Vol. 14 No. 3
November 2008

New Faculty

Art Exhibition by Patricia Gaines

Screenwriting Opp

Celebration: Recently Published Books

Fall 2008 Guest Lecturers

Residency Schedule Changes

Preparation for Residency

Graduation Fall 2008

Student Reading Sign Ups

Thesis Discussions

ECE Review

Info for Graduating Students

Writing Evaluations and Reports

MLA Tutorial for New Students

Residency Tea and Coffee

Because You Asked

Life of a Writer

Students

Faculty and Staff

Alumni

Faculty Advisory Committee for Fall 2008

Pre-reading for Spring 2009

Pre-reading for Summer 2009

Personals

Classifieds

Reminders and Notes

Spalding Home

MFA Home

Previous Newsletters

Welcome New Faculty Member Eleanor Lincoln Morse
Eleanor Lincoln Morse joins the MFA fiction faculty at the Fall 2008 residency. Eleanor has published two novels: Chopin’s Garden (Fox Print Books, 2006) and An Unexpected Forest (Down East Books, 2007), which won the 2008 Independent Book Publisher’s Award (IPPY) for best regional fiction (Northeast region) and the 2008 Maine Literary Award from the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance for best published fiction. A nonfiction book, Over the Mountains: Two Tibetan Girls Journey Toward Hope (Fox Print Books, 2008) was written in collaboration with Namdol Kalsang Methok and Dawa Dolma about their flight from Tibet into Nepal and India as children. Eleanor has received grants from the Maine Humanities Council to establish writing programs in three Maine prisons. She has also taught at the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, in the University of Maine system, for Portland Adult and Community Education, and at Maine Medical Center. She received a Master of Arts in Teaching from Yale University and a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Vermont College. She lives on an island off the coast of Portland, Maine with poet and fiction writer John Moncure Wetterau. (top)

Exhibit Inspired by Argentinian Writer Jorge Luis Borges
As part of the MFA’s ongoing Interrelatedness-of-the-Arts discussion, Spalding’s Huff Gallery hosts an exhibition by artist Patricia Gaines, November 16-23. The central piece in the exhibition is a work in progress, the multimedia book Strange Beauty & Blind Genius, an assemblage of invented images and writing that explores the friendship between Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges and Susana Bombal.

Before the residency, students read five stories by Borges (“The Garden of Forking Paths,” The Montebank,” “The South,” “The Wait,” and “The Encounter”—all posted on Blackboard). On Sunday, Borges scholar Andrés Lema-Hincapié gives a plenary lecture “Seven Key Symbols to Enjoy Getting Lost in Borges’s Labyrinths.” On Tuesday from 4:30-6:30 p.m. MFAers are invited to a reception, which takes place in Huff Gallery, in honor of Patricia. Thursday, Patricia gives a visual and verbal exploration of Strange Beauty & Blind Genius and the artistic relationship between Borges and Bombal. (top)

The relationship between Borges and Bombal inspired Patricia’s unfolding book. Susana Bombal, a writer and painter, was a muse to Borges. As Borges was blind, Susana’s vivid descriptions informed his work. Bombal’s great-nephew, Camillo Aldao, provided Patricia copies of unpublished letters between Bombal and Borges, which allowed her a view into this mythic friendship and helped inspire her creation.

Borges was fascinated with labyrinths. Of them, he said, “To no one did it occur that book and labyrinth were one and the same.” And the Borges/Bombal friendship has literally spawned the creation of a fascinating labyrinth. Randoll Coates, a well-known designer of labyrinths, is developing the Borges Memorial Labyrinth, which has been planted on Susana Bombal’s ancestral land in Argentina and will open in 2010.

Students should plan to view the exhibition before Patricia’s talk on Thursday, November 20. The Huff Gallery is located on the lower level of the Spalding Library. The gallery is free and open to the public. The hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Friday and Saturday; 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday; and 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday through Thursday. In addition to the book, the exhibit includes other works of Patricia’s, which are assemblages in boxes, some made of Argentine silver. (top)

Spalding MFA Introduces New Film Production Seminar
Augmenting the established curriculum for screenwriters and playwrights, Visiting Lecturer Ron Schildknecht introduces a three-session series of meetings during the Fall 2008 residency titled Film Production Seminar. The seminar offers students an opportunity to move a short scene from one of their own scripts from the page to the screen. Seven screenwriting and playwriting students answered the call for volunteers.

In the first session, Ron introduces the stages of the process and the various production roles, which will be assumed by participants. The second session is used for shooting the films, and the third session for editing the two-minute clips. Space in the mansion has been reserved as the set for filming and for class meetings.

