Vol.16 No.1
August 2009

Barcelona Rocks!

Assoc. of Writers & Writing Programs

New Opportunity for Workshops

Deadline Extended for Cross-Genre Workshops

Teaching Practicum: students and grads

Enrichment Semester, students and grads

Reminder: Packet Printing Fee

Spring 2010 Manuscript Workshop

BB Discussion Board for Contests, Deadlines, etc.

Alumni Assoc

Because You Asked

Life of a Writer

Students

Faculty and Staff

Alumni

Faculty Advisory Committee for Spring 2009

Pre-reading for Fall 2009

Reminders and Notes

Spalding Home

MFA Home

Previous Newsletters

Modernista Architecture Inspires Form for Writers at Barcelona Residency

A group of thirty MFA students, two post-graduate residency assistants, faculty, staff, and guests, fifty-five in all, traveled to Barcelona on July 8-20 for the third summer residency abroad.

Barcelona was selected as a residency location in part for its renowned Modernista architecture, which the group investigated on a guided walking tour. Modernisme was Barcelona’s particular take on Art Nouveau, a highly decorative style drawing heavily on the influence of nature. Taking Barcelona’s architecture as her inspiration, Sena Jeter Naslund lectured on “The Idea of Form,” addressing various Modernist texts and examining them in terms of structure, subject, and style—elements of a work’s overall form.

Furthering the emphasis on form, the residency’s three hotels were positioned near the border between Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, an area of medieval buildings and labyrinthine streets, and the 19th-century Eixample, or Expansion, which features Modernista architecture and streets laid out in a grid. Students completed a cross-genre exercise that required them to write a passage in a form inspired by a piece of Barcelona architecture.

The residency featured workshops, lectures, panel discussions, and readings in a format familiar to spring and fall students. In addition, the Spalding MFA program held its first graduation ceremony abroad for a graduating class of one—creative nonfiction student Darlyn Finch. Darlyn expressed great relief when she learned that she could continue attending residencies abroad as an alum. (top)

Participants attended a flamenco show and toured the world-famous Picasso Museum. Free time on some afternoons allowed students to explore the city further on their own. A number of students and faculty took advantage of a free half-day to travel by train to Montserrat, a monastery built on a dramatic mountainside. Another large group attended an evening performance of classical Spanish guitar at the Palau de la Música Catalana.

The MFA Program’s next summer residency abroad takes place in Buenos Aires, June 21-July 3, 2010. In summer 2011, we travel to Tuscany. Other future locations: Paris, Greece, Dublin, Vienna, New York.

Previous residencies abroad took place in Paris (2007) and London and Bath, England (2008). (top)

AWP Conference in Denver

The 2010 Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference will be held April 7-10 at the Hyatt Regency Denver & Colorado Convention Center. The MFA Program pays for registration for fifteen current student to attend. Students are responsible for travel, housing, and food. If you want to take advantage of this offer for free registration, let Katy know (kyocom@spalding.edu) by Nov. 1.

Rooms usually fill up, so it’s not too early to make a reservation. Find information about the conference at awpwriter.org/conference/2010awpconf.php.

All current MFA students and faculty have a membership in AWP and should receive The Writer’s Chronicle. (top)

New Opportunity: Participating in a Workshop Outside Your Area

In order to expose students to different forms of writing and to broaden their knowledge of craft, the MFA Program now allows students (who have completed ENG610) to participate in a workshop in an area of concentration that is not the their own area for one residency during their course of study. Previously, the only way students could take part in a workshop was to be accepted in that area.

Because of this new feature, students who have written or wish to write in areas other than the one(s) they are studying can have material workshopped by faculty and students in that area. For example, if you are a fiction student and you have written a screenplay, you could request to participate in the screenwriting workshop, or if you are a creative nonfiction student who has written poetry, you could request to participate in a poetry workshop. The mentoring for the semester following the residency is in the student’s major area of concentration.

