Vol. 5 No. 1
November 2003
Book in Common for May 2004 Residency
The Residency Takes Up A New Residence
Change in Composition of Small Group Discussions
Registration Begins for MFA Alumni Trip
Life of a Writer
Students
Faculty
Alumni
Previous Newsletters
Book
in Common for May 2004 Residency
The MFA Program Book in Common for the May 2004 residency is Naomi Shihab
Nye’s new and selected poetry collection 19 Varieties of Gazelle:
Poems of the Middle East (Greenwillow Press), which was nominated
for a National Book Award. Nye, who grew up in St. Louis and Jerusalem,
now lives in San Antonio, Texas, and has written or edited more than
twenty volumes. Her books include the collections of poems Red Suitcase,
and Fuel; a collection of essays Never in a Hurry; a novel
for young readers Habibi; and a picture book Lullaby Raft.
Nye has been a Lannan Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Wittner Bynner Fellow (Library of Congress) and has received, among other honors, a Lavan Award from the Academy of American Poets, four Pushcart Prizes, and numerous awards and citations for her children’s literature including two Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards. She is a regular columnist for Organica, and her work has been presented on National Public Radio on such shows as A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer’s Almanac. She has been featured on two PBS poetry specials: “The Language of Life with Bill Moyers” and “The United States of Poetry.”
As always with the MFA Book in Common, all students and faculty are asked to read 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East before arriving at Spalding in May and to bring a copy of the book to the first Friday night of the residency for the opening plenary discussion.(top)
The Residency Takes Up a New Residence
Beginning with the May 2004 residency, the MFA Program offers accommodations at the Camberley Brown Hotel for students and faculty. The Brown Hotel is a four-star, four-diamond hotel and is about 2 blocks from campus on Fourth Street. The Program chose to switch to the Brown Hotel because of its proximity to the Spalding campus.
The cost of a single room at the room for the nine nights of the residency is $650, an increase of only $20. The cost of a double room is $350. The hotel offers free wireless internet service. Parking at the hotel is available for $5 per day. The website for the hotel is www.thebrownhotel.com.
Students also have the option of staying at the Spalding dormitory or making their own housing arrangements. (top)
2004
AWP Conference: Register Now
As a member of AWP, the MFA Program can offer free registration to fifteen
additional MFA students planning to attend the Associated Writing Program’s
2004 Annual Conference & Bookfair (March 24-27, 2004) in Chicago.
Students may register for free by contacting Karen Mann at mfa@spalding.edu.
Faculty may register online at http://awpwriter.org
now to take advantage of low early-bird rates and will be reimbursed
for the registration fee. All Spalding MFA students and faculty are
AWP members.
The 2004 AWP conference includes a record-setting number of event proposals
with a diverse and exciting slate of panels, roundtables, workshops,
caucuses, and readings. Spalding students and faculty are encouraged
to attend and to wear their MFA shirts. Sena Jeter Naslund reads on
Thursday, March 25 at 4:30 p.m.
The 2004 conference will be held at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago. Rooms are $129 for singles and doubles. To receive this special rate, mention the AWP conference. All reservations must be guaranteed with a refundable one night deposit (applicable towards your hotel bill) and a major credit card. To make reservations, please contact the Palmer House directly at (312) 726-7500. Because rooms are limited, reservations should be made early. (top)
Change
in Composition of Small Discussion Groups
All students continue to be required to conduct a small group discussion
during their fourth residency. To prepare for this discussion, third
semester students choose a short but complete work: a short story (not
a chapter from a novel), a short essay, three to five poems, a single
picture book or a complete magazine story/article for young readers.
The group leader informs himself or herself about the author of the selected piece, where it fits into the writing career of the author, how it relates to other pieces of similar subject/style/structure. The group leader xeroxes and mails copies of the short piece to the members of the group.
Formerly the discussion consisted of members of a student’s mentor group, but that practice has been changed: the Administrative Director notifies each group leader of the names of the three students assigned by the office to a particular group at midsemester. The group leader mails the material to be discussed at the residency to the members of the group at the time of the fourth packet mailing. The members of the small group discussion are in their second or third residency; they are not assigned to more than two groups.
