience—to be part of this workshop; students are encouraged to look at going out and finding a good story to tell in the broader sphere outside or in addition to their own experiences.

The workshop will include discussion on markets for literary journalism and how to go about seeking those markets. Included in the discussions will be the work of literary journalists of diverse styles, such as Joan Didion, Susan Orlean, Albert Murray, John McPhee, John D’Agata, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Marguerite Duras.

The workshop size is limited. Those interested in participating should email Karen Mann at kmann@spalding.edu before August 28.
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Lee Smith Visits MFA Fall 2011 Residency as Guest Lecturer

Picture by Bryan Regan Photography, Raleigh, NC

The Spalding MFA Program is pleased to announce that Lee Smith will visit the Fall 2011 residency. Lee presents the lecture “A Life in Books.” In a description of her lecture, she writes, “I will talk about being a lifelong writer—what the relationship between real life and fiction has been for me, how the nature of writing has changed with age, the perils and consolations of art—interspersing my personal remarks with brief readings from my fiction. My aim is to be entertaining as well as to offer some useful insights and pointers.” To prepare for this lecture, students should read Lee’s novel Fair and Tender Ladies and her short story collection Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger, which was published in March 2010.

Lee Smith is the author of 15 works of fiction including Oral History and her recent On Agate Hill. Her novel The Last Girls was a 2002 New York Times bestseller as well as winner of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award. A retired professor of English at North Carolina State University, she has received many awards, including the North Carolina Award for Literature and an Academy Award in Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
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Teaching Practicum: ENG660
Students interested in taking the Teaching Practicum in Fall 2011 should contact Kathleen Driskell (kdriskell@spalding.edu) by midsemester, August 28. Students must have finished ENG610 and ENG620. Fall 2011 graduating students may take ENG660 as an elective (for more information, email Karen Mann at kmann@spalding.edu). Alums may take the teaching practicum as a post-graduate semester.

ENG660 is a 16-hour semester course. During residency, students meet in a cross-genre teaching workshop and lead discussions on submitted Worksheets. Students attend lectures outside their major areas of concentration in order to gain a wider view of the other genres they may be called upon to teach in introductory-level courses. Students not only benefit from lecture content, they also comment on the teaching methods used during those lectures.

The number of residency reports required remains the same as for students enrolled in the other courses.

During the semester, students develop syllabi, lesson plans, teaching diaries, and annotated bibliographies on pedagogical and classroom texts and submit those to the mentor in four course packets. Each student develops a workshop assignment and delivers that curriculum online to other students in ENG660. Each student must also arrange her or his own teaching practicum: In the past, students have taught in university settings, continuing education settings, non-credit courses, and online. Students have also convened beginning writers from their communities to meet as a class in local libraries, work environments, and community centers. Other teaching options may fit the practicum requirement.

The course is limited to six students and will be filled on a first come, first served basis (though students must meet the prerequisites.)

The Teaching Workshop is reserved for those interested in enrolling in ENG660 for the entire practicum semester; however, if there are spaces unfilled (limit 6), MFA students may take the workshop only during the Fall 2011 residency and then continue to be mentored in their major area, such as fiction or poetry, for the remainder of the semester. Students interested in the teaching practicum or the teaching workshop only, should email Kathleen Driskell as soon as possible, but before August 28. kdriskell@spalding.edu.
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The Kentucky Film Lab Presents an Afternoon with John DeCuir, Jr.: MFA Scholarships Available
What do Ghost Busters, Top Gun, Sister Act 2, Turner and Hooch and fifty other film and television titles have in common? They all count John DeCuir, Jr. as art director or production designer.

From 1:30-5 p.m. Saturday, September 24, in Louisville, the Kentucky Film Lab presents a hands-on workshop with John DeCuir, Jr., during the IdeaFestival held at the Kentucky Center for the Arts.

According to Kentucky Film Lab Director Arthur Rouse, this workshop will be another in a series of project-based opportunities for participants to work face-to-face with some of Hollywood’s finest talent.  “In addition to specifics about production design and art direction in the cinematic arts, John also illuminates the importance of design principles in other areas such as urban planning, entertainment destinations (Disney) and the power of the imagination,” says Rouse.