If you wish to take advantage of this option during the fall residency, let Karen know by mid-semester, August 28 (email kmann@spalding.edu with “fall residency workshop request” in the subject line). While the MFA office hopes to accommodate each person’s request, some space restrictions apply.

In case you are wondering how this option is different from a cross-genre workshop, here’s how: Cross-genre workshop students must have been accepted in one of the two areas of concentration, and cross-genre workshop discussions include material in both areas of concentration. (top)

Fall 2009 Students: Cross-genre Workshops Offered

In keeping with the MFA Program’s emphasis on cross-genre exploration, the MFA faculty has expressed interest in offering cross-genre workshops from time to time. These workshops benefit students through cross-pollination of ideas and provide opportunities for students to further their knowledge and technique in a second area of concentration. In Fall 2009, we are offering two cross-genre workshops to returning students who have not participated previously in a cross-genre workshop.

(1) Students who have been accepted in creative nonfiction or poetry may sign up to take a creative nonfiction/poetry workshop, led by Dianne Aprile and Maureen Morehead, or

(2) students who have been accepted in creative nonfiction or fiction can sign up to take a creative nonfiction/fiction workshop, led by Richard Goodman and Mary Waters.

Cross-genre workshops are always co-led by faculty members who teach in the areas. It is not necessary for students in the workshop to have expertise in both areas. Students submit worksheets in their major area of concentration. Students interested in participating in a cross-genre workshop should email Karen Mann at kmann@spalding.edu by August 28. Not all eligible students may be assigned to a cross-genre workshop, as space is limited. (top)

Teaching Practicum: ENG660

Students interested in taking the Teaching Practicum in Fall 2009 should contact Kathleen Driskell (kdriskell@spalding.edu) by midsemester, August 28. Students must have finished ENG610 and ENG620. Graduating students may add it on as an elective. Alums may take it as a post-graduate semester.

Enrichment Semester: ENG650

The MFA in Writing Program offers students the opportunity to register in ENG650 for a fifth semester of mentored instruction before they finish their degrees. ENG650 may also be taken by students who have completed ENG610 and ENG620 and also by students who are scheduled to graduate in the fall.

The enrichment semester benefits students who wish to study further in their genre, work to complete a manuscript, or do additional work in a minor or another genre, provided they apply and are accepted to study in that area of concentration.

By taking the additional fifth semester before the MFA degree is conferred, students may qualify to receive financial aid to help defray tuition costs. For more information on this opportunity, please contact Kathleen Driskell, Associate Program Director, at kdriskell@spalding.edu. (top)

Packet Printing Fee

Because all costs of packet exchange are paid by the students, students who use electronic means to submit their packets send the MFA Office a check, made out to Spalding University, for $20 to cover the cost incurred by faculty printing students’ packets. The check should be sent at the beginning of the semester.(top)

Spring 2010: Book-length Manuscript Workshop

The deadline has been extended for requesting to be a part of the Spring 2010 Book-Length Manuscript Workshop. If you are a third-semester or higher student interested in participating in the Book-length Manuscript Workshop (novels, chapter books for children, unified essays, memoirs, short story cycles) for the Spring 2010 residency, please notify Karen (kmann@spalding.edu) by August 28.

This workshop is limited to six students (who may be in any area of concentration) and whole manuscripts are discussed. Students are admitted on a first-come, first-served basis and by seniority. (Alumni sometimes participate and should contact Karen if interested.)

A full two hours of each day of the workshop is spent discussing each book-length manuscript. Choosing to participate in the Book-length Manuscript Workshop requires a major investment of time and effort.

In general, students must be in third semester now to apply; however, there are some exceptions. See pages 27-28 of the MFA Student Handbook for complete information or email Karen with questions. This workshop is a valuable experience, one that has been praised by every participant.

