Vol. 13 No. 3
May 2008

Spring Arts Events

Zalutsky's You Belong to Me

More Spring Guests

Required Sessions for Spring

Professional Script Readings

Residency Reminders

Cross-Genre Workshop Update

One Password for All

Alumni News

Life of a Writer

Students

Faculty and Staff

Alumni

Pre-reading for Summer 08

Faculty Advisory Committee for Spring 2008

Pre-reading for Fall 2008

Classifieds

Reminders and Notes

Apply for Passport Now for Summer 2008

Spalding Home

MFA Home

Previous Newsletters

Spring Arts Event: Rabbit Hole Production at Bunbury Theater
During the Spring residency, students and faculty attend a plenary production of Rabbit Hole, a Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by David Lindsay-Abaire. The performance, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 28, is followed by a talkback by producing director Juergen Tossman and the actors.

The play examines the effect of an accidental death on a family. The New York Times review of the play said, “[T]he sad, sweet release of Rabbit Hole lies precisely in the access it allows to the pain of others, in its meticulously mapped empathy.” Citing the play’s “honesty, accuracy and humor,” the review continues, “[T]his anatomy of grief doesn’t so much jerk tears as tap them, from a reservoir of feelings common to anyone who has experienced the landscape-shifting vacuum left by a death in the family.”

Other residency events wrap up at 4:15 p.m. that day, allowing students and faculty time to rest, write reports or evaluations, and have dinner on their own.

Bunbury Theatre, in the Henry Clay building at Third and Chestnut Streets, is located a block from the Brown Hotel. (top)

Spring Arts Event: Sam Zalutsky’s You Belong to Me
All students have the opportunity to attend a second arts event, a screening of Sam Zalutsky’s feature film You Belong to Me, at 11:30 a.m. Monday, May 26. All students are invited to read the script, which is available on Blackboard at MFA in Writing Program/Semesters/Spring 2008/Spring Residency 2008. Screenwriting students are required to attend the screening and to read the script.

Returning students may have seen versions of the film at differing stages of production; this spring’s screening offers the chance to see the movie, starring Patti D’Arbanville, in its final form. The film, which Zalutsky completed while a member of Spalding’s MFA faculty, is now available on DVD via Netflix and Amazon. (top)

Guest Lecturers for Spring 2008 Residency
In addition to Pico Iyer and Sabrina Dhawan, the following presenters are to speak at the Spring 2008 residency.

Playwriting guest lecturer Adrien-Alice Hansel is the Director of New Play Development at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she heads the Literary Department. She has served as production dramaturg on roughly thirty-five plays at Actors, including The Crucible, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, 9 Parts of Desire, Topdog/Underdog, and Underneath the Lintel; Humana premieres of the work of Gina Gionfriddo, The Civilians, Naomi Wallace, Craig Wright, Alice Tuan and New Paradise Laboratories, Jordan Harrison, Chuck Mee, Adam Bock, the SITI Company, Rinne Groff, and John Belluso and three musical anthologies: The Open Road Anthology, Neon Mirage, and Uncle Sam’s Satiric Spectacular. She has co-edited five anthologies of plays from Actors Theatre, has worked in the literary offices of Seattle Repertory Theatre and Yale Repertory Theatre, and holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. Ms. Hansel serves on the board of the Kentucky Foundation of Women, an organization that promotes social change by funding feminist art.

Poetry guest lecturer Jane Gentry (Vance) was born in central Kentucky, where she grew up on a farm at Athens. She now lives in Versailles. Her new book of poems, Portrait of the Artist as a White Pig, came out in late 2006 from Louisiana State University Press, which also published her previous collection, A Garden in Kentucky, in 1995. In 2005, Press 817 in Lexington, Kentucky, brought out her chapbook, A Year in Kentucky. An English professor at the University of Kentucky, she has won the UK alumni Association’s Great Teacher Award, conducts poetry-writing workshops, teaches in the University Honors Program, and is advisor to Jar, a student-edited literary magazine. She has been awarded two Al Smith Fellowships (1993 and 2003) by the Kentucky Arts Council and has held fellowships at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, New York, and at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts at Lynchburg. In 2007 she was appointed Kentucky Poet Laureate for 2007-09. (top)

Writing-for-children guest lecturer Susan Moore is the Manager of Children’s & Young Adult Services for the Louisville Free Public Library. She was selected by the American Library Association for the Emerging Leaders program in 1997 to participate in a select nationwide leadership initiative. In addition to advocating and implementing library service to young adults, she has developed or participated in ongoing partnerships to provide wider access to reading and lifelong learning with partners such as the Speed Art Museum, Kentucky Center, The Kentucky Institute for Family Literacy, and community wide initiatives such as Success by Six. She served on the American Library Association’s 2001 Newbery Committee and the 1997-1999 Notable Films for Children Committee. She has served as a volunteer reviewer for School Library Journal. She also serves as adjunct faculty for University of Kentucky and has taught graduate courses including Young Adult Literature, Creative Programs for Youth, and Public Libraries.

