Metroversity Contest 2006 Winners Announced
The winner for the Metroversity 2006 writing contest have been announced. The MFA Program congratulates the winners.

Kentuckiana Metroversity is a consortium of seven institutions of higher education in the Louis-ville metropolitan area. The writing contest is held annually.

The awards ceremony, which is open to the public, is from 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, April 9, in the Lectorium in the Spalding Egan Leadership Center. (top)

New York Times Reviews Paul Taylor Dance Company
The Sunday, February 26, issue of The New York Times included a full-page article about choreographer Paul Taylor’s “Banquet of Vultures,” Taylor’s statement on war (“Death Wears a Crisp Black Suit,” page 19 of the Arts section). MFA program members attended the world premiere of that piece as part of a Paul Taylor Dance Company performance at the Brown Theatre during the Fall 2005 residency.

Writing-related Links Page on the MFA Website

The MFA Program wants to add a “Links” page to the program website. Students and faculty may send their suggestions of their favorite professional, informative writing-related websites. Please include the URL with the suggestion and email to Karen Mann at kmann@spalding.edu (top)

Life of a Writer

Students, faculty, and alumni: Please email writing news to mfanewsletter@spalding.edu

Students

Kathryn Eastburn has secured an agent with a book proposal based on her creative thesis, Simon Says: A True Story of Boys, Guns, and Murder in the Rocky Mountain West. Paul Cirone of the Aaron Priest Literary Agency in New York is to represent Kathryn and her project to publishers. She also has been accepted for a two-week residency at the Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow, Eureka Springs, Ark., to work on her book A Sacred Feast, which is under contract with University of Nebraska Press. During the fall 2006 semester, Kathryn is to teach introduction to journalism at Colorado College as visiting faculty. (top)

Chris Helvey’s poem “Going South” was published in the Spring 2006 issue of Modern Mountain Magazine.

Maija Stromberg’s short story “The Weight of Them” is to appear in the May/June issue of Cicada, a literary magazine for fourteen- to nineteen-year-olds published by the Cricket Magazine Group.

David Tipton’s poems “Femme dans l’atelier,” “The Bookmark,” “Flight,” and “If This Is Happiness” are forthcoming in the spring 2006 issue of The Louisville Review. (top)

Faculty & Staff

For the fifth consecutive year, Dianne Aprile has served on the committee judging the annual Thomas Merton Poetry of the Sacred Contest, for which Sena Jeter Naslund selects the 2006 winners. In her March Louisville Magazine book column, “Reading Matters,” Dianne highlighted the work of Mary Welp, Fleur-de-Lis author of The Triangle Pose, and fiction faculty member Kirby Gann’s novel Napoleon in Rags. Dianne also organized a “Literature of Dissent” night of readings for March 22, co-sponsored by the University of Louisville Humanities Division, featuring local writers, including Sena Jeter Naslund, reading from classic works of dissent. The program, part of her Jazz & Spoken Word series, was scheduled to coincide with U of L’s month-long celebration of The Tradition of Dissent in America. On February 21, Dianne read an essay and presented an “in-service” program for the staff of Louisville’s Assumption High School.

Molly Peacock’s one-woman show, “The Shimmering Verge,” had a sold-out run February 21-26 at Urban Stages in New York City. Part of a festival of one-woman shows, “The Shimmering Verge” was reviewed in The New York Times. The review can be seen online at http://http://theater2.nytimes.com/2006/02/24/theater/reviews/24verg.html Molly’s article about the festival appeared in the February issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. The New York Times review, which ran on February 24, said, “Ms. Peacock emerges from between sparkly blue-green swatches to lead the audience by the hand through a collection of her poems. These are often stunning memory pieces with an occasionally muscular line, but she envelops them in mini-lessons on process, as when she stops to explain metaphor or says the ‘poetry puppy’ is a gift you receive that you have to feed and walk forever.” (top)

Katy Yocom (October 2003) has resumed her freelance writing for Louisville Magazine. Most recently, her profile “Flawed to Perfection,” about a former sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll mama turned Christian speaker and author, appeared in the January issue. She also contributed to the article “Tables for Two,” a collection of brief reviews of romantic restaurants, for the February issue.