Aspiring and practicing filmmakers will learn the tricks of the trade for effective art direction and production design through hands-on exercises and John’s long history of practical experience.

The registration fee is $25. The MFA Program provides scholarships in the form of registration reimbursement for students and alumni who attend the Film Lab. To be reimbursed, forward the confirmation email or a receipt, including your mailing address, to Administrative Director Karen Mann at kmann@spalding.edu.

For more details and to register, go to www.kyfilmlab.com. For more about DeCuir, see http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0214039/
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The KY Film Educators' Summit Free, Saturday, September 24
From 9:30 a.m.to noon Saturday, September 24, also as part of the IdeaFestival in Louisville, the Kentucky Film Commission presents the Kentucky Film Educators’ Summit. This event is free and open to the public. Brad Riddell and Sena Jeter Naslund are part of the twelve-member panel.

For more information see http://www.ideafestival.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&Itemid=70&id=9588.
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Faculty/Guest Books/Scripts in Common for Fall 2011

In addition to the Program Book in Common, Gregory Orr's The Caged Owl, students also read a Faculty Book/Script in Common in their area of concentration. Rising ENG620, ENG630, and ENG640 students who are attending the Fall 2011 residency (and students who are returning from a leave of absence in Fall 2011) write an essay on the Faculty Book/Script in Common in their area. The Faculty Books/Scripts in Common are:

• Fiction: John Pipkin, Woodsburner
• Poetry: Debra Kang Dean, Precipitates
• Creative Nonfiction: Molly Peacock, The Paper Garden: An Artist Begins Her Life's Work at 72
• Writing for Children and Young Adults: Lesléa Newman, Hachiko Waits (W4C&YA students read book and watch the movie Hachi: A Dog's Tale, starring Richard Gere.)
• Playwriting/Screenwriting: Rebecca Gilman's Spinning Into Butter (The play is available on amazon.com; also watch the movie Spinning Into Butter. The screenplay has been emailed to dramatic writing students and is posted on BB.)

Check Out the MFA Blog
MFA faculty and alumni are now blogging at blog.spalding.edu/mfainwriting. New posts are added weekly. The comment feature is now available.
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Fanpage Contest Has Third Winner; Last Drawing September 15
Poetry student Jerriod Avant won the third Facebook Fanpage contest. He won a $100 gift certificate to Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville. The last drawing is September 15.

To enter the contest, take a picture of yourself with MFA items, such as T-shirts, bags, or umbrellas. Post the picture to the fanpage at http://www.facebook.com/spaldingmfa or send it to mfafacebook@spalding.edu to be posted on the fanpage.

For each picture posted, the MFA staff enters the name of the MFAer (students, alumni, and faculty) into a drawing for a $100 gift card from the independent bookstore of the winner’s choice. Previous winners are Amy Hanridge (Fall 2010) and CoCo Harris (Fall 2006). To find MFA wear or gear, see http://www.cafepress.com/spaldingmfa.
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Facebook Fanpage Now Posting Contest and Other Information
The MFA Program has begun posting announcements regarding contests, calls for submissions, and grants on the MFA Facebook Fanpage. If you have not already joined, please join the fanpage at http://www.facebook.com/spaldingmfa to access this information. The MFA Program will no longer post such announcements on Blackboard.

MFAers are invited to share their writerly news on the MFA fanpage (http://www.facebook.com/spaldingmfa). Send news about readings, blog entries, pictures, or other items of interest to mfanewsletter@spalding.edu.
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Faculty Advisory Committee(FAC) for Spring Semester 2011
FAC members are announced by the MFA Office at the beginning of each semester. The Program Directors consult with the FAC about recommendations for admissions and about programmatic and administrative development and changes. Both faculty and students are invited to make suggestions to the FAC for exploration by the Program Director and larger faculty. However, students and faculty should directly and immediately consult the Associate Program Director about any issues concerning specific individuals' performance in the program.

