Vol.17No. 3
April 2010
Cross Genre for Spring: Elevator Plays
Buenos Aires Residency Books in Common Life of a Writer Faculty Advisory Committee for Fall 2009
Previous Newsletters
MFA Endowed Scholarships
Help New Students
Thanks to the generosity of many donors, including MFA students, alumni, and faculty, the MFA Program has, to date, more than $100,000 in a total of four named endowed scholarship funds
This year, the MFA Program is able to fund scholarships from these four scholarships in the amount of $5,000.
The MFA Endowed Scholarship funds are
Usually each graduating class donates money to the MFA Alumni Endowed Scholarship. Students, alumni, and faculty may donate to the scholarship funds by emailing Bobbie Rafferty at brafferty@spalding.edu. Donations may also be made in honor of or in memory of a particular person. (top)
Proposals for the 2011 AWP
Conference and Bookfair
The Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) has begun accepting panel proposals for the 2011 conference in Washington, D.C. AWP seeks a wide range of unique, diverse, informative, and intelligent programming that helps it better serve its large and growing constituency. The AWP Conference includes more than three hundred events with more than one thousand participants. The proposal process is competitive, and it is important that all individuals submitting a proposal be familiar with AWP’s guidelines and expectations. To submit a proposal, please visit http://www.awpwriter.org/conference/2011proposal.php.
The deadline for proposals is May 15, 2010.
The conference is scheduled for February 2-5, 2011, at the Marriott Wardman Park and Omni Shoreham Hotels. See http://www.awpwriter.org/conference/2011awpconf.php
for information on the conference. (top)
Cross-Genre Assignment
for Spring 2010
All MFA students will write very short elevator plays during residency for the cross-genre curriculum assignment this Spring 2010 residency after hearing a lecture on crafting the short short play and attending a series of elevator plays on Tuesday, May 25.
Because audiences for each play are very limited (only five people at one time), all students and faculty cannot attend these elevator plays at the same time. Early in the residency, students will be assigned times to attend. As the rest of the evening is free, students may want to attend the elevator plays before or after having dinner on their own.
On Tuesday, Rand Harmon, president and founding artistic director of Specific Gravity Ensemble, will present a talk on his company’s history of presenting site-specific performances. Directly following Rand’s lecture, Program Director Sena Naslund will provide instructions and the deadline for the cross-genre assignment.
The elevator plays take place in the Starks Building elevators at Fourth Street and Muhammad Ali, within walking distance from the Brown Hotel (approximately two blocks or .3 mile). Students who need transportation to the venue should contact Administrative Director Karen Mann at kmann@spalding.edu for information regarding the Fourth Street Trolley, which runs between the Brown and the Starks Building until 7 p.m. (top)
Critical Writing Lecture for New Students at Residency
All new Spring 2010 and Summer 2010 students are required to attend Associate Program Director Kathleen Driskell’s lecture “Writing about Writing: Introduction to Critical Analysis” during their residency. New students should log onto Blackboard and click through SEMESTER/SPRING 2010/PREPARING FOR THE SPRING 2010 RESIDENCY, MAY 21-30/ NEW STUDENTS: PRE-READING AND PRE-ASSIGNMENTS to listen to an audio introduction to critical writing. New students should also download, print out, and read “The Astronomer’s Wife” by Kay Boyle and complete the worksheet outline on that story. Please bring “The Astronomer’s Wife” and worksheet to the lecture at residency.
Change in Editorial Reading
Assignment for MFA Students
In Spring 2010, MFA students will read for The Louisville Review and complete the Editorial Reading Report after residency. TLR’s new online submission software allows students to log on from home to read submissions. Before midsemester, students are required to read 20 submissions to The Louisville Review. No later than midsemester, students complete and submit an Editorial Reading Report in Blackboard. Instructions for this assignment can be found on Blackboard/SEMESTERS/SPRING2010. (Deadlines for the Editorial Reading Report are also listed in all course syllabi.) (top)
Spring and Summer
Residency Checklist
Approximately one week before residency, the MFA Office posts a checklist of all documents and other texts students need to download, print out, and bring to residency. All students are encouraged to check this list to ensure they collect and come to residency with all necessary materials. Students may wish to hole punch (or print out on hole-punched paper) all documents and place them in a binder to keep materials organized.