General-interest guest lecturer Terry Price is a Tennessee-based writer and attorney with an MFA from Spalding University and a JD from the Nashville School of Law. Terry is a program director and mentor in The Writer’s Loft creative writing program at Middle Tennessee State University. His short story “Eminent Domain” appeared in the Timber Creek Review and has been nominated for a 2007 Pushcart Prize. Terry is a partner in the Nashville law firm of Guenther, Jordan & Price and works in the areas of estate planning, estate administration, and non-profit corporation law. (top)

Creative nonfiction guest lecturer Charles Salzberg is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in New York magazine, GQ, Esquire, Elle, New York Times Book Review, New York Times Arts & Leisure, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, and other periodicals. He is the author of twenty-five nonfiction books. The latest, The Mad Fisherman, is out this April from St. Martin’s Press. His novel, Swann’s Last Song, is to be published in September. He was a visiting professor of magazine writing at S.I. School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and he teaches nonfiction writing at Sarah Lawrence, the Open Center, the Writer’s Voice, and the New York Writers Workshop, where is he one of the founding members.

Plenary guest lecturer Frederick Smock is poet-in-residence at Bellarmine University, Louisville. He has published three volumes of poetry with Larkspur Press. His most recent books are Guest House (poems), Poetry & Compassion: Essays on Art and Craft, and Pax Intrantibus: A Meditation on the Poetry of Thomas Merton. His book Craft-talk: On Writing Poetry, is to be published this summer. For fifteen years, he served as editor of the literary journal The American Voice. His poems and essays have appeared widely in Poetry, The Iowa Review, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, The Antioch Review, and others.

Plenary guest lecturer Katy Yocom is program associate of Spalding’s brief-residency MFA in Writing Program. In 2006, she traveled to India to research her novel in progress, where she had the chance to put into practice many of the research techniques she discusses in her lecture. She is recipient of grants from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, and the Kentucky Arts Council as well as a fellowship from the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. Her fiction has appeared in New Southerner and Best of New Southerner and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her poems have appeared in The Louisville Review and Open 24 Hours. She holds an MFA in Writing degree from Spalding University and a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Kansas. (top)

ENG660 Students Teach Classes during Spring 2008 Residency
As part of their coursework for ENG660: Teaching Practicum in Creative Writing, students have developed and will teach a 45-minute class during the Spring 2008 residency. Each class features a short presentation and/or discussion and focuses on a writing exercise to be completed during this session. MFA students and faculty are invited to attend and participate in these classes, which are scheduled throughout the Spring 2008 residency. The classes are

“Today Was Like Any Other Day; Then Something Happened . . . Writing the Inciting Incident,” led by Ann Eskridge (all genres)

“Weaving Theme through Our Stories: Bang the Big Question Against Specific Details and, Voila!, Theme,” led by Patty Houston (fiction, creative nonfiction, writing for children, playwriting, screenwriting)

“Learning Your Characters through Place,” led by John Schuler (fiction, creative nonfiction, writing for children, playwriting, screenwriting)

“Personification: What Happens When a Tree and a Tennis Shoe Go on a Date,” led by Allison UrzuaBlaul (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for children)

More information on time and locations, short pre-assignments, and further descriptions can be found at the end of the Spring 2008 Residency Lecture Descriptions document. (top)

Special Required Sessions During Spring 2008 Residency
All New ENG610 Students
In addition to orientations during the MFA Residency, all new students attend required sessions with Kathleen Driskell. The first, “Dialogue with Great Writers: How Critical Analysis Helps a Writer Improve Craft,” introduces expectations for critical analysis and expository writing that students undertake while in the Spalding MFA Program. Before coming to the residency, new students are asked to read Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral” and Regina Barreca’s poem “Nighttime Fires.” Both texts and instructions on the pre-assignments can be found in Blackboard under Semesters/ Spring 2008/Spring 2008 Residency. The second required session is an MLA orientation which familiarizes students with guidelines from the Modern Language Association used in the MFA Program.

ENG620 Students
All ENG620 students participate in small expository writing workshops with the Expository Writing Coach Marica Dalton. A few weeks before the residency, the MFA Program posts workshop booklets containing students’ Book-in-Common essays, previously submitted. ENG620 students should download and print these out; they should then read and annotate the collected essays and bring the booklets to the residency in order to participate fully in small workshop discussions scheduled at various times during Spring 2008 Residency. (top)

ENG630 Students
All ENG630 students attend two events that focus on successfully developing and writing the Extended Critical Essay. The first session is an orientation that presents the ECE schedule and introductory materials to develop for the residency conference with the ENG630 mentor; the second session is a research panel featuring MFA faculty members Jody Lisberger, Maureen Morehead, and Nancy McCabe, who focus on organization, support, and revision when writing the ECE.

Graduating Students
All graduating students must attend a practice graduation session. Though graduation celebration takes place in the Crystal Ballroom in The Brown Hotel at 5 p.m. Saturday, May 31, all graduating students practice in the Spalding University Gymnasium in the University Center Building (same location as the university cafeteria).

Times and locations for all sessions are announced in the Residency Schedule posted in Blackboard a few days before the residency. All students should consult this schedule in order to attend the required sessions.

Professional Readings for Playwriting/Screenwriting
As part of their ENG640 coursework, the following playwriting and screenwriting students have their scripts presented in professional readings during the Spring 2008 residency. Faculty-led discussions follow each of the readings by professional actors. Please refer to the residency schedule (posted on Blackboard a few days before the residency) for times and locations. All MFA students and faculty are welcome to attend these sessions. (top)

Playwriting Scripts
Lullabye of Death by Quintina Clemons
Sisters by Cynthia Williams
The Mute Swan by Lee Anne Fahey

Screenwriting Scripts
Kicked in the Head by Frank Collazo
Mary and Joseph by Keith Nixon
Black Masque by Charlie Brady
The Infamous Rivers Brother and the Tree of Life by Danniel Kellermeyer

ECEs for Review
Students who would like to review Extended Critical Essays from previous semesters may do so in the MFA Office; however, all ECEs must remain in the MFA Office. ECE models for formating guidelines can be found in Blackboard under MFA in Writing Program/Semesters/Spring 2008/Courses/ENG630.

