Vol. 15 No.1
February 2009
Life of a Writer
Faculty Advisory Committee for Fall 2008
Previous Newsletters
See other issues of On Extended Wings
Over a year ago, Spalding University set a goal to raise $1.5 million by the end of 2008 for its Pathways to Success Endowed Scholarship Campaign. For every $2 donated to Spalding, the James Graham Brown Foundation promised to donate $1 through a challenge grant. Thanks to the generosity of many, including MFA students, alumni, and faculty, Spalding has surpassed that goal and raised $1,596,824.98. The MFA total, with the James Graham Brown contributions, is $74,998.13 in current endowment for MFA scholarships.
Last year, Spalding MFA students, alums, faculty, and staff contributed $48,073.13 to help fund three new “named” endowed MFA scholarships through the Pathways to Success Campaign. Our newly endowed MFA scholarships are
The MFA directors and staff thank everybody for their generosity to this MFA scholarship campaign!
Though this campaign and challenge grant are over, we can add dollars to any of our endowed funds. To make a further gift or to inquire about creating additional named scholarships, please email Bobbie Rafferty in the Advancement Office. brafferty@spalding.edu. top
AWP Conference February 11-14 in Chicago
Several MFA faculty, students, and alumni are attending the AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) Conference February 11-14 in Chicago. For the conference schedule, see www.awpwriter.org/conference/2009awpconf.php.
Attendees should stop by the MFA in Writing and The Louisville Review tables, 469/470 in NW Hall, lower level, of the Hilton Hotel, to exchange messages with other MFAers. Several books signings also take place at the tables:
Friday, February 13
Saturday, February 14
Deadline for Metroversity Competition February 13
The MFA Directors encourage all currently enrolled MFA Students to enter the Kentuckiana Metroversity 2009 Writing Competition. Judged categories included fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, as well as expository writing. Our MFA students have a track record of doing quite well in this contest, which is free and offers cash prizes to students in Metroversity institutions. For contest guidelines, see the January 8 Thursday Memo on Blackboard.
Faculty Announced for Barcelona Residency
Faculty members for the Summer 2009 residency and semester are Robin Lippincott and Kirby Gann, fiction; Debra Kang Dean, poetry; Nancy McCabe, creative nonfiction; Joyce McDonald, writing for children and young adults; and Sam Zalutsky, playwriting and screenwriting. More faculty may be added if enrollment requires it. top
Barcelona PGRA Application Deadline Extended to February 10
Alumni who would like to serve as PGRAs in Barcelona may apply by expressing their interest in an email to Kathleen Driskell, kdriskell@spalding.edu, by February 10. PGRA duties abroad are mainly logistical. PGRAs are invited to read as part of the student reading series. Compensation takes the form of complimentary inclusion in the following special events:
Barcelona Logistics and Travel Reminders
Classroom space at the Barcelona residency is located in our hotels, all situated within two blocks of one another. Participants will find it simple, quick, and convenient to find their classrooms, which may be a mere elevator ride away from their hotel rooms!
Students and alums considering attending the summer residency can find detailed travel information, costs, and deadlines on Blackboard. Information for students may be found at MFA IN WRITING PROGRAM/ SEMESTERS/SUMMER 2009. Information for alumni is located at MFA IN WRITING PROGRAM/FOR ALUMNI or at http://www.spalding.edu/content.aspx?id=1912&cid=830.
Our group flight itinerary is as follows:
If you’re planning to take the group flight, our travel agent recommends acting soon to book your feeder flights to and from Chicago O’Hare in order to secure the best prices. Students and alums wishing to book feeder flights may contact our travel agent, Laurie Bisig, at (800) 928-8888 or laurie@platinumtvl.com. A shuttle is available for those whose feeder flights arrive at Midway. For a photo guide to Barcelona, including some useful sightseeing tips, see http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/albums-en. top
Cross-genre Workshop Offered at Spring 2009 Residency
In keeping with the MFA’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 Spring 2009, the MFA Program offers one such workshop. Students who have been accepted in fiction or poetry may sign up to take a fiction and poetry workshop (co-led by faculty members who teach in fiction and poetry), but a student must have filled the prerequisite of ENG610 before being allowed to participate in the cross-genre workshop, and no MFA student can take more than one cross-genre workshop within the required four semesters and five residencies.
