AWP Conference, February 29- March 4, Chicago
Spalding MFA faculty, students, and alumni are set to attend the annual conference of AWP, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, to be held February 29 to March 4 at the Hilton Chicago and Palmer House Hilton, both in downtown Chicago.

MFAers are invited to visit the Spalding MFA/Louisville Review table during the Bookfair (Table M3 in the Southeast Hall, Hilton Chicago Lower Level), held 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Sena Naslund, Kathleen Driskell, Kenny Cook, Molly Peacock, Jeanie Thompson, Crystal Wilkinson Dianne Aprile, and other faculty members are to attend and, in some cases, present on panels. Numerous Spalding alumni and current students plan to attend as well. Among the alums presenting on panels are Dan Nowak, Katerina Stoykova-Klemer, and Christopher Klim.

At 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 3, WordFarm Press hosts a reception in honor of the book launch of Until Everything Is Continuous Again: American Poets on the Recent Work of W. S. Merwin, edited by Jonathan Weinert (Fall 2005) and Kevin Prufer. The book features contributions by Spalding faculty members Debra Kang Dean and Jeanie Thompson. The book grew out of a joint interview of Merwin by Thompson and Weinert when Merwin was the MFA Program’s featured author at the Fall 2006 residency. Thompson emcees the evening. “We’ll each probably read one of our favorite Merwin poems and speak briefly about why we felt this book was necessary and important to an understanding of W.S. Merwin in the canon of American poetry and also to the process of contemporary poetry writing,” Thompson said. “All of the contributors have been influenced in their own poetry by W.S. Merwin’s craft. So in a way, it is an homage to him.” WordFarm Press was co-founded by Marci Johnson (Spring 2005), who serves as poetry editor.
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Spring 2012 Residency Program Book in Common Is Hush
The MFA Program’s Book in Common area for the Spring 2012 residency is Writing for Children and Young Adults, and the program director has selected the young adult novel Hush, by award-winning young-adult author Jacqueline Woodson, who has been named the inaugural Diana M. Raab Distinguished Writer in Residence for Spalding University’s brief-residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program. The subject matter of the novel, told from the perspective of the daughter of a police officer whose conscience leads him to testify against a fellow officer, is in keeping with the Spalding University-wide emphasis on social justice.

All students and faculty, regardless of their area of concentration, read Hush and prepare comments to add to the plenary discussion led by Program Director Sena Jeter Naslund, which takes place May 18, the first Friday of residency. Later in the residency, on Thursday, May 24, Woodson visits to present a talk on her work to the MFA students, faculty, and community at large. The next morning, she attends a closed Q & A session for the MFA students and faculty. After both presentations, MFA students and faculty may have their books signed.

Students entering ENG620 in the Spring 2012 semester are required to write a 2-4 page short critical essay on Hush and email it as an attachment to mfadropbox@spalding.edu by February 28; these essays are forwarded to the MFA Program’s expository writing coaches, who conduct one-hour small expository workshops during the spring residency for ENG620 students. (Current ENG610 students who are required to complete this assignment have been notified by email in January; those who have questions about this assignment should email Kathleen Driskell, kdriskell@spalding.edu.) All students adjust their semester’s reading lists in order to add Hush to their cumulative bibliographies.

Woodson has written more than two dozen books for children and young adults, including picture books and novels for middle-grade and young-adult audiences. Her titles include Miracle’s Boys, which won the Coretta Scott King Award in 2001, and Newbery Honor titles After Tupac & D Foster, Feathers, and Show Way. She has also been awarded three Coretta Scott King Honors, a Margaret A. Edwards Award, and an ALAN Award—both for Lifetime Achievement in YA Literature. Her books have twice been nominated for the National Book Award. Woodson lives with her family in Brooklyn.
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Spring 2012 Residency: Film Production Seminar
Students in all areas of concentration are eligible to participate in the Film Production Seminar (FPS) offered during the Spring 2012 residency in Louisville; however, space is limited and will be filled taking seniority into account.  ENG610 is a prerequisite for this workshop.

Students participating in this seminar are not assigned to other workshops during residency, as this seminar is scheduled at the same time as Workshop. After completing the workshop seminar, students are mentored by faculty in their major areas of concentration for the independent study portion of the semester.

For their workshop submissions, FPS members present three two-page scripts to be considered for filming. In the first workshop, students discuss the scripts and, with the workshop leader’s guidance, choose one of the three to produce. Rehearsals, filming, and editing take place during the remaining workshop hours. Outside of the workshop, film production students attend other residency sessions, including plenary and craft lectures and panels, student and faculty readings, etc.