• Eleanor Morse, fiction
• Jeanie Thompson, poetry
• Roy Hoffman, creative nonfiction
• Luke Wallin, writing for children and young adults
• Charlie Schulman, playwriting/screenwriting

MFA Alumni Association
The website for the MFA Alumni Association is http://www.spaldingmfaalum.com. If you have questions or are interested in working with this group, send Terry Price an email at terry@terryprice.net. Check out the Spalding MFA Alumni Facebook page.
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Life of a Writer

Jerriod Avant has four poems, "Amiri's Equinox," "Fireplace & Hearth," "To Warp Conversation: Something About Black" and "Juice 2.0," forthcoming in the winter (5.4) issue of Black Magnolias Literary Journal. Black Magnolias Literary Journal is a quarterly journal that uses poetry, fiction, and prose to examine and celebrate the social, political, and aesthetic accomplishments of African-Americans with an emphasis on Afro-Mississippians and Afro-Southerners.
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Shannon Cavanaugh announces that the magazineRural Arkansas Livingis publishing her creative nonfiction story, “Calico Roche—Preserving Its Past to Save Its Future” this fall, along with several of her photos. Shannon won honorable mention from the Whispering Prairie Press in Kansas City for her essay “Death on A Creek Bank.” Winners were announced in August 2011. This is the second year in a row for Cavanaugh to win honorable mention for an essay from more than 600 entries.
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Ted Chiles presented a workshop on “The Intersection of Prose and Poetry” with Chella Courington (Santa Barbara City College) and Mike Land (Assumption College) at the Young Rhetorician’s Conference on June 24 in Monterey, California.
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Third-semester fiction student Omar Figueras is contributing to The U.S. Review of Books, owned and managed by Hopewell Publications, and has recently reviewed books by Drew Howell and Jan Donley. He plans to attend the Florida International University/Books & Books International Writer’s Conference this October on Grand Cayman Island and the Sanibel Island Writer’s Conference sponsored by Florida Gulf Coast University this coming November.
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Catt Foy’s book, Psycards: A New Alternative to Tarot was published in June 2011 by Psycards Digital Ltd. of London. First written in 1988, the book is now available in e-format and was scheduled for re-release in print for July. The book is an instruction manual on doing intuitive readings with the Psycards. It can be purchased through Amazon.com and independent booksellers the world over.

Catt’s article “The Well-Stocked Medicine Cabinet” was recently accepted for publication in BackHome Magazine.
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Lora J. Hilty announces that her short story, “A Pheasant in the Brush” will be published in the fall issue of Precipitate / Journal of the New Environmental Imagination. The story was mentored by Crystal Wilkinson and Julie Brickman during her second and third semesters.
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Michael Jackman read two new poems and performed two songs on guitar at the last NuLu open mic https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nulu-open-mic/197732960263472l on July 21.
Through his business, Writers Workshop Project http://the-wwp.com, he held a writers workshop on July 12 with seven attendees who engaged in troubleshooting their careers, received a craft lesson on having characters imagine a parallel scene, and workshopped their drafts. A lecturer in writing at Indiana University Southeast, he also designed a coursepack and is prepping to teach creative nonfiction in the fall, in addition to three other writing courses.
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Rebekah Reaves’ screenplay The Morning After recently scored in the top ten of the Houston Writers Guild Screenplay and Novel Competition, earning the script the award of Honorable Mention. Her young adult fiction manuscript, Finding Left Field, was also listed as a top scorer.
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Susan Ryan, first-semester creative nonfiction and fiction student, has had two poems published in a chapbook, Day Writing, a publication of The Writers’ Studio at the Box Factory for the Arts, St. Joseph, Michigan.
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Susan Campbell Bartoletti’s forthcoming picture book Naamah and the Ark at Night (illustrated by Holly Meade and published by Candlewick, August 2011) has earned starred reviews in the July/August Horn Book and in Kirkus. This picture book was inspired in part during her very first teaching residency at Spalding, when she heard Molly Peacock read her sonnet-ghazal “At Night.”
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Richard Goodman has been appointed Visiting Assistant Professor of Nonfiction Writing at the University of New Orleans for the 2011-12 academic year. His essay “Writers Writing about Writing: The Dirty Little Secret” appears in the August issue of Fiction Writers Review.
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Roy Hoffman's review of Lorene Cary’s novel, If Sons, Then Heirs, appeared in the New York Times Book Review, August 14,  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/books/review/if-sons-then-heirs-by-lorene-cary-book-review.html. Among his recent Sunday pieces for the Press-Register in Mobile, carried on national news wires, were stories about the suicide of a Catholic priest, http://blog.al.com/live/2011/08/suicide_of_father_ernie_hyndma.html, and the rehab of a young Marine who lost his legs in Afghanistan, http://blog.al.com/live/2011/07/us_marine_from_mobile_who_lost.html
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Silas House is the 2011 winner of the Lee Smith Award, given to an Appalachian who represents the region nationally with dignity, complexity, and grace. Previous winners include Earl Hamner (The Waltons), musician Sheila Kay Adams, and activist Bev May (subject of the film Deep Down). The Mountain Heritage Literary Festival presented the award during its annual event, which was held June 24-26. Find out more at http://www.lmunet.edu/MHLF/.
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Jeanie Thompson announces that her radio interview with poets Sonia Sanchez and Jake Adam York aired recently on Alabama Arts Radio Series, a public radio program of Troy Public Radio.