Screenwriting faculty have greeted with enthusiasm this new opportunity for Spalding students who may not yet have had such hands-on experience with filmmaking. Program Director Sena Jeter Naslund says, “While we are not a film school, we know our students’ scriptwriting education will be enriched by this opportunity for hands-on film production. We hope to work with filming longer scripts in the future.” (top)

Fall 2008: Celebration of Recently Published Books
At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, November 16, the MFA Program presents the Celebration of Recently Published Books at the Brown Hotel, featuring four MFA faculty members. Brad Riddell shows an excerpt from the movie Slap Shot: The Junior League; Louella Bryant reads from her creative nonfiction book While in Darkness There Is Light; Silas House reads from his multigenre book The Hurting Part; and Eric Schmiedl reads from his adapted play Plainsong.

Guest Lecturers for Fall 2008 Residency
In addition to Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto, the Fall 2008 Book in Common, we welcome the following guest presenters who will speak at the residency. (top)

Eric Anderson graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1995, earning a bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in imaginative writing. He then co-founded a film production company, Giant Dolphin Pictures, in Lexington, Kentucky, and produced a series of short films and a feature before attending the Master of Fine Arts program in animation at the School of Cinema-TV at the University of Southern California. His student film Horses on Mars played at film festivals worldwide including Sundance and South by Southwest and won several prestigious awards. The success of the short eventually led to a relationship with Pixar as well as landing a deal at Columbia Pictures for the animated feature Giants! based on his own original story. He is currently producing three more animated shorts while also producing animation for future NASA and JPL lunar missions through an aerospace company in Pasadena.

Tom B. Byers is Professor of English and Director of the Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society at the University of Louisville, where he has won both the University-wide Distinguished Teaching Award and the Alumni Association’s Red Apple Award. He has lectured and published on film in the U.S., Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Poland, Spain, the Czech Republic, and Brazil. (top)

Andrés Lema-Hincapié, Assistant Professor of Contemporary Spanish-American Literatures and Cultures at The University of Colorado Denver, holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Ottawa and one in Hispanic Literatures from Cornell University. In addition to articles on modern thinkers such as Kant and Berkeley, he has published extensively on Jorge Luis Borges. Andrés is the author of Kant y la Biblia: Principios kantianos de exégesis bíblica (2006) and a forthcoming volume on Borges and philosophy. In July, SUNY University Press published a book Andrés co-edited with Joan Ramon Resina: Burning Darkness: A Half Century of Spanish Cinema. He founded in 2003 and is the director of Amigos Del Sur—Institute for Cultures, Languages, and International Service (Argentina, Brasil, Colombia). Amigos Del Sur is a six-week program offering immersion in the Spanish language amid the culture, sights, flavors, and unparalleled ambience of Argentina. His fields of research and teaching are contemporary fiction, philosophy, essays, and queer cinema from Spanish America. Currently, he is starting three new projects at UC Denver: a small theater company for puppets, a weekly radio show, and a center for translations in the humanities.

Patricia Ellisor Gaines was born in Selma, Alabama. She is a painter, sculptor, and writer who has published two books (The Fabric Decoration Book and Soft, both from William Morrow). She received an MFA from The University of Georgia. Her paintings and sculpture have been exhibited in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles, as well as in New Zealand, Argentina, and Canada. Patricia has been a MacDowell Colony Fellow and received an award from the Mayor of Los Angeles for her poster design as part of the city’s Cross-Cultural Project. Patricia has taught art and creativity workshops and has led art safaris to South America. (top)

Nancy Gall-Clayton has been a visiting artist at Ohio State University, a Tennessee Williams Scholar at Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and a lecturer at Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program. She has won the Streisand Festival of New Plays (General Orders No. 11) and the Eileen Heckart Drama for Seniors Competition (Felicity’s Family Tree) and has been a finalist three times for the Heideman Award at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Her two newest full-length plays received readings last month at the Cincinnati New Light Festival (Bernice Sizemore’s 70th Birthday) and at Beyond the Borscht Belt: A Jewish Theatre Festival in Columbus (The Snowflake Theory). Just Taking Up Space will be included in an anthology of world premieres at Horse Cave Theatre (Motes Books, 2009), and her short Images of Mr. Lincoln will be produced at Louisville’s Bunbury Theatre in February. She belongs to the International Centre for Women Playwrights and Dramatists Guild as well as the Louisville group The Cherokee Roundtable.