Before the residency, participants submit their three two-page scripts, which must use an indoor setting and employ not more than three actors, to mfadropbox@spalding.edu. While the two pages may be excerpted from current work, they should form a certain unity or completeness: each short script should have a beginning, middle, and an end. Students may wish to reshape some of their original scenes from their own writing into scripts to fit these requirements.

The screenwriting faculty and the program directors regard this activity as an enriching, optional experience for students in any area of concentration and are excited about this curriculum enhancement for our students. Interested students contact Ellyn Lichvar at elichvar@spalding.edu by February 10. Students who have met the ENG610 prerequisite will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.
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Paris Residency and Summer Semester
In July, the MFA Program travels to Paris for its Summer 2012 residency. The trip marks a return to the location of the first residency abroad in 2007. Classes and workshops will be held, as they were in 2007, at Reid Hall, the picturesque courtyard campus of Columbia University’s Paris branch near the Jardins du Luxembourg.

Faculty for the trip are Julie Brickman and John Pipkin (fiction), Jeanie Thompson (poetry), Elaine Orr (creative nonfiction), Susan Campbell Bartoletti (writing for children and young adults), and Sam Zalutsky (screenwriting and playwriting). Kathleen Driskell will lead a teaching workshop as part of the ENG660 Teaching Practicum semester.

Students, faculty, and alumni stay at three-star hotels in the heart of the city. In addition to a full slate of workshops, lectures, panel discussions, conferences, and readings, the curriculum includes visits to four of Paris’s iconic museums—the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Pompidou Center, and the Rodin Museum—as well as a guided tour of the palace and gardens of Versailles. The Program Book in Common for summer is The Great Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough. Other books in common will be announced later.

For current students and alumni, the deadline to enroll for the Paris trip is February 1. Students must register for their course via WebAdvisor, then sign up with travel company EF Tours online or by phone. The 13-day tour package costs $4,216 for students flying from Louisville (price may be different for those flying from other airports) and includes airfare, hotel (shared room), ground transportation, EF Tours enrollment fee, comprehensive insurance policy, breakfasts, opening and closing dinners, guided tour of Versailles, museum tickets, and metro passes. The price for alumni and guests is $4,666 and includes all items listed above. Tuition costs are the same as residencies in Louisville.

For itinerary and enrollment, visit http://www.efcollegestudytours.com/1123785, or call 877-485-4184.
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Teaching Workshop/Practicum offered in Paris Summer Residency
Students interested in taking the Teaching Practicum in Summer 2012 should contact Kathleen Driskell (kdriskell@spalding.edu) by February 28. Students must have finished ENG610 and ENG620. Summer 2012 graduating students may take ENG660 as a additional  semester. Alums may take the teaching practicum as a post-graduate semester, if space allows. Students sign up to take only one workshop.

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

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

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

The Teaching Workshop is reserved for those interested in enrolling in ENG660 for the entire practicum semester; however, if there are spaces unfilled (limit 6), MFA students may take the teaching workshop during the Summer 2012 residency and then continue to be mentored in their major area, such as fiction or poetry, for the remainder of the semester. Students interested in the teaching practicum or the teaching workshop, should email Kathleen Driskell as soon as possible, but before February 28 at kdriskell@spalding.edu.
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Fall 2011 Residency: Anniversary, Poems, Paintings, a Comic Opera
The MFA Program celebrated its 10th anniversary with a birthday party and announcement of the Diana M. Raab Distinguished Writer in Residence fund, a gift of alumna Diana Raab (Fall 2003). A panel of alumni spoke about the effect their Spalding experience has had on their lives as writers.

The Fall 2011 MFA residency took place November 11-20 with an emphasis on poetry. Before coming to residency, students and faculty read Gregory Orr’s collection The Caged Owl: New and Collected Poems. The opening-night welcome session included a discussion of the book, led by Program Director Sena Jeter Naslund. Later in the week, Orr gave a public reading and presentation, followed by a wide-ranging Q&A session for MFA faculty and students the next morning.

As part of the poetry emphasis, Sena delivered a lecture on poems about paintings and art objects. A faculty panel also commented on ekphrastic poetry. Students traveled to the Speed Art Museum for inspiration for the cross-genre assignment, in which all students, regardless of area of concentration, wrote an ekphrastic poem. At a follow-up session, some students read the results of the exercise aloud to the student body.

The Program also attended a full dress rehearsal of The Marriage of Figaro, the opera by Mozart, performed by the Kentucky Opera. Before the performance, opera educator Kimcherie Lloyd gave a presentation providing context for the opera and familiarizing students with the plot, characters and some of the music.