The small group discussion is scheduled for a particular time and place in the residency. The discussion consists only of students, who are asked to file a report for the leader about the success of the discussion. (top)
Students are finding that all the hard work that goes into writing an excellent Extended Critical Essay (ECE) during the third semester of the MFA program can not only fulfill a program requirement but can also have a life beyond the program.
Essays can be submitted for publication in such venues as The Writer’s Chronicle of the Associated Writing Programs and can be submitted to writers’ conferences for presentation. Four MFA students—Anne Marie Fowler, Erin Keane, Kaylene Johnson, and Brenda Jones—report of their success in our column “Life of a Writer” in this issue of the newslettter.
Similar use can be made of the lectures required of graduating students during their fifth residency. The analysis and research that goes into the small group discussion (conducted during a student’s fourth residency) might also be the nucleus for a critical publication or presentation.
Whenever students or faculty publish or present their work, it helps the Spalding MFA program to become better known if it is mentioned in the bio-blurb. (top)
Graduate assistantships are open to second, third, and fourth semester students and result in tuition remission at the rate of $10 per hour of work. For the May 2004 semester, the Program is offering assistantships for Student Newsletter Editor, Student Editor to The Louisville Review, and Publications Assistant. Assistantships that are available to students living within driving distance of Spalding are MFA Office Assistant(s) and Writing Center Assistant. Descriptions of the assistantships, the amount of the assistantships, and how to apply for the assistantships are on the MFA forms webpage. (top)
Spalding’s Associated Writing Program membership offers many benefits to our students including enrollment in AWP’s Career Services. For a fee, AWP will collect and maintain a permanent dossier of letters of recommendation and transcripts, and send copies of student files to job search committees at the student’s request. AWP also offers an online job search and resources on preparation of the curriculum vitae or resume. For these and other career services, visit AWP’s web site. (top)
Students who wish to have their published books in the Spalding Bookstore during the next residency in May should contact Terri at (800) 896-8941, x2285 or (502) 585-9911, x2285 or email: 0685txt@fheg.follett.com for ordering information.
Thanks!
Again, the Directors and Staff of the Spalding MFA in Writing Program wish to express their sincere gratitude to the graduating class of October 2003 for the memory book and the generous donation to our MFA Scholarship Fund. We all appreciate both gifts and are very grateful to our Charter Class. Thank you!
Online Alumni Hangout
To make it easy for our alumni to stay in touch with each other, we have set up a chat room and discussion board, collectively and informally known as the “Alumni Hangout.” The chat room provides opportunities for live discussions (analogous to telephone conference calls), while the discussion board is a venue for ongoing discussions (analogous to community bulletin boards) of a variety of topics, such as book groups or submission opportunities. Alumni can access the Hangout through the Spalding Library web page; e-mail instructions about accessing and using the Hangout will be sent to alumni shortly.
Post Graduate Residents
Students who have graduated from the Program may apply for a position as a Post-Graduate Resident. Post-Graduate Residents attend the residency; prepare for and assist in a Workshop by participating in the discussion; assist in the MFA Office, as needed; and may do other tasks such as taping lectures or hosting residency guests or prospective students. Such positions are usually noted on vitaes.
Post-Graduate Residents receive $50 in compensation and are included in residency meals and events. Meals or events not included as part of the group experience are the Post-Graduate Resident’s responsibility. Post-Graduate Residents are provided a single room at the Spalding dormitory or $150 toward incurred housing costs (a receipt must be provided for reimbursement). Post-Graduate Residents may request up to $300 in transportation costs toward coach airfare or reimbursement at $.36 a mile for a round trip between home and Spalding.