Rand Harmon is the founding Artistic Director of Louisville’s environmental and found-space theatre company Specific Gravity Ensemble. Rand was the original creator of SGE’s signature event Elevator Plays, overseeing the direction, and writing and acting in a few of the short plays for both 2007’s Elevator Plays: Ascent-Descent/Assent-Dissent and this year’s Elevator Plays 2: Beyond the Norm! He directed Specific Gravity’s productions of The Most Beautiful Lullaby You’ve Ever Heard at the 21C MuseumHotel, and Macbeth in an old warehouse in Louisville’s industrial district. Rand is also the director of Blue Apple Players’ Applied Role-play Training Ensemble. Other directing credits include Sweet Bird of Youth, Noises Off, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, No Exit, Antigone, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Zoo Story, and the premiere staged reading of Liz Bussey Fentress’s The Honey Harvest at Kentucky Repertory Theatre. Rand holds an MFA in Directing from the University of Texas at Austin and a BA in Dramatic Arts from Centre College. (top)

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, will be out this April from St. Martin’s Press. His novel, Swann’s Last Song, was published in September. He was a Visiting Professor of Magazine at S. I. School of Public Communi-cations 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.

Barbara Santucci earned an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College. She has been an elementary school teacher for years and currently teaches creative writing to Pre K through eighth-grade students in a private school in Rockford, Illinois. Barbara is the author of three picture books: Loon Summer, Anna’s Corn, and Abby’s Chairs. Her books have been selected for the International Reading Association’s Children’s Choice List and have also won the Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. She has also published short stories and poetry in several children’s magazines and adult anthologies. Barbara has worked as a freelance artist for several years and is currently working on illustrations for one of her own picture books. Students can visit Barbara’s website at www.barbarasantucci.com.(top)

Ron Schildknecht is an independent filmmaker, media arts instructor, and multimedia producer as well as screenwriter. His films include dramatic shorts “Heavens Above” and “The Legend of the Pope Lick Monster” as well as documentaries screened at film festivals and on public television, “My Porcelain Past” and “One Hundred Years a Parish” and other science documentaries. Since 2000 he has been the Supervisor and Senior Instructional Technology Consultant for the Delphi Center of the University of Louisville, where he has also taught screenwriting and video production. He is a two-time recipient of the Kentucky Arts Council Artist Fellowship award and a three-time juror of the Louisville Film and Video Festival. He has served as visiting artist and instructor for the University of Cincinnati, the Governor’s School for the Arts, the Speed Art Museum and dozens of other organizations.

Juergen K. Tossmann has been the Producing Artistic Director of Bunbury Theatre since 1991. His career began as an apprentice at Actors Theatre of Louisville in 1978. He holds a BA in Theatre from Otterbein College and has directed over 100 productions. As a playwright, Juergen has been produced by Derby Dinner Playhouse, Bunbury Theatre, and the Merely Players. His works include Salvage Yard, Salvage Yard Revisited, Garage Sale, Uncle Smiley’s Comin’ Home, Living With Klaus, Assisted Living? and Autocare. (top)

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.

Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge was born in North Carolina, grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland and Boston, spent a college year in Athens, Greece, and another two years teaching first grade at an English-speaking school in Seoul, Korea. She has published stories in Cricket and Highlights for Children and four picture books for Holiday House, one of them (Wicked Jack) the winner of the Irma S. and James H. Black Award. Another picture book (Just Fine the Way They Are) will be published by Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills Press in 2009. Clarion will publish her first biography for older readers, The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton, due out in 2010. Connie lives with her husband in Richmond, Indiana. (top)

Schedule Changes for Fall
After considering suggestions from spring residency evaluations, this fall residency, some student readings take place after evening faculty readings, while others take place during the lunch break. Overall the days begin a bit earlier and end a bit earlier. Workshops begin at 8:55 a.m., giving everyone a chance to get settled before discussion begins at 9 a.m. Previously Workshops began at 9:10 a.m. Thesis Discussions and Small Group Discussions now take place at 8 a.m.

Some student readings and faculty/guest lectures take place during the usual two-hour lunch break, so for some students on certain days the lunch break may be shorter than usual.

Preparation for the Fall Residency
All students attending the Fall 2008 residency read and bring the assigned scripts/texts for residency (Workshop Booklets, scripts/books in common, etc.), and students (except for graduating students) should further prepare by giving serious thought to their Fall 2008 Student Semester Study Plans.
Before residency, students download the “Introducing Yourself to Your New Mentor” form from Blackboard under SEMESTERS/FALL 2008/PREPARING. . . . The form is to be completed at home and brought to the residency. Students also put together a tentative list of titles for their individual reading lists for the upcoming semester. (top)

In addition, returning students bring two copies of their cumulative bibliography for the group and individual conferences. For information about what to bring to the residency, see the MFA Student Handbook, pages 65-66.