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 March 1. Not all eligible students may be assigned to a cross-genre workshop, as space is limited.
Registration for Spring or Summer
Students enrolling in the Spring 2009 semester register March 11-18. These students will receive instructions regarding registration before March 11. Students enrolling in the Summer 2009 semester (which includes spring stretch students and students attending the Barcelona residency) register April 8-14. These students will receive instructions regarding registration before April 8. As the registration period approaches, a tutorial is posted on Blackboard giving step-by-step instructions with pictures to assist students with registration. top
Spring Stretch Option
The “spring stretch” semester is for students who wish to follow the longer summer semester packet submission schedule but attend the Louisville spring residency instead of the Barcelona residency. Students who wish to take the “spring stretch” semester need to notify Karen (kmann@spalding.edu) by February 19.
BIC Essay Assignment for Spring 2009 Residency
All students who intend to enroll in ENG60 in Spring 2009 are required to write a two to four-page critical essay on the Spring 2009 Book in Common: Claudia Emerson’s Late Wife, a collection of poems (which all students and faculty read and then discuss at our first Friday night meeting). Current ENG610 students and leave of absence students entering ENG620 should have received email instructions for writing and submitting this essay; the same instructions can be found under SEMESTERS/FALL 2008/COURSES/ENG610 in Blackboard. This essay is due February 19. Please submit the essay through the digital dropbox on Blackboard (see Tools; remember to use the SUBMIT button; use a subject line with your name and “BIC essay.”)
Each student essay is included in a workshop booklet with four to six other student essays; well before the Spring 2009 residency, the booklet is posted on Blackboard. Students carefully review the essays in their booklet, making annotations and summary comments well before coming to the residency. During the residency, ENG629 students attend a one-meeting essay workshop session conducted by Expository Writing Coach Marcia Dalton. Writing about and discussing an essay on the Book in Common provides students a unique opportunity to learn from and to inspire critical thinking among students.
Students who have questions about this assignment should contact Kathleen Driskell at kdriskell@spalding.edu. top
Change in Brown Hotel Room Rates for 2009
Beginning in spring 2009, the cost of a nine-night stay at the Brown Hotel is $825 for a single room and $425 for a double room. Each additional night is $95. Despite this price increase, Spalding’s contract rate at the Brown remains substantially below the Brown’s published room rate.
Students are responsible for canceling reservations 48 hours in advance or they are still responsible for first-night room charges. (Students may also be responsible for room-night charges when checking out prior to the end of the reservation.)
Students have the option of staying in the Spalding dormitory at $20 per night or finding their own accommodations. top
Spring 2009: Celebration of Recently Published Books
At 5:15 p.m. Thursday, May 28, the MFA Program presents the Celebration of Recently Published Books at the Brown Hotel. Featured authors are Molly Peacock, MFA poetry faculty, reading from Second Blush; Nancy Jensen, Fleur-de-Lis Press author, reading from Window: Stories and Essays; Kathleen Driskell, MFA associate program director and poetry faculty, reading from Seed Across Snow; and Tori Murden McClure, Spalding Vice President and MFA alumna, reading from A Pearl in the Storm: How I Found My Heart in the Middle of the Ocean.
Graduate Assistantship Deadline February 19
Second-, third-, and fourth-semester students who will enter the Spring 2009 or Summer 2009 semester and who wish to apply for a graduate assistantship submit their materials to Karen at kmann@spalding.edu by February 19. For information, check Blackboard, SEMESTERS/[your semester]/DOCUMENTS: GENERAL INTEREST. top
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.
Spring Post-Graduate Residency Assistant Deadline February 19
Students who have graduated from the MFA Program may apply for a position as a Post-Graduate Residency Assistant at the Spring 2009 residency. PGRAs prepare for and assist in a Workshop by participating in the discussion, assist in the MFA Office, and/or may perform other duties such as recording lectures or hosting residency guests or prospective students. Graduates often feel such a position is beneficial to their vitae.