The Alabama State Council on the Arts announced in June that Jeanie has been awarded a 2012 Artist Fellowship in Literature. The prize carries a $5,000 stipend and invitations to read at venues around the state from Oct. 1, 2011, through Sept. 30, 2012. She shares the fellowship year with poet Abraham Smith (Tuscaloosa).

During July, Jeanie was writer-in-residence at the Wolff Cottage, managed by the Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts. In conjunction with her residency, on July 19 she gave a talk about the creative process and a poetry reading at the Fairhope Public Library with Anita Miller Garner, who had also been a resident at the cottage.
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Nancy McCabe spent six weeks in China with her daughter, Sophie, and blogged about it at http://backtochinaagain.wordpress.com/category/back-to-china/. Her essay “Before and After” is in the current issue of Crazyhorse, and she has work forthcoming in the next issues of Prairie Schooner and Crab Orchard Review. Her book Crossing the Blue Willow Bridge: A Journey to My Daughter’s Birthplace in China, due out in November, is available for pre-order online.
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Joyce McDonald’s article “A Highly Individualized Study: Spalding University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults” appears in the summer issue of Kite Tales, the Los Angeles quarterly publication for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. In early June, Joyce spent a week at the Kindling Words West writers’ retreat in Taos, New Mexico, working on her latest book.
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Sena Jeter Naslund announced the paperback Perennial publication of Adam & Eve, with a P.S. section of an interview, study questions for book groups, and an essay by Sena.
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Lesléa Newman leads a women’s writing retreat at Rowe Conference Center the weekend of October 14-16. Rowe is a supportive, nurturing place where magical things happen, Lesléa reports. It’s open to all genres. Find out more at http://www.rowecenter.org/schedule/current/20111014_LesleaNewman.html.

Lesléa’s “Poem for Two Dogs Hanged in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692” and “Near Death Experience” (short-short story) appear in the online literary journal Napalm Health Spa.http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs11/ (Scroll down table of contents on left.) And her middle grade novel, Hachiko Waits, has received the Voice of Youth Award sponsored by the Skokie Public Library (http://www.skokie.lib.il.us/s_kids/kd_read/VOYA/index.asp).
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Alumni

Deborah Begel (Spring 2006) recently completed “Four Stories About Water,” a thirty-five-minute video about the problems thirty percent of the Navajo face trying to get clean water.The video is to be shown at chapter houses on the reservation and beyond.Her co-producer and cinematographer is David Lindblom, who has worked with Martin Scorsese.

She has also produced five short radio features—mostly on literary accomplishments—for KUNM 89.9 FM news this spring and summer.The most recent featured the tenth book published by Tres Chicas Books, Love and Death: Greatest Hits.
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In June, Larry Brenner’s (Fall 2010) Uncle Big Bad and the ThreeLittle Wolves was produced as part of New York University’s New Plays for Young Audiences development series at the Provincetown Playhouse.
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Kate Buckley (Spring 2010) recently gave a poetry reading and lecture for the San Diego-based Sunset Poets at Vista Library. She also recently organized an evening at Beyond Baroque in Los Angeles, where she read with poets Victoria Chang and Sarah Maclay. She read and spoke earlier this summer at Irvine’s Great Park as part of the Moon Tide Press community poetry series and reads August 11 at Loyola Marymount University.