In addition to the traditional residency workshops, two workshops took on unique formats. A creative-nonfiction workshop led by Dianne Aprile and Roy Hoffman focused on the special topic of literary journalism. And a fiction workshop led by Rachel Harper and Eleanor Morse was dedicated to workshopping chapters from novel.
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Spring 2012 Homecoming
The MFA Alumni Association is putting together a package of events for Homecoming, May 24-27, the final weekend of spring residency. Events kick off Thursday afternoon with a panel by alums who have published in the area of writing for children and young adults. The featured author presentation by Jacqueline Woodson follows. Woodson, who writes frequently about issues of race and social justice, will read from and discuss her YA novel, Hush.

Friday’s events include a lecture for alumni by Richard Goodman, a session on publishing by Red Hen Press publisher Kate Gale, and the Celebration of Recently Published Books by Alumni, followed by a reception and the SPLoveFest bookfair. To nominate yourself for the Celebration of Recently Published Books by Alumni, contact Bonnie Johnson (Fall 2004) at bonnieomer@aol.com or Tom Pierce (Fall 2005) at tapierce@insightbb.com. To reserve a table at SPLoveFest to display your book, literary journal, visual art, or other literary or artistic project, contact Renee Culver (Fall 2006) at SPLoveFest@gmail.com.

The MFA Program is giving a free drink ticket to any Alumni Celebration attendee who wears Spalding MFA apparel or carries Spalding MFA gear (water bottle, tote bag, etc.) at the event.

Saturday features an Un-Conference—a set of spontaneous sessions in which alums bring topics to discuss, vote to see which topics generate the most interest, and then wade right in for two one-hour sessions of lively conversation. Teneice Delgado (Fall 2006), one of the Un-Conference organizers, describes it thus: “Think: complete and total opposite of AWP. No panels. No invited guests. Everyone is a panelist; all participate.” Two one-hour time slots, each featuring a choice of two discussion sessions, allow participants to choose the topics that interest them most.

Delgado continues, “For those of you unfamiliar with an Un-Conference, it is a very organic process that results in a broader expression of ideas and community built through collaboration. Erin Keane (Spring 2004) and Teneice Delgado will be on hand to facilitate the process. There is no pre-registration and sessions will not be decided until the scheduling time. However, you can use the MFA alumni Facebook page to discuss possible topics and to let us know if you are attending. Please do not plan out sessions beforehand, as this defeats the purpose of an un-conference. Just show up with your topic and an open mind!”
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Spring 2012 Residency Books in Common

In addition to the Program Book in Common, Jacqueline Woodson’s Hush, students also read a Faculty Book/Script in Common in their area of concentration. The Faculty Books/Scripts in Common are:

• Fiction: K.L. Cook, Love Songs for the Quarantined
• Poetry: Kathleen Driskell, Seed Across Snow
• Creative Nonfiction: Roy Hoffman, Alabama Afternoons: Profiles and Conversations
• Writing for Children and Young Adults: Ellie Bryant, The Black Bonnet
• Playwriting/Screenwriting:Kira Obolensky, Raskol (posted on BB under SEMESTERS/SPRING 2012)

Check Out the MFA Blog
MFA faculty and alumni are now blogging at blog.spalding.edu/mfainwriting. New posts are added weekly. The comment feature is now available.
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Facebook Fanpage Now Posting Contest and Other Information
The MFA Program has begun posting announcements regarding contests, calls for submissions, and grants on the MFA Facebook Fanpage. If you have not already joined, please join the fanpage at http://www.facebook.com/spaldingmfa to access this information.

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

• Kirby Gann, fiction
• Debra Kang Dean, poetry
• Dianne Aprile, creative nonfiction
• Joyce McDonald, writing for children and young adults
• Helena Kriel, playwriting/screenwriting