Alumni

Cynthia Rausch Allar (May 2004) has started a submission service for poets, which includes everything from formatting to mailing. Get more information on CRA Submissions by email: cynthiaallar@att.net Ask about the Spalding discount.

Troy Ehlers’s (October 2004) story “Towering Sea” is forthcoming in the fall issue of Quercus Review (http://www.quercusreview.com). “A Storied Life” is forthcoming in The Beloit Fiction Journal. (top)

Anne Marie Fowler (May 2004) is soliciting submissions for an anthology of poetry by U.S. women writers of Asian, Middle Eastern, East Indian, or Pacific Islander descent. She is also taking applications for the She Poets Traveling Writers Workshop to be held in Denver in July 2006. Information for both can be requested by emailing annemariefowler@hotmail.com. Anne Marie’s poem “A History of Absent Fathers” was recently published in the inaugural issue of MO: Writings from the River. Her ten-year-old daughter, Candice, recently won first place in the Freedom Elementary “Young Authors Poetry Contest” for her manuscript titled Poems of Life and Nature, and her manuscript is currently at district-level competition.

George Getschow (May 2005) is writer-in-residence of the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writers Conference of the Southwest, the region’s leading CNF conference held July 14-16 at the Hilton DFW Lakes in Grapevine, Texas. The conference, organized by Getschow, awards a book contract, cash prizes ranging from $1,000 to $3,000, and publication in Hearst Newspapers’ Sunday Magazines and its literary journal Spurs of Inspiration. David Granger, editor of Esquire magazine, says the conference “is rapidly becoming one of the most vital gathering of writers in America.” For information or to register go to http://mayborninstitute.unt.edu (top)

Allison Jones’s (October 2003) essay “The Day He Left” is forthcoming in The Healing Project’s Anthology Voices of Alcoholism in October 2006.

Erin Keane’s (May 2004) chapbook of pop music poems, The One-Hit Wonders, is forthcoming from Snark Publications this spring. Her article on musician Brigid Kaelin appeared in the January/February issue of The New Southerner, and she contributed an annotated list of her Top 5 Albums of 2005 to the January music issue of Velocity. On February 10, she celebrated the second birthday of the InKY Reading Series with featured readings by Spalding poets Frank X Walker (May 2003), Pam Steele (May 2004), and Terri Whitehouse. Along with Greg Pape and Richard Newman (October 2004), she recently led workshops, read, and lectured at the Poetry Factory’s first annual writing workshop weekend in St. Joseph, Mich., directed by Marci Rae Johnson (May 2005). While in Michigan, she also spent a day at Watervliet High School chatting with students about poetry. In March, she served as an adjudicator for the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts creative writing program, interviewing high school sophomores and juniors from across the state. She is to resume teaching her interdisciplinary course on pop music in American literature at Bellarmine University in the fall. Her poem “Orpheus Retires” has been nominated for a 2006 Rhysling Award, which is given by the Science Fiction Poetry Association.

Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen (May 2003) was a presenter at the annual Whidbey Island Writer’s Conference, Whidbey Island, Wash. Her picture book Babu’s Song is a finalist for the 2006-2007 South Carolina picture book award. (top)

Change of Address
Jeanie Thompson’s new email address is jeaniethompson@bellsouth.net Please replace the old email address with the new one.

Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC)

FAC members are announced by the MFA Office at the beginning of each semester. The Program Director consults 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.

• K. L. Cook, Fiction
• Rane Arroyo, Poetry
• Cathleen Medwick, Creative Nonfiction
• Ellie Bryant, Writing for Children
• Eric Schmiedl, Playwriting/Screenwriting (top)

Books in Common for Spring ’06

Students read the Book in Common, Life Studies by Susan Vreeland, and the Faculty/Guest Book in Common in the area of concentration that they are to study in the spring semester in preparation for a discussion with the author at the spring 2006 residency.