To apply, graduates send a letter to the Associate Program Director stating the desire to be a Post-Graduate Resident and the area of concentration. The letter may be mailed or emailed. The deadline is July 1 for the fall semesters or February 1 for the spring semester. Faculty members in the area of concentration rank the applicants and state whether they are willing to have the applicant assist in their Workshop. Up to eight Post-Graduate Residents are chosen per residency. Post-graduate Residents are offered the position six weeks before the residency. (top)
Registration Begins for MFA Alumni Trip
A Literary Tour of Ireland 2004: July 8-July 17
Those wishing to join the Literary Tour of Ireland need to make a deposit to reserve your place on the first Spalding MFA Alumni Trip to Ireland, July 8 through July 17, 2004. The Spalding group visits Dublin and then tours the heart of Ireland, visiting sites of literary importance, including the Abbey Theatre, the Dublin’s Writers Museum, and Yeats’s grave at Drumcliffe. The group also tours areas associated with modern and contemporary writers including James Joyce, Nuala O’Faolain, and Roddy Doyle.
The nine-day tour for Spalding alumni and guests features round-trip airfare, first class hotel accommodations, a full Irish breakfast daily, five dinners, luxury air-conditioned motorcoach travel arrangements, a tour manager and driver, local guides in Dublin and Cork, admissions to various museums and monuments, porterage of luggage, sightseeing and touring, hotel taxes and service charges, and all gratuities to driver, guide and hotel bell staff.
The price per person (based on double occupancy—single supplement $300) is $2999, rate of exchange figured on the Eurodollar. A deposit of $250 is required upon registration with the final payment due May 1, 2004. Check payments are preferred. Add 4% for Visa, MC, or American Express payments.
All deposits should be made to Clarissa Henshaw, CTC, Group Manager, International Tours & Cruise, 9432 Shelbyville Road, Louisville, KY 40222. Email questions to Clarissa Henshaw at clarissa@ itcruises.com or call her at (866) 549-TOUR.
Other questions can be directed to Kathleen Driskell, Associate Program Director, MFA in Writing Program, Spalding University, 851 S. Fourth Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40203 or (502) 585-9911 ext. 2231 or kdriskell@spalding.edu. (top)
Troy D. Ehlers was named a finalist in the Wilkes University James Jones First Novel Fellowship. The award was established to honor the late James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity and The Thin Red Line.
Anne Marie Fowler’s poetry is featured in Coloring Book: an Eclectic Anthology of Fiction and Poetry by Multicultural Writers (Rattlecat Press). She will present her Extended Critical Essay titled “Authority and Identity in the Poetry of Arab Women” at With Pen in Hand: Writing, Literature, and Culture, an English graduate student conference to be held March 19-20, 2004 at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Sandra Falconer has three poems forthcoming in the December 2003 issue of The Oncologist, an Ohio journal on cancer and health care issues.
Marci Johnson’s poem “Bowl of Evil” appears in the current issue of Full-Unit Hookup, and her poem “Dinner Time” will appear in the winter issue of After Hours.
Erin Keane’s poem “American Birthright” appears in the current issue of Full-Unit Hookup, and two poems are forthcoming in Oyez Review. She will present her extended critical essay “The Shine on the Light Night Dial: Rock and Roll’s Presence in Contemporary Poetry” at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas, in April 2004.
Mary O’Malley’s poem “Ode to Elizabeth Glasser” will be performed in the Cleveland Poets and Writers League program “Poets Respond to AIDS” on November 30 in Cleveland.
Richard Newman’s poetry is featured in the anthology Vespers: Contemporary American Poems on Religion and Spirituality (University of Iowa Press). An essay of his appeared recently in In the Middle of the Middle West: Literary Nonfiction from the Heartland (Indiana University Press).
Mark Rudolph’s short story “Words of Love, Soft and Tender” will be reprinted in The Best of Strange Horizons, an anthology published by Lethe Press.
Pam Steele read at the Light on the Water celebration and exhibition at Oregon State University on November 7. Her poem “River Woman” was included in a chapbook published by the Willamette Valley PhotoArts Guild. The chapbook includes poems by Oregon poets and photos of the Willamette Watershed, and submission was by invitation.