Post-Graduate Residency assistantships are awarded to the graduates of the MFA Program who have proven to be good citizens during their tenure as students in the Program. Usually they have excelled in their graduate coursework, have been superior participants in residency workshops, or otherwise shown themselves capable of performing the duties described above. The applicant list is narrowed to include qualified candidates. For most residencies, the Program appoints up to eight PGRAs, and if possible, a PGRA is appointed to each area of concentration. (If the pool of qualified candidates is larger than the number of PGRA positions available, then a random drawing will be used to select the PGRAs.) top
Post-Graduate Residency Assistants receive $50 in compensation and are included in residency meals and events. Meals or events not included as part of the group experience are the Post-Graduate Residency Assistant’s responsibility. Post-Graduate Residency Assistants are provided a single room at the Spalding dormitory or $180 toward incurred housing costs (a receipt must be provided for reimbursement). Post-Graduate Residency Assistants may request up to $300 in transportation costs toward coach airfare or reimbursement at 48.5 cents a mile for the round-trip journey between home and Spalding.
To apply, graduates send a letter or email to Kathleen Driskell at kdriskell@spalding.edu by February 19 stating the desire to be a Post-Graduate Residency Assistant and the area of concentration. The letter may be mailed or emailed. Faculty members in the area of concentration rank the applicants and state whether they are willing to have the applicant assist in their Workshop. Post-Graduate Residency Assistants are offered the position shortly after midsemester.
Homecoming May 29-31
The MFA Alumni Association is planning Homecoming for May 29-31. 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. We’ve been told the hotel is already filling up for those dates.
Residency sessions open to alumni include a lecture by Kaylene Johnson titled “Ten Weeks to a Bestseller and other Injustices of the Publishing World,” a session on the care and tending of books, and a panel discussion on a variety of writing topics. The Alumni Association will again sponsor a Celebration of Recently Published Books by Alumni at 5:15 p.m. Friday, May 29, in the Lectorium. In addition, there will be readings by PGRAs and from anthologies edited by MFA alumni. Sena Jeter Naslund will talk about the republication of Ahab’s Wife as “Modern Classic” by Harper Perennial.
Five-Year Reunion for Spring/Fall 2003, Spring 2004 Class
In addition to Homecoming, a get-together for the graduating classes of Spring 2003, Fall 2003, and Spring 2004 is planned for 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 29, at the Brown Hotel. Faculty and staff will attend also. Complete information is forthcoming. top
Life of a Writer
Students, faculty, and alumni: Please email writing news to mfanewsletter@spalding.edu
Kate Buckley read an original poem in celebration of the inauguration on January 20 at the Laguna Beach Inaugural Gala. Her poem “A Garden Address” was selected as a finalist for New Southerner’s 2008 Literary Prize. New Southerner also published two features on Kate in its winter 2008-09 issue: “Ties to A Wild Region: An Interview with Kate Buckley” and “The Art of Kate Buckley: Exploring the Interplay of Paintings and Poems,” both by poet Cecilia Woloch. Other poems appeared in the past two months in The Café Review and North American Review. The North American Review also published a review of Kate’s book A Wild Region in its latest issue. Kate’s poem “Two Mile Creek” was published in the 2008 Verseweavers Anthology (Oregon State Poetry Association). Kate is currently short-listed for Red Hen Press’s 2009 Ruskin Art Club Poetry Award. She is hard at work on her second book to be released later this year (Tebot Bach).Joe Gisondi’s story “Squeeze Play,” published in College Media Review’s fall edition, focuses on conflicts between college sports editors and sports information directors across the country. The story, which can be read on his sports blog at onsports.wordpress.com, was also cited by the national SIDs association (CoSIDA).top
Amy Hanridge’s extended critical essay “Of Mazes and Mirrors: Rule-Breaking Narrative Intrigue and Ordinary Detail in Two Works by Carol Shields” and her original short story “Ladylike” were both selected for inclusion in the inaugural Carol Shields Symposium on Women’s Writing to be held in Winnipeg in May. Amy will read from both works and present them in a panel titled “Reading the Way I Write” along with other fiction writers whose work is inspired by or in a similar mode to that of the late Carol Shields.