New Espresso Bar
Now Open in ELC
Red Hot Roasters, a local, organic, small-batch coffee roaster, recently opened a coffee shop and espresso bar in the Egan Leadership Center’s deli area. Normal hours are 8:30-6:30 Monday through Friday; hours may be extended during residency. Offerings include hot and iced espresso drinks, coffee, tea, chai, and snacks. Those who wish to purchase a specialty drink may do so at the window. Also in the deli area, the MFA program is once again hosting complimentary regular coffee, decaf, tea, and chai for MFA students and faculty. Drinks are supplied by Red Hot Roasters. (top)
Summer Residency: Argentina
Reciprocal Entry Fee
Argentina recently instituted a reciprocal entry fee (or reciprocity tax) for U.S. citizens entering the country. The tax is U.S. $131 (the same amount the U.S. charges Argentinian citizens entering the U.S.) and can be paid with cash, credit card, or traveler’s check. Travelers on Spalding’s summer residency in Argentina should plan to pay the fee upon arrival at the Buenos Aires airport.
Summer residency travelers should carefully read Argentina’s consular information sheet, paying particular attention to the Entry/Exit Requirements section, Safety and Security section, and the Crime section, which begins, “Most American citizens visit Argentina without incident.Nevertheless…” Travelers will find useful tips for avoiding safety hazards, street and airport crime, scams and other potential hazards of travel. The consular information sheet is available at http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1130.html.
All travelers to Argentina must arrive with a current, undamaged passport. To apply for a new or renewed passport, visit http://travel.state.gov. (top)
Research Strategies: Accessing the EBSCO Databases Directly from Blackboard
The Spalding Library has opened a portal in Blackboard that allows students to access all databases easily. Many databases can be accessed without providing a password. To begin their research, students should click into the Library link on Blackboard and follow the librarian’s instructions. Obviously, this will be a helpful tool when beginning research for the Extended Critical Essay, but all students may find these databases helpful and are encouraged to explore these library resources.
Transcript Ordering Information
Students who wish to order transcripts from Spalding University may do so by going through the portal, my.spalding.edu, and clicking on the National Student Clearinghouse link (it’s a purple tree).MFA alumni may go to the main website, http://www.spalding.edu, and click on Order Transcripts. (top)
Professional Readings for
Playwriting/Screenwriting
As part of their ENG640 coursework, the following playwriting and screenwriting students have their scripts presented in professional readings during the Spring 2010 residency. Faculty-led discussions follow each of the readings by professional actors. Please refer to the residency schedule (posted on Blackboard a few days before the residency) for times and locations. All MFA students and faculty are welcome to attend these sessions.
Playwriting Students
Screenwriting Students
2011 Spring and Fall Louisville Residency Dates Announced
The Spring 2011 semester residency is May 13-22, 2011, and the Fall 2011 semester residency is November 11-20, 2011. Please note that the spring residency is one week earlier than it has been for the past several years. Housing continues to be provided by the Brown Hotel.
www.facebook.com/SpaldingMFA
Please join the MFA Program fan page at the link above. Ashley-Rose Sullivan, a current student, keeps the fan page up-to-date with information about readings and appearances by MFAers around the country. Please post announcements of readings or other events or post MFA photos. Anyone who reads Life of a Writer (see below) sees that a lot is happening among the Spalding MFA community. The MFA fan page may attract new students and also help promote MFAers’ readings and other activities by reaching out to people who might not otherwise know about an opportunity. The hope is to keep the fan page buzzing with writerly news.
Winners of the 2010 Kentuckiana Metroversity Writing Competition
Five Spalding students took honors in the 2010 Kentuckiana Metroversity Writing Competition. Everyone is invited to hear readings by all graduate and undergraduate winners at 2 p.m. April 25, at the Hartford Building, 649 South First Street, Louisville, on the Jefferson Community and Technical College’s Downtown Campus (First Street, just north of Broadway).
The winners are
Homecoming May 28-30
The MFA Alumni Association is planning Homecoming for May 28-30. There is no registration fee to attend Homecoming; however, to better plan the events, attendees are asked to register. Alumni, spring 2010 graduates, and faculty are invited to attend a complimentary brunch on Saturday, May 29, in the Spalding mansion.