Reminder: Thesis Discussion
During their fifth residency, graduating students meet with their mentor and two students for a 40-minute discussion of the Creative Thesis. The Thesis Discussion is a pleasant conversation about what the student has accomplished by producing a completed thesis of original writing.
At the beginning of the Thesis Discussion, the author speaks briefly about the literary influences on the writing in the thesis and about the processes of writing and revising the work. The author also speaks about a feature of the thesis that is a particular source of pride or sense of accomplishment. The author should prepare a few questions to ask the readers. Student readers prepare for the Thesis Discussion by carefully reading the thesis and taking a few notes for comments/questions to make during the discussion. The mentor facilitates and participates in the discussion. This is not a workshop session. The author does not make substantive changes to the thesis after the Thesis Discussion. (top)

New Policies for Cross-Genre Workshops
In response to student and faculty requests, several semesters ago the MFA Program began offering cross-genre workshops during residency. Many students and faculty have participated in these workshops and have found them very instructive. As the MFA Program moves to integrate the cross-genre workshop into our regular schedule, and in order to best serve our students and faculty, the MFA directors have created the following policies for those wanting to participate in cross-genre workshops during residency:

(1) A student must have filled the prerequisite of ENG610 before being allowed to sit in the cross-genre workshop

(2) No MFA student can take more than one cross-genre workshop within the required four semesters and five residencies.

(3) Faculty who want to lead a cross-genre workshop must communicate this request directly to Karen Mann.

(4) Faculty assignments are made on a first-come, first-served basis, but no faculty member can lead a cross-genre workshop more often than once every four semesters.

my.spalding.edu New Portal for Current Students
As of April 28, Spalding student email switched to Microsoft Outlook, and email addresses are now username@spalding.edu instead of username@student.spalding.edu. The advantage to having the portal, my.spalding.edu, is that students now have only one password for email, Blackboard, and WebAdvisor.

For an explanaiton of the changes, demos, instructions, and common questions, see at www.spalding.edu/portal. If you have any questions, email techsupport@spalding.edu.

The new portal does not affect faculty or alumni. (top)

Alumni News
Homecoming May 29-June 1
Information for Homecoming has been emailed to all alumni. If you have questions or need more information, email Katy Yocom at kyocom@spalding.edu.

During Homecomng the alumni association launches a new event, the Celebration of Recently Published Books by Alumni at 7 p.m. Friday, May 30, in the Crystal Ballroom of the Brown Hotel (335 W. Broadway). The readers are

Joey Goebel (fiction), author of Commonwealth
Erin Keane (poetry), author of The Gravity Soundtrack
Dawn Shamp (fiction), author of On Account of Conspicuous Women
Pam Steele (poetry), author of Paper Bird
Julia Watts (fiction), author of The Kind of Girl I Am
Jonathan Weinert (poetry), author of In the Mode of Disappearance
Kathryn Eastburn (nonfiction), author of Simon Says: A True Story of Boys, Guns, and Murder

Book signing to follow. Books provided by Carmichael's Bookstore.

SOARING
The latest issue of the MFA Alumni newsletter was distributed on May 1.

Alumni Website
The alumni website is http://www.spaldingmfaalum.com.

Did you graduate May 2003-May 2004?
If you would be interested in helping plan a 5-year reunion to take place in Spring 2009, please contact Karen Mann at kmann@spalding.edu. (top)

Life of a Writer

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

Students

Tay Berryhill’s short story "Falsies" was awarded an honorable mention in the Kentuckiana Metroversity 2007 Writing Competition.

Constance Darnell recently spoke at a women’s retreat at Parkway Baptist Church in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, on the subject, “Family Forgiveness.” She read from her recently published book, Songs for Martha. A book signing followed. She also presented, “Writing Your Praise” to the Praying Mothers’ Annual Retreat in McDaniels, Kentucky, on Saturday, April 12.  A book signing followed.

A Korean publisher bought the foreign rights to Joan Donaldson’s picture book, The Secret of the Red Shoes, and will be publishing a translation of it. In addition, on April 3rd, WMUK (102.1), the NPR station affiliated with Western Michigan University, aired a audiopostcard written by Joan and created with the assistance of Andrew Robins of WMUK. The postcard can be heard on the station’s website. (top)

Lia Eastep’s essay “Random Acts of Gardening” will appear in the Spring/Summer 2008 issue of The Santa Clara Review.

Barry George was a Featured Poet at the 2008 Robert Frost Festival in Key West, April 7-13. He gave several readings and presented a workshop, “Loss, Longing and Celebration: Three Moods of Tanka.” His poetry also appears in the current issues of Modern Haiku, Haiku Canada Review, Frogpond, Modern English Tanka, Ko (Japan), and Key West’s The Secret of Salt: An Indigenous Journal.

Karen George has won the 2008 Janice Holt Giles Short Fiction Prize for her short story “Saving Grace.” Lee Smith selected her story.  It will be printed in the summer issue of Arts Across Kentucky.

