On Extended Wings: Newsletter of the Master of Fine Arts in Writing program at Spalding University.
       

Vol. 9 No. 2
February 2006

Change in Workshop Format

Preview of Spring Residency

Options Night

Looking for Volunteers: Student Panel

Favorite Writing Links

Discussion Board Link

High Horse, Faculty Anthology

Life of a Writer

     Students

     Faculty and Staff

    Alumni

Change of Address

Reminders and Notes

Spalding Home

MFA Home

Previous Newsletters

July 2003

August 2003

October 2003

November 2003

February 2004

May 2004

August 2004

September 2004

October 2004

January 2005

Febrary 2005

March 2005

April 2005

July 2005

September 2005

October 2005

December 2005

 

 
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Innovations for May 2006 Residency Workshops

At the request of faculty, the May 2006 workshops in most genres are to be smaller and taught by only one faculty member. The residency schedule also includes two cross-genre workshops.

At the spring residency, workshops are generally to have no more than six students. Each day usually begins with a discussion of a reading provided in the Workshop Booklet by the faculty member. Writing exercises may also be introduced. Each student continues to receive the same amount of feedback time for worksheets (one hour) during Workshop. It is not necessary to contact the MFA Office in order to be placed in a small workshop.

As part of the MFA’s emphasis on cross-genre exploration, the MFA faculty has also expressed interest in offering cross-genre workshops from time to time. These workshops benefit students through cross-pollination of ideas and literary terms and provide wonderful opportunities for students to further their knowledge and technique. In May 2006, the MFA Program offers two such workshops: Students may sign up to take

A) a Poetry and Fiction Workshop (co-led by a fiction faculty member and a poetry faculty member) or

B) a Poetry and Creative Nonfiction Workshop (co-led by a creative nonfiction faculty member and a poetry faculty member).

It is not necessary in either workshop for students to have expertise in both areas. Students submit Worksheets in their major area of concentration.

Students interested in participating in a cross-genre workshop should email Karen Mann at kmann@spalding.edu by March 1. Please indicate the preferred workshop: A or B. (Remember that a student must have been accepted in fiction or poetry to participate in Workshop A and poetry or creative nonfiction to participate in Workshop B.) Space is limited, so not all eligible students may be assigned to a cross-genre workshop.

If MFA students or faculty have questions about the May 2006 workshop format, please call or email Kathleen Driskell (800 896-8941 ext. 2231 or kdriskell@spalding.edu) (top)

May 2006 Residency Special Guests and Events

Following are some of the May 2006 residency special guests and events:

• Our guests for the May 2006 residency include Joy Harris of the Joy Harris Literary Agency, based in New York City, and Marjorie Braman, an executive editor at HarperCollins. Joy and Marjorie are to share a session, open to all students and faculty, during which they discuss the roles of agent and editor in publishing and field questions from the audience.

• Students and faculty attend a performance of music from Ahab’s Wife: The Musical on Sunday, May 21, at the First Unitarian Church. The musical, a work in progress, is a collaboration between Sena Jeter Naslund and musician/composer Frank Richmond. Frank has provided the piano accompaniment at our most recent graduation ceremonies.

• As part of the program’s emphasis on the interrelatedness of the arts, students attend a screening of Frida on Friday, May 26. The 2002 Miramax film, starring Salma Hayek, dramatizes the life of 20th-century Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Kahlo is perhaps most famous for her self-portraits. After the screening, artist Dionisio Ceballos gives a talk and answers students’ questions. Ceballos, a self-taught artist from Mexico City, created the reproductions of Kahlo’s paintings that were used in the film.

Options Night Includes Gesture Drawing Class, Mic Practice

During the upcoming residency, the evening of Wednesday, May 24, is unscheduled. Students are invited to sign up for a one-hour drawing class that evening at 6 p.m., just after the end of the day’s scheduled activities. Class participants learn the art of gesture drawing from an art instructor in one of Spalding’s studios. Sixty slots are available, broken into two simultaneous sessions, each with its own studio and instructor. Students wishing to participate must reserve a slot via the Questionnaire and Housing Form, which is distributed to all current and incoming students in March.
Wednesday evening’s unscheduled time also gives students the opportunity to complete evaluations at their leisure. In addition, a Brown Hotel meeting room is open until 11 p.m. for students who wish to practice reading with a microphone. This session is not an open-mic reading session per se but an opportunity for students to develop a greater comfort level using a microphone. (top)

Call for Volunteers for Student Interrelatedness-of-Arts Panel

Students are requested to participate in a group discussion about how attending or participating in arts other than writing has enriched their lives and work. Program Director Sena Jeter Naslund is to lead the discussion, which takes place on Saturday, May 27. The discussion begins with a panel of students speaking about their arts experiences. Students who wish to serve on the panel should notify Katy Yocom at kyocom@spalding.edu with a brief description of the topic they would like to discuss. A drawing may be held for spots on the panel if more than enough students express interest in participating.

Writing-related Links Page on the MFA Website

The MFA Program wants to add a “Links” page to the program website. Students and faculty may send their suggestions of their favorite professional, informative writing-related websites. Please include the URL with the suggestion and email to Karen Mann at kmann@spalding.edu

Life of a Writer

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

Students

Deborah Begel invites Spalding writers to share their stories about Hurricanes Katrina and Rita for a new radio series. Twenty, four-minute “modules” are to be distributed to public radio stations in the U.S. for broadcast on the first anniversary of Katrina. All participants are to receive a free CD. Please send a story, poem, essay, or song to CallingKatrina@ aol.com by March 15. No attachments please. Cut and paste text only. For a flyer with more info, write to CallingKatrina@AOL.com. (top)

Therese (Gwen) Broderick’s poem “Death in Yellowstone” has been accepted for publication by The Spoon River Poetry Review and is to appear later in 2006.

Mark Russell Brown has been invited to present his extended critical essay “Rilke’s The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God: Instructions for ‘God-Making’” at the American Comparative Literature Association’s 2006 Annual Conference, “The Human and Its Others,” which is held on March 23-26 at Princeton University. He is to appear at the 37th Annual College English Association’s Conference, “Reading the Regions/Writing the Regions/Teaching the Regions,” on April 6-8, in San Antonio.

Diana Cohn’s ¡Si, Se Puede!/Yes, We Can!: Janitor Strike in L.A. (Cinco Puntos 2002), an award-winning picture book, is highlighted in an article, “Inclusive Aesthetics and Social Justice: The Vanguard of Small, Multicultural Presses,” in the current issue of Children’s Literature Association Quarterly. Diana’s book about Malaysian Honey Hunters, The Bee Tree (Cinco Puntos Press), is coming out in 2007 and is co-authored with Steve Buchmann and illustrated by Paul Mirocha. Diana currently lectures at Dominican University in San Rafael, Calif., about writing for children and uses her picture book Dream Carver as the basis for the talks. (top)

Teneice Delgado is to present her extended critical essay “Unlacing the Corset: Re-defining the Woman in Irish Poetry” on February 23-26 at the Irish Studies Conference at the University of South Carolina.

Joan Donaldson is dancing in her kitchen with her copy of The Secret of the Red Shoes, a picture book to be released by Ideals Publishing in February. In November, Joan was a guest lecturer at Hope College for the PATH class composed of gifted and talented middle school students. She spoke about the personal essays she writes for The Christian Science Monitor.

David Harrity is currently working as a librarian and freelance writer. He has poems forthcoming in Poetry Harbor and Limestone.

Chris Helvey’s article on the executive director of the Frankfort, Kentucky, public library was published in the Winter 2006 edition of “The Friends of the Paul Sawyier Public Library Newsletter.” (top)

Lisa Izzi’s poem “Let’s Be Honest,” from her working young-adult novel in verse, Athlete. Girl., is published in the new online literary journal Blood Lotus. Lisa is thrilled to be featured in the Spalding Corner section of the website for the Feb/Mar inaugural issue. Visit http://www.bloodlotus.org.

Kilean Kennedy’s story “Into the Great Behind” won first place for the short story category in the Literary LEO 2006 competition. The story appears in the February 8 issue of Literary LEO. Kilean was also invited to read at the third annual Lit LEO celebration held on Wednesday, February 15, at the Jazz Factory.

Mick Kennedy is an associate professor of English at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, where he teaches composition and creative writing. He is editor of The Heartland Review, writes a weekly column for The Odyssey News Magazine, and has a poem forthcoming in Timber Creek Review. (top)

Joe Peacock’s short story “Barn Cats” was selected for honorable mention in the 2006 Literary LEO Contest.

Molly Power’s story “The Laundress” was published in the October 2005 edition of the online magazine Facets: A Literary Magazine.

Julia Schuster’s short story, “Ants Gotta Bite, Sun Gotta Burn,” was accepted for publication by BelleBooks for inclusion in their upcoming anthology, Sweeter Tea. The tentative release date is July 2006.

Colleen Wells’s essay “When I’m Eighty-four” was selected as a runner up in Georgetown Review’s annual writing contest and is forthcoming in the spring 2006 issue. As a new volunteer for Trinity Lutheran Home, an assisted and independent living facility for seniors in Aiken, S.C., Colleen wrote and produced the newsletter, “The Trinity Chronicle,” and is teaching a creative nonfiction writing workshop each Friday for the residents. Her self-published children’s book The Pet Store Party was released by AuthorHouse in February.

Faculty & Staff

Rane Arroyo has published new poems in Divide, Cream City Review, Massachusetts Review, Bend Don’t Shatter (anthology about gay youth) from Soft Skull Press, and Everything I Have Is Blue (working class/gay anthology of short stories) by Suspect Thoughts Press. He has had readings at Oberlin College, Kentucky Community College, and Bowling Green State University. Rane’s stories and poems are being used as textbooks at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Michigan and University of Denver, among others. Robert Miltner (Kent State University) presented “Masks, Mirrors, and Memories: Rane Arroyo’s Hungry Ghost: The Ponce de Leon Poems” at the CEA-CC conference held at University of Puerto Rico, October 2005. (top)

Susan Campbell Bartoletti has received two major book awards, including a Newbery Honor, for her latest work, Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow. The book was also named a 2006 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book.

Ellie Bryant has an essay titled “Rock Towers” forthcoming in the winter issue of the literary magazine Sacred Fire. A short story titled “Blue Moon” is forthcoming in the Southeast Louisiana Writing Project anthology published by Southeast Louisiana University.

In January and February, Roy Hoffman led community writing workshops in Fairhope, Ala., as part of the series, “Writing Mobile Bay: The Hurricane Project,” administered by the Alabama Writers Forum under Jeanie Thompson. On January 12, Roy spoke about his novel, Chicken Dreaming Corn, to a gathering of Michigan, Illinois, and other snowbirds at the Orange Beach, Ala., library. Two of Roy’s recent feature stories in the Mobile Register were carried nationally on the Newhouse News wire: “I Walk the Line: The Story of Madison Jones of Auburn,” about the last living Vanderbilt agrarian writer who had an early novel turned into a movie with Johnny Cash music; and “Amazing Grace,” a portrait of Marion, Ala., on the day that town’s most famous native daughter, Coretta Scott King, passed away.

Sena Jeter Naslund’s new novel, Abundance, A Novel of Marie Antoinette, is scheduled for release from Morrow-HarperCollins on October 3. In February, Sena’s commissioned play (with co-author Elaine Hughes) based on her novel Four Spirits received a staged reading at Alabama Shakespeare Festival Theatre, in Montgomery. Sena recently served as Visiting Writer at Centre College, Danville, Ky. (top)

Mary Yukari Waters was interviewed in the Winter 2006 issue of Glimmer Train.

Katy Yocom traveled to India in January to visit tiger preserves as research for her new novel. The trip was funded by grants from the Elizabeth George Foundation and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Her short story “Sea of Tranquility” is forthcoming in the March/April issue of New Southerner (http://www.newsoutherner.com).

Alumni

Jennifer Anthony’s (May 2005) story about Costa Rica, titled “The Turtle Hatch,” can be found in the January 2006 issue of Pology, a travel webzine (http://www.pology.com/).

Miranda Barnes (October 2005) did a reading for the Poetry Factory, sponsored by the Berien Artist’s Guild, at the Box Factory for the Arts in St. Joseph, Michigan, on January 15th with Larry Janowski, Al DeGenova, and Parneshia Jones. Her poem “Wrung Hands” is forthcoming in the first issue of Blood Lotus online literary journal (http://www.bloodlotus.org). Miranda also is to attend the AWP Conference in Austin, Texas, in March.

David Carren (October 2005) optioned his comic screenplay, My Monster, to Quixote Entertainment, a production company based in Austin, Texas. Scott Rice is set to direct, and David is to produce with Wade Rowland. The script was refined in workshop, and its opening scenes were read at a student reading during the May 2004 residency at Spalding. (top)

Thea Gavin (May 2005) attended a workshop by poet Paul Zarzyski at the Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival in Monterey, Calif., in early December. Her poem “Shredding Ecstasy” has been accepted for publication by The Evansville Review.

John P. Grant (May 2005) is the Managing Director of the Rogue Ales Film Festival, a festival of short films that will be held Saturday, March 4, in San Francisco. The festival is a competition and showcase for Bay Area filmmakers. More information about the festival can be read at http://www.rogue.com John’s film blog can be accessed at http://www.barbarycoastfilms.com/blog

Lucrecia Guerrero (October 2005) was awarded a Christopher Isherwood Foundation grant based on an excerpt from her recently completed novel