Tay Berryhill, who participated in Spring 2009, wrote, “Every novel needs a careful reader (or several) before being sent out into the world. During the novel workshop, my work benefitted from the talents of five dedicated readers. Their generous feedback confirmed my perceived strengths and weaknesses, yet also addressed many problematic issues I hadn’t considered. Key to the workshop was understanding how to read a novel, structurally and strategically. After analyzing the workshop’s polished drafts and joining in intensive critiques, we all gained a stronger objectivity and fresh ideas on revision. This workshop challenged me to think more deeply about a novel’s central concerns. The time and energy invested was well worth it.” (top)

Bruce Smith, also in fiction, participated in Spring 2009 after he took an enrichment semester. “Artistically, I consider my enrichment semester and the novel-length workshop the culmination of my creative endeavors at Spalding. I would highly recommend both the post-graduate enrichment semester and the novel-length workshop to any MFA student. They were, quite honestly, the most artistically satisfying times I have had as a writer.”

Discussion Board for Contests, Deadlines, and More

The “Contests” section of the discussion board on Blackboard has much more information than contests. It includes calls for submissions or papers, information on grants and residencies, fellowships, etc. Check in from time to time to find out what opportunities are out there. Faculty, students, and alumni may also post information to this discussion board. (top)

Because You Asked

Q. Why are students asked to bring copies of their cumulative bibliography to the group conference at the residency?
A. Students bring three copies of the bibliography to the residency, one for their new mentor, one for themselves, and one to share with other students at the group conference. (top)

Life of a Writer

Students

The Mobile (Alabama) Press-Register published an essay Eleanor Inge Baker wrote about her Spalding experience. Follow the link: al.com/books/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/124618057584380.xml&coll=3.

Becky Browder’s creative nonfiction work “Gypsies and Red Panties” has been accepted for publication in the Fall 2009 issue of Longleaf Style Magazine. (top)

Kate Buckley has a poem in the current issue of Chickenpiñata, a journal of poetry, and is a featured poet in the current issue of poeticdiversity: the litzine of Los Angeles. She also recently had two poems featured on Accents—A Radio Show for Literature, Art and Culture. Kate’s first book, A Wild Region, was named this month’s Reviewer’s Choice at the Midwest Book Review. Her second book, Follow Me Down, will be released next month by Tebot Bach. Advance praise for Follow Me Down includes the following quote from Charles Harper Webb: “Vivid, passionate, pulsing with life in the face of loss and pain, these incantations bravely seek to void The Void. They are poems to conjure with.”
Kate served as judge for the 11th annual Laguna Beach Library poetry contest and lent her voice for an audio recording of the winning poems. She had the privilege recently of attending readings featuring Brendan Constantine, Lynn Thompson, and J.M. Fitzgerald, and had a reading of her own on August 19 at Moorpark College in Los Angeles.
Kate will be featured alongside her spaniels, Mac and Murphy, on the blog on writers and their dogs, “Coffee with a Canine.” The full-length interview with photos went live the week of August 17 at coffeecanine.blogspot.com.(top)

Drema Drudge is teaching creative writing to adults enrolled in the GED program at the Learn More Center in Wabash, Indiana.

Carolyn Flynn’s creative nonfiction piece “Pound of Flesh,” written during first semester with mentor Bob Finch, received commended status and was short-listed for the Tom Howard Prose Prize, which received more than two thousand entries.

Amy Hanridge was a reader for the Fifth Glass Woman Prize competition. She also submitted her own story to the competition and, while it was not chosen as a finalist, she received helpful and positive feedback from Beate Sigriddaughter, editor of the prize. Find out more about the competition online at sigriddaughter.com/GlassWomanPrize.htm.