Colleen Harris’s poem “Tysketöser” will appear in the war poem anthology Against Agamemnon out of Wildwood Press, edited by 2007 Pulitzer Prize nominee James Adams. Colleen also reports that her first full-length manuscript, God in My Throat, has been accepted for publication by Bellowing Ark Press and will appear in 2009. The collection also was chosen as a finalist in the 2008 St. Lawrence Book Award out of Black Lawrence Press. Her poem “I Want a Man,” which she polished in a workshop with Jeanie Thompson in her first semester, has been accepted for the forthcoming issue of the Adirondack Review. She also will be presenting her paper “Poets Rewriting History: Researching for the Authentic Persona Poem” at the 2009 AWP Conference as part of the Pedagogy Forum the morning of February 13. In addition, she was chosen as a co-recipient of the first annual Lois and Marine Robert Award by the Bellowing Ark Society for her “Lilith” sequence, published in Bellowing Ark in 2008. top
Caroline LeBlanc placed first in poetry in the North Country Writers Contest. She read her poem “Orders” at the closing program for the Fall 2008 North Country Writers Festival. The poem was published in the North Country Writers Festival Booklet of Poetry, Short Fiction and Essays as well as at the Festival Website http://www.sunyjefferson.edu/Pub/ncwf_toc.html.
Michael Malone facilitated two open-mic poetry readings “In Praise of the Earth” on November 6 and “Poetry Knows No Borders” on December 4, both at The Bookstore in the Grove in Miami. November 6 is recognized as International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Earth and December as Universal Human Rights Month. Readers at both events were invited to read original poetry as well as works from their favorite poets that spoke to the evening’s theme. Michael is writer in residence for the International Institute for Human Understanding, which co-sponsored the readings.
In October Katerina Stoykova-Klemer was a guest on Cathy Nickola’s radio show—“Lunch Poems with Gigi.” In November, she was a featured poet in the Glamorous Girls Night Out event in Richmond, Kentucky. Her poems “Cold” and “Do I Love Him Enough” were recently selected for translation into Farsi and inclusion in an anthology of love poetry called Sheidaeiha, edited by Farideh Hasanzade. In addition, Katerina now hosts “Accents”—a new radio show for Literature, Art and Culture on WRFL, 88.1 FM, Lexington. The show will take place every Friday from 2 to 3 p.m. Those interested in being a guest can contact her at katerina.klemer@gmail.com. top
Cristina Trapani-Scott has been asked to judge a poetry contest being held in honor of Art Trail Tecumseh in Tecumseh, Michigan. The poems must be inspired by any one of the fourteen sculptures on Art Trail Tecumseh. She also has been researching new media for the Tecumseh Herald and has helped develop staff beat blogs, which should appear shortly at www.tecumsehherald.com. In addition, her poem “Sundays” was recently published at Public-Republic.
Tommy Trull’s new short play Hotel was selected to kick off the 2009 Greensboro Fringe Festival. The play, directed by Amanda Waterhouse, ran January 29-31. His full-length play Honey Boy has won the 2009 Charles M. Getchell New Play Award and will be given a staged reading at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in March, with respondent Gary Garrison. In addition, his one-act elevator play It’s Not Just the Music will be performed in January/February 2009 by the Specific Gravity Ensemble in Louisville as part of their Elevator Plays 3 show. (top)
Dianne Aprile is a first-round judge in the 2009 Thomas Merton Poetry of the Sacred competition, for which the final judge this year is Wendell Berry.
Ellie Bryant will read from her book While in Darkness There Is Light at the Kellogg Library in Montpelier, Vermont, and will give an all-day presentation in February at Main Street Elementary School in Montpelier. She will be reading with the Dzanc group at AWP in Chicago on Friday and signing books Saturday morning at the Spalding table. (top)
Sheila Callaghan has the following productions:
K. L. Cook’s short story, “Bad Weather,” appeared in the inaugural issue of 94 Creations this winter. He gave a reading and a lecture on “Nurturing a Life in Letters” at The Writer’s Loft in Nashville on January 16-17.