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

Jerriod Avant has two poems, “Control” and “A Poet’s Night” that were anthologized in Accents Publishing’s Bigger Than They Appear: Anthology of Very Short Poems. He also has a poem, “On Wingedness,” appearing in the spring issue of The Louisville Review. Also this spring, Jerriod has a poem, “A Midnight Cool,” appearing in the Spring 2012 issue of PLUCK!: Journal of Affrilachian Arts and Culture and another poem, “Dancing With Justice: GDC ID 0000657378,” appearing in the Prison Industrial Complex Issue of the Tidal Basin Review.
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Jessica Caudill, a second-semester student, is happy to announce that her fiction piece titled “The Motherly Epistles” was accepted by The Writing Disorder for publication. The piece appears in the Summer 2012 issue. The Writing Disorder is an online literary journal and can be found at http://www.thewritingdisorder.com.
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Shannon Cavanaugh, entering fourth semester in Spring 2012, announces that The Awakenings Review of Wheaton, Illinois, is publishing three of her poems in its Summer 2012 edition. Poems include “To My Thief,” “Exposed” and “Lonely Am I.” Recently Shannon was featured in the Sunday edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for her short story “The Stranger with the Gold Buttons.” Her story leads the anthology of Mysteries of the Ozarks, Vol. IV, which High Hill Press published in October 2011.?Also, she was interviewed about her short story and writing on KUAF 91.3 FM, an NPR affiliate radio station owned by the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
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Alice Jennings, second-semester poetry student, read her poems at the Oaxaca Lending Library on January 25 in Oaxaca, Mexico.
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Mary Knight, who recently completed her third semester in W4CYA, facilitated two six-week classes titled “Awakening the Creative Spirit,” based on Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. The workshop series was offered in Mary’s hometown ofLexington, Kentucky, and served more than thirty-five participants. Two stories excerpted from Mary’s unpublished memoir appear in Chicken Soup for the Soul collections this spring.
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Amy M. Miller, a second-semester student in creative nonfiction, had her essay “Chipattis” published in the second issue of Under The Gum Tree (http://underthegumtree.com/), an online literary journal published out of Sacramento, California, publication date January 4. Amy also has begun writing a monthly column called “Mama Likes . . . ” for the Louisville alternative newspaper, The Paper.
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Rick Neumayer has two short stories coming out soon. “Robin’s Installation” will appear in Bartleby Snopes in March, and “Where It Rains” will be published in Eunoia Review in late April.
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First semester creative nonfiction student Ruth Stark announces the October publication of her book, How to Work in Someone Else’s Country, by University of Washington Press. The Kindle e-Edition was released on New Year’s Day. Her short CNF piece “The Taxi Driver” was published in the Fall 2011 online edition of Sisyphus Magazine, http://www.hippocketpress.org/sisyphus.
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In November, Ellie Bryant won a $1,000 first-place award for a brief essay on love in a contest sponsored by the National Education Association. She also was the featured writer at November’s Celebration of Expressive Arts in Vermont, a forum for regional writers, artists, and musicians.
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K.L. Cook, fiction faculty, announces that his short story, “Love Song for the Quarantined,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by The Louisville Review. Another story, “Filament,” was selected for inclusion in the 2012 Best American Mystery Stories. Both stories are available in his recent collection, Love Songs for the Quarantined.
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In October, Debra Kang Dean was a presenter on a panel for The Colors of Nature: Culture, Nature, Identity, and the Natural World at the Wisconsin Book Festival in Madison. Her essay “In the Valley of Its Saying,” which appeared in the anthology, was solicited for reprint in the spring 2011 issue of Phatitude (Vol. 3, No. 1) titled “Spring Has Returned: A Season of Renewal.” Another essay, “A Time of Memories Incorrect but Powerful: Reading the Rain in the Trees,” is forthcoming in Until Everything Is Continuous Again: American Poets on the Recent Work of W. S. Merwin, ed. by Kevin Prufer and Jonathan Weinert. She also served as the poetry judge for the IUS Writing Contests at Indiana University Southeast, New Albany.
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Robert Finch was interviewed by producer Steve Paulson for a special edition on nature writing that was nationally broadcast on November 3, on Wisconsin Public Radio’s program To the Best of our Knowledge. The link for the program is http://ttbook.org/book/nature-writing. Text from Bob’s work is being used in a newly commissioned choral work by Boston-based composer William Cutter, celebrating the 300th anniversary of the town of Chatham, Massachusetts. The work receives its world premiere by the Chatham Chorale on May 19-20, at Chatham High School.
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Richard Goodman’s essay, “In the Beginning: Creating Dynamic, Meaningful and Compelling Openings to Your Work” has been accepted for publication by The Writer’s Chronicle.
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Among Roy Hoffman’s recent features for the Mobile Press-Register carried on the national wire have been “Love Letters From Sea,” December 25, about an elderly widow’s treasure of letters from her Merchant Marine husband, http://blog.al.com/live/2011/12/reading_again_the_thousands_of.html, and “Tent People Find a Home,” 12/27/11, http://blog.al.com/live/2011/12/homeless_couple_who_lived_in_m.html, the second of a two-part story about a homeless couple who lived in midtown woods. Roy’s Alabama Afternoons was reviewed in the Anniston Star on Jan. 13, http://annistonstar.com/bookmark/17102686-Book-review-Alabama-Afternoons, and May 15 in the Tuscaloosa News, http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20110515/news/110519932
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Silas House’s short story “Recruiters,” originally published in the Silas House Issue of The Anthology of Appalachian Writing, has been turned into a limited-edition, handmade book by Larkspur Press, with illustrations by Arwen Donahue.