Several sessions for homecoming attendees are planned on Friday and Saturday. Please follow this link for the schedule :http://www.spaldingmfaalum.com/Spalding_MFA_Alumni_Association/Homecoming_2010.html
The Celebration of Recently Published Books by Alumni takes place at 5:30 p.m. Friday, May 28, at the Brown Hotel and is followed by a book signing. Alumni reading at this session are
○ Amy Clark (poetry), Stray Home
○ Richard Newman (poetry), Domestic Fugues
○ Barry George (poetry), Wrecking Ball & Other Urban Haiku
○ Katerina Stoykova-Klemer (poetry), The Air Around the Butterfly
○ Joan Donaldson (young-adult novel), On Viney’s Mountain
○ Edith M. Hemingway (middle-grade novel), Road to Tater Hill
Book signing to follow. Books provided by Carmichael’s.
Alumni who are planning to attend may want to make reservations at the Brown Hotel now (502-583-1234). Be sure to ask for the Spalding Friends and Family rate, which is $129.
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. (top)
Life of a Writer
Kate Buckley announces that her sonnet, “The Thing I Fear,” was just published in 34thParallel, Issue 10. Kate’s been busy doing readings in support of her second collection of poetry, Follow Me Down (Tebot Bach, 2009), including readings in her native Lexington, Kentucky (Holler Poets Series and Joseph Beth), and in California (a lecture, interview, and reading for Ventura County Writers Club). Currently she’s at work on submissions solicited for an anthology of Southern California poetry.
Carolyn Flynn, a fiction and creative nonfiction student, announces that her creative nonfiction piece “Pound of Flesh” was accepted for publication in The Tampa Review. This piece was short-listed for the Tom Howard Prose Prize last year. It was written during her first semester under mentor Bob Finch and inspired by the performance of The Merchant of Venice in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England, during the 2008 residency. In addition, Carolyn won first place in the Albuquerque the Magazine fiction contest for “Blood,” and that story was published in the April issue of the magazine, which can be found at http://www.ABQthemag.com.
Joe Gisondi announces that his sports reporting book, The Field Guide to Covering Sports, was published by Congressional Quarterly Press in March 2010. He continues to publish tips and suggestions at http://www.sportsfieldguide.com, a web site that’s been recommended by several journalism organizations. (top)
Cindy Lane, scheduled to graduate in 2013 in Greece, attended Christopher Newport University’s annual writing conference with her writer’s group and learned about marketing to book clubs, among other things. Now, she just has to finish her novel! She read Kenny L. Cook’s article in the latest Writer’s Chronicle (“Narrative Strategy and Dramatic Design”), which prompted yet another revision of Bird in the Wrong Sky. Thanks a lot, Kenny. Cindy would like to say “buen viaje!” to all preparing for the trip to Buenos Aires.
Caroline LeBlanc announces that her first chapbook, “Smokey Ink and a Touch of Honeysuckle,” was published late in 2009 by Oiseau Chapbooks, http://www.oiseauchapbooks.com.
Her poems “Frantic Street” and “Double Inheritance” were published in the inaugural Winter 2009/2010 issue of the ezine Eighty Percent
(http://www.eightypercentmagazine.com).
Caroline’s “Interview and Profile: Lucie Le-Blanc Consentino,” was published in moé pe toé, the ezine of the Franco-American Women’s Institute
(http://www.fawi.net/ezine/vol4no1/index.html). Lucie is a leader in Acadian and Franco-American research and education.
Also, in the same volume, moé pe toé published Caroline’s research paper, “A Feminine Context in Quebecois Poetry: Rina Lasnier, Anne Hebert and Celyne Fortin.”
Caroline’s war poetry was featured as the editor’s choice in the international ezine Thanal Online, Volume 3, Issue 4 (http://www.thanalonline.com/Issues/12/echoice_en.htm).