K. Nicole Wilson read at SoUPFest, a festival of poetry and music presented by the Society of Underground Poets, in Lexington, Kentucky on November 1.(top)
Susan Campbell Bartoletti served as panel chair for the 2003 National Book Awards, Young People’s Literature category. The award ceremony took place on November 19, 2003 at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. Author, essayist, actor, and comedian Steve Martin will preside as Master of Ceremonies.
Julie Brickman has published three reviews in the Books supplement of the San Diego Union-Tribune in recent months. A lead review of Margaret Atwood's Booker-award nominated novel, Oryx and Crake, titled “A Taste of Human Stew” appeared on May 11. On September 14, a review titled “‘Peace’ Train of Thought” probed aspects of pacifism explored in Maxine Hong Kingston’s hybrid of fiction and creative nonfiction, The Fifth Book of Peace. And on November 23rd, her review of Ada Blackjack, Jennifer Niven’s account of the survival of a 23-year-old Inuit woman alone for six months in the uninhabited high Arctic is scheduled to appear.
Ellie Bryant has a picture book, Two Tracks in the Snow, under contract with Jason and Nordic publishers, due out in 2004. Her essay, “Parade Rest,” has been accepted for an anthology on fathers and daughters, and her short story, “Crawdads,” will appear in the upcoming special Vermont authors edition of Hunger Mountain literary magazine. She will be reading and leading a writing workshop for educators at a conference in Silver Bay, New York, in November.
Richard Cecil’s fourth collection of poems, Twenty First Century Blues, will be published by Southern Illinois press next fall.
Debra Kang Dean’s poem “Beyond MacDowell Lake” and personal essay “Ten-Thousand Leaves” appeared in the 25th Anniversary Issue of Tar River Poetry. A publication party for her new book, Precipitates, was held on November 16 at the Concord Free Public Library in Concord, Massachusetts.
Kathleen Driskell has published two reviews recently in The Courier-Journal. In September, her review of Maureen Morehead’s poetry collection, A Sense of Time Left, appeared and in November, she reviewed Elaine Neil Orr's memoir, Gods of Noonday: A White Girl’s African Life. Her poem “Forgive” is forthcoming in The Connecticut Review.
On November 12, Robert Finch appeared as a presenter at the Boston Public Library’s “National Book Award of 1903” event. This annual fundraiser staged by the Associates of the Boston Public Library asks three previous recipients of the Associates’ “Literary Lights of New England” award to argue for a book published 100 years ago to retroactively receive the National Book Award. Bob was asked to make a case for Jack London’s The Call of the Wild. Other contenders were W.E.B. DuBois’ The Souls of Black Folks and Kate Douglas Wiggins’ Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Sporting a large sheepskin hat and wide red suspenders, Bob argued strenuously for London’s tale of atavistic instincts, and came in a close second, but in the end the nod, not surprisingly, went to DuBois’ seminal study of Black culture. Asked how he felt about the outcome, Bob replied, “It’s a dog’s life.”
Roy Hoffman’s novel, Chicken Dreaming Corn, will be published by University of Georgia Press in September, ‘04. For his newspaper, the Mobile Register, he has recently written about a visit to Mobile by civil rights leader Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a book-signing in Birmingham by former POW Jessica Lynch, and the next door neighbors friendship, in Selma, of storyteller Kathryn Tucker Windham and folk artist Charlie Lucas, known as “Tin Man.”
Karen Mann has been awarded a Kentucky Foundation for Women grant.
Elaine Orr’s essay, “Green Like the Green Mamba,” is forthcoming in the inagural (January) issue of The Village Rambler.
The University of Alabama Press has issued the paperback edition of The Remembered Gate: Memoirs by Alabama Writers, edited by Jay Lamar and Jeanie Thompson. The collection contains pieces by Sena Jeter Naslund and Charles Gaines, as well as 17 other Alabama writers including Andrew Hudgins, Albert Murray, and Nanci Kincaid.
Neela Vaswani’s short story “Sita and Ms. Durber” was published in the Fall 2003 issue of Shenandoah. Her short story collection, Where the Long Grass Bends, published by Sarabande Press, should be available on January 1, 2004.