Caroline LeBlanc had two poems, “The New Roof” and “Loving an Addict,” published in the spring issue of Spirits: Indiana University Northwest. (top)

Michael Malone, recently elected vice president of the Miami Writers Association (MWA), facilitated “Let Freedom Ring,” an open mic event, on July 3 to celebrate writing and Independence Day. About twenty writers read in a variety of genres from their works, sharing their ideas about freedom and liberty. “Let Freedom Ring,” part of the “Writers Read” series, was held at The Bookstore in Coconut Grove, an independent bookstore in Miami. Michael also participated with the MWA on July 30 to host “Rhythm N the Word,” a fusion of music and the written word. Writers and musicians shared the stage to explore the interplay of musical rhythms and the literary arts.

Chris Mattingly recently learned that his chapbook ad hoc was picked up by Q AVE PRESS. Chris was approached by the editor of the press after a poetry reading in Bloomington, Indiana. The book will come out sometime before AWP 2010 and will include a limited-edition run of letterpressed, hand-stitched books and a larger run of inkjet-printed books. Also, a couple of select poems will be issued as letterpress broadsides. (top)

Rosemary Royston taught a poetry course this summer at Young Harris College’s Institute for Continuing Learning called “From Form to Free Verse.” Her poetry has been published in Public Republic, found online at public-republic.net/on-the-discovery-of-aspirin.php, and three of her poems will be included in the North Carolina’s Writer’s Network anthology Echoes of Blue Ridge. Rosemary will also be reading an essay on the poetry of Janice Harrington at the Southern Women’s Writers Conference, which will be held at Berry College this September.

Brian Russell recently published a review of the Winter 2008 edition of Shenandoah at The Review Review (online at thereviewreview.net/content/fine-fardel-shenandoah-winter-2008). An excerpt from his memoir-in-progress was recently featured on WRFL 88.1 FM Lexington’s radio program Accents–a Radio Show for Literature, Art and Culture, hosted by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer. (top)

Tommy Trull will be featured on the cover of the Fall 2009 issue of Southern Theatre Magazine, in which his full-length drama Honeyboy will be published in its entirety. He has also been commissioned to write a stage piece commemorating the life of 1920s union organizer James Edmonds, which will open in 2010.

Charles White’s short story “Confederates” was accepted by Word Riot. The story is scheduled to appear in September.

Larry Williams won third prize in the Jacqui Bennett Writers Bureau Summer Competition 2009 for his short story “Denying the Enemy Ground.” It can be read online at www.jbwb.co.uk/lwdeg.htm. (Unlike most web sites, this one needs the www. before the address in order to load properly.) (top)

Reba White Williams’s article “What We Kept and Why,” about the five hundred prints she and her husband, Dave Williams, retained at the time of their donation of more than five thousand prints to the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., appeared in The Journal of the Print World, Volume 32, No. 3, Summer 2009.

Faculty and Staff

Kathleen Driskell’s collection of poems, Seed Across Snow, was listed as a bestseller for May 2009 (also listed in February 2009) by the Poetry Foundation. She has the following fall readings scheduled throughout the country: 7 p.m. September 16, Cornelia Street Café in New York City, with Annie Finch; 2 p.m. September 29, Athens State College Library in Athens, Alabama, with Jeanie Thompson; 6:30 p.m. September 29, Huntsville-Madison County Public Library in Huntsville, Alabama, with Jeanie Thompson (for more information, contact aphillips@hpl.lib.al.us or 256-532-5993); 2 p.m. October 1, The Loft/GUC, University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama, with Jeanie Thompson (for more information, contact Anita Garner, amgarner@una.edu); 2 p.m. October 11, Poetry at the Ruskin in Los Angeles, with Terry Wolverton; and 7:30 p.m. October 19, River Styx at Duff’s Reading Series in St. Louis, with Jeanie Thompson and Gardner McFall. Read Kathleen’s blog commenting on Kentucky writers and literary events at kathleendriskell.blogspot.com. (top)

Richard Goodman’s essay “The Hermit of Croisset: Flaubert’s Fiercely Enduring Perfectionism” was published in the September issue of The Writer’s Chronicle. It was originally given as a lecture at Spalding University.