Jenny Luper reports that her creative nonfiction piece, “Vampire Cage Match,” and the first part of her short story, “A Student of Noise,” have been published in the April 2010 issue of TUSK Digital Magazine, http://www.faddiscreative.com/TuskMagazine_April2010.html. The conclusion of her short story, “A Student of Noise,” and her poem “Acres and Acres” have been published in the May 2010 issue of TUSK Digital Magazine, http://www.faddiscreative.com/TuskMagazine_May2010.html. (top)
Roland Mann will be the featured speaker at the Sixty-Sixth Annual Arkansas Writers’ Conference on June 4-5, 2010, in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Chris Mattingly recently learned that the literary journal Trajectory is going to publish his poem “Wake for the Step-Daddy that Never Married My Mother.” Also, Mattingly’s poem “Ain’t” won second place in the Kentuckiana Metroversity Writing Contest. Listen to Chris read “Ain’t” on the Accents Publishing Youtube channel.
Arwen Mitchell has recently been commissioned to work with the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency’s summer-long Living History” program in Springfield, Illinois. She joins the staff as head writer, dramaturg, and actor. (top)
Mary Lou Northern received a fellowship from the Summer Literary Seminar for a chapter of her novel, William and Rose. These merit-based fellowships were awarded to “contestants whose work placed beyond the mean.” The fellowship is for the June seminar in Montreal with “innovative, interesting and talented” international writers and poets.
George Schricker received first place in graduate poetry in the 2010 Kentuckiana Metroversity Writing Competition for his poem, “Unarranged.” The poem is described as a quiet and carefully controlled lyric that evolves into an unexpected and compelling final image of chairs “circling each other . . . looking for partners. Through this well-titled poem, the poet maintains a persistent voice and creates a simple and strange world.”
Ellie Bryant was invited to speak about her writing in March at Fletcher Free Library’s Noon Authors Series in Burlington, Vermont, and read from her nonfiction book, While in Darkness There is Light. Her collection, Full Bloom: Stories, e-published by Brown Fedora Books, will be available in May in a limited print edition. Currently she keeps a blog called “Ellie’s House” at
http://louellabryant.blogspot.com.
Nancy Jensen announces that her novel The Sisters will be published by St. Martin’s Press in Spring 2011. Her first book, Window: Stories and Essays, was released by Fleur-de-Lis Press in 2009. From 2005-2007, Nancy served as expository writing consultant for the Spalding MFA in Writing Program.
Greg Pape gave readings at Montana Festival of the Book; Second Wind Series in Missoula; Missoula Public Library; Casper Writers’ Conference, Casper, Wyoming, where he also served also judge for the Wyoming Arts Council’s Poetry Fellowships; AWP in Denver, where he also served on a panel on regional writing; the State Finals of the Poetry Out Loud! competition in Helena, Montana, where he also served as a judge; Get Lit! festival in Spokane, where he also served on a panel and led a workshop; and Lewis Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. He has new work appearing or forthcoming in Northwest Review, San Joaquin Review, Lake Effect, and the anthology Poems of the American West. (top)
Molly Peacock read new poetry and prose as well as from The Second Blush with Ruth Danon at New York University on March 31 and with Carrie Etter at Bowery Poetry Club on April 3.
Luke Wallin has been songwriting and recording with MFA student George Schricker. Luke contributed lyrics and harmonies to George’s song “Monster,” via Internet collaboration, with engineering by Bruce Bartlett (www.bartlettrecording.com). This work will soon be online via George’s page at http://www.CDBaby.com.Luke is also recording new songs with Steven K. Williams (http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=409157). (top)
The Red Queen had its world premier at the Cine Las Americas Film Festival this Saturday, April 24, at 2 PM at the Regent Metropolitan 14. The film’s stars, Valente Rodriquez and Linda Bustamante, and the writer/director David Carren (Fall 2006) were present for Q & A. Produced entirely in the Rio Grande Valley, The Red Queen has earned an Honorable Mention in the Los Angeles Reel Fim Festival and 2nd Place in the UFVA Screenwriting Competition.
Dave DeGolyer’s (Fall 2006) alter-ego Lafayette Wattles recently had the pleasure of joining Cathy Shap (Cathy Nickola, Spring 2009) for a poetry reading at Elmira College. The two read from current works-in-progress and had a nice discussion with students. In addition to this treat, Lafayette’s poem “I Couldn’t Tell Which Were the Thoughts and Which Were the Trees” was recently chosen by poet Patricia Smith for inclusion in the 2009 Best of the Net Anthology. Lafayette’s poems “Soup Kitchen” and “a small joy thrown into a long defeat” were nominated for the 2009 Best of the Web Anthology and for Best New Poets 2010, respectively. (top)
Sonja de Vries (Fall 2009) won $250 for her poem “A Response to What’s Your Sexual Orientation?” in the Split This Rock 2010 contest. Her poem “Ways of Seeing” will be published by Dark Sky.