Crystal Wilkinson has recently been selected for a Kentucky Foundation for Women grant to complete her third book of fiction and also received a Community Outreach Award from the Mary Anderson Center artist colony in Mount St. Francis, Indiana. She will serve as writer-in-residence for Cumberland College, Lindsey Wilson College, and Berea College in the spring of 2004.(top)
Susan Brown, Deborah Reed, Pam Sexton, and Crystal Wilkinson participated in a reading at the Carnegie Center in Lexington, given by local graduates of the MFA program who have been associated with the Carnegie Center in recent years.
Silas House’s (‘03) story “Total Immersion,” which appeared in the Summer issue of Night Train magazine, has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. The Beloit Fiction Journal will publish House's story “1976” in their Spring issue. House’s novel, A Parchment of Leaves, has just gone into its third paperback printing since being released in October 2003.
Kaylene Johnson's (‘03) ECE was accepted for publication in the Associated Writing Program publication The Writer's Chronicle. “Window to the House: Peering at Privacy in Creative Nonfiction” examines the personal implications of writing about people we know, the legal ramifications, and the difficult choices writers must make.
Brenda Jones (‘03) will present her extended critical essay on Jimmy Santiago Baca at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Annual Conference in San Antonio in April 2004.
Diana Raab (‘03) attended the Miami Book Fair International November 8-9, and heard John Dufresne, Tracy Kidder, Margo Howard (Ann Landers' daughter), Stella Suberman, Pete Dexter, Robert Morgan and Edmund White. She also attended a presentation by Sena Jeter Naslund, who spoke about the literary process in writing Four Spirits and the history which is close to her heart. Sena will be reading at Rollins College in Orlando in February.
Kathleen Thompson (‘03) recently presented a poetry/fiction
reading called “Milking the Moon Instead of Milking Cows”
to both the United Methodist Women of Highlands United Methodist Church
and to the National Society of Arts and Letters, Birmingham Chapter.
Our heartfelt condolences to Mary O’Malley on the loss of
her sister, Jeanne O’Malley Teeter, on September 15, 2003. (top)
Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) Members for October 2003 Semester
- Robin Lippincott, Fiction
- Jeanie Thompson, Poetry
- Dianne Aprile, Creative Nonfiction
- Luke Wallin, Writing for Children
- Sam Zalutsky, Screenwriting
Faculty Books in Common for May 2004
- Carolyn Crimi, writing for children, Don’t Need Friends
- Robin Lippincott, fiction, Our Arcadia
- Elaine Orr, creative nonfiction, Gods of Noonday: A White Girl’s African Life
- Greg Pape, poetry, Storm Patterns
- Charles Gaines, screenplay, Indeh-the Dead
Students order and read the book in their area of concentration before coming to the May ‘04 residency. The screenplay is available from the MFA office.
MFA Student Email: All students need to create a Spalding student email account so that we may communicate with you throughout the semester. To create the email account, go to www.spalding.edu. Click on Current Students, then Spalding Student Email. Click on “setup your email account” and follow the directions. User ID on Spalding accounts should follow the form of first initial, last name, i.e. jsmith@student.spalding.edu. For the student number, use your SS#. After login, students may select “Settings,” and have their Spalding email forwarded to a preferred email address by entering their preferred email address after the line which says “Forward Address.” If these steps are not working, email webguys@spalding.edu
MFA Scholarship Fund: Donations to the MFA in Writing Scholarship Fund may be made “in honor of” or “in memory of” a friend or loved one or organization. To make a donation, contact Theresa Raidy in the Advancement Office. Email: traidy@spalding.edu. Phone: (800) 896-8941, ext. 2601 or (502) 585-9911, ext. 2601.
Financial Aid: For help with financial aid questions, call Niki Leckrone at (800) 896-8941 ext. 2359 or (502) 585-9911, ext. 2359. You may enter or update your FAFSA information online at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
Online information: MFA in Writing forms, deadlines, and other student and faculty information are available online. The MFA Office is happy to mail forms or newsletter, if requested. Email mfa@spalding.edu.