Colleen Harris’s poem “Wife at the Parole Hearing” has been accepted for publication by The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review. Her poetry chapbook, The House that Falls Down, was a semi-finalist in the Spring 2007 Black River Chapbook Competition out of Black Lawrence Press. In addition, Colleen’s poem “Alzheimer’s” has been picked up for publication in the Spring 2008 issue of the Wisconsin Review. Colleen’s poem “If I Had Been Born Your Son” has been accepted for publication in the 2008 issue of descent. (top)

Patty Houston will present her ECE, “What Short Story Writers Can Learn from Film Montage,” at the 10th International Conference for the Short Story in English: “The Lonely Voice,” in Cork, Ireland, in June 2008.

Three of Trish Lindsey Jaggers’s poems—“To Away,” “Collide,” and “After Reading The Gold Cell”—were accepted for publication (and awards consideration) in The Round Table, Hopkinsville Community College’s annual literary publication. Her poem “To Away” won first place in the Night Rider Poetry Award, and one of her photographs won the photography division of the Roger Selvidge Memorial Art Award.

Heather Jones’s The Waitress Play was presented as a staged reading as part of Black Swan Theatre’s First Glance Series. The series is coordinated with the Asheville Area Arts Council, and the reading was the second to be presented in their new performance space. (top)

Jill Koren recently read poems at the Thomas Family Winery (www.thomasfamilywinery.us) in Madison, Indiana, and at The Orange Show (www.orangeshow.org) in Houston, Texas. She has also lectured classes at Male High School in Louisville and Shawee High School in Madison, Indiana, about memorization and the brain.

Drew Lackovic presented excerpts from his ECE, “Reestablishing Experience through Ontology: Ben Marcus’s The Age of Wire and String” at the 2008 Pennsylvania College English Association Conference  in April.  He also read from his Pushcart Prize nominated story, “(Un/Re/I) Do,” at the conference. His story, “Deconstructing Happily Ever After” was recently announced as the winner of the 2008 Kentuckiana Metroversity Writing Competition. It also appears in the anthology Human Voices.

Mary Lou Northern has received a merit-based fellowship to the Summer Literary Seminar. To quote the program description: “Summer Literary Seminar brings together the finest American, Canadian, European and African writers with their Russian counterparts in St. Petersburg (or Kenya).” Her submission was an excerpt from her novel William & Rose. She is working on the novel as her creative project for the Spalding MFA.

Angie J. Richart’s essay “The River In Me” appears in Summer 2008 in Louisville literary magazine 94 Creations.

Bob Sachs was awarded second place in the graduate fiction division of the 2008 Kentuckiana Metroversity Writing Competition for his story “Grant Me Grace.” In 2004 and 2005, he was awarded first place in the Metroversity Writing Competition for his stories, “The Estherlink” and “Vondelpark.” (top)

Barbara Sabol has received an honorable mention award for her poem, “Original Ruse,” by the Akron Art Museum and University of Akron’s New Words 2008 poetry contest.  The poem is posted on the Akron Art Museum’s website, and Barbara participated in a poetry reading at the Art Museum on April 20.

Katerina Stoykova-Klemer’s poem “The First Time I Tried to Leave Home” was published in Anderbo and is available at http://www.anderbo.com. Her poem “Nobody Made Soup” was accepted for publication in Third Wednesday. Additionally, her two poems “Year 1991, My Friend Speaks to My Ex-Husband” and “What Happened?” appear in The Straitjackets available at http://straitjacketsmagazine.com/

Three of Cristina Trapani-Scott’s poems, “Photos of a Cellar Wall,” “Two Dimensions,” and “Mother Tongue” are to be published in an anthology celebrating Sicilian culture, writers and immigrant experiences called More Sweet Lemons. It’s a sequel to a previous anthology released in 2004 by Legas called Sweet Lemons: Writings with a Sicilian Accent. She also was featured reader for the March session of Writers Reading at Sweetwaters in Ann Arbor. Cristina has been invited to present her extended critical essay “Bending the Limbs: Family Reinvented in Renee Manfredi’s novel Above the Thunder at a conference on ethnicity hosted by the University of Lethbridge in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, in September. The essay also placed second in the 2008 Kentuckiana Metroversity Writing Contest.

Charles White had the short story “The Family Dog” accepted by Wandering Army and another short story, “The Buried Earth,” accepted by Night Train. (top)

Kathleen Driskell read at the Jazz Factory in March to benefit the Kentucky Books for Patients Project, organized by fourth-year University of Louisville medical student, Clint Morehead. The Spalding MFA Program is a sponsor of this project. Recently, she also helped judge the Thomas Merton Inspirational Poetry Competition and was final poetry judge for the LEO Literary Awards and the Joy Bale Boone Poetry Award. In February, she presented and moderated for the panel “Innovative Internships and Practica in Teaching, Public Arts, and Publishing: Preparing the Low-Residency Student for Life after the MFA,” at the national AWP Conference in New York. Other panel members included Steve Heller (Antioch LA), Paul Selig (Goddard), and Bonnie Culver (Wilkes). At the same conference, she was elected founding chair of the new Low-Residency MFA Directors’ Caucus, a national organization that advocates for and shares information among low-residency graduate creative writing programs. (top)

Richard Goodman gave a talk at North Carolina State University on April 9th based on his new book, The Soul of Creative Writing.  The visit was arranged by Elaine Orr, Spalding faculty member, who teaches in the English Department at NC State.  On April 18, he gave a writing class at the Alabama Book Festival in Montgomery. He signed books on April 19 at the Festival.  For details, visit the website: http://www.alabamabookcenter.org/  Richard Goodman was recently interviewed by Pif magazine about The Soul of Creative Writing: http://www.pifmagazine.com/SID/881/.