Roy Hoffman’s essay “For So-and-So With Love,” about the art and emotion of book inscriptions, was published in the Los Angeles Times on August 2. latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-caw-off-the-shelf2-2009aug02,0,3532193.story. Roy’s review of Pat Conroy’s novel, South of Broad, is scheduled for the New York Times Book Review, Sunday, August 23. A half-hour interview with Roy about his literary endeavors will air on “Alabama Bookmark,” host Don Noble, Alabama Public Television, August 23, 11 a.m.

Cathy Medwick’s story “Art House,” about Washington, D.C., art collector and education activist Peggy Cafritz, appears in the August issue of O The Oprah Magazine. Peggy’s house, filled with early works by now-celebrated artists of color, burned down on the night of July 29. It was a tremendous loss. (top)

Program Director Sena Jeter Naslund’s novel Ahab’s Wife released with a new cover in Harper Perennial’s “Modern Classics” series; other titles include To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Native Son by Richard Wright. Sena recently read from the new edition in Mystic, Connecticut, and at the Museum of Natural History in Brewster, Massachusetts, introduced by Marcia Dalton, MFA expository mini-workshop instructor. Sena is writing an “MFA Insider” column for Writer’s Digest.

Brad Riddell is thrilled about the August 11 release of his film Road Trip 2 through Paramount. He is revising his script Ms. Manhattan for MTV Films, writing a chapter on story ideation for the instructional screenwriting compilation Now Write! and tweeting far, far too often at twitter.com/bradriddell. (top)

Luke Wallin wrote and recorded an original song at the request of a writer/performer in Atlanta for a new stage musical in progress. More on this as it develops. After attending Dope Thief author Dennis Tofoya’s mystery writing workshop at Pomegranate Books in Wilmington, N.C., Luke went on a mystery reading and writing adventure. He has completed a new story, “Monster,” and has others in the works. With a laptop trove of new songs, Luke traveled to New England to add tracks by percussionist Ivor Hanson (author of Living on the Ledge, about his days as a high-rise window washer in New York City) and keyboardist John Souza. Luke contributed guitar playing to an episode of Spalding MFA alum Deborah Begel’s (Spring 2006) new radio program Calling America, which has just been picked up for Sunday morning broadcasts. You can do a search and find episodes online.

Sam Zalutsky will direct playwriting alumnus Brian Hampton’s play The Jungle Fun Room for five performances in August at FringeNYC, the New York International Fringe Festival, the largest multiarts festival in North America. Sam worked with Brian in workshop and as his mentor on the play during Brian’s first semester at Spalding and is very excited to be working with him again. For more information, go to fringenyc.org or brianhampton.net. Sam recently completed a draft of his own first full-length play, currently titled 40 Weeks. (top)

Alumni

Jennifer Anthony (Spring 2005) shares her experience floating over San Francisco in a zeppelin in “Led (by a) Zeppelin,” online at been-seen.com/article.cfm?id=11154. She continues to geek out by writing regular articles about consumer electronics (examiner.com/x-1830-SF-Consumer-Electronics-Examiner) for Examiner.com, the online source for everything local. Her web site is jenniferanthony.net.

The KaBooM Writing Collective, including Susan Christerson Brown (Fall 2003) and Pam Sexton (Fall 2003), announces its forthcoming anthology, When the Bough Breaks, funded in part by grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and LexArts, and published in collaboration with Larkspur Press. The members of KaBooM will present a panel at the upcoming Women Writers Conference on September 12 in Lexington, Kentucky, titled “Collective Energy: Taking Our Writing to the Next Level.” (top)

Amy Watkins Copeland’s (Spring 2006) poems “Tooth Fairy” and “Morning Ride” are part of Literary Mama’s fatherhood issue (online at literarymama.com). Her poem “Aubade in Casselberry” is in the new issue of The Louisville Review.