She also recently served as adjudicator for Poetry Out Loud (Orange County) and Ventura County Writer’s Group poetry contests. Her latest publication was a poem “Pappaw Watches the News” in Silk Road Review (Vol. 6.1). The poem is featured here http://silkroad.pacificu.edu/Vol61.html.

Kate reports she’s gearing up for a move back to her native South—Nashville! In conjunction with that move, she’s now the newest columnist for Williamson Social Magazine (http://www.WilliamsonSocial.com). For more information on readings and events, please see http:// www.katebuckley.com.
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Linda Cruise (Spring 2008) teaches a college-level, six-week course, “Creative Nonfiction Basics:Memoir & Personal-Essay Writing,” at the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library in Williston, Vermont, starting September 12.
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Dave DeGolyer’s poem “Blueberry Patch” by Lafayette Wattles (aka Dave DeGolyer, Fall 2006) appears in the 2011 summer issue of the culinary journal Gastronomica. Lafayette also had two poems, “Proximity” and “brotherly love,” recently accepted for publication in CICADA (Carus Publishing’s magazine for teens). The poems will appear later this year.
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Sonja de Vries (Fall 2009) announces that she and fellow Spalding alum Katerina Stoykova-Klemer (Fall 2009) are among the poets reading at the Louisville event of 100,000 Poets for Change, which takes place September 24. Louisville joins hundreds of other cities worldwide for the biggest poetry event in history, aimed a highlighting the role of poets in creating a more just world. Poetry readings take place around the world, from Bangladesh to Havana to Louisville. Sonja is one of the local organizers. For more information, call her 502-558-3568. The event takes place 7-10 p.m. at La Casita, 230 Woodbine Street.
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Kathryn Eastburn (Spring 2006) has just completed a year’s worth of personal columns, broadcast every Saturday on Colorado Springs public radio, KRCC-FM. Check out podcasts of “The Middle Distance” at http://radiocoloradocollege.org/?s=kathryn+eastburn%2C+middle+distance. It’s good to have a weekly deadline and a regular writing gig, she reports. This fall, Eastburn teaches literary journalism and introduction to personal narrative at Lighthouse Writers Workshop, Denver, and literary journalism at The Colorado College, Colorado Springs.
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Barry George, (Fall 2009), has accepted the position of assistant professor of English at Community College of Philadelphia, where he has taught for many years as an adjunct instructor and visiting lecturer. In addition, he won Third Prize in the 2011 Betty Drevniok Competition, an international haiku contest sponsored by Haiku Canada. He has also been commissioned to write a series of haiku for the annual enrollment campaign of Friends School Haverford, an independent school near Philadelphia.
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Amy Hanridge (Spring 2011), reports that her story “Starter” has been accepted for publication in the Fall 2011 Special Proceedings edition of the Journal of Healthcare, Science and the Humanities.
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Chris Helvey (Fall 2006) had his short story, “Sunday Morning Gospel Hour” selected as a finalist in the Next Great Writer Competition sponsored by the Carnegie Center in Lexington, Kentucky. His short story “Trick or Treat” won second place in the James Still Short Story Contest conducted by the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival at Lincoln Memorial University. In addition, Bayou Magazine, published by University of New Orleans Press, has just published his short story, “Wu Fat’s Satori” in Issue 54.
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Patty Houston’s (Fall 2008) story “Below Above: Ice Fishing, Baby” has been accepted for publication by the Denver Quarterly and is set to appear in a forthcoming issue. Her short story “Not the Whole Elephant” will appear in the Fall 2011 issue of The Fiddlehead.
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Marci Rae Johnson (Spring 2005) has poems upcoming in Valparaiso Poetry Review and 32 Poems. Her first book recently won the 2010 Powder Horn Prize and publishes later this year by Sage Hill Press. Marci teaches at Valparaiso University, where she also serves on the reading series committee.