In February 2012, Same Sun Here, written by Silas House and faculty member Neela Vaswani, is set to be published. The book has already received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly and has been selected as an “Okra Pick” by the Southern Independent Booksellers Association, identifying it as one of the ten books booksellers are most excited about for the Spring 2012 season. The book—and its authors—are being featured at the American Booksellers Association’s Winter Institute in New Orleans and at the Midwinter Conference in Dallas. House plans a ten-city tour for the book.

Also in February, Silas’ third play, “This Is My Heart For You,” premieres at Berea College. Silas was recently awarded the Lee Smith Award for Contributions to the Appalachian Region and has been chosen as the 2012 recipient of the Mary Frances Hobson Lecture and Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Arts and Letters.

In August, Silas was named Director of Appalachian Studies and the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College. Silas was recently one of the featured performers in a concert for Kentuckians for the Commonwealth with writer Jason Howard and musicians Ben Sollee, Daniel Martin Moore, and Jim James (of My Morning Jacket). The event raised more than $30,000 for the fight against mountaintop removal.
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Robin Lippincott’s most recent novel, In the Meantime, originally published in hardcover by Toby Press, has been re-published by AmazonEncore, both in paperback and also in a Kindle edition. His first novel, Mr. Dalloway (Sarabande), is also now available as an e-book.
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Jody Lisberger recently had an essay published in Wagadu, Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies v.9, 2011, Special Issue: Gender Equity in Higher Education http://appweb.cortland.edu/ojs/index.php/Wagadu/issue/view/44: “The Politics of Data: Gender bias and border mentality in the EEOC Job Category Compliance Chart and how transnational gender mainstreaming can offer best practices for change.”
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Eleanor Morse recently heard that Penguin has accepted her novel, White Dog Fell from the Sky. Viking brings out the hardcover edition, and Penguin the paperback. Kathryn Court, president of Penguin Group USA, is the editor. White Dog also sold in England and is set to be published through Fig Tree/Penguin, with Juliet Annan as editor. No publication date is set.
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Sena Jeter Naslund has completed a draft of her new double novel The Fountain of St. James Court and Portrait of the Artist as an Old Woman.
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Lesléa Newman’s poem, “Baby Dyke’s Pantoum” has been accepted for publication in Paradise Found: A Walking Tour of Northampton in Poetry and Art, forthcoming from Leveller’s Press.
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Elaine Neil Orr’s novel The Writing Box has been accepted for publication by Penguin-Berkley. Elaine has two new memoirs in recent issues of literary journals, “Wife’s Fantasy at Mid-Life,” Prime Number, 13.3 (http://www.primenumbermagazine.com/Issue13_PrimeDecimals3.html) and “Driving the Peugeot.” Blackbird, http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v10n2/nonfiction/orr_e/index.shtml.

She is also a contributing editor of “Writing out of Limbo: The International Childhood Experience of Global Nomads and Third Culture Kids,” an anthology of memoir and interdisciplinary essays. Elaine’s contribution, a hybrid of memoir and scholarly essay, is titled “The Stranger Self: A Pattern in Narrative.” Find it at http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Writing-out-of-Limbo--The-International-Childhood-Experience-of-Global-Nomads-and-Third-Culture-Kids1-4438-3360-6.htm.
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Molly Peacock’s collage biography and meditation on late-life creativity (with some memoir thrown in) The Paper Garden: An Artist Begins Her Life’s Work at 72, was reviewed in The New York Times, The LA Times, Chicago Tribune, More, Vogue.com, Good Housekeeping, and many more print sources in 2011. But what might also interest Spalding students, faculty, and alumni is that she arranged for The Paper Garden to go on a blog tour through TLC Book Tours, a virtual book tour site. This blog tour brought fascinating reviews from bloggers in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and Australia, giving another level of life to the redoubtable Mrs. Delany, 18th-century inventor of collage.
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Screenwriting faculty mentor Brad Riddell has received a shared “written by” credit on Crooked Arrows (www.crookedarrows.com), a film he rewrote from page one for independent producers. Crooked Arrows is a sports movie but also a heart-rending family drama that takes place on a Native American reservation, centering on the sport of lacrosse. Brandon Routh (Superman) and Gil Birmingham (Twilight) star, along with talented newcomer Chelsea Ricketts and a team of Native American boys who win you over with their charm, heart, and world-class lacrosse skill. As an independent release, the movie needs the grassroots support of all its friends! Please like the Crooked Arrows Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/crookedarrows), follow @crookedarrows on Twitter, and share this link for the brand new trailer: http://youtu.be/UOqSi-_cXeE. Crooked Arrows releases in theaters in April.