Suggested dress for the residency is casual, even for the afternoon outing to a presentation by the Kentucky Opera. Do come prepared for changes in the weather. Dressing in layers is always suggested because the temperature in November can range from the 30s to the 80s, and often the temperature inside and out are at odds. Bring an umbrella and/or raingear.

Fall 2008 Graduation
The Fall 2008 graduation takes place at 6 p.m., Saturday, November 22, in the Gallery, 16th floor, of the Brown Hotel. All MFAers and guests are invited. Graduating students and faculty are to meet by 5:35 p.m. in the Gallery Boardroom on the 16th floor. (top)

Graduating students pick up and pay for their gowns and caps in the Spalding Bookstore early in the week. The MFA Office keeps the hoods until the graduation ceremony. On Wednesday, November 19, graduating students meet with Katy Yocom and Gayle Hanratty in the Gallery for a graduation practice. To better prepare for graduation, the MFA staff suggests that, if possible, everyone dress for graduation (robes and caps) before coming to graduation.

Sign Up for Residency Student Readings
Each student (except graduating students) is encouraged to sign up for a five-minute reading. Because there are limited slots for these lunchtime and evening readings, third- and fourth-semester students are given the opportunity to sign up on the first Friday. Students willing to be moderators also sign up on the reading schedule on Friday. (Moderators introduce students before the reading and time the students during the readings.)
First- and second-semester students may sign up for five-minute student readings at the back of the Lectorium after Friday if slots are still available. Students who wish to read need to bring their material with them to the residency. Students should not read from their current workshop piece. Practicing beforehand ensures that the reading is within the five-minute limit.

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. (top)

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.

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 on Blackboard. (top)

Two Sessions for Graduating Students
Graduating students meet with faculty and staff members during class orientations to discuss life after the MFA. In a second session, graduating students meet with Post-Graduate Residency Assistants to discuss the transition from student to alumnus.

This session, which was suggested by our Spring 2007 graduates and has been well received, might include discussion about how to continue setting writing goals without a packet mailing schedule, how to keep in touch with other MFAers, and how to find support from other writers. (top)

Evaluations and Reports: Policies and Time to Write
MFA students submit four Lecture Reports through the MFA Evaluations and Reports course on Blackboard during each residency. The Program’s policy is that three of these reports must discuss faculty or guest lectures in the student’s area of concentration. The fourth lecture report may, if students wish, discuss a plenary session. In addition, students complete one report on a faculty reading. (top)

On the Residency Curriculum and Events Evaluation, also submitted through Blackboard, students are asked to rate faculty and guest lectures on the following scale: 4=superior, 3=good, 2=fair, 1=poor, 0=not acceptable. Students also record attendance at graduation readings and lectures. Students may use blank spaces in the residency schedule for notes.
All but rising ENG630 and graduating students complete an Editorial Reading Report, based on reading for The Louisville Review. This paper form is turned in at the end of the week.

In response to student requests for more time to complete evaluations and reports, the fall residency schedule provides three periods for students to write. The time periods occur Wednesday evening, Friday evening, and during lunch on the last Saturday. (top)

MLA Tutorial on Blackboard
All new students should visit Blackboard to take the MLA Tutorial, which provides guidelines for formatting and writing the short critical essays required in their first and second semesters, ENG610 and ENG620. Other students may find the MLA tutorial helpful as well. The tutorial is located under the New Students button on Blackboard. If students have questions about MLA formatting, they should contact Kathleen Driskell at kdriskell@spalding.edu. (top)

Coffee, Tea, and Residency
For the third year, MFA students and faculty will be able to enjoy Highland Coffee’s gourmet coffee, tea, and chai at no cost during residency.
As usual, the beverages will be located in the Egan Leadership Center (ELC) deli area, a central point chosen for its convenience to all workshops, which are located in the Mansion, Library, and Third Street Building as well as the ELC.

As always, every effort will be made to keep the caffeine flowing; however, because this service is free, the Program cannot guarantee that drinks will always be available in unlimited quantities.

At the Brown Hotel, every guest room now contains its own coffee maker with paper “to-go” cups. Since coffee is now available in guest rooms, the coffee station in the first-floor lobby has been discontinued (top)

Because You Asked
Q: Can I bring a guest to residency meals or curriculum sessions?
A: Graduating students may bring guests, at a cost of $45 per guest, to the Farewell Dinner. Students may also bring guests to residency events designated as “open to the public,” including all readings by students and faculty, as well as designated featured-author presentations.