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René R Ketterer (Fall 2007) attended Writer Symposium seminar events at this year’s GenCon in Indianapolis on Aug 4-7.“Gen Con Indy is the original, longest running, best attended gaming convention in the world,” René reports. http://www.gencon.com/2011/indy
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Katrina Kittle (Fall 2008) recently taught a fiction seminar for the Antioch Writers’ Workshop in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She is thrilled her first book for young audiences, Reasons to be Happy, is set to be released this October by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky.
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Christopher Klim (Spring 2010) is thrilled with the reviews and blurbs flooding in for True Surrealism: Stories, published August 2011. A sampling: “Compulsively readable, with great heart . . . ” Mary Yukari Waters, Spalding faculty and author of The Favorites; “There are arrows of truth and zingers aplenty in this quirky, gratifying and engaging collection. . . . winsome and imaginative,” Star Ledger in Newark, New Jersey; “With an artist’s eye, Klim gazes, squints, and glimpses at life, then records his observations for the reader to ponder and enjoy,” Maggie Harding, The Book Reporter. Find out more at http://www.christopherklim.com.
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Jill Koren (Spring 2008) is writing and performing children’s songs for her weekly music class, Imagine Music.Her greatest hits include, “Boot-a-bootay,” “Play Ni-Nice,” and “The Toothbrush Train.” You can find Imagine Music on Facebook. In more grown-up news, her chapbook, While the Water Rises Around Us is due out in December. Village Lights Bookstore is taking advance orders now; email info@villagelightsbooks.com.
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Kelly Martineau (Spring 2010) completed the Artist Trust EDGE Professional Development Program for Writers earlier this year.With her cohort, she presented a reading at The Elliott Bay Book Company.Her essay “Sunbeam” is forthcoming this fall in The Licking River Review.
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Chris Mattingly (Fall 2010) has recently published poems in Still, Lumberyard, and The Louisville Review.Also, Q Avenue Press is publishing a letterpress edition of Anglo-Saxon riddles that Chris adapted. He is especially excited because the riddles are slated to be published alongsidea chapbook by Gerald Stern.
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Jason Lee Miller’s (Fall 2008) poems “Julie Shrooms the Black Doombloom,” “Ashes and Dust,” and “Foottapping by the Door,” were published in the spring edition of the Copperfield Review. Another poem, “Instructions for Drama Queens Who Want to Be on TV,” appears in the latest edition of Blood Lotus. Jason’s short story “In Chicago” appeared in Dew on the Kudzu in June, and his short story “Metaphor” appears in the October issue of State of Imagination.
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Andrew Najberg (Summer 2010) announces that his poem “Godwin’s Law” appeared in the Spring 2010 issue of Yemassee (Vol. XVII, Number 2); his poem “Reverence” appears in a forthcoming issue of North American Review; his poem “Getting it Right” appears in the next issue of Nashville Review; and his poem “The goats have taken over the barracks” appears in the September issue of Artful Dodge.
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Richard Newman (Fall 2004) has poems recently appearing or forthcoming in Iron Horse Literary Review, Measure, Natural Bridge, Poetry East, and And Know This Place: Poetry of Indiana, an anthology published by the Indiana Historical Society.
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Frances Nicholson’s (Spring 2004) poem “Nanny in the Park” appears in the same issue of Soundings Review as a poem that her wife, Cynthia Allar (Spring 2004), wrote. Cynthia’s poem is “Late Winter, Death Valley.” Frances’s poem “Weathering”—about tornados, Nana Lampton’s farmhouse, and Sena Jeter Naslund on the day after the Spring 2004 graduation—is to be published in the journal Earth’s Daughters.