Robert Finch and his wife, Kathy Shorr, will be participating in the 29th annual Writing Today conference at the Birmingham-Southern College on March 13-14. In addition to individual talks, they will be presenting a joint discussion on “How to Survive as a Writer in an Economic Downturn.” (One answer: Get invited to give talks on How to Survive as a Writer in an Economic Downturn.) His essay, “When you Wish Upon a Star: On the Evolution of Spiritual and Moral Thought” will appear in the special upcoming Evolution issue of Ecotone, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth. Also, Finch’s anthology, A Place Apart: A Cape Cod Reader, will be published in a paperback edition by Countryman Press in May. (top)
Roy Hoffman’s review of Inman Major’s The Millionaires: A Novel of the New South appeared in the New York Times Book Review January 25 at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/books/review/Hoffman-t.html?_r=1&8bu&emc=bua2. Among his recent feature stories was “Little Man, Big Voice,” which ran December 29 in Mobile’s Press-Register and other newspapers, about Monroeville, Alabama, radio owner and deejay David Stewart, born with achondroplasia dwarfism, his wife Nancy and their adopted Korean daughter Ryanne, little people as well. The following is the link to the story http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20081230/news/812290228&tc=yahoo.
Karen Mann’s essay “Birth, Death, and Disney” appears in the anthology Christmas Is a Season! (Excalibur Press, 2008), edited by Linda Busby Parker (Fall 2003). (top)
Nancy McCabe’s essay “Notes on a Dancing Daughter” is forthcoming in Fourth Genre.
Joyce McDonald participated in the sixth annual Pocono Poetry Retreat, January 8-11, led by Molly Fisk, and the sixteenth annual Winter Poetry and Prose Getaway from January 16-19. Poets Steven Dunn, Renee Ashley, and more than twenty others led intensive advanced workshops.
Sena Jeter Naslund invites you and your friends to attend her free public talk about the writing of Four Spirits, with a reading from her novel about the Civil Rights Movement, at noon, February 24, at the Filson Historical Society, 1312 S. 3rd St., Louisville. On January 7-11, Sena spoke on four panels and gave readings from Ahab’s Wife, Four Spirits, and Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette at the Key West Literary Seminars. At 7:30 p.m. February 9, at the University of Montevallo, Alabama, she participates in readings from Four Spirits in Comer Hall, and she will speak and read from the novel at the BACHE Luncheon on March 3 at Miles College (part of the setting for the novel) in Birmingham. (top)
Greg Pape takes part in a panel discussion about the collaborative process between artists working in different mediums at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, February 14, at Claudia Cassidy Theater at the Chicago Cultural Center, in conjunction with the opening of the exhibition The Poetic Dialogue Project. As Montana Poet Laureate, Greg has given readings and talks recently in Missoula, Helena, Stevensville, and at the tree cutting ceremony for the Capitol Christmas Tree, standing on a stump, in the Sapphire Mountains. He has new poems appearing or forthcoming in Northwest Review, Poets of the American West Anthology, and Montana State of the Arts.
Jeanie Thompson’s cover story, “Alabama Experience: Freedom Dream,” covering the delegation’s trip to Pietrasanta, Italy, appeared in First Draft, the journal of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, www.writersforum.org/FirstDraft. Three poems from her forthcoming collection, The Seasons Bear Us, appear in Copper Nickel, issue 11 (University of Colorado– Denver). Jeanie and the staff of the Alabama Writers’ Forum will accept the Inaugural IMPACT Award from the Alabama Alliance for Arts Education for Writing Our Stories: An Anti-Violence Creative Writing Program at the Arts Leadership Summit on February 18th at Troy University. Jeanie and Marlin Barton will also present “Writing Our Stories” at the summit.
Sam Zalutsky has a new website with clips, short films, and some promotional video work. You can also sign up to receive future updates about his work. Visit it now at www.sazamproductions.com. On February 23, Sam’s film You Belong to Me will be released by Peccadillo Pictures in the UK on DVD. For more information, visit http://www.peccadillopictures.com/View/id,165. (top)
“The Blue Whale in the Bathtub,” an excerpt from David
Brasfield’s (Fall 2004) novel Dashboard Hula, appears in
the Winter 2009 issue of Minnetonka Review under the pseudonym
Christamar Varicella. Another excerpt “The Experimentalist: Extracts
From the Journal of Lucien Steinmann” appears online in the winter 2009
issue of JMWW. His short story “Attachments” has been accepted for publication
by the journal 580 Split.
Roy Burkhead (Spring 2004) was selected to participate in Western
Kentucky University’s annual three-day Writers Workshop in January.