Jody Lisberger read to a full house with poet Stephen Cramer at the URI Read/Write Series April 3. She’s been invited to be a featured reader at the Green Cafe, Kettle Pond Visitor Center (Charlestown, Rhode Island), for “Poetry of the Wild” on April 25. She’ll be reading at Borders in Normal (!), Illinois, on May 21, doing a radio interview with WGLT FM, and reading at Borders in Louisville on May 30. Jody was also recently honored with an excellence in teaching award from Uhuru Sasa, the African-American Student Association at URI.

Nancy McCabe’s creative nonfiction piece “Running Away from Home” is forthcoming in Louisville Review, and her article “Creating a Community Atmosphere” appeared in the March issue of Teaching Times, a publication of the University of Pittsburgh. The undergraduate magazine she advises, Baily’s Beads, received a crown award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, naming its 2007 edition one of the top twelve undergraduate literary magazines in the country for a second year. (top)

Sena Jeter Naslund gave a presentation based on Abundance, A Novel of Marie Antoinette (2006, 2007 paperback) at the Huntsville (Alabama) Literary Association on April 20 and at St. Lawrence University (Canton, New York) on April 23, where she also spoke with Kenny Cook’s fiction writing class. Sena will give a series of presentations on Abundance, sponsored by the Northern Trust Bank literary societies in Las Vegas and southern California, including San Diego, La Jolla, Santa Barbara, Beverly Hills, and Palm Springs, June 6-16.

Jeanie Thompson’s review of Maurice Manning’s book Bucolics appears at www.writersforum.org in the Book Reviews online section. Two poems from Jeanie’s This Day, an historical novel in verse about the adult life of Helen Keller, were performed in Theater Tuscaloosa’s Page to Stage production on April 12. Other Alabama writers’ works included were Fannie Flagg, Nanci Kincaid, and William Bradford Huie. On April 19, Jeanie and the staff of the Alabama Writers’ Forum produced the first poetry venue at the Third Alabama Book Festival, which featured sixteen poets from around the country. Jeanie speaks to the Friends of the Decatur Public Library on the topic “And How Did the Poet Get to be the Manager?” on May 8. Two of Jeanie’s interviews with writers (Jake Adam York, Richard Goodman and Kate Gale) air on Alabama Arts Radio in May. From May 16 to June 14, Jeanie travels to Pietrasanta, Italy, to direct the literature component of the Alabama/Italy arts exchange with members of the Alabama State Council on the Arts and other Alabama visual artists and musicians. In Spring 2009, River City Publishing will bring out Jeanie’s fourth collection of poems, title still under construction.
 
Sam Zalutsky’s You Belong to Me had four sold-out screenings at the London Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, recently screened at San Diego’s Film Out Film Festival, and soon screens at Q Cinema Fort Worth; the Miami, Toronto, Brisbane, Budapest, Alberta, Winnipeg Gay and Lesbian Film Festivals; the Korea Queer Culture Festival; and New York City’s NewFest. It is to be released on DVD by Wolfe Releasing and Warner Pay Per View in early June and air on Logo in October. Sam also recently contributed a six word memoir to “Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure” published by Smith Magazine (www.smithmag.net), and which spent six weeks on the New York Times Paperback Advice Best Seller List. (top)

Alumni

Idore Anschell’s (Spring 2006) book Monsieur’s Escape to Mars on the Space Needle, is to be published by Bennett & Hastings in Seattle and released in a year.

David Carren (Fall 2005) is directing a feature this summer in South Texas. It’s called The Red Queen, and he wrote the screenplay from a story he developed with Jack R. Stanley. Shooting runs from June 2 to July 7. To quote a press release, “The Red Queen is an action-filled thriller that focuses on a young woman’s search for the true identity of her deceased mother.” The project features several well known Hollywood actors, including Valente Rodriguez (The George Lopez Show), Estephania LeBaron (The Alamo), Oscar Torre (Cane) and Harley Jane Kozak (Parenthood). David also re-optioned his original screenplay My Monster to Quixote Entertainment with Scotty Rice attached to direct.

Dave DeGolyer (Fall 2006) received the Catherine Connelly Award for Best in Show from The Friends of the Steele Memorial Library’s Annual Poetry Contest for his poem, “Childhood,” which is to appear in the Spring 2009 issue of Festival. Dave also placed twenty-one other poems, under his pseudonym, Lafayette Wattles, in Chantarelle’s Notebook (May 2008), The Centrifugal Eye (May 2008), FRIGG (July 2008), Mannequin Envy (May 2008), Sawbuck (Summer 2008), Ruminate (Summer 2008), Thick With Conviction (July 2008), Mississippi Crow (Spring 2008 ), and Foliate Oak (forthcoming 2008). Three of those poems, “Death Comes in Smallness,” “Something More,” and “The Dissolution,” appear in the April 2008 issue of Underground Voices. At the risk of seeming a bit corny, he feels the need to give props to the value of residency activities, as “The Dissolution” was actually the product of the Fall 2006 residency cross-genre assignment on ekphrastic poetry (and a trip to Louisville’s 21C Museum). Also, Lafayette’s photo “The Transformation” is the cover art for the Spring 2008 issue of Carve Magazine and his photo “Time” is to appear as the cover art for the July 2008 issue of Thick With Conviction. (top)

Daniel DiStasio’s (Fall 2006) short story “Dark-winged Victory” was accepted for publication by The MacGuffin. He was selected as chairman of the Key West Writer Guild’s 2008 Short Story contest. His short story “Happiness” was an editor’s choice for the 2008 Million Writers Award.