Joan Donaldson (Spring 2008) announces that her new novel, On Viney’s Mountain, has received an award from the Friends of American Writers, a Midwest literary organization that works to “encourage high standards and to promote literary ideals.” The award recognizes new voices and has been presented to Richard Peck and Rebecca Caudill.
Ann Eskridge (Fall 2008), won honorable mention for her young-adult book, The Raven, in the Wordhustler.com Literary Contest. The contest netted almost 1,000 entries. (top)
Barry George (Fall 2009) had a signing for his new chapbook, Wrecking Ball and Other Urban Haiku (Accents Publishing), at the Associated Writers and Writing Programs Conference in Denver, April 7-10. In May, he has readings scheduled at Mercersburg Academy, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania (May 7); Haiku Canada Weekend, Montreal (May 22); Spalding MFA Homecoming and Blue Mountain Coffee House, Louisville, Kentucky (May 28, 29); and Morris Book Shop, Lexington, Kentucky (May 30). The Montreal reading will be bilingual, with French translations by the author.
A few of Karen George’s (Spring 2009) previously published poems are featured on Little Pocket Poetry’s web site at http://www.littlepocketpoetry.org/homegrown_poets, and she read her poetry along with the Greater Cincinnati Writers League at the Cincinnati Library’s National Poetry Month Celebration. She enjoyed her first teaching experience–a five-week fiction writing class at University of Cincinnati’s Communiversity. (top)
George Getschow (Spring 2005), writer in residence of the nationally renowned Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference in Grapevine, Texas, is inviting nonfiction writers and anyone interested in narrative craft to the sixth annual conference, July 23-25, at the Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center, five minutes from the DFW Airport. The 2010 conference will explore a variety of storytelling genres: screenwriting, memoir, blogs, music, journalism as a foreign correspondent and photography. Speakers include some of America’s top narrative practitioners: Mary Karr, author of two New York Times bestselling memoirs; Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down; Bryan Burrough, author of Public Enemies and Barbarians at the Gate; David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z; Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers, Blood and Thunder, and Hellhound on his Trail; Gary Smith, a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, whom Slate calls “the best magazine writer in America.” Other nationally acclaimed speakers include Amanda Bennett, Kevin Fedarko, Paula Butturini, Madalit del Barco, Hannah Allam and many more. Bob Shacochis, a National Book Award Winner (Swimming in the Volcano) who spoke at last year’s conference, says the Mayborn conference is “the most compelling, remarkable writers’ conference I’ve attended in more than 20 years of writers’ conferences around the nation. Thanks to the Mayborn tribe of storytellers, I think of Dallas as a preferred destination, a center of literary gravity, perhaps the very heart of the universe these days for nonfiction writers in America.” The conference includes a book manuscript and essay writing contest. Deadline for submissions is June 15. Find complete guidelines at http://www.themayborn.com. The top six articles and essays win $12,000 in cash prizes. The 10 best articles or essays, including the six cash award winners, will be published in a popular literary journal called Ten Spurs. To read some of the essays published in the most recent issue of Ten Spurs, go tohttp://www.themayborn.com. To register, see http://www.themayborn.unt.edu or contact George at getshow@unt.edu or 972-746-1633. (top)
Joan Gumbs (Spring 2009) announces that her first novel, The Jamerican, was released in March 2010 by Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing. She is in Jamaica promoting the book, which is available on amazon.com and other book outlets. She is also scheduled to do a reading (possibly signing) in May at a Lions Club meeting on the University of West Indies campus.
Patty Houston (Fall 2008) has had these stories accepted for publication: “Elite Institute for the Study of Arc Welders’ Flash Fever” in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet; “The View from My Pew” in The Louisville Review; “Exegesis” in descant. Her essay “For the Love of Reading: Students Patronage and Perceptions of the Reading Room at One University” has been accepted for the spring 2010 issue of The Journal of College Literacy and Learning. In March 2010 she presented her paper “For the Love of Reading” at the TASS Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. On May 8, she will present her paper “Film Montage Techniques at Work in the Short Story” at the Ohio Festival of the Short Story in Cincinnati. At this same festival, she will lead a breakout session, “Montage Strategies in the Short Story.”