In the presence of family, friends, and fellow writers, Adriena Dame (Fall 2007) and Keith Nixon (Fall 2008) were joined in holy matrimony on August 1. The newlyweds are excited to share their lives together and embark upon the writers’ journey as husband and wife. Adriena serves as an educator for Jefferson County Public Schools, and is in the final revision stages of her novel The Middle Space. Keith, an educator for Jefferson County Community and Technical College, is near the completion of a new screenplay and continues his efforts as the preferred script analyst for Hart/Lunsford Pictures. (top)

The Warrior Poet Group—Rod Dixon (Fall 2007), Dave Harrity (Fall 2007), and Drew Lackovic (Spring 2008)— have just released the first issue of their bi-annual literary journal, Ontologica. It features work from many fellow Spalding MFAers and alums. See it online at warriorpoetgroup.com/Ontologica

Joan Donaldson (Spring 2008) facilitated a workshop at the 2009 Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference organized by George Getschow (Spring 2005). Joan also had three essays published in the anthology At Home in the Garden, released by Ideals Publishing. (top)

Kathryn Eastburn (Spring 2006) has been teaching beginning creative nonfiction writing for the past three weeks at the Colorado College Summer Session in Colorado Springs. Twenty writers and prospective writers attended Kathryn’s all-day seminar, “Tell It Slant: Reading and Writing Creative Nonfiction,” at the college on August 1. Her magazine piece “A Sacred Feast” (Saveur, 2006) has been chosen for inclusion in the anthology Cornbread Nation V: Best Southern Food Writing, due from University of Georgia Press this fall.

Foust (Fall 2008) will have her story “Almost There” included in the August issue of the online magazine Word Riot (wordriot.org). A reading of the story will be included as an MP3. Her story “Eye” will be in the September issue of the online magazine Smokelong Quarterly (smokelong.com). Her story “Shuttle” will be in the autumn issue of the online magazine ExPatLit (expatlit.com). She also attended a writing retreat at Nimrod Hall in deepest Bath County, Virginia., during the last week of July and highly recommends the experience. (top)

The University of Cincinnati’s Communiversity Program has accepted Karen George’s (Spring 2009) proposal for a class she designed called “Writing the Natural World,” which she will teach this fall.

Joey Goebel (Fall 2006) won the 5,000 euro (approximately $7,500) Writers’ Union of Romania Festival Prize. The prize is for “a prominent young talent.” Goebel’s first two novels have been translated into Romanian. While in Romania, Goebel appeared on national television twice and appeared at an Elle Magazine Q & A after one of his books became an Elle book club pick. (top)

Alice Gorman (Spring 2005) has co-edited an anthology of poetry titled Island Dreams, written by the Live Poets of Boca Grande, Florida. The title is from a quote by Robert Bly: “A poem is a dream that you want to share with the community.” Her poems and the poems of nine other poets are represented in the anthology. All proceeds from the sale of books ($12.50 plus $3.50 packing and shipping) will benefit the Johann Fust Community Library of Boca Grande and can be ordered through the library by emailing JFCL@comcast.net or alicegorman@earthlink.net. Books will be available October 1.

Brian Hampton’s (Spring 2005) play The Jungle Fun Room will make its world premiere in the New York International Fringe Festival this month in New York City. Brian also acts in the play in the role of Screg, and Sam Zalutsky is directing. Tickets are $15, and information is online fringenyc.org. The Jungle Fun Room was the winner of the Audience Favorite Award in last year’s Penobscot Theatre’s Northern Writes New Play Festival.

Chris Helvey (Fall 2006) had three poems published in the Summer 2009 issue of Minnetonka Review. (top)

Leesteffy Jenkins (Fall 2005) has two stories, “Lucky Little White Girl” and “What Kids Will Say,” forthcoming in the next edition of Cutthroat magazine.