All other residency meals, including buffets, are closed to the public, as are workshops, lectures, panel discussions, and other curriculum sessions. The Q&A session typically held the morning after a public featured-author presentation is also reserved for MFA students. This policy has been in place since the inception of the MFA Program. (top)

Life of a Writer

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

Students

Larry Brenner was one of the winners of the 77th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition. He placed sixth in the Television/Movie Script category for his science-fiction/vampire script “Blood Chrysalis.” (top)

Kate Buckley was selected by judge Molly Peacock as winner of this year’s James Hearst Poetry Prize for the North American Review. Other recent prizes and awards include: 2008 Oregon State Poetry Association Contest (3rd place), 2008 Green River Writers Contest for poetry (2nd place), 2008 Bellingham Review’s The 49th Parallel Award in Poetry (Runner Up), 2008 Joy Bale Boone Poetry Prize (2nd place and finalist), 2008 Atlanta Review’s International Poetry Competition (finalist). Her poems have been recently published or are forthcoming in North American Review, Spillway, The Heartland Review and The Bellingham Review. Kate’s first book, A Wild Region, was released in April by Moon Tide Press, and a second book, Follow Me Down, has been accepted for publication by Tebot Bach.  A Wild Region has been reviewed in numerous periodicals, the most recent of which is The Adirondack Review (Fall 2008). A Wild Region has also been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and the National Book Award. An interview with Kate by Cecilia Woloch is forthcoming in New Southerner. Kate has given many readings throughout the year in Southern California as well as in her native Kentucky (Carmichael’s Bookstore, The Carnegie Center, Joseph-Beth Booksellers and others). Kate attended the Idyllwild Poetry Festival in July, where she had the pleasure of studying with Marie Howe and attending talks by such poets as Ted Kooser, Marie Howe, Charles Harper Webb, B.H. Fairchild, and Cecilia Woloch. She continues her involvement with the Laguna Poets Workshop as well as Women Poets of Laguna, which she founded earlier this year. Kate conducts numerous workshops in Southern California, including a monthly workshop for the Orange County Writers Group and an ongoing reading and literacy class at the Laguna Beach Boys and Girls Club.

Drema Drudge’s story “Birthday Blues” was recently published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Empty Nesters, released October 7. (top)

Angela Elson has received her first ever rejection letter. She continues to be poor and jobless.

Ann Eskridge announced that she’s a semifinalist in the Moonbeam Awards for her children’s audio book The Sanctuary, which she produced and narrated as well as wrote.

Lee Anne Fahey had a debut reading of her original play The Mute Swan on October 26, at the home of Ms. Judy Reemtsma at the Beresford in New York City. Professional actors read the script. Her play explores a woman’s journey set in the world of the contemporary American regional theatre. Lucy struggles in the midst of personal and professional betrayals to discover her core self within the conflicting familial worlds of motherhood, home, and theatre. Like the legendary mute swan, Lucy discovers her achingly beautiful and authentic voice only as she takes flight. (top)

Foust attended the James River Writers Conference in Richmond, Virginia, on October 10-11. She was pleased to see a pamphlet about the Spalding MFA program had been tucked into her attendee “goody bag.”

Colleen S. Harris has accepted a position on the library faculty at North Carolina State University, where she will be the Assistant Head of Access and Delivery Services as of January. Colleen’s chapbook Carving Your Name was selected as a semifinalist for the Black Lawrence Press Spring 2008 Black River Chapbook Competition. In addition, Colleen’s poem “For My Unborn Son” will appear in the next issue of the Adirondack Review.

Russ Kesler published a review of Brendan Galvin’s collection of poems Ocean Effects in the Fall/Winter issue of Valparaiso Poetry Review. See it at http://www.valpo.edu/vpr/v10n1.html.

Brian Russell has recently published two pieces at Public Republic, a multimedia online journal for literature and art: a work of creative nonfiction, “Meeting Dad,” an excerpt of a memoir in progress, and an appreciation of J.R. Moehringer’s memoir, The Tender Bar. (Both may be found at www.public-republic.net filed under Prose and Critique, respectively). (top)

Cheri Thomas is volunteer-teaching a bi-monthly writing class for beginning adult writers as part of the Oswayo Valley (Pennsylvania) Memorial Library’s community outreach program beginning in November and continuing through May. She is also directing and producing the sequel to a melodrama she wrote last spring for the Oswayo Valley High School senior class titled Hidden Treasure or Where There’s a Will There’s Foul Play, that will be staged as a dessert theatre fundraiser on November 7-8.