Cyn Kitchen (Spring 2005) read from her short story collection (the title of which is currently in limbo but will be either The Right to Remain Silent or Ten Tongues and is due out this fall from MotesBooks), at Kaldi’s Coffeehouse in Galesburg, Illinois, along with fellow writers and colleagues from Knox College, Sean Mills and Chad Simpson. She also traveled to Breaks, Virginia, at the end of April and participated in the MotesBooks’ A Retreat of One’s Own gathering for writers and songwriters. This academic year at Knox College, where Cyn serves as assistant professor of English, she has hosted Crystal Wilkinson (Spring 2003), Dawn Shamp (Spring 2005) and Brad Watson as guests for Knox’s Caxton Club reading series. (top)
Nana Lampton (Spring 2004) is scheduled to read at the Carnegie Center in Lexington, Kentucky, on June 8, with Mary Ann Taylor Hall. She will read from Snowy Owl Gathers in Her Trove and The Moon with the Sun in Her Eye.
Amina S. McIntyre (Fall 2009) has been named the 2011 Visiting Writer in Residence at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina, a job recommended by alum Kim Stinson-Hawn (Fall 2007). Amina is also an editor for a new online magazine, The Infinite Field Magazine (http://www.theinfinitefieldmagazine.com), which focuses on conscious spiritual living and is starting a drama ministry at West Side Community CME Church in Atlanta.
Jae Newman (Fall 2006) and Amy Watkins Copeland (Spring 2006) announce that their poem, “Reports from a Cocoon,” will be published in Poemeleon’s issue on collaboration, available online in April. Jae has new poems in upcoming issues of The Tulane Review and The Buffalo News. Amy has poems forthcoming in The Mom Egg and MotesBooks’ anthology MOTIF 2: Chance. (top)
Mary C. O’Malley (Fall 2004) has been busy caretaking her adolescent identical twin daughters. Last year they had kyphosis/scoliosis back surgeries one after another. Subsequently one has developed a bloodstream infection necessitating one further surgery and probably more to come. Anyone interested in writing a fiction or nonfiction book, article, or play about her experience please feel free to contact her. Meanwhile she has had a short monologue, “Render,” accepted by The International Centre of Women Playwrights. She participated in a Cleveland reading on St. Patrick’s Day and recently was given a grant by the Ohio Arts Council for a juvenile fiction book about Irish Americans in Cleveland. She also has been accepted to work with Kate Millet this year. She serves on a Community Theatre Board of Directors and has been instrumental in bringing in Great Lakes Theatre Festival pre-production spring dramas to our small second-floor town hall auditorium. “They love us!” she says. Because of concentrating on her twins’ surgeries, she says she feels a great kinship with Tillie Olsen.
Joe Peacock (Fall 2008) was one of two associate faculty members spotlighted in The Voice (The Magazine of the School of Arts and Letters at Indiana University Southeast) this spring. In the article he shares a poem, “Five Miles Past Hana,” inspired by a surprise discovery that occurred during a family holiday in Hawaii. In addition, he has been selected to teach his first creative writing course during the fall semester of this year. Joe and his wife, Susan, visited Ireland and Scotland this past summer, taking in the James Joyce Museum and the Irish Writers Museum in Dublin (both highly recommended), and the Old Town in Edinburgh, where he finalized research on his novel in manuscript, “The Ninth Life of Remy Zen-Cat.” (top)
Terry Price (Spring 2006) will be the featured writer for the Accents radio program on Lexington radio station, WRFL 88.1 FM at 2 p.m. ET April 23. The program can also be heard online at http://www.wrfl.fm. Accents is hosted and produced by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer (Fall 2009). Terry also was interviewed by Diane Scearce for a piece on jazz and jazz fiction for the March 26 edition of the online publication The Examiner at http://tinyurl.com/terryprice.
Diana Raab (Fall 2003) announces the release of Writers and Their Notebooks (The University of South Carolina Press, January 2010), a collection she compiled and edited about writers and their notebook-keeping habits with a foreword from Phillip Lopate. The book has been favorably reviewed online and she’s done numerous radio interviews. In January/February she pioneered a class called “Creative Journaling” in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. In March she gave a poetry reading along with other Santa Barbara poets to benefit Haiti Soleil, a program to rebuild Port au Prince’s only library, which collapsed in January’s earthquake. In January she gave a poetry reading at Chaucer’s Books in Santa Barbara fornia, for her book The Guilt Gene. In April she moderated a panel at the AWP Conference in Denver called, “Writing Biographies: Making Someone Else’s Story Your Own.” Panelists included Phillip Lopate, Honor Moore, Kim Stafford, Robert Root and Joy Castro. At AWP she also did a book signing for Writers and Their Notebooks.
Brian Russell (Spring 2010) signed copies of his new chapbook, “Meeting Dad: A Memoir” (Accents Publishing) at the AWP Conference in Denver. Brian read in Chicago on April 17, hosted by The Breakthrough Group. He will join other Accents Publishing authors and Accents Publishing founder and senior editor Katerina Stoykova-Klemer (Fall 2009) for a public reading at 3 p.m. May 30 at the Morris Bookshop in Lexington, Kentucky. (top)
Heather Shaw (Fall 2004) attended the North American Chapter of the Barbara Pym conference at Harvard University in March. She highly recommends this annual event for any appreciators of Pym’s work. Heather and her husband, Jeremy, recently purchased a furniture store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which specializes in the restoration of heirloom furniture as well as retail sales of new and antique furniture, books and art. They plan to begin hosting poetry readings in the evenings as well as hosting book parties, and they welcome inquiries (HeatherShaw@comcast.net) from any Spalding faculty or alums interested in reading.
Kim Stinson-Hawn (Fall 2007) announces that Echo Theatre in Dallas, Texas, held a reading of Appalachian Geisha on April 13. The play was a finalist honoree in Echo Theatre’s Big Shout Out New Play Contest for Women Playwrights. In addition, Kim’s monologue “Dance It Out” is due out in a book of monologues, interJACtions: Monologues at the Heart of Human Nature, by JAC Publishing & Promotions in late spring or early summer.
Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen (Spring 2003) announces that her young adult novel, The Compound, is a finalist for 2010-2011 state reader awards in Missouri, Utah, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Washington. Her picture book A Small Brown Dog with a Wet Pink Nose (Little Brown) is going to be featured, along with an interview, in the May issue of Scholastic Parent and Child magazine. Her second young adult novel, The Gardener, comes out May 25 from Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan and was recently featured in a Publisher’s Weekly article about forthcoming dystopian young adult novels.
Kathleen Thompson (Fall 2003) has written a book review of Bottle Tree, Poems by Jennifer Horne, which is published in First Draft Reviews Online, Alabama Writers’ Forum, April 2010 (http://www.writersforum.org). She presented her own poetry from The Shortest Distance at the Alabama Book Festival in Montgomery on April 17.
Vickie Weaver (Fall 2005) attended two conferences in April: the Dallas/Fort Worth Writers Conference at Grapevine, Texas, and the Kentucky Writers Conference in Bowling Green. She also browsed the aisles at the Southern Kentucky Book Fest the day after the conference.
Our heartfelt sympathy to Kay Gill on the death of her husband, George, on April 10.
An outdoor area of the Kent School of Social Work (University of Louisville) has been named in honor of JoAnn Harrison. (top)
Summer 2010: Buenos Aires
Residency Books in Common
To prepare for the Summer 2010 MFA residency in Buenos Aires, all attending students should read the Plenary Book in Common: Don Segundo Sombra by Ricardo Güiraldes. This book is out of print, but students can obtain used copies. Be sure to purchase the English translation.
Students should also read the book in common (listed below) for their concentration area.
Fiction: Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges (English Translation), Anthony Kerrigan (Editor and Translator). Grove PR, 1994.
Poetry: Twentieth Century Latin American Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology, edited by Stephen Tapscott. Univ of Texas PR, 1996, second printing 2006.
Creative Nonfiction: In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin, and The Old Patagonia Express by Paul Theroux. Please focus on South American sections of Theroux’s book.
Writing for Children and Young Adults: The Magic Bean Tree: A Legend from Argentina by Nancy Van Laan (Author) and Beatriz Vidal (Illustrator). Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 1998.
Screenwriting: Film & Script: The Motorcycle Diaries by Walter Salles (View film. Script to be posted on Blackboard).
Students should bring their texts to the book-in-common sessions at the residency in Argentina. There may be additions made to the BIC prereading list. Please check the Thursday Memo each week on Blackboard to stay informed.(top)
Summer 2010 Faculty Books
and Script in Common
Summer 2010 students please read the book or script in your area of concentration before the Buenos Aires’ MFA Residency. Bring texts to residency for discussion.
Fiction: Last Call by Kenny Cook
Poetry: How Men Pray by Phil Deaver
Creative Nonfiction: Back Home: Journeys Through Mobile by Roy Hoffman.
Writing for Children and Young Adults: Ceremony of the Panther by Luke Wallin (Available online from iUniverse.com or online from B & N).
Screenwriting: The Good Soldier by Helena Kriel (script on BB) (top)
Program Books in Common
for Spring 2010
All students and faculty read the following Program Books/Scripts in Common in preparation for the Spring 2010 residency. Bring the texts to the appropriate sessions at the residency.
Students should also view (in their entirety) the following films written by Steven Zaillion to prepare for residency discussions: Schindler’s List (1993); Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993); Gangs of New York (2002). DVDs of the films may be rented locally or checked out of local libraries. (top)
Faculty Books/Scripts
in Common for Spring 2010
In addition to the Program Book in Common, students also read a Faculty Book/Script in Common in their area of concentration. The Faculty Books/Scripts in Common are:
Fiction: Eleanor Morse, Chopin’s Garden (order from amazon.com)
Poetry: Jeanie Thompson, The Seasons Bear Us
Creative Nonfiction: Luke Wallin, Conservation Writing: Essays at the Crossroads of Nature and Culture
Writing for Children & Young Adults: Silas House, Eli the Good
Playwriting: Kira Obolensky, Modern House (posted on BB)
Screenwriting: Brad Riddell, The Plebe (posted on BB) (top)
Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) for Fall 2009
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.
Reading Trail for MFA Authors
When one of our faculty, students, or alumni publishes a book, thew MFA Program celebrates that success. In keeping with the community spirit fostered by the Spalding MFA Program, the Program wants to support actively those authors when they travel to promote their books. Please send information to Karen Mann to help create a Reading Trail of possible reading opportunities.
Spalding students and faculty hail from all over the United States and beyond. Many participants live in communities that offer reading series, which are affiliated with a local independent bookstore or university or are run on their own, such as Louisville’s own InKY (founded by Spalding alums).
MFAers can support Spalding authors by providing an introduction to reading series organizers or simply passing along information about reading opportunities in your area. Providing this information does not commit anyone to anything he/she is unable to do. The Program simply hopes to put together a list of possibilities that will help authors market their books successfully.
Anyone who has ideas to share should email Karen Mann at kmann@spalding.edu to request the Reading Trail form to complete and return.
Thank you for being an active part of our Spalding MFA community! (top)
To share your helpful ideas, email Karen Mann at kmann@spalding.edu to request the Reading Trail form to complete and return.
Thank you for being an active part of our Spalding MFA community! (top)
Apply Now for U.S. Passport for Summer 2010 Travel: Students, alumni, and faculty who are planning travel to the Buenos Aires Summer 2010 residency should apply for their passports as soon as possible.
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. 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 fafsa.ed.gov. (top)
All Spring 2010 students: Fill out the FAFSA for the 09-10 school year, using 2008 tax information.
All Summer 2010 students (which includes spring-stretch students): fill out the FAFSA for the 10-11 school year, using 2009 tax information. Spring-stretch students receiving financial aid through students loans do not receive residual checks until June 4.
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. For convenience, bookmark this page. The web address is case sensitive. (top)
Life of a Writer: Please remember to email Life of a Writer news to the program at mfanewsletter@spalding.edu because this is a vital part of our community—to 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 web site addresses when appropriate.
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. (top)
About The Masthead:
The image in our masthead is 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.
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
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
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 Carolyn Flynn at mfanewsletter@spalding.edu