In addition, his short story “Jingle Bell Topography” appears in Christmas
Is a Season! 2008 (Excalibur Press, 2008), a collection of short stories
and personal essays about Christmas and the holiday season from writers
around the country. Eighty-five writers submitted work, from which thirty
manuscripts were selected for the book. Linda Busby Parker (Fall
2003) is the anthology’s publisher and editor. Nashville author River
Jordan read from “Jingle Bell Topography” in December 2008 during her
weekly show Backstory, which airs on Radio Free Nashville 98.9
WRFN-LPFM each Saturday. And with the Spring 2009 semester, Roy starts
his second semester as an adjunct professor at WKU where he teaches
English composition. (top)
Amy Clark (Fall 2004) won the Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry 2009.
She received $1000, and her book Stray Home will be published
by University of North Texas Press next spring.
Amy Watkins Copeland (Spring 2006) has poems in the new issues
of Tipton Poetry Review and Conclave: A Journal of Character.
In November, she was the featured reader at Orlando’s First Tuesdays
Poetry Reading and taught a poetry lesson to kindergartners at English
Estates Elementary School. In addition, her poem “Mosaic” is part of
“Be Mine,” an exhibition of love poems, prose and photographs featuring
14 photographers and 14 writers at the Alliance Gallery in Narrowsburg,
New York. Poems in the exhibition will be presented as installations
or sculptural objects as well as in a printed booklet. The exhibition
is free and open January 31-February 14.
Linda Cruise (Spring 2008) had her extended critical essay “Getting
an Angle on Truth: An Analysis of Narrative Viewpoint in Ian McEwan’s
Atonement” published recently in the online journal Public
Republic. Forthcoming, as well, are her first fiction and creative
nonfiction works “Heads or Tails” and “Her Last Day.” She is also teaching
a six-week creative writing course at her local Vermont library, titled “Developing
a Writer’s Craft & Critical Eye,” starting mid-January. She was recently
named vice president for the League of Vermont Writers. (top)
Daniel DiStasio’s (Fall 2006) short story “Halong Bay” is forthcoming
in Reed Magazine published by San Jose State University. Dan
was asked by the Florida Keys Community College to create a new course
on the works of Ernest Hemingway. The course has been approved by the
Florida Board of Higher Education and will be offered in 2009 at FKCC
and online.
Joey Goebel (Fall 2006) was invited to speak at Western Kentucky
University in September. Goebel spoke to a fiction writing class and
then gave a public reading as a part of the university’s reading series.
Lucrecia Guerrero’s (Fall 2005) short story “A Memory” will be
published in the anthology Best of the West: New Stories West of
the Wide Missouri, University of Texas Press. The story also appeared
in the Fall 2007 issue of The Louisville Review, guest edited
by Silas House. Guerrero’s novel Tree of Sighs, which she worked
on during her MFA studies at Spalding, will be published by Bilingual
Press. (top)
Drew Lackovic (Spring 2008) has attended many readings. In October
and November he saw Ann Pancake, Eugene Cross, and Kim Todd. He will be
reading from “Deconstructing Happily Ever After” at the 2009
CEA/PCEA conference in Pittsburgh in March. Also in March, his story
“Alone at the Top” will be featured in The Wrong Tree Review.
On Feb 5, he will be reading from his fiction at the annual Behrend
Reads! event. Behrend Reads! is an opportunity for non-creative writing
faculty to present their creative content to the Behrend community.
Richard Newman (Fall 2004) has poems forthcoming in Anti-
and Measure. Steel Toe Books recently selected his second full-length
book, Domestic Fugues, during this year’s special formal poetry
reading period. It will appear in the fall of 2009. This year he was
also named “Best Local Poet” by the St. Louis alternative weekly The
Riverfront Times.
Linda Busby Parker’s (Fall 2003) novel Seven Laurels is
the bonus book for the Pulpwood Queen’s Book Club in 2009. Linda spoke
at the Girlfriend’s Book Festival in Jefferson, Texas, January 16-17.