Cristina Trapani-Scott received two awards from the Michigan Press Association’s 2008 Better Newspaper Contest in the Class C Weekly Newspaper category. She received a third place for her regular column that appears every other week where for the past two years she’s shared her story of breast cancer survivorship with Tecumseh Herald readers. She also earned a third place for a spot news story she wrote on the sudden closing of an old rural community library. Cristina is to head to the University of West Georgia in Carrolton on November 7 to present part of her extended critical essay at the “Masculinities, Femininities and More” conference. She will be part of panel of speakers discussing the “intersection of gender, sexuality and ethnicity in the United States.” (top)

Katerina Stoykova-Klemer’s poem “Hamster” was published in the Imagist issue of Florida English, and her poem “In the Sweat Lodge” appeared in The Adirondack Review. Katerina’s poem “Chasing” received a special mention in the Writers’ Journal poetry competition. Her translation from English to Bulgarian of Greg Pape’s poem “Blood” was published in Public Republic.

Charles White had two excerpts from his novel-in-progress, The Lambs of Men, accepted for publication in literary journals. The first, “Killer,” appeared in the September edition of Charlotte ViewPoint, a publishing venture partnered with the Novello Festival Press. The second, “Soldier’s Promise,” was accepted by Night Train and should be appearing sometime later this year. (top)

An excerpt from Louella Bryant’s nonfiction book While in Darkness There is Light will appear in the fall issue of Adirondack Review. Her autumn book tour has taken her to ten states and the District of Columbia. She participates in the Kentucky Book Fair in November.

Richard Goodman’s book, The Soul of Creative Writing, will be published in paperback in February. Richard was a leader at the New York Writers Workshop Nonfiction Pitch Conference, which took place October 10-12 in New York City.  

Roy Hoffman’s review of the novel Sweetsmoke, by David Fuller, appeared in the New York Times Sunday Book Review, September 21. The Alabama Center for the Book has created a calendar of suggested books for readers in Alabama for 2009; Roy’s nonfiction collection, Back Home, is one of the recommended books for the month of March, and his novel, Chicken Dreaming Corn, for April. For a complete list: http://www.alabamaliterarymap.org/ayab_adults.cfm (top)

Robin Lippincott is to read in the Four Stories series at the Enormous Room, 569 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts, at 7 p.m., with music starting at 6 p.m., on Monday, November 3. Go to www.fourstories.org for further details. On December 8, he will be reading and speaking about Mr. Dalloway at Penn State. And in February, he will be Writer in Residence at Spalding’s new BFA in Writing Program.

Cathy Medwick’s essay “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Scram” appears in the November issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.

Joyce McDonald, a longtime member of the Rutgers University Council on Children’s Literature, participated in the 37th annual One-on-One Plus Conference on October 18. The conference benefits aspiring writers of children’s literature, bringing them together with editors, agents, and published authors. Among this year’s participants were three of Spalding’s MFA alumni: Dave DeGolyer (Fall 2006), Kelly Creagh (Spring 2008), and Liz Djupe (Spring 2004). Joyce led an afternoon discussion group comprised of editors, agents, and writers. In late September, Joyce attended the 12th biennial four-day Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival where sixty poets, among them several U.S. and state poets laureate, shared their poems and participated in panel discussions.  (top)

Molly Peacock went on her West Coast tour for The Second Blush. She read at the Vancouver Arts Festival on October 25 as well as at area colleges. Then she went on to Los Angeles to read for the week of October 26-31 at the Red Hen Press Benefit, Claremont College, USC, UCLA, UC Riverside, and the Beyond Baroque poetry series.

Luke Wallin hosted Spalding colleague Ellie Bryant, touring with her new book, While in Darkness there is Light: Idealism and Tragedy on an Australian Commune, for a book party at his home in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Saturday, October 18. He hosted a party for colleague Jody Lisberger and her book, Remember Love, this summer in Rhode Island. On November 25, he is to appear in the Mystery Reader: Guess Who? series in his granddaughter Talli Wallin’s third-grade classroom in Indianapolis. (top)

Alumni

A six-minute profile of Blacksmith and Irish folksinger Michael Hennerty by Deborah Begel (Spring 2006) is available for listening at http://www.kunm.org/news/current/index.php?id=EkkuVFkuVkHDtkWcEo

Linda Busby Parker (Fall 2003) presented a program titled: “Considerations on Plot—or What Plot is Not!” for the Mobile Writers Guild at their annual fall writing festival on October 11. Linda is the publisher and editor of Christmas Is a Season! 2008 (Excalibur Press, October 31). Christmas Is a Season! 2008 is a collection of short stories and personal essays about Christmas and the holiday season from writers around the country. Eighty-five writers submitted work for this year’s anthology, from which thirty manuscripts were selected for the book. Spalding graduates or staff in the collection include Roy Burkhead (Spring 2004), Charlotte Raines Dixon (Fall 2003), Joan Donaldson (Spring 2008), Karen Mann, Mary Popham (Fall 2003), and Kathleen Thompson (Fall 2003). Take a peek at the book on Amazon.com. On November 21, Linda is to speak to students at Daphne High School, Daphne, Alabama, on the life of a writer. She continues to teach fiction writing at the University of South Alabama (Fairhope campus) and at The Writer’s Loft, Middle Tennessee State University. (top)

Dave DeGolyer (Fall 2006) is to have three poems appear in poeticdiversity (December 2008) under his pseudonym, Lafayette Wattles, who also has two poems featured in Juked (October 14 2008, and forthcoming 2008), and two photos which are to appear in The Scrambler (forthcoming 2008). Three of Lafayette’s poems appear in the first issue of Magnolia.