Frances spent part of June in Daytona Beach, Florida, along with 700 other high school and college educators grading Advanced Placement American Government and Politics essays. Beside teaching at Blair High School in Pasadena, California, coaching its creative Future Problem Solving Program team to state finals this year, and advising the school’s Gay Straight Alliance, Frances continues as the theater critic for the San Gabriel Valley News Group, a string of suburban daily newspapers. She hopes to launch a blog on local theater (http://stagestruckreview.com/) late this summer.
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Corrections

None

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Personals

Our heartfelt sympathy to Jonathan Weinert (Fall 2005) on the death of his father, Frank S. Weinert, who died on June 28.

Our heartfelt sympathy to Cory Jackson on the death of her father, Richard Jackson, who died on July 13.

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Classifieds

Make plans to attend Louisville’s literary festival, The Writer’s Block, this fall! The event kicks off with the InKY Reading Series on the evening of Friday, October 14 with readings by fiction writer Kevin Wilson and poet Cathy Bowman at the Bard’s Town restaurant and theater. All day Saturday, October 15, the Nulu district of East Market street transforms into a “writer’s block” with readings, craft workshops, panel discussions and a print fair of regional literary publishers. More details at: http://louisvilleliteraryarts.org/
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Spalding's Flickr Group

The MFA Program has a Flickr group at http://www.flickr.com/groups/spaldingmfa/. The MFA staff encourages all students and faculty to join the group and post their MFA-related photos. (Photos may also be posted, or linked to, on the MFA Facebook Fanpage by emailing the information to mfafacebook@spalding.edu.)
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Reminders and Notes

Financial Aid: The MFA Program offers scholarships to students entering their first semester in the program. Returning students who desire financial assistance other than student loans should apply for graduate assistantships. Applications for scholarships and assistantships should be directed to the MFA Office (mfa@spalding.edu). Information for assistantships is on Blackboard under SEMESTERS/ [your semester]/ DOCUMENTS: GENERAL INTEREST.

Federal student loans are available to all eligible graduate students and are available for the fall, spring, or summer semesters. For help with financial aid questions, call Vickie Montgomery at (800) 896-8941, ext. 2731 or email vmontgomery@spalding.edu. Students may enter or update their FAFSA information online at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
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All Fall 2011 students: Fill out the FAFSA for the 11-12 school year, using 2010 tax information.

Classifieds in the newsletter: Submissions of writing-related advertisements, such as calls for submission, services for writers, etc., may be made to mfanewsletter@spalding.edu

Online information: Newsletters are archived online at spalding.edu/mfanewsletter.
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Life of a Writer: Please remember to email Life of a Writer news to the program because this is a vital part of our community sharing writing successes. The program wants to share good news with everyone and compiles records of publications, presentations, readings, employment, and other related information on faculty, students, and alums.

Life of a Writer pieces should be written as a paragraph in third person. If you are an alum, please alum include your graduation semester, such as Jake Doe (Fall 2003). Spell out month and state names. Include title(s) of the work, publishers, date of publication, and complete web site addresses when appropriate. Send to mfanewsletter@spalding.edu.

Examples of kinds of activities that might be included in the Life of a Writer column are publishing in journals or magazines or in book form, winning awards or other prizes, giving a public reading, visiting a classroom to talk about writing, judging a writing competition, attending a writers conference, serving on a panel about writing, or volunteering in a project about writing or literacy.
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About The Masthead: The image in our masthead is the emblem of a photograph of a Louisville fountain, "River Horse," by Louisville sculptor Barney Bright. The sculpture references both the location of Louisville as a river city on the banks of the Ohio and as the host, for more than 125 years, of the Kentucky Derby. The winged horse Pegasus, of Greek mythology, has long been associated with the literary arts and the wings of poesy.
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Sena Jeter Naslund, Program Director
Karen J. Mann, Administrative Director
Kathleen Driskell, Associate Program Director
Katy Yocom, Program Associate
Gayle Hanratty, Administrative Assistant

Carolyn Flynn, Newsletter Editor
Nancy Long, Web Editor
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Master of Fine Arts in Writing •Spalding University
851 S. Fourth St. • Louisville, KY 40203
(800) 896-8941, ext. 2423 or (502) 585-9911, ext. 2423
mfa@spalding.edu • www.spalding.edu/mfa

Direct No.	Person	Toll Free Ext. 800-896-8941
502-873-4400	Katy Yocom	4400
502-873-4396	Kathleen Driskell	4396
502-873-4397	Gayle Hanratty	4397
502-873-4398	Louisville Review	4398
502-873-4399	Karen Mann	4399
502-873-4330	Vickie Montgomery	4330

On Extended Wings archives: To see previous issues of the newsletter, click here

Sena Jeter Naslund, Program Director
Karen Mann, Administrative Director
Kathleen Driskell, Associate Program Director
Katy Yocom, Program Associate
Gayle Hanratty, Administrative Assistant

Email Life of a Writer information, Because You Asked questions, or classifieds to mfanewsletter@spalding.edu
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