She will be a speaker at the Books Alive Festival in Panama City, Florida
February 5-7. While in Panama City, she speaks at a high school and
at Florida State University, Panama City. In addition, she will be part
of a program at the AWP Conference in February with several other Spalding
alums, including Maryann Lesert (Fall 2003), Charlotte Dixon(Fall
2003), and Katy Yocom (Fall 2003). The program will deal with
“forbidden topics” for fiction writers. Linda will be giving a presentation
for the Spartanburg County Public Library in South Carolina, speaking
at the Spartanburg High School, and making a presentation at the University
of South Carolina February 21-24. She also will be a featured speaker
at a Chautauqua in DeFuniak Springs, Florida, February 19-20. She continues
to teach fiction writing at the University of South Alabama (Fairhope)
and at Middle Tennessee State University’s Writer’s Loft. Alums Terry
Price (Spring 2006) and Charlotte Dixon (Fall 2003) are the
directors of the Middle Tennessee program. (top)
Katherine Thomerson (Fall 2003) has just accepted the position
as Coordinator of Liberal Studies (the largest program on campus in
the College of Arts and Letters) at California State University, San
Bernardino. She has also been asked to be a motivational speaker for
the AAUW Math and Science Conference for Young Girls at the University
of Redlands in California in February. In addition, she has published
a liberal studies newsletter, written articles on teaching, and is currently
working with KCET/PBS on bringing the Locke High School Project (LA
School District) to her campus. Her book Hope was finally rejected
by Houghton Mifflin. She currently has an agent considering the book
for publication. She writes from her little heart-cubby up 24 stairs
in her mountain home of Forest Falls, California.
Kathleen Thompson (Fall 2003) enjoyed the flurry of readings/signings
for Christmas Is A Season! 2008 edited by Linda Busby Parker
(Fall 2003). The kick-off readings/signings in Mobile were followed
by one in Birmingham on December 12. Linda, Kathleen, and several other
contributors convened at Jonathan Benton Bookseller for that reading.
Glenny Brock (Spring 2008), editor of Birmingham Weekly, supplied
a lovely addition that week: full coverage in Birmingham Weekly Glenny’s
perfectly timed and well-written publicity for the book included a review,
still available in the archives under the title story “Season’s readings.” The
article also included a reprint of Kathleen’s “Mother and Child.” Kathleen
and contributor Loretta Cobb teamed up for a signing at Little Professor
Books & Cafe, Birmingham, and at Eclipse Coffee House in Montevallo
on December 20. While Kathleen was wrapping up final proofing for
The Shortest Distance, her first full-length poetry book, she learned
that her chapbook, The Nights, The Days had won the first 2008
Poet Laureate Poetry Chapbook Series Award from Negative Capability
Press. Both books were released in January! (top)
Personals
Our heartfelt sympathy to Maryann Lesert on the death of her
father, William L. Lesert, age 79, who died on Sunday, January 18.
Our heartfelt sympathy to Vicki Riley-Fischer on the death of
her mother Jean Daniel on January 31. (top)
Book in Common
for Spring 2009
All students and faculty read the Book in Common, Claudia Emerson’s
Late Wife, in preparation for a book discussion led by Sena Jeter
Naslund on the first night of residency. (Bring the book to this session.)
Spring 2009 Faculty
Books/Scripts in Common
Students attending the Spring 2009 residency read the Faculty Book/Script
in Common in the area of concentration they are to study in the Spring
2009 semester in preparation for a discussion with authors at the residency.
(Bring the book to the first Friday night residency session.) All MFA
students add the book/script to their cumulative bibliographies.
Students should check Blackboard periodically as other pre-reading assignments may be added.
Summer 2009 Pre-Reading List
Students attending the Barcelona residency read the following book in their area of study.
Students entering ENG620 in the Summer 2009 semester also write an essay on the book in their area of concentration. For more information, see SEMESTERS/COURSES/SUMMER 2008/ on Blackboard. (top)
Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) for Fall 2008
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. (top)
Reminders and Notes
Apply Now for U.S. Passport for Summer 2009 Travel: Students, alumni, and faculty who are planning travel to the Barcelona Summer 2009 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 www.fafsa.ed.gov. (top)
Spring 2009 students: Fill out the FAFSA for the 08-09 school year, using 2007 tax information.
Summer 2009 students: Fill out the FAFSA for the 09-10 school year, using 2008 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 http://www.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. 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. It is helpful for alums to include their 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 website addresses, when appropriate.
Examples of kinds of activities that might be included in the Life of a Writer column are
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 to Cristina Trapani-Scott at mfanewsletter@spalding.edu