Rod Dixon’s (Fall 2007) story “This is Not a Burial” will appear in issue #64 of The Louisville Review. (top)

Joan Donaldson (Spring 2008) has been asked to present at the International Reading Association’s Great Lakes Regional Conference in October 2009.

Kathryn Eastburn (Spring 2006) delivered the keynote speech, “Truth and Consequences: The Pleasures and Perils of Creative Nonfiction Writing” at Authorfest in Manitou Springs, Colorado, on October 3, and conducted a workshop, “From Pen to Press: Marketing Creative Nonfiction Writing” on October 4. Eastburn was visiting professor at The Colorado College in Colorado Springs in October, teaching Intro to Journalism.
 
Troy Ehlers (Fall 2004) hosted a table at Rain Taxi’s Twin Cities Book Festival in Minneapolis to promote Minnetonka Review, sell copies, and make friends in the local literary community. He was interviewed twice on camera—once by a literary video blog, and once by Utne Reader. Joining him at the table and signing autographs was David J. Schwartz, author of the new debut novel Superpowers. David will be joining Minnetonka Review to serve in an editorial capacity. (top)

Brittany Fonte (Spring 2007) has published a short story, “Grace,” with www.literarymama.com. She has also taken a position teaching composition at Keiser University. She hopes to be finished with her first novel edits by January first.

Mike Hampton (Fall 2005) had his short story titled “Boys and Girls in Motels” accepted by The Pacific Review, and his short short story “A Long Line of Liars” appears in the new edition of Blood Lotus. He and his wife Allison are awaiting the birth of their second child, a boy, tenatively titled Luke Michael Hampton. (top)

Drew Lackovic (Spring 2008) attended a reading by Dinty Moore on September 25 at Penn State Behrend. At the reading he found out that not only is Dinty an Erie native, but his name is also not at all derived from the similarly named Beef Stew. Wild.

Loreen Niewenhuis (Spring 2007) and Vickie Weaver (Fall 2005) attended A Gathering of Writers and Readers from Where You Dream October 18 in Indianapolis. They workshopped with Robert Olen Butler. The two of them ran into Spalding alums Claudia Labin (Spring 2007) and David Hassler (Spring 2004) and Spalding faculty member Kirby Gann.

Patricia McFadden’s (Spring 2007) new picture book, Oh No, Woolly Bear, was published by Starbright Books in August. She has done readings of the book at all five Colorado Delta County public libraries and a signing at Expressions Book store in her home town of Paonia and has appeared as a featured author on public radio station KVNF’s Saturday morning children’s program, Pot of Gold. Pat is teaching writing to fourth through ninth graders in the North Fork Vision Community and Homeschooling Program and is the program’s highly qualified consultant in reading and writing. She has also recently been hired as an adjunct faculty member for the Mesa State College Outreach Program, teaching English Comp and Creative Writing classes to Paonia adults and high school students. Pat has written five children’s plays this year for the Rocky Mountain Theater for Kids in Boulder and is in the process of writing a Christmas play for the Children’s Acting Company at the Blue Sage Center for the Arts in Paonia.(top)

Sonia Rapaport (Spring 2007) presented a workshop titled “Metaphor in a Holistic Family Practice,” on the use of writing exercises with primary care patients at the Writing and Wellness Connections Institute in October. Her poetry chapbook A Density of Ghosts was accepted for publication by Finishing Line Press and is due out in June.

Michele Ruby (Spring 2005) will be teaching a 300-level course in writing fiction at Bellarmine University in Spring of 2009 and thereafter. Her short story “Skip and Harold” was a finalist for The Adirondack Review’s Fulton Prize and is published in the Fall 2008 issue at http://www.theadirondackreview.com/Fall2008.html (top)

Starting with the spring semester 2009, Bob Shayne (Spring 2007), adjunct professor of screenwriting at the Chapman University film school in Orange, California, will also teach a graduate course in TV drama writing in the new MFA screenwriting program at Pepperdine University in Malibu.