Kilean Kennedy’s (Spring 2007) short story “Cave Placement” will appear in Issue 8 of Barrelhouse. The theme of the issue is “Office Life.” Order a copy online at barrelhousemag.com/word.

In May 2008, Menda City Review published Cyn Kitchen’s (Spring 2005) short story, “Every Earth is Fit for Burial.” Earlier this year, Terry Rogers, editor of MCR, nominated Cyn’s story for the 2009 storySouth Million Writers Award. It made the first cut to the Notable Stories list, but then in May she received word that of the hundreds of stories nominated, hers had reached the Top Ten List of the best stories published online in 2008. Final voting was up to readers, and first place, which did not go to Cyn, netted $500. She means it when she says that it was okay to not win—just making the top ten was a good jab in the vein. (top)

Drew Lackovic’s (Spring 2008) story “Everything Ends” will be republished online by A cappella Zoo (acappellazoo.com) this October.

Mindy Beth Miller’s (Spring 2009) short story “Mountain Born” will appear in the Fall 2009 issue of The Louisville Review. Also, Mindy’s critical thesis “Long Remember, Long Recall: The Preservation of Appalachian Regional Heritage in Ron Rash’s ‘One Foot in Eden’ ” has won the Danny Miller Writing Award for Graduate Critical Writing from Northern Kentucky University. The thesis will be published this fall in the 25th anniversary edition of the Journal of Kentucky Studies. Her fiction also received honorable mention in the competition. She has been invited to attend NKU’s “Voices from the Hills: A Celebration of Appalachian Writers,” on September 26, where she will pick up her prize.

Victoria Moon’s (Fall 2004) essay “Swimming Lessons” is part of the upcoming anthology Jesus Girls: True Tales of Growing Up Female and Evangelical, edited by Hannah Notess. The book, published as part of a partnership between Cascade Books and The Other Journal (theotherjournal.com), is the first volume in the “Experiences in Evangelicalism” series. (top)

Loreen Niewenhuis’s (Spring 2007) short story “Scar Tissue” has been accepted for publication by Red Wheelbarrow. Also, the adventure she has undertaken this year—namely, walking one thousand miles around Lake Michigan—is nearing completion. She will finish her Lake Trek on September 26. Any Spalding people who may be in Chicago at that time are invited to celebrate with her on Chicago’s Navy Pier. Check out details of the adventure and celebration online at LakeTrek.Blogspot.com. She is writing a book that weaves her experiences with the history, geology, community life, and ecosystem of this Great Lake.

Deanna Northrup’s (Fall 2006) short story “Equinox” has been published in the latest issue of Perigee (perigee-art.com), which was posted July 15. (top)

Linda Busby Parker (Fall 2003) gave a workshop on August 13 at Florida State University, Panama City on “The Power of the Personal Essay.” She used her anthology, Christmas is a Season!, as a source of examples, as well as published collections of essays. The personal essay is having a resurgence as a document for recording daily life at a particular moment of human history, and that was the thrust of her workshop. On August 2, Linda was the guest speaker at a fundraising luncheon for the Houston-Love Library in Dothan, Alabama. Her topic was “The Writing Life: A Lifestyle Change.” Beginning September 9 and continuing for seven weeks, Linda will conduct a fiction writing workshop at Page & Palette Book Store in Fairhope, Alabama. She’ll be working with writers from Alabama and Mississippi. Linda continues to teach fiction writing at the University of South Alabama and serves as a mentor for fiction writers in The Writers Loft at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro.

Tom Pierce’s (Fall 2005) short story “In the Loop” has been accepted for publication by American Literary Review. (top)

Mary Popham’s (Fall 2003) has published the following reviews in the Courier-Journal (Louisville): review of Field Work: Modern Poems from Eastern Forests, edited by Erik Reece; review of Josie Underwood’s Civil War Diary, edited by Nancy Disher Baird; review of The Unbreakable Child, by Kim Michele Richardson; review of Something’s Rising, by Silas House and Jason Howard; review of Smart Girls Like Me by Diane Vadino; review of Dancing Out of Water by William Belvin. Also: review of At the Breakers, by Mary Ann Taylor-Hall in New Southerner, and review synopsis of Sue Mundy: A Novel of the Civil War by Richard Taylor in BookClub@KET.