Liz Djupe (Spring 2004) attended the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) IL 3rd Annual Prairie Writer’s Day in November. She participated in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge, completing a 50,000 novel first draft in twenty-eight days, a current work in progress. During December, Liz helped collect donations of new books for the Family Literacy Center at local Oakton Community College. This resource center promotes English as a second language for area families. In February, she participated in the SCBWI intensive writing workshop and conference in New York City, where she met briefly with Spalding classmate Edie Hemingway.

Kathryn Eastburn (Spring 2006) signed both of her recently released books, Simon Says (Da Capo Press/ Perseus Books) and A Sacred Feast (University of Nebraska Press), at Midsummer Books in Galveston, Texas, on April 12 as part of the city’s monthly ArtWalk celebration. A Sacred Feast received mention in the April edition of Christian Century and recent reviews of Simon Says can be found at www.kathryneastburn.com. Eastburn is currently teaching Creative Nonfiction Writing as part of the University of Texas Medical Branch’s older adult learning program. She teaches a three-week long creative nonfiction workshop at The Colorado College in Colorado Springs this July and reads at the Spalding Celebration of Recently Published Books by Alumni in Louisville on May 30. (top)

Stacia M. Fleegal’s (Fall 2006) first full-length poetry collection, Anatomy of a Shape-Shifter, has been accepted for publication by WordTech and is forthcoming in 2010.  Her chapbook of poems, A Fling with the Ground, was recently reviewed online by Prick of the Spindle (http://www.prickofthespindle.com/reviews/2.1/a_fling_with_the_ground.htm)

Tara Goldstein (Fall 2006) has been appointed the Chair of the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the University of Toronto for a three-year term beginning July 2008. Also, this July, Tara’s production company Gailey Road Productions is to produce her play Lost Daughter at the 2008 Toronto Fringe Festival. This will be the Canadian premiere of Lost Daughter, which was Tara’s creative thesis. Jeanne Haggard’s production of the play last August in Ottawa, Kansas, was its American premiere.

Alice Gorman’s (Spring 2005) personal essay “The Love List” was published in the February issue of O, the Oprah Magazine. As a result of the publication, she was interviewed by Gayle King on her XM satellite radio show “Oprah and Friends Radio” in New York City on January 30. Along with a picture of Alice and Gayle, a portion of that interview can be heard online under the title “Finding Love” on Gayle King's Past Shows.

Jeanne Haggard (Fall 2006), has been leading a creative writing workshop at the Ottawa, Kansas, city Library. The group has been focusing on creative nonfiction since January and published a literary magazine in April before taking a break for the summer. Jeanne has also been invited to participate in the Writer’s Workshop at the Great Plains Theatre Conference in Omaha, Nebraska, at the end of May and attended the Inge Festival in Independence at the end of April. This summer, she teaches an introductory course in screenwriting at Ottawa University and participated in Script Frenzy in April:100 pages of a script or scripts in 30 days! (top)

David Harrity (Fall 2007) spent the spring teaching classes and workshops at The Carnegie Center, Lexington Catholic High School, and Asbury College. He also conducted a 4-week workshop at Asbury Seminary titled “A Movement into Mystery: Contemporary Psalms and Psalmists.” He recently finished his first full-length manuscript, New American Psalter, and has poems forthcoming from The Chrysalis Reader, The Xavier Review, and PresenTense: Jewish Life. David and his wife Amanda welcomed new daughter Emmalynne James on May 26.

Juyanne James (Fall 2007) recently attended the Winter Writer’s series at Rollins College in Orlando where she spent amazing, quality time with Philip F. Deaver and Jamaica Kincaid. Juyanne has been nominated for the Eileen Egan, SCN Award at Spalding and has two stories (“My Drowning Words” and “The Elderberries”) forthcoming in The Southern Review and The Louisville Review. Juyanne read from her work at the Literary/Music Festival at Our Lady of Holy Cross College in New Orleans on April 21.

Since graduating Troy Jewell (Spring 2007) has received 57 (make that 58) rejection notices from varies publications. The most “no’s” have come from The Atlantic Monthly, but he still has two stories on the desk of Michael Curtis (well, one of his readers). Troy is holding down his full-time gig teaching literature and creative writing to high school students while serving as an adjunct professor at Valencia Community College. (top)

Bonnie Omer Johnson’s (Fall 2004) is a guest food columnist for the current issue of New Southerner (http://newsoutherner.com). Her article, “Chocolate Gravy: A Southern Delicacy” appears under the Pickin’s ’n Fixin’s heading.

Marci Rae Johnson (Spring 2005) has poems upcoming in The Christian Century and Phoebe. She recently edited a book of poetry for WordFarm titled Living on the Flood Plain, by James Zoller, which is available for purchase soon at www.wordfarm.net. Marci directs The Poetry Factory reading series (www.poetryfactory.net), where graduates Erin Keane (Spring 2004) and Jonathan Weinert (Fall 2005) read on April 27.

Allison Jones (Fall 2003) recently accepted a position as a freelance writer for The Courier-Journal writing a regular feature called Home of the Week.  Her essays have appeared on a regular basis in Underwired Magazine and her essay "The Day He Left" now appears in Voices of Alcoholism, edited by The Healing Project (March 2008).  She is currently working on her young adult novel, Spirit Dancer. (top)

Leesteffy Jenkins (Fall 2006) has a story, “The Offering,” forthcoming in the spring edition of Eclectica and “The Inverse of Nothing” forthcoming in the spring edition of Driftwood.