Amanda Sledz (Fall 2004) will be reading from her novel Psychopomp at the annual Wordstock Book Fair in Portland, Oregon. The reading takes place at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, November 8, and is part of promotions for the Voicecatcher Anthology. (top)

Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen (Spring 2003) was the visiting author for Book Fest 2008 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Over six days, she visited thirteen schools and presented to nearly four thousand students in grades K-5, and did an evening event at the Oshkosh Public Library. She also has launched a new blog, known as “One Potato . . .Ten! Ten writers for children, all with something to say.” Two other alumnae, Betsy Woods (Spring 2004) and Edie Hemingway (Spring 2004) are also contributors to the blog.  Please visit http://onepotatoten.blogspot.com/ and post your comments.

Kathleen Thompson (Fall 2003) attended a conference for writers of children’s literature (SCBWI—Southern Breeze) on October 18 in Birmingham. She is currently judging the Mountain Brook Junior High Arts Form Literary Contest. She was the luncheon guest speaker at Savantes Literary Club on October 23. She read from two forthcoming publications: her poetry book, The Shortest Distance; and her short story, “Mother and Child,” selected by editor Linda Busby Parker (Fall 2003) for the Christmas anthology from Excalibur Press. On October 28 she presented a poetry workshop at Booker T. Washington magnet school in Montgomery as a “Road Scholar” for the Alabama Humanities Foundation.(top)

Frank X Walker’s (Spring 2003) fourth poetry collection, When Winter Come: The Ascension of York (University Press of Kentucky) was published in February. His 2008 reading tour has included presentations at the Kentucky Teachers of English conference; the Two-Year College Association conference;  Kentucky Council for Postsecondary Education conference; The Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls, Montana; University of Idaho; Macon State College, University of Cincinnati; Tennessee State University; Spalding University; Northern Kentucky University; University of Toledo; Bradley University; Ferrum College; Radford University; Maysville Community and Technical College; Hindman Writers Workshop; Tulisoma South Dallas Bookfair; Hardin County Public Library; Paul Sawyier Public Library; Borders Bookstore; Stone Soup Books; Poor Richard’s Bookstore; Joseph Beth Booksellers; River Styx Fundraiser in St. Louis; and numerous high schools. He and his work are showcased in this fall’s Emory & Henry Literary Festival. In addition to judging several contests, including one for Poets & Writers, he has new work forthcoming or currently in the Crab Orchard Review, Ecotone: Re-imagining Place, River Styx, Black Nature: A Poetry Anthology, Kentucky Burgoo: 25 Contemporary Poets, Elsewhere, Kentucky Quilt Trails, Motif: Writing by Ear, Ninth Letter, The Journal of Kentucky Studies, Weave Magazine, Black Magnolia Literary Journal, 95 Notes, Tuesday Journal, Iron Mountain Review, Reverie, Alcalines: Assembly on the Literature and Culture of Appalachia, and Appalachian Heritage. He is currently the Writer-in-Residence at Northern Kentucky University and the editor and publisher of PLUCK! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture. (top)

Al Waller (Spring 2005) recently premiered his film titled BugWorld! The 30-minute educational/entertainment film screened at the Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival on October 12. Al wrote, directed, and animated the film that stars the Varmints —six highly intelligent animals. The Varmints are also the main characters of the middle-grade novel he wrote for his creative thesis at Spalding. You can learn more about the film and the characters at www.BeAKnowItAll.net.

Vickie Weaver (Fall 2005) attended the Midwest Writers Workshop this summer. It’s held in Muncie, Indiana, only half an hour from her home, on the campus of Ball State University. In mid-September, she traveled south to the Kentucky Women Writer’s Conference in Lexington, and then, in late September, drove to New York City for the Algonquin Shop and Pitch Conference. Now she’s at home, with cotton in her ears, to keep all that writing stuff in her head. (If you read the alumni newsletter, SOARING, you’ll read more about her adventures than you want to know!) (top)

Remember the MFA Alumni have a website http://www.spaldingmfaalum.com.

Personals

Our heartfelt sympathy to Katy Yocom on the death of her father, Tom Monk, on October 9.

Our heartfelt sympathy to Roy Hoffman on the death of his sister Sherrell Hoffman Grean on October 18

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Books/Scripts in Common for Spring 2009
All students and faculty read the Book in Common, Ann Patchett's Bel Canto, in preparation for a book discussion led by Sena Jeter Naslund on the first night of residency. (Bring the book to this session.) (top)

Spring 2009 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 2009 semester in preparation for a discussion with authors at the Spring 2009 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 students 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.

Students attending the fall residency may purchase spring faculty books in common at the Spalding bookstore. (top)