Diana Raab (Fall 2003) facilitated a memoir and journaling workshop and did a book signing at the Ventura County Book Festival on July 25. Her recent poetry collection, Dear Anais: My Life in Poems For You, won the 2009 Next Generation Indie Award for Poetry. Her poems “You Are What You Think About” and “Displaced Watermelons” were published in the summer issue of Smoking Poet. On August 1, she learned that her panel, “Writing Biographies: Making Someone Else’s Story Your Own,” was accepted for the 2010 AWP Conference in Denver. Panelists include Phillip Lopate, Honor Moore, Kim Addonizio, Tracy Daugherty, Robert Root and Joy Castro. There were 850-plus panel submissions. Check out Diana’s blog at dianaraab.wordpress.com. (top)

Savannah Sipple (Fall 2008) had a poem, “House Fire,” published in the Spring 2009 issue of Appalachian Heritage. Her poem “Cheap Dreams” is forthcoming in the Fall 2009 issue of The Louisville Review.

Mari Stanley (Fall 2007) teaches English composition classes at Owensboro Community and Technical College, where she accepted an adjunct position in January 2008. She also began teaching part-time at Henderson Community College in January 2009. In the early spring she read poetry and presented a paper titled “Crying Wolf: Our Literary Obsession with Wolves” at the annual Kentucky Philological Association conference, alongside fellow Spalding alumni Matt Vetter. In the past year she has had poems accepted in Open 24 Hours and Kudzu, as well as reviews of Dorianne Laux’s Superman: The Chapbook and Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s At the Drive-In Volcano, which appeared in the Winter 2008-2009 issue of Poemeleon. (top)

Pamela Steele (Spring 2009) was recently interviewed on KBOO, a radio station in Portland, Oregon.

Kathleen Thompson (Fall 2003) was fired up by the homecoming events at Spalding in May. She read from her two poetry books with other newly published writers; she read from her short story in Linda Parker’s anthology Christmas is a Season! 2008; and she sat on a poetry panel with Frank X. Walker (Spring 2003) and Molly Peacock. On June 11, she presented a poetry workshop for children, “Let’s Write a Poem,” at the Anniston Public Library in Anniston, Alabama. She joined other Alabama writers at Samford University for the Samford Summer Institute for Teaching Excellence on June 30. At her book table she made lesson plans available to teachers (“to set your hair on fire”—their theme) to accompany poems from her books. She attended the annual meeting of the Alabama Writers’ Conclave in Birmingham on July 17-19 and the summer workshop on rhyme at the Alabama State Poetry Society in Clanton on July 24. Her busiest week of the summer was the last week in July, when she served as storyteller at the VBS Bible Bayou for more than 70 children (in four sessions), ages 3-8! (top)

Leslie Smith Townsend (2004) will read an excerpt from her unpublished memoir Lucky Girl, Guilty Woman at 7 p.m. August 21 at Highland Baptist Church in Louisville. Townsend is the assistant editor of New Southerner. Her column, “Half-Empty Mason Jar,” can be found at newsoutherner.com.

Vickie Weaver (Fall 2005) was recently named winner of the Leapfrog Press Fiction Contest for her novel, which is tentatively titled The Mercy of Killing. It will be published September 2010, and information is available through Vickie’s web site, vickieweaver.com.

Jonathan Weinert (Fall 2005) has poems forthcoming in Witness and The Cincinnati Review. His chapbook Charged Particles was a finalist for the 2009 Snowbound Series Chapbook Award from Tupelo Press. (top)

Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) for Spring/Summer 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.