Brad also began his first semester as an assistant professor at SUNY Oswego in the Creative Writing department this past fall. As a member of the Kentucky Film Commission, he organized and moderated the Kentucky Film Educators Summit panel, featuring none other than our own Sena Jeter Naslund, as well as Jack Epps Jr., chair of the screenwriting program at the University of Southern California (http://kyfilmedusummit.wordpress.com/). Brad was thrilled to be invited by Spalding creative nonfiction mentor Nancy McCabe to give a talk on the life and business of screenwriting at The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, then speak to one of her classes.
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Jeanie Thompson announces that since October, she has been serving as an Alabama State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship Recipient in Literature. During her one-year term she reads from her work throughout Alabama, including appearances at the Alabama Writers’ Symposium and the Alabama Book Festival later this spring.

Jeanie participated in the Auburn Writers Conference at Auburn University in October, where she gave a poetry writing workshop, read from her work in progress, and taught two creative writing classes for young writers through the Auburn City Schools.

Jeanie was a finalist in the Still: a Journal poetry competition in October for her poem, “What Helen Keller Saw and What She Said,” and she appeared on the Accents Radio program at the University of Kentucky in November. Her essay on the poetic craft of W.S. Merwin is forthcoming in Until Everything is Continuous Again, edited by Jonathan Weinert and Kevin Prufer. The book launches at AWP.

Jeanie was a guest presenter for the Hertha Heller Forum at the Huntsville Madison County Public Library, Huntsville, Alabama, in January, discussing the award-winning Writing Our Stories program, now in its 15th year through a partnership between the Alabama Writers’ Forum and the Alabama Department of Youth Services. For more information, see www.writersforum.org.

The Alabama Center for the Book (ACFTB) and the Alabama Writers’ Forum jointly announced that Jeanie Thompson is the first honorary Writer-in-Residence at the University of Alabama Libraries for Spring 2012. In this pilot arrangement, Jeanie consults with the ACFTB on ways to build liaisons with other literary arts entities across Alabama.
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In October 2011, Neela Vaswani was a Visiting Writer at Georgia College. She attended the American Book Awards ceremony at UC Berkeley, where her mixed-genre book, You Have Given Me a Country, was a 2011 winner. In November, she curated the Storylines Project at the New York Public Library, an adult literacy and ESL event that serves 800 students in the NYPL’s citywide Centers for Reading and Writing program. This year’s guest author was Ashley Bryan. See www.ncvfoundation.org for photos and winning writers. Later in the month, Neela taught a Brandeis University study group that focused on her work and recorded her half of the audiobook for the Young Adult novel, Same Sun Here (co-written with faculty member Silas House). She spoke at the embassy in Mumbai, India, and visited family during December.
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Luke Wallin co-edited with Charles Entrekin the Fall 2011 issue of Sisyphus, at http://www.hippocketpress.org/sisyphus/. The theme is “Health and Hunger in America.”
Luke wrote and, with producer Steve Williams, recorded the song “Broken Ripples,” for a new short film written and directed by Skye Wallin. Luke is currently consulting on a documentary film in the planning stages.
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Katy Yocom has happily accepted an offer of representation from literary agent Lisa Gallagher, with Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. Lisa, who was a guest speaker at the Spring 2011 residency and homecoming, will be seeking a home for Katy’s novel, Tiger Woman.
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Alumni