• Fiction: Blackberries, Blackberries by Crystal Wilkinson
• Poetry: Laughing Sickness by Kathleen Driskell. To order, send check for $10 made out to Fleur-de-Lis Press to Liz Nethery, Spalding University, 851 S. Fourth St., Louisville, KY 40203, or order from amazon.com
• Nonfiction: The Eye Is Not Enough by Dianne Aprile. To order, email mlhess@mlhess.win.net
• Writing for Children: The Flag Maker by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
• Playwriting: Character Assassins by Charles Schulman (The script is mailed to students.)
• Screenwriting: Obscenity by Claudia Johnson and Matt Stevens (The script is mailed to students.) (top)

Reminders and Notes

Financial Aid: The The MFA Program offers scholarships to students entering their first semester in the program. Returning students who desire financial assistance should apply for graduate assistantships. Applications for scholarships and assistantships should be directed to the MFA Office. Check the Tuition and Fees page on the MFA website (http://www.spalding.edu/mfaforms) for deadlines.

Federal student loans, which are handled through Spalding's financial aid office and not through the MFA program, are available to all eligible graduate students.

Students need to re-file the FAFSA for each new school year (the school year is fall/spring). Students who received finanical aid for the May 2005 semester need to re-file for the October semester. (top)

For help with financial aid questions, call Vicki Montgomery at 800-896-8941 ext. 2731 or 502-585-9911, ext. 2731 or email vmontgomery@spalding.edu Students may enter or update their FAFSA information online at www.fafsa.ed.gov (top)

Deferment Form. For students who receive notice their loans have gone into repayment while still enrolled in school. Fill out deferment form (click here) and fax to Jennifer Gohmann at 502-992-2424. Include the address and/or fax number of where the deferment form should go to in Section 7 (on the 2nd page). For multiple loans, fill out one deferment form per loan company. On the fax cover sheet, state that you are an MFA student. If you have questions, Jennifer's email is jgohmann@spalding.edu

MFA Scholarship Fund: Donations to the MFA in Writing Scholarship Fund may be made “in honor of” or “in memory of” a friend or loved one or organization. To make a donation, contact Cindy Schnell, Donor Relations Coordinator in the office of Development and Alumni Relations. Email: cschnell@spalding.edu Phone: (800) 896-8941, ext. 2505 or (502) 585-9911, ext. 2505.

MFA Students/Faculty/Alums Discussion Board. The MFA Discussion Board is off to an energetic start. Currently, the most active topic is Publishing Opportunities, which lists contests and calls for submission, for example, a call for submissions from Alligator Juniper, the national literary journal at Prescott College, where Kenny Cook is fiction and creative nonfiction editor. Students and faculty are welcome to post information in this area and others. See the MFA Discussion Board at:

For easy access to the Discussion Board, students and faculty are encouraged to bookmark the site. (top)

Online information: MFA in Writing forms, deadlines, and other student and faculty information are available online at http://www.spalding.edu/mfaforms Newsletters are at http://www.spalding.edu/mfanewsletter For convenience, bookmark these two pages. Both web addresses are case sensitive. The MFA Office is happy to mail program forms or the newsletter, if requested. Email kyocom@spalding.edu. (top)

Life of a Writer is an important newsletter column that reports on experiences around the writing life of our students, faculty, and alums.
Email submissions to mfanewsletter@spalding.edu

Life of a Writer pieces should be written as a paragraph in third person. It is helpful for alums to include their graduation semester, such as Jake Doe (October 2003). Spell out month and state names. Include publishers, date of publication, and Website addresses, when appropriate. (top)

Below is a list of some of the kinds of activities that might be included in the Life of a Writer column.

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

Email Life of a Writer information to Jamey Temple at mfanewsletter@spalding.edu

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