Vol. 11 No. 3
April 2007

New Faculty

Residency Guests

Blackboard Launch

Graduation Photo

Items to Bring to Residency

Technology Update Spring and Summer

New Fleur-de-Lis Book

Tuition Increase for Fall

Homecoming

MFA Rat King and Queen

Because You Asked

High Horse, Faculty Anthology

Life of a Writer

     Students

     Faculty and Staff

    Alumni

Faculty Advisory Committe Fall 06

Pre-reading for Spring

Summer Books in Common

Fall Books in Common

Classifieds

Reminders and Notes

Spalding Home

MFA Home

Previous Newsletters

MFA Program Welcomes New Faculty for Spring 2007
Brad Riddell, MFA (screenwriting) worked professionally in film and video production for five years before attending the Master of Fine Arts program in screenwriting at the University of Southern California. Graduating in 2002, Brad was one of four students in his class to be awarded “Distinction” for his thesis screenplay. That script eventually led to an assignment to write American Pie Presents: Band Camp, which was released on video in 2006 and has sold over two million copies to date, airing extensively on TBS. Brad has since earned two more assignments from Universal, one, a Josie and the Pussycats prequel, and the other, a PG Slap Shot sequel. He has also worked with a number of independent producers and directors on various projects. Brad’s original script, Mixed Pudding, which he wrote at USC, was a Sundance finalist, a Chesterfield semifinalist, and a Hitchcock Scholar-ship winner and is now under option by producer/ director Stu Pollard. Brad serves as an adjunct member of the Writing Division faculty at USC and is a founding director of the Kentucky Film Lab, a not for profit corporation working to develop and support a community of filmmakers in Kentucky. Brad graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1994, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in English and a minor in Theater Arts.

MFA Program Welcomes Guests to the Spring 2007 Residency
The MFA Program is pleased to announce the following guests, who are presenters during our Spring 2007 residency. (top)

Annette Allen is Associate Professor of Humanities and Director of the Humanities Doctoral Program and Masters in Humanities and Civic Leadership at the University of Louisville. Former Dean of Salem College in North Carolina, she earned her PhD from the University of Texas in 1988. She has published essays on Woolf and poets Molly Peacock, Sylvia Plath, and Mary Oliver. Her poetry has been published widely in magazines such as Southern Poetry Review, Boulevard, and Poetry East. She is the recipient of the Witte Award for her poetry collection, Country of Light (1996), and she has received three state arts council awards and two NEH summer fellowships. A MacDowell Colony Fellow, Annette received the Guy Award for a forthcoming book, What Vanishes, and recently a Kentucky Arts Council Poetry Fellowship. Her research and teaching interests are Modernism, Virginia Woolf, creativity and madness, poetry, and the literary imagination of the American South.

Stephanie Baldyga-Stagg is a former ballet dancer, window dresser, recording engineer wannabe, art teacher, waitress, pottery painter, museum administrator, rock n’ roll mom, peacenik, lifetime student, traveler, Wall Street tour guide, art consultant, and currently a family support coordinator and artist. Baldyga-Stagg paints at home with her artist husband, four mantid babies, and numerous plants, dead and alive.

Lynnell Edwards is the author of The Farmer’s Daughter. Her work has appeared in Poets Against the War; Raising Our Voices: Oregon Poets Against the War; and numerous literary journals including: Poems & Plays, Southern Poetry Review, Poetry East, and Dos Passos Review. She is a regular reviewer for The Georgia Review, Pleiades, and Rain Taxi. She lives in Louisville where she teaches at the University of Louisville. She received her doctorate in English at the University of Louisville and her undergraduate degree at Centre College in Kentucky. She is the recipient of a 2007 Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council. Her second collection of poetry is The Highwayman’s Wife (Red Hen Press, 2007).

Michael Groden is Professor of English at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. He is the author and editor of books and articles on James Joyce, manuscript studies, textual criticism, and literary theory, including “Ulysses” in Progress (1977), The James Joyce Archive (1977-79; a 63-volume facsimile series of Joyce’s manuscripts), The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism (1994; 2nd edition, 2005), and Genetic Criticism: Texts and Avant-textes (2004). He received his BA from Dartmouth College and his MA and PhD from Princeton University, and on June 16, 2004, the one-hundredth anniversary of the day on which Joyce’s Ulysses takes place, the National University of Ireland awarded him an honorary doctorate. (top)

Ed Hart joined with Bruce Lunsford to create Hart-Lunsford Pictures, a fully financed production company based in Louisville. Hart-Lunsford Pictures is partnered with Plum Pictures of New York City and has produced four feature films, most recently Grace is Gone, starring John Cusack and Liv Tyler; and Dedication, starring Billy Crudup and Mandy Moore. Both films received screenings in January at the Sundance Film Festival. Both Ed Hart and Bruce Lunsford have extensive backgrounds in the entertainment industry (Mr. Hart in the theme park business and Mr. Lunsford in thoroughbred racing). Although both Hart and Lunsford together decide on green-lighting prospective projects, Lunsford focuses mainly on the business management side, while Hart generally handles the creative direction.

Robert Stagg is a former bookbinder, lifeguard, psychiatric orderly, student, military policeman, motor pool parts clerk, Vietnam veteran, social worker, substitute teacher, short order cook, log cabin builder, roof truss carpenter, house painter, Prudhoe Bay construction worker, stone mason, mosaicist, English tutor to Italians, and university professor. Stagg now works as caregiver, chauffeur, tax preparer, and artist.