Priscilla Atkins (Spring 2008) has poems published in various journals. In The Louisville Review (Spring 2011), look for “Sky in a Jar” and “The Suicide Trees.” In Water~Stone Review (2011), look for “The Café of Our Departure.” In Orange Coast (2010), look for “Hard Nails.” Online publications include “Boxes and Bells” and “Seven Months Later” in Juked (http://www.juked.com) and “Sidewalk Champagne,” in All Rights Reserved
(http://www.allrightsreserved.ca/wp-content/uploads/ARR-Rejuvenation.pdf). “Teacher Education 101: Lesson Plan, with Sponge Activity” appeared in Vallum (2010).
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Tay Berryhill (Spring 2009) is co-winner of Trajectory journal’s short story contest. Her story, “Flowers for the Dead,” is published in the Fall 2011 issue (http://www.trajectoryjournal.com). Tay attended the 2011 Midsouth Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators Conference in Nashville. In October, she participated as a mentee at the Rutgers University Council on Children’s Literature One-On-One Conference.
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Roy Burkhead (Spring 2004) recently started 2nd & Church, a literary journal by, for, and about writers and readers throughout Tennessee. The journal’s primary audience is Nashville and middle Tennessee, and its secondary audiences stretch as far west as Memphis and as far east as Knoxville and Chattanooga. Its goal is to be inclusive of many different types of writers and writing: creative nonfiction, technical writing, literary fiction, poetry, translation, and commercial fiction. The Q1 issue comes out in mid-February 2012 and contains the column “A Non-Resident’s Love of Literary Nashville” by Charlotte Rains Dixon (Fall 2003) and an excerpt from Terry Price’s (Spring 2006) novel-in-progress, An Angel’s Share. 2nd & Church is considering submissions for its Q2, Q3, and Q4 issues for pieces in line with its audiences and mission. Submission guidelines are available online: http://www.2ndandchurch.com/.
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Amy Watkins Copeland (Spring 2006) read with other Full Sail University faculty on January 5 at Urban ReThink in Orlando, Florida. Art students at Full Sail illustrated faculty work, and the illustrations were projected during the readings. Amy also has poems in Motes Books’ new anthology of writing about work, All the Live Long Day, and Accents Publishing’s anthology of short poems, Bigger Than They Appear.
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Lafayette Wattles’ (alter-ego of Dave DeGolyer, Fall 2006) poem “brotherly love” will appear in a forthcoming issue of Cicada, the print magazine for teens by Carus Publishing. His poem “Proximity” appears in the March 2012 issue of the online journal The Dirty Napkin.
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Darlyn Finch (Summer 2009) was honored to be invited to participate in “Transformations, A Creative Convergence of Poets and Artists,” (http://411.fit.edu/transformations/) sponsored by the Florida Institute of Technology. Dr. Edmund Skellings, poet laureate of Florida, is honorary chair of the project, which involves twelve pairs of collaborators. Darlyn’s partner was Melbourne painter Jerry Hooper. (http://www.jerryhooper.com/) The exhibition of the created works is installed at the Brevard Art Museum April 17-June 6.
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Barry George (Fall 2009) announces that his essay, “Shiki the Tanka Poet,” published in the February 2012 issue of The Writer’s Chronicle. The essay is a revision of his Spalding ECE, written under the guidance of mentor Maureen Morehead.
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Joe Gisondi (Spring 2010) wrote “Distance Junkies,” a cover story on ultramarathoners for EIU Alumni magazine’s Winter 2011 edition. He also wrote “Elements of lead writing worth emulating and common pitfalls to avoid” for the National Sports Journalism Institute’s website. In addition, he completed an essay on Tiger Woods for a still-untitled book to be published by McFarland in 2012.
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Tara Goldstein (Fall 2006) has just published a book with Peter Lang called Staging Harriet’s House: Writing and Producing Research-Informed Theatre. The book describes the production of Tara’s play, “Harriet’s House,” a play about transnational adoption in a same-sex family. Staging Harriet’s House engages with such topics as the purpose of research-informed theatre, writing and workshopping research-informed theatre and advice on producing research-informed theatre for the stage. The book includes the script that was performed in the 2010 Toronto Pride Festival production of the play, as well as a selected bibliography on research-informed theatre. It can be ordered at customerservice@plang.com.
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Colleen S. Harris (Fall 2009) has received notification that three of the sonnets from her collection-in-progress, Some Assembly Required, have been accepted for publication in the anthology Sonnets in the New Millennium. Colleen has also been invited to be the poetry guest editor for issue XVI of The Enchanting Verses Literary Review. Her co-edited collection, Women on Poetry: Writing, Revising, Publishing and Teaching, which boasts a foreword by Molly Peacock and chapters by Spalding MFA alum Rosemary Royston (Fall 2009) was published in January by McFarland. Colleen has been offered the opportunity to teach an upper-level undergraduate seminar in creative nonfiction at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in Fall 2012 and was asked by the Women’s Studies department to design an upper-level literature course titled Modern Women Poets and Mythology after the success of her freshman seminar of the same title in Fall 2011. That new class is likely to be offered by the University and crosslisted between the Womens Studies and Classics departments in Spring 2013.
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Patty Houston’s (Fall 2008) short story “Don’t. Stop.” has been accepted for publication by The Coachella Review and is available online.
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Robert L. Kaiser (Spring 2010) gave two presentations on creative nonfiction writing October 27, at the 90th Annual ACP/CMA National College Media Convention in Orlando, Florida. The first session, “The Undertaker Takes His Coffee Black (And Drives a Hearse with 71,000 Miles on It),” explored the use of detail in journalistic writing. The second session, “The Pointy-Toed Kicker,” was about story endings. Both sessions drew standing-room-only crowds and rave reviews on Twitter.

Rob, an assistant professor of journalism at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, is the director of the journalism program at Canisius and the faculty adviser to the student newspaper, The Griffin. In November, Rob presented a paper on teaching writing at the International Lilly Conference on College Teaching at Miami University in Ohio. And his essay “Jimmy Dean’s Last Song” is set for publication in The Louisville Review.
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Russ Kesler’s (Spring 2009) recent book, As If, was reviewed in the online publication First Draft, published by the Alabama Writers’ Forum: http://www.writersforum.org/first_draft/review_archives.html/article/2011/10/25/as-if
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René R Ketterer’s (Fall 2007) guest editorial “Preparing for marriage” was published in the January 22 edition of The Catholic Moment.
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Roland Mann (Spring 2011) recently was a speaker at the Southern Expressions Authors Conference held in Ocean Spings, Mississippi. Roland also has started a new job as an instructor in the Creative Writing for Entertainment MFA program at Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida.
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Richard Newman (Fall 2004) has poems forthcoming in Boulevard, Briar Cliff Review, Natural Bridge, Poems & Plays, and U City Review. His poem “Bless Their Hearts” appeared on Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry the week of Thanksgiving.
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Loreen Niewenhuis (Spring 2007) wrapped up her book tour for A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach, her book about her hike around Lake Michigan, recently. She had appearances in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan. She gave lectures at libraries and REI stores, gave readings at bookstores, and—most frighteningly—spoke to more than 100 elementary schoolkids. Loreen is glad for the break now as she is beginning to train for her next 1,000-mile hike, one that will allow her to touch all five Great Lakes. That new adventure begins in April.
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Rebecca J. Norris (Fall 2006) has a story published in Guide Magazine, November 2011 issue. She also sold a story to Highlights for Children, forthcoming in 2012. Another story is set to appear in March 2012 in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Magic of Mothers and Daughters.
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Terry Price (Spring 2006) announces that an excerpt from his novel-in-progress, An Angel’s Share,will appear in the debut issue of 2nd & Church. Terry also is teaming up with fourth-year fiction student Carolyn Flynn offer a contemplative, mentored writing retreat at Penuel Ridge Retreat Center on April 19-22 near Ashland City, Tennessee. Find out more at terryprice.net.
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Diana Raab (Fall 2003) just released an anthology she compiled and edited with James Brown, titled Writers on the Edge: 22 writers speak about addiction and dependency (Modern History Press) with a foreword by Jerry Stahl and submissions from esteemed writers such as Molly Peacock, Chase Twichell, and Scott Russell Sanders. A book signing is set for 4 p.m. February 25 at Book Soup in Los Angeles.

On February 16, she leads a teleseminar called “Journaling as a Springboard for a Writer’s Life” for the International Association of Journal Writers. She had two essays published in The Huffington Post, “The Power of Personal Stories” and “The Loss of Loved Ones.” For all her articles on Huffington Post’s boomer vertical, check out this link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diana-m-raab. Diana also did a poetry reading for Rattle Magazine in Santa Monica, California, on January 15.
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Rosemary Royston (Fall 2009) has had her poem “Dictum” nominated for a Pushcart Prize by New Southerner. Rosemary’s poem may be read here:
http://www.newsoutherner.com/2011/11/12/congratulations-to-our-pushcart-prize-nominees/
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Matt Ryan’s(Fall 2006) Read This or You’re Dead to Me, a collection of prose poems, flash fictions and words is available for order. He prefers that you order it straight from his publisher, but as long as you order it, you will not be dead to him. Here’s the coolest place to get it: http://www.hopepubs.com/Ryan/Ryan-Books.html
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Pamela Steele (Spring 2004) has just seen the release of her first novel, Greasewood Creek (Counterpoint). The novel was nominated for a Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award and has received positive reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and Elle Magazine. She is currently on book tour.
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Corrections

None

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Personals

Our heartfelt sympathy to Hal Crenshaw (Fall 2011) on the death of his mother, Billie Burgin Crenshaw, on October 26.
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The entire Spalding MFA community is saddened by the death of MFA student Bob Keith on November 24.
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Classifieds

None

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Reminders and Notes

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

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

All Summer/Spring Stretch 2012 students: Fill out the FAFSA for the 2012-13 school year, using 2011 tax information. Students who enroll in the summer semester who may enroll in the Spring 2013 semester should check with Vickie Montgomery about loan disbursements for two semesters instead of one.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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