Erin Keane’s (Spring 2004) book of poems, The Gravity Soundtrack, was named a finalist for ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year award. She continues to write for Velocity, teach Pop Music in American Literature at Bellarmine University, and direct the InKY Reading Series in Louisville. Recently, Keane read at Brescia College’s Third Tuesday series and the Thousand Poets festival in Louisville, and she read with Jonathan Weinert at the Poetry Factory reading series (directed by Marci Johnson) at the end of April.

Cyn Kitchen’s (Spring 2005) short story, “Every Earth Is Fit for Burial” appears in the May 2008 issue of Menda City Review. (top)

Claudia Labin (Spring 2007) is teaching playwriting at the Indianapolis Writer Center. Her short play “Wind,” extracted from her short story, was performed at the Oaklandon Civic Theatre last weekend of March and first weekend of April. She gave a class on wicked women in literature at IUPUI on March 25. Her interview with Will Allison is to be published by Simon & Shuster at the end of the book What You Have Left.

Two of Loreen Niewenhuis’s (Spring 2007) sociological sci fi stories (“The Captive of the Slaves” and “Damned Luck”) were accepted by Zahir and Home Planet News (respectively). Loreen wants everyone to know that this isn’t the writing career she’d necessarily envisioned and, also, that she is uneasy talking about herself in the third person. Thankfully, her literary story “Starry Night” was also accepted by 94 Creations. Loreen attended Columbia College’s Story Week in Chicago last month. Read all about it in the next issue of SOARING, the newsletter of Spalding MFA’s Alumni Association. (top)

Diana M. Raab (Fall 2003). Regina’s Closet: Finding My Grandmother’s Secret Journal is a finalist in ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Award (2007). She has had book signings and readings in California at Many Paths Bookstore (Los Angeles), Towne Center Books (Pleasanton), Laurel Bookstore (Oakland), Local Hero Books (Ojai), Borders (Goleta) and Barnes & Noble (Ventura). The book proceeds are being donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It is available on the web at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. In March she taught a weekend intensive at The Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference called From Notebook to Memoir. In April, she taught a weekend course at UCLA Extension Writers Studio, called, “The Writer’s Notebook.˜ In honor of National Poetry Month, she gave a reading at The Artist Union Center, Ventura, CA. Her second book of poetry, Dear Anais: My Life in Poems for You is due out in August (Plain View Press).

Dawn Shamp’s (Spring 2005) debut novel, On Account of Conspicuous Women (St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne Books), was released on April 29. For more information, please visit her Web site at www.dawnshamp.com.

Heather Shaw (Spring 2004) has enrolled in “A Woman’s Voice,” a songwriting class taught by singer-songwriter Robin Lane, formerly of Robin Lane and the Chartbusters. (top)

Julia Schuster (Spring 2007) received a grant from the National Writing Project to participate in the West Tennessee Writing Project Summer Institute at the University of Tennessee at Martin this June. Upon completion, Julia will be certified as a State of Tennessee Teacher Consultant. She has also contracted with a major veterinary pharmacutical company to write twelve articles about pets and pet health that are to be published in industry publications nationwide. To keep life exciting, she still teaches junior high religion and creative writing at a private Catholic school in Memphis.

Pam Sexton (Fall 2003) recently read poetry at Poor Richard’s First Friday event in Frankfort. She was honored to bring greetings to a large crowd gathered for the 15th anniversary celebration of the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, where she chairs the board of directors. Pam also delivered one of the keynote speeches at the Lexington Unity Day Celebration in honor of Martin Luther King’s birth. Her long-time writing group, KaBoom, has received a grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women to publish an anthology of the group’s work. Susan Brown (Fall 2003) is also a member of KaBoom. Pam continues work on several manuscripts: a novel as well as poetry and short story collections. (top)

Jane Stuppin (May 2004) has been reading her poetry on radio and at community events. Her poetry has been included in anthologies. She was recently invited to create a scenario for an Opera Improv Ensemble: one tenor and two sopranos. It was performed in December 2007. She will be doing more scenarios for the ensemble. She continues to write short stories and has received honorable mention (getting closer to first prize).

Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen (May 2003) spent a week as an artist in residence at the International Community School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she did presentations and workshops for grades K-12. Her novel The Compound has been nominated for the 2009 Best Books For Young Adults (BBYA) list. The Compound has also been nominated for the ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers list.

Kathleen Thompson (Fall 2003) spent a March morning with two other writers judging the student poetry competition for the Birmingham Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters. She was also the judge for the fiction contest of the Wetumpka High School Literary Club. She was the storyteller for two classes (four-year-olds and three-year-olds) on Literacy Day, April 15, at Highlands United Methodist Church Child Development Center. (top)

Frank X Walker (Spring 2003) is settling into his second semester as Lecturer of English and Writer in Residence at Northern Kentucky University. He edited America! What’s My Name: The ‘Other’ Poets Unfurl the Flag, a new anthology of multi-ethnic poets released in the fall. This spring, a sequel to his award-winning Buffalo Dance, When Winter Come: The Ascension of York was released. He is the editor of the new journal PLUCK! the Journal of Affrilachian Arts and Culture. In addition to recently having new poems accepted by Black Nature: A Poetry Anthology, Ninth Letter, The Journal of Kentucky Studies, Ecotone, Black Renaissance Noire, Artist in Revolution and Appalachian Heritage, he has been busy presenting at conferences (Phi Beta Sigma National Conclave, Governor’s 3rd Annual Empowerment Conference, National Council of Teachers of English, Kentucky Teachers of English and Language Arts, Two Year College English Association and giving readings at Luther Luckett Correctional Complex, The Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls, Montana; Joseph Beth’s Booksellers, Art Institute of Chicago, Owensboro Community and Technical College, Thomas More College, Maysville Community College, University of Cincinnati, Royal Springs Middle School, University of Toledo, Bradley University, University of Idaho, Tennessee State University, Lapwai High School, NKU, Spalding University, University of Kentucky, Ferrum College, Macon State College, Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft, United States Department of Interior, Byck Elementary, and others.