Susan Van Metre is Executive Editor at Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet Books, a middle-grade and young adult imprint she helped found. Previously she was at Dutton Children’s Books. She has had the pleasure of working with such talented authors as Lauren Myracle, William Sleator, Eva Ibbotson, Aidan Chambers, Janet S. Anderson, Arthur Dorros, and many others. At Abrams, her focus is on developing the Amulet program, as well as continuing Abrams’ tradition of publishing beautifully illustrated picture books and nonfiction. Susan is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and the Radcliffe Publishing Program. (top)

MFA Launches Blackboard
The MFA in Writing Program now uses Blackboard, a learning management system, which provides such capabilities as file exchange, evaluation submission, live chats, document retrieval, ongoing discussion boards, and more.

The mfaforms page, which we have utilized for access to evaluations, residency documents, and other valuable information disappears in April when Spalding launches its new web site. Everything that was available on the mfaforms page is now available in Blackboard.

Students and faculty should develop the habit of checking Blackboard regularly for announcements, such as when Workshop Booklets are to be posted (this announcement is to appear by May 4) and when pre-residency documents are to be posted (2-3 weeks before residency).

For students or faculty to log in to Blackboard the first time, use the username from your Spalding email account address. The username is everything before the @ in an email address. For example, a student email account takes this form: username@student.spalding.edu. A faculty email account take this form: username@spalding.edu.

The password to login to Blackboard IS NOT the Spalding email account password. Initially it is the username. In other words, the first-time login to Blackboard involves the very same entry in the username field and in the password field.

To begin, go to bb.spalding.edu (note: no www before it).

Now click on User Login. The next screen is the login screen. Notice at the bottom of this screen is information about 24/7 Blackboard support, so if problems occur and it’s 3 a.m., you have someone to contact.

Enter your username in the username field. Enter your username again in the password field. (IT suggests you change the initial password. On the Forms and Documents page is a tutorial that shows you how.)

Once in Blackboard, under My Courses, click on MFA in Writing Program. (There may be other courses listed, but ignore them.)

To the left is a menu. Click the Forms and Documents button. On the Forms and Documents page, see the folder with tutorials. View the tutorial called “Tutorial: Password” to find out how to change your password.
After changing the password (if you chose to), check out the other tutorials in the forms and document section or explore Blackboard. Take the opportunity to post to the discussion boards. (The previous MFA discussion board is to be retired in April.)

For a closer view at the organization of Blackboard, see Detail View, on the left side of the screen all the way to the bottom. Click on it to view the entire Blackboard tree (expand it by clicking on the plus signs, collapse it by clicking on the minus sign).

Students may submit bibliographies (due April 20) using the Digital Dropbox. View the tutorial on how to submit the bibliography.
End of Semester Evaluation by Students or Mentors (due April 20) may be submitted via Blackboard (see under Forms and Documents).
All current students need a Spalding Student Email account. Students who do not have one, should refer to the MFA Student Handbook, page 61. If a problem arises, contact techsupport@spalding.edu (top)

Group Photo of Graduating Students and Faculty
In response to feedback from recent graduates, the MFA Program is no longer professionally photographing graduating students during the commencement ceremony. Instead, a professional photographer is to take a group photo of graduating students, faculty, and staff. The photo is scheduled at the end of the graduation practice on Wednesday, May 30. Attire is street clothes rather than academic regalia.

Graduates who desire photos of the commencement ceremony may wish to ask friends or family members to take pictures.

Items to Bring to Residency
All students (except graduating students) bring to residency two documents to assist them in planning the semester with their new mentor. Before residency, students download the “Introducing Yourself to Your New Mentor” form from the Blackboard site under Forms and Documents in preparation for completing it and bringing it to residency. In addition, returning students bring two copies of their cumulative bibliography for the group and individual conferences. For a further discussion of what to bring to the residency, see the MFA Student Handbook, page 65. (top)

Technology Update

Technology at the Spring Residency
On Monday of the spring residency, the MFA staff will hold a session for students and faculty on the use of Blackboard. Because Workshop Booklets and pre-residency documents will be available on Blackboard before the residency, nearly everyone will have used Blackboard, but the orientation is available for demonstrations of various special features and to answer questions.

All residency evaluations and reports by students are to be submitted through Blackboard, which streamlines the MFA Office’s system for sending out evaluations. It is important for students and faculty to submit all evaluations and reports by 10 a.m. on the last day of residency, Sunday, June 3.

While at Spalding, students have access to computers in various computer labs and the library, although students may find it most convenient to bring laptops with wireless network cards as the Brown Hotel and most of the Spalding campus have wireless Internet access.

The MFA Office now suggests students bring residency materials (such as the Workshop Booklet piece, which is revised for the Revision Workshop) on a USB flash drive.

Faculty or graduating students who plan to use A/V equipment—for instance, computers and projectors for PowerPoint presentations—should arrive on campus in time for a 3 p.m. A/V orientation session on Friday, May 25. Faculty or students who use PCs should bring their presentations on laptop or on a USB flash drive. Mac users should bring their presentations on their Mac laptop. A backup method is to email the presentation to yourself. Faculty and students should bring their equipment/flash drive to the orientation session so they can practice with it.

Technology at the Paris Residency
Summer semester students may wish to bring to Paris a copy of their workshop submission on a USB flash drive or laptop computer. Students who do not bring a laptop can take advantage of an Internet café, the Jardin de l’Internet, located two blocks from the hotel (be aware, though, that French keyboards are laid out differently than North American keyboards, which can slow down the typing process considerably). In addition, a few computers are available for student use at Reid Hall.

For students who do bring a laptop, the Hotel des Jardins du Luxembourg offers wireless Internet access. Guests can buy a card with a pin code and a password at the hotel reception desk.

Most laptops are dual voltage, meaning a voltage adapter is not required; such laptops require only a converter for the plug (essential) and a 220-volt surge protector (highly recommended). However, if the laptop is single voltage, a transformer must be used to convert the European voltage. All of these items can be purchased at a travel shop such as Taylor Trunk.
For more information about taking a laptop to France or using French cybercafés, check out http://gofrance.about.com/cs/travelplanning/a/laptop.htm (top)

Fleur-de-Lis announces Nana Lampton’s First Book of Poems
Fleur-de-Lis Press hosted a launch reception and reading for Louisville poet Nana Lampton’s The Moon with the Sun in Her Eye on Sunday, April 22, at the Mansion at Spalding University. The book was highly praised in a review by Frederick Smock appearing in The Courier-Journal on Saturday, April 14.

Editor Sena Jeter Naslund said, “In The Moon with the Sun in Her Eye, Nana Lampton boldly explores the tension between the feminine moon and the masculine sun. Using the dual lenses of metaphor and image, she asks Why can’t we see more clearly? Responding to our local, global, and cosmic situations, Lampton places humanity among the plants, animals, rivers, mountains, continents, and cultures of our world.”

Nana’s first public reading is at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 23, at Carmichael’s Books at 2720 Frankfort Ave., and she is to read at the Spring 2007 residency as part of the Celebration of Recently Published Books at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 29, at the Brown Hotel.

Fleur-de-Lis Press primarily publishes first books by authors whose work has appeared previously in the literary journal The Louisville Review. Recent publications include novels by Kay Gill, Mirel’s Daughter, and Mary Welp, The Triangle Pose, selected by The Courier-Journal as one of the five best books of 2005.

Priced at $15, The Moon with the Sun in Her Eye can be purchased through Fleur-de-Press (502-585-9911, ext. 2777), through amazon.com, or at the residency. (top)

Spalding Announces Tuition Increase
A few weeks ago, students were sent an email announcing tuition increases for all Spalding programs. The MFA semester tuition beginning in Fall 2007 is to be $6,432. The university has instituted a $15 per course technology fee. For MFA students, that means $15 per semester. As has been the case, all other fees, such as the creative thesis fee, graduation fee, and fifth residency fee, are included in the tuition.

Since its inception in fall 2001, the MFA Program tuition has increased every other year, and the bienniel increase is anticipated in information on the website’s Tuition and Fees page and in the MFA FAQs and in admissions material sent to prospective students.

Tuition and fee increases mainly reflect an increase of expenses because of inflation and normal personnel increases. Our increase is higher than other tuition raises at Spalding because it has been two years since we had an increase. Typically, university programs raise their tuition 5-7 percent every year.

Per credit hour, the MFA Program is one of the least expensive low-residency programs in the country. Because the semesters are 16-credit-hour semesters, the total cost of the Program is mid-range when compared to the total costs of other low-residency MFA programs.

The cost per credit hour is comparable to some state universities graduate tuition rates. For example, the University of Louisville’s graduate per-credit-hour rate through summer 2007 is $377, and it is increasing in fall 2007 (projected increase 9.9 percent). In addition, the MFA’s per-credit-hour rate, which is $402, is markedly lower than any other graduate program at Spalding, which range from $540-$665 per credit hour. (top)

Homecoming Theme and Events Announced
The working title for this year’s Homecoming is “Life After the MFA: Exploring Opportunities and Options in the World of Writing” or “When You Discover You Won’t Be Discovered, What Do You Do?”
Currently scheduled events for Homecoming weekend, June 1-3, include two faculty-led seminars about professional options for MFA alums; a cocktail party at the home of Kim Crum (CNF, Fall 2003) on St. James Court, followed by a ghost tour of that historic neighborhood; alumni readings, discussions of short texts in common, and small-group critique workshops; and several opportunities to mingle with faculty members. A day at the racetrack is planned for Sunday.

Alumni should watch their mailboxes for an invitation. Those planning to come may want to reserve a room at the Brown Hotel quickly, as rooms do fill up. Mention the Spalding Friends and Family rate when booking a room at the Brown Hotel. This rate of $109 a night is a deep discount from the Brown’s published rates. For reservations, call 888-888-5252 or 502-583-1234.

MFA Alum and Wife Crowned Rat King and Queen
MFA alum Joe Schmidt (Fall 2003) and his wife, Robin Schmidt, were crowned Rat King and Queen at the 35th annual Run for the Rodents, a Spalding University tradition modeled on the Kentucky Derby. Joe and Robin sponsored the MFA’s entry, Antoinette, a lovely white rat with gray-brown markings, who represented the MFA Program proudly.
Joe and Robin were crowned royalty because the MFA Program won the Penny Wars, a competition in which Spalding departments collect money for charity. Though the MFA’s penny jar was low on funds in the week leading up to the race, a mysterious eleventh-hour donor filled the jar with pennies. The money (nearly $400) collected in the Penny Wars was donated to the Kentucky Humane Society, the charity of Joe and Robin’s choice.
The Run for the Rodents, a slate of races featuring rats running around a wooden oval, is Spalding’s own way of celebrating the upcoming Kentucky Derby. The festivities, including a parade, the singing of “My Old Kentucky Home,” and calls to the post by Churchill Downs’ official bugler, are featured in local news coverage and have been mentioned in the national media. A Trivial Pursuit question has noted the Run for the Rodents as “The Most Exciting Two Seconds in Sports.” (top)

Because You Asked
Question: Why do MFA degrees require varying totals of credit hours?
Answer: MFA programs around the country have degree requirements from 36 to 72 hours. It is true that students graduating from such different MFA programs have the same degree on the diploma at graduation; however, it is not true that students of different programs receive the same education.
In the job market, a university or business may give preference to those candidates who have a degree with more credit hours.

We are intentional about the quality of our program, and we believe we deliver more to our students than programs that require fewer credit hours for graduation. For example, you have the opportunity to receive mentor comments on five packets of work a semester. Depending on the area of concentration, you could receive margin notes and commentary on as many as 250 pages of your work.
In another low-residency program, students are allowed to send 200 pages or less a semester. In another, during the semester, students only receive an online workshop, which involves limited online comments from a faculty member and other students (no margin notes, no permanent commentary). While an online workshop has value, we feel the one-on-one correspondence with a mentor, who is a teacher and publishing writer, is better and more instructive than an online workshop that includes other students (who are not teachers).

While we may begin using features of online teaching and learning because Spalding now has the capability through Blackboard, the online features are going to be used to enhance your learning, not take the place of the one-on-one correspondence with your mentor.

Our residency is 10 days; other programs offer shorter residencies. Other residencies do not have comprehensive faculty-led workshops at the residencies where the students have read all the other students’ work. We believe this workshop format gives students opportunities to learn that they would not otherwise have.

Other low-residency programs do not require the ECE, meaning they do not require their students to be proficient in different types of writing. We believe critical writing and critical thinking are essential to your graduate education and important not only for your own thought processes, but also because the MFA degree credentials you to teach at the college level (whether this interests you or not).

We require cross-genre work and we emphasize the interrelatedness of the arts in order to offer a better and more well-rounded education. Every element of our program is geared toward giving you a degree that is worth 64 hours of graduate level work.

(top)

Life of a Writer

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

Students

On April 4, Priscilla Atkins was guest poet in Jack Ridl’s advanced poetry class at Hope College. During the two-hour class, she shared some of her own work, answered questions about the writing life, and took the class through her readings of several students’ poems. Her poem “Intermezzo” (Free Lunch #36, Autumn 2006) was awarded the “Rosine Offen Memorial Award,” which carries a $200 cash prize.

Lisa Groen Braner’s lyric essay “Soundtrack” has been accepted for fall 2007 publication in Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction, www.brevitymag.com. Braner was also recently invited to Sembach Elementary School to talk about editing with a class of young writers.

Joan Donaldson spoke about her life as a writer on March 24 at the Eagen Art Center in Mount Clemens, Mich., that featured a selection of illustrations from children’s books on loan from the Mazza Collection. She also read and signed her new picture book. (top)

Joe Gisondi’s blog for college and high school sportswriters was recently recommended by NewsU, which is affiliated with the Poynter Institute for Journalism. “If you love watching, reading, writing, talking and thinking about sports, then Joe Gisondi’s blog about sports journalism, On Sports, is a great place for you to start honing your sports journalism skills,” writes NewsU. You can read the review at http://access.newsu.org/. Joe’s blog offers tips, news, and commentary intended to inform and educate students seeking a career in sports journalism. You can check it out at onsportz.blogspot.com.

Dan Nowak has poems forthcoming in Licking River Review, Broken Bridge Review, Amoeskag, and Toledo Review and is featured in the current issue of Straylight. He was part of a panel at this year’s AWP conference in Atlanta, gave a presentation at the Pop Culture Association conference in Boston on April 6, and gave a reading at the University of Dayton’s LitFest conference on April 14. His poem “The First Time I Was Buried Alive” won first place in the graduate division of this year’s Kentuckiana Metroversity competition, and he gave a reading at the Metroversity Awards Ceremony on April 15. Lastly, he’s been accepted into the PhD program at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where he’s been awarded an assistantship with a tuition waiver, plus a fellowship, for the first year.

Joe Peacock retires from teaching secondary English in May of this year. He is to teach three writing courses (two freshman composition and one business writing) at Indiana University Southeast in the fall. (top)

Sonia Rapaport’s poem “Solace” was accepted for publication in the forthcoming issue of Tar River Poetry, listed as one of the top ten poetry journals in the United States. She was awarded second place in the Metroversity Writing Competition for her poem “Scattered Sheets” and was chosen as semifinalist in the North Carolina State Poetry Contest for her sonnet series, “The Persephone Cycle.”

On April 7, in celebration of National Poetry Month, the mayor of Fayetteville, Ark., proclaimed Clayton Scott as Fayetteville’s Poet Laureate. Among members on the committee who chose Clayton were University of Arkansas’ Creative Writing Department Chair, Molly Giles, as well as Miller Williams.

A 20-minute excerpt of Kim Stinson-Hawn’s full-length play Appalachian Geisha is to have a workshop in July in Berea, Kentucky, to prepare for a staged reading in September in New York as a part of the New Mummer Group’s 2007 Writer’s Exchange, which showcases Appalachian and New York playwrights’ works. (top)

Terri Whitehouse’s poem, “To Joe Bolton, With a Line” is forthcoming in Open 24 Hours. Her interviews with musician Alicja Trout and Chapel Hill 2-piece band The Moaners are forthcoming in http://www.bejeezuszine.com. She is a recent contributor to DitchMitchKY.com: A Commonwealth United to Defeat Mitch McConnell, which can be found at http://www.ditchmitchky.com.

Congratulations to the following students who have won the Kentuckiana Metroversity Writing Competition in the Graduate division: In fiction, Nancy Jo Cegla won first place for her story, “Sabi,” and Drew Lackovic’s story, “Runaway,” won 2nd place. In poetry, Dan Nowak’s “The First Time I Was Buried Alive” won first place and Sonia Rapaport’s “Scattered Sheets” won second place. In creative nonfiction, Joan Donaldson won first place with her piece, “Between the Waves.”

Faculty & Staff

Dianne Aprile gave a presentation on creative nonfiction at the 2007 Kentucky Writers Conference on April 23, in conjunction with the Southern Kentucky Book Festival in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Dianne also hosted a National Poetry Month reading event on April 14 at The Jazz Factory, featuring local celebrities, among them our own Kathleen Driskell and U.S. Representative John Yarmuth, fresh from his appearance on The Colbert Report, each reading one of their favorite poems. Sarabande Press sponsored the event, which included a reading by Sarabande’s award-winning poet Eleanor Lerman. Dianne also organized a reading of Canadian poets at The Jazz Factory on April 17. (top)

“Vanishing Acts,” Julie Brickman’s review of Laura Restrepo’s novel, Delirium, translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer, appeared in the Sunday Books supplement of the San Diego Union-Tribune on March 25. Julie also served as guest editor for fiction and creative nonfiction for the spring issue of The Louisville Review.

Ellie Bryant was a speaker at the March annual meeting of the Colorado Independent Publishers Association in Denver. In addition to presenting her lecture, “The Universe of Children’s Literature,” she gave an hour-long talk on the writing process to a hundred participants in attendance. She also chaired a panel on writing and held one-on-one sessions with aspiring writers. Ellie was invited to the CIPA three-day conference by the organization’s president, Lydia Griffin, a student in the Spalding MFA in Writing program.

Debra Kang Dean read April 4 with Maurice Manning, Kathy Smith, and Ray Smith at Indiana University. She also read January 12 at IU. She read on March 7 at Transylvania University with Bianca Spriggs, Tiffany Midge, and Patricia Smith. “Before Identity was Leased: An Interview with Colette Inez,” which she co-edited with Rosanne Osborne, is forthcoming this spring from Tar River Poetry. Two poems, “Of Thee I Sing” and “Punchbowl,” are forthcoming in America, What’s My Name?!, an anthology edited by Frank X Walker (Spring 2003), and one of her poems appeared in Angels of Poetry: Celebrating 30 Years of BOA Editions (2006). (top)

Robert Finch’s second book, The Primal Place, originally published in 1983 by W.W. Norton, is to be republished in May by Countryman Press. His new book, The Iambics of Newfoundland: Notes from an Unknown Shore, appears in July by Counterpoint Press. His essay, “Sweet Cups of Death,” appears in the spring issue of River Styx.

Richard Goodman’s essay, “When I’m Sixty-Four,” appeara in the May/June issue of The Rambler.

Rachel Harper’s first novel, Brass Ankle Blues, was chosen as one of Target’s “Breakout Books” for 2007. The paperback, just released by Simon & Schuster’s Touchstone Division in February, is available online and in Target stores nationwide.

Roy Hoffman’s profile, “Eliot Cohen: Mobile’s Forgotten Genius,” about the brilliant, troubled, and liberal-minded editor who started Commentary magazine in 1945, a publication which ultimately became neo-conservative, appeared in the Mobile Press-Register on Sunday, April 15. Roy’s review of Robert Olmstead’s novel Coal Black Horse appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Sunday, April 22. (top)

Silas House was recently chosen to be part of the prestigious Arts and Lecture series in Rochester, N.Y. Other writers selected this year include Amy Tan, Jeffrey Eugenides, and Billy Collins. House is to speak and sing—as a member of The Doolittles with Jason Howard—at the Church of St. John the Divine in New York City to raise awareness about mountaintop removal during an environmental summit to be held at the UN in May. Other performers on the show include Robert Kennedy, Jr.; Judy Collins; Alison Moorer; Teddy Thompson; and Jean Ritchie. House, as a member of the band Public Outcry, which includes other authors like George Ella Lyon and Anne Shelby, has performed throughout Kentucky to raise awareness about mountaintop removal. The group recently appeared on Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour, where Silas also read. The show goes out to more than three million people and is broadcast in 48 countries. Silas’s novels have recently been chosen for several book-in-common programs, including Freshman Reading Programs at Union College and Davis and Elkins College. In April, House released a collection of two short stories on an audio CD called, Two Stories. The album is to be available on iTunes soon. House also recently filmed a cameo in the independent film The Siege of Knoxville, which premieres this fall.

Robin Lippincott’s review of Susan Sontag’s last book, At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches, appeared in the April 7 issue of the Louisville Courier-Journal. Although Robin reviewed regularly for over ten years, mostly art and photography books for the New York Times Book Review, he hadn’t written a review for more than five years. His new novel, In the Meantime, is to be published in October.

Joyce McDonald gave a lecture on writing for young adults and served on a panel with fellow writers from other genres at the fourth annual Craft and Story Conference at DeSales University on March 31. On April 28, she is to participate in a book signing and to speak at Barnes and Noble’s Media Specialist Reception in Center Valley, Pa., for their Educator Appreciation Week.

Cathleen Medwick’s essay “A Little Mouse Music” appears in the June issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. The issue is due on newsstands in mid-May. (top)

Sena Jeter Naslund won the Kentucky Literary Award in Fiction for her novel Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette. After her return from Sweden and Egypt, Sena is touring again at the following dates and places, along with her brother John Sims Jeter whose first novel, And the Angels Sang, can be ordered from Livingston Press, University of West Alabama: Thursday, April 19, panel “All in the Family,” U of West Alabama, Livingston, Ala.; 12:30 reading and 3:30 panel discussion, “All Out of Faith,” Saturday, April 21, Alabama Book Festival, Montgomery, Ala.; 7 p.m. reading on Wednesday, April 25, Community Arts Center, Danville, Ky.; 6:30 workshop and 7:30 p.m. reading, Thursday, April 26, Carnegie Center for Literature and Literary, Lexington, Ky.; 3:30 reading, Saturday, April 28, Montevallo Public Library, Montevallo, Ala.; 2 p.m. reading, Sunday, April 29, Auburn Public Library, Auburn, Ala.; 4 p.m. book signing, Monday, April 30, Alabama Booksmith, Birmingham, Ala.; 5 p.m. talk & reading, Tuesday, May 1, Oneonta Writers Conference, Oneonta, Ala.; 8:45 a.m. reading, Friday, May 4, Alabama Writers Symposium, Monroeville, Ala. The paperback edition of Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette will be published May 22, and Sena will be reading and signing books at the following locations and dates: 7 p.m., Monday, June 4, Carmichaels on Frankfort Ave, Louisville; 7 p.m., Tues., June 5, Borders on Hurstbourne; 7 p.m., June 7, Joseph Beth at 24519 Cedar Road, Cleveland; 7 p.m., Friday, June 8, Huntsville-Madison County Library; 7 p.m., Tuesday, June 12, Rainey Day Books, Fairway, Kan.; 7 p.m., Thursday, June 14, McLean & Eakin Booksellers, Petoskey, Mich.; June 28, U.S. Embassy, Paris, France; 7-8 p.m., July 10, Village Voice Bookshop, Paris, France.

Elaine Orr was guest speaker and reader at Randolph Macon College for Women in Lynchburg, Virginia, April 10-11. She read her short story, “The Offering,” as part of a Girl Stories panel at AWP in Atlanta. She will spend the month of June at the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences, Rabun Gap, Georgia, working on her novel, Calling. (top)

Molly Peacock’s essay “Passion Flower in Winter” which originally appeared in PoemMemoirStory magazine, at the suggestion of Jeanie Thompson, has been selected for The Best American Essays 2007.

Variety.com recently announced that Charlie Schulman’s musical, The Fartiste, is to receive an Off-Broadway open-ended commercial run scheduled for late summer/early fall. His ten-minute play “Last Animal Standing” has been selected for participation in the 32nd annual Samuel French One-Act Festival in New York City this June. Charlie is also the producer and one of seven writers who have collaborated on “Why Not?” a walkingtour theater piece that is to be performed on May 1, at the West Side YMCA in New York.

Katy Yocom’s essay “Tiger Woman” is to appear in the June isse of More Magazine, due on newsstands in mid-May. Her photo of a painted elephant, taken last year in Jaipur, India, can be seen on the forthcoming spring issue of The Louisville Review. (top)

Alumni

Verna Austen’s (Fall 2005) short story “The Birdman” is a finalist in Glimmertrain’s Winter Fiction Open. In May, she is to give a reading from her novel along with fellow members from her writer’s group.

Gwen Broderick (Fall 2006) is a book reviewer for The River Reporter newspaper in eastern New York State. In early May, she is to give a talk at her city library about the poet Emma Lazarus.

Myra Bellin’s (Fall 2005) essay “All the World’s a Stage” was published in The Phildelphia Inquirer on April 4. Her profile of ceramic artist Kenny Delio was published in the February issue of Ceramics Monthly.

Amy Clark (Fall 2004) has poems forthcoming in 32 Poems, Poet Lore, and Natural Bridge. (top)

Amy Watkins Copeland (Spring 2006) has a poem in the new issue of Pedestal Magazine (available online April 21 at www.pedestalmagazine.com). Her poem, “First Dream,” a collaboration with painter Ian Jones, is part of the online magazine qarrtsiluni’s special issue on ekphrasis (www.qarrtsiluni.com). She is also helping to organize poetry readings at the Maitland Spring Art Festival in honor of National Poetry Month. The festival is to take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., April 21 and 22, around Lake Lily in Maitland, Fla.

Kimberly Crum (Fall 2003) teaches literature, creative writing, and English composition to Spalding undergraduates. She is also a food writer for a women’s magazine in Louisville.

Dave DeGolyer’s (Fall 2006) rather silly short short, “Talk About Double Standards,” appeared online at childrencomefirst.com in March. On a more serious note, Dave recently read his poem, “Forget Black History Month: To Know Me, You Must First Know This,” which won the best-in-show award at the annual Friends of the Steele Memorial Library Poetry Contest. The poem is to be published in Festival next spring.

Daniel DiStasio’s (Fall 2005) short story “Ungar and the Foxes” was selected for publication in The Minnetonka Review. His short story “Walking on Water” appears in Pinyon this spring. “X-Vision,” from his creative thesis appears, this summer in the 21st edition of The Caribbean Writer. His feature article “Charting Key West” is in the summer issue of The Out Traveler. It’s also available on line at http://www.outtraveler.com/detail.asp?did=572. Dan has also been hired to teach beginning fiction writing at Florida Keys Community College this summer. (top)

Kathryn Eastburn (Spring 2006) is to be a visiting professor for two sessions at the Colorado College Summer Session, “Introduction to Journalism” and “Creative Nonfiction Workshop.” Eastburn’s book Simon Says: A True Story of Boys, Guns and Murder in the Rocky Mountain West is the lead selection in the Da Capo/Perseus Books fall catalog due out in May. The book is scheduled for release in the fall. Eastburn’s book A Sacred Feast: Reflections on All-Day Singing and Dinner on the Ground is completed and has been approved for production by University of Nebraska Press sometime in 2008.

Stacia M. Fleegal’s (Fall 2006) poetry chapbook, titled A Fling with the Ground, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press in September 2007. She gave a reading at the University of Dayton’s LitFest conference on April 14. A paper she’s written on the constructs of motherhood on the WB show Gilmore Girls was accepted for inclusion in an anthology of essays on the series, compiled by women’s studies faculty members at SUNY Stony Brook.

Maureen Gillis (Spring 2004) has signed a contract with Corwin Publishing to co-author a pre-service textbook for secondary school teachers titled Culturally Responsive Social Studies: A WebQuest Approach. The book is to be published in late spring of next year for introduction at the National Education Computer Conference in San Antonio. (top)

Lisa Izzi’s (Fall 2006) article “On a Run” was published in the March 21 edition of The Almanac News. With a focus on empowering girls and promoting health, Lisa’s writing also advocates for girls and sports through a new media business, Athletic Girl Productions, which is pending non-profit approval. The online article is at http://www.almanacnews.com/ morguepdf/2007/2007_03_21.alm.section2.pdf

Bonnie Johnson (Fall 2004), Susan Masters, and Vickie Weaver (Fall 2005) attended in March an agents-and-editors session of the annual Novels-In-Progress Workshop, sponsored by the Green River Writers, in Louisville.

Marci Rae Johnson (Spring 2005) has poems upcoming in the journals The Minnetonka Review and Stonework.

Maribeth Lysen’s (Spring 2006) poem “The Cost of a Shower” is forthcoming in the spring issue of The Louisville Review. Her poem “Sheet Music” is forthcoming in Schuylkill Valley Journal of the Arts fall issue.

Brother Columba McNeill’s (Spring 2006) essay “Sinews on Bone” was published in the September 2006 issue of The American Benedictine Review. His short piece, “The Martini Monk,” was published in the February edition of Newspeak! In December 2006, Brother Columba left St. Benedict’s Abbey. He now resides in Colorado Springs, renting a room from Kathryn Eastburn (Spring 2006). He has returned to his baptismal name, Tim.

Jae Newman (Fall 2006) has poems forthcoming in Bellingham Review, The Saranac Review, The Louisville Review, The Minnetonka Review, and Karamu. (top)

Richard Newman (Fall 2004) has poems forthcoming in Crab Orchard Review, The Louisville Review, The Sun, as well as And Know This Place: Poetry of Indiana, an anthology of living and dead Hoosier poets. One of his poems, which appeared last year in New Letters, was voted first place in the New Letters Readers Choice Awards.

Zola Troutman Noble’s (Spring 2005) essay “An Ordinary Woman: Sarah McIntyre of Saltville, Virginia” was published in the 2007 issue of The Smithfield Review. The journal is available at this link: http://www.smithfieldplantation.org/review.html.

Mary C. O’Malley’s (Fall 2004) chapbook, Danceshoes and Holograms, is to be published by PuddingHouse sometime this year. Her recent works have been published in Heartlands, Tripton Poetry Journal, and other print and Internet magazines. Mary’s dramatic monologue, “Irishwasherwoman,” has had two staged readings with favorable reviews. Her most recent local reading last month was in honor of Women’ History month. She was among ten female poets from Cleveland who read their work in the Rotunda of Cleveland’s City Hall.

Mary Popham (Fall 2003) participated in a public service announcement shoot for a BIAK commercial in January. In March, she reviewed From the Mountain, From the Valley: New and Collected Poems by James Still for the Courier-Journal and appeared as guest food columnist with her article, “Recipes From Mama’s Kitchen,” in the online magazine New Southerner.

Diana M. Raab (Fall 2003) is to teach a seminar called “The Power of Journaling” at the University of California Santa Barbara Women’s Association. She is reading at the National Association of Poetry Therapy in Portland, Ore., from her new chapbook, “My Muse Undresses Me.” In April, she was featured poet of the week on Poetry Super Highway. (top)

Janet Shea (Spring 2006), along with two colleagues and friends, read from her collection, Enduring Love, at the Jackson Memorial Library, Tenants Harbor, Maine, on April 15. The program, titled “Friends and Writers in Concert,” was inspired by the Arts Council of Maine’s “Spoken Word” series. Donations went toward the purchase of children’s literature for the library.

After completing a monthlong residency in Marfa, Texas, in January where he completed When Winter Come: The Ascension of York, a new sequel to Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York, which is to be published in the spring of 2008 by University Press of Kentucky, Frank X Walker (Spring 2003) started a series of readings that included stops at the Folgers Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.; IUPUI; InKY’s anniversary reading; Glendale, Arizona; and at AWP in Atlanta, where he also presented on a panel, “Poetry as History, History as Poetry.” He participated in readings at Lindsey Wilson College, Dayton’s public libraries, Georgia Southwestern University, Radford University, Thomas More College, Transylvania University, Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour, and two readings at Virginia’s Festival of the Book to celebrate writers who love Appalachia and the new NPR “This I Believe” anthology and CD set, for which he is a contributor. Frank also is celebrating the launch of his new journal, PLUCK! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture, with launch parties all over the region (contact him at affrilachia@aol.com for a complimentary charter issue or to submit work). After taking his Transy students to NYC for a study trip of the Harlem Renaissance, he is to teach a weeklong Literary Conjure class at SplitRock at the University of Minnesota and spend a week in the mountains near Pittsburgh in a week long retreat with other Cave Canem fellows focusing on poetry. He had new work accepted in several anthologies and journals, including The Louisville Review, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, Fingernails Across the Chalkboard, Rivendell, and America! What’s My Name? The “Other” Poets Unfurl the Flag, for which he is also serving as editor.

Jonathan Weinert (Fall 2005) has won the Nightboat Poetry Prize for his manuscript, In the Mode of Disappearance. His book was selected by Brenda Hillman and is to be published by Nightboat Books in early 2008. He has poems forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, Bellingham Review, and The Laurel Review, and a review forthcoming in Harvard Review. His interview with W. S. Merwin, conducted with Spalding poetry faculty member Jeanie Thompson at the MFA residency in November 2006, is forthcoming in The Louisville Review. Jonathan designed the cover of the issue, as well as the jacket and cover of Spalding alumna Nana Lampton’s book, The Moon with the Sun in Her Eye, published by Fleur-de-Lis Press. Jonathan serves as web editor for Tuesday: An Art Project (http://www.tuesdayjournal.org), a letterpress journal which recently released its premier issue. (top)

Aimee Zaring (Spring 2005) hosted a party for Sarabande Books and New York poet Eleanor Lerman at her house in April in honor of National Poetry Month.

Pre-reading Assignments for Spring Residency
All students and faculty read the Book in Common The Bad Beginning by Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket.

In preparation for a plenary lecture to be given by Sena Jeter Naslund at the spring residency, all students are to read two of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. One of the books is to be The Long Winter and the other is a book of the student’s choice.

Students also read the Faculty/Guest Books in Common in their Spring 2007 area of concentration in preparation for a discussion with authors at the Spring 2007 residency.

Fiction: Sena Jeter Naslund’s Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette
Poetry: Greg Pape’s American Flamingo
Creative Nonfiction: Nancy McCabe’s Meeting Sophie: A Memoir of Adoption
Writing for Children: Louise Hawes’s The Vanishing Point
Playwriting and Screenwriting: Brad Riddell's Mixed Pudding (top)

Additional Pre-reading for Spring 2007

All fiction students: In preparation for a special lecture by James Joyce scholar Michael Groden, read two chapters from Ulysses, “Aeolus” and “Cyclops.” (These names aren’t in the book itself.) If students buy a copy of Ulysses, they should try to purchase Ulysses: The Gabler Edition (or, in older copies, Ulysses: The Corrected Text). It has a grey, red, blue, and yellow cover, with a big blue and yellow U. It is published by Vintage, ISBN 0-394-74312-1. In this edition, “Aeolus” is on pages 96-123 and “Cyclops” is on pages 240-283.

Another edition of Ulysses is available in the U.S., also published by Vintage (also Modern Library). In that edition, “Aeolus” is on pages 116-150 and “Cyclops” is on pages 292-345.

All screenwriting students should have viewed the following foundation films: Chinatown (1972), The Godfather (1972), Citizen Kane (1941), The Bicycle Thief (1949), and Casablanca (1941) and should be familiar with the following texts: The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives by Lajos Egri; Making a Good Script Great by Linda Seger; and Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field. (top)

Molly Peacock’s Workshop: The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within by Stephen Frye. (Gotham Books, 2007). Bring book to Workshop. All members of this Workshop have been notified by email.

New Students must attend “Dialogue with the Great Writers: How Critical Analysis Helps a Writer Improve Craft” by Kathleen Driskell. Those students should read Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral,” and Brent Staples essay “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space.” The texts are to be emailed to the students.

Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) for Spring 2007

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.