Amy Watkins (Copeland) (Spring 2006) has poems in forthcoming issues of Appalachee Review, Salt Flats Annual, 3LIGHTS Gallery and Plain Spoke. (top)

Julia Watts’s novel The Kind of Girl I Am has been named a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in the women’s fiction category.

Terri Whitehouse’s (Spring 2007) poem “Side Effects” appears in the 2008 issue of Open 24 Hours. (top)

Tina Wilson-Pleiness (Fall 2003), who moved to Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, in October 2007, is currently working as a freelance correspondent for the Mount Horeb Mail newspaper.  Her regular assignments are the monthly town board and Planning Commission meetings Cross Plains, Wisconsin. She is also currently working on several feature articles including one tentatively titled “A Garden Close at Hand: Turning Your Patio, Deck or Balcony into a Private Retreat” for the spring Home and Garden supplement, to be published in late April.

Aimee Zaring (Spring 2005) read with Erin Keane and Lauren Titus at the Third Tuesday Reading Series in Owensboro, Kentucky, on March 18. Her book review of Janna McMahan’s novel Calling Home appeared in The Courier-Journal on April 5 and can be viewed on her website at www.aimeezaring.com.

Books/Scripts in Common for Spring 2008
All students and faculty read the Book in Common, Pico Iyer’s Sun After Dark: Flights Into the Foreign, in preparation for a book discussion led by Sena Jeter Naslund on the first night of residency. (Bring the book to this session.)

Faculty Books/Scripts in Common
Students read the Faculty Book/Script in Common in the area of concentration they are to study in the Spring 2008 semester in preparation for a discussion with authors at the Spring 2008 residency. (Bring the book to the residency session.)

During the fall semester, students also write a 2-4 page short critical essay on the Faculty Book in Common. In one of their packets, students submit the essay to their mentors as one of the 8-10 critical essays required during ENG610 and ENG620. ENG 630 and ENG640 should add this requirement to their semester plan and send it to the mentor during the semester. All MFA students add the book/script to their cumulative bibliographies. (top)

Fiction: Kirby Gann’s Our Napoleon in Rags
Poetry: Maureen Morehead’s A Sense of Time Left (order from Spalding Bookstore by calling 800-896-8941, ext. 2284)
Creative Nonfiction: Robert Finch’s The Iambics of Newfoundland: Notes from an Unknown Shore
Writing for Children: Joyce McDonald’s Shades of Simon Gray
Playwriting: Charlie Schulman’s The Kitchen (posted on BB)
Screenwriting: Sam Zalutsky’s You Belong to Me (posted on BB)

Students should check Blackboard for a complete list of pre-reading assignments. (top)

Summer 2008 Pre-Reading List for London/Bath Residency
The following is a list of texts that Summer 2008 students should read before coming to the London/Bath residency in June. Students bring the appropriate texts with them to residency.

Summer 2008 Residency Book in Common
All students read this play before residency in preparation for the plenary discussion, regardless of area of concentration: Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. NY: Dover Thrift Edition, 1995 (ISBN: 0-486-28492). Also, before attending residency, all Summer 2008 students should view The Merchant of Venice, directed by Michael Radford, with Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons (2004). Summer students and faculty will attend a performance of The Merchant of Venice at Stratford upon Avon during the residency. (top)

Summer 2008 Area Books in Common

Fiction Book in Common
All fiction students must read this novel before residency in preparation for discussion: Lawrence, D. H. Sons and Lovers.  Modern Library Classics, 1999 (ISBN: 0375753737).

Poetry Book in Common
All poetry students must read this anthology before residency in preparation for discussion: Astley, Neil, ed. Staying Alive. UK: Bloodaxe Books, 2003 (ISBN-13: 1-85224-588-3).

Creative Nonfiction Book in Common
All CNF students read this book of essays before residency in preparation for discussion: Hawkes, Jacquetta. A Land. Beacon Press, 1991 (ISBN-10: 0807085111). (top)

Writing for Children Book in Common
All writing for children students read this children’s book before residency in preparation for discussion: Dahl, Roald. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Puffin, 2007 (ISBN-10: 0142410314).

Play, Screenplay, and Film in Common
All playwriting and screenwriting students read these scripts and view this film before residency in preparation for discussion: Shaffer, Peter. Amadeus. Harper Perennial, 2001 (ISBN-10: 0060935499). With new introduction by Peter Shaffer. The screenplay for Amadeus is posted on Blackboard and can be downloaded. Also, before coming to Summer 2008 residency, playwriting and screenwriting students must also view the film Amadeus, directed by Milos Forman (1984).

Other pre-reading assignments may be forthcoming for lecture preparations. Please check often for these notices in Blackboard. (top)

Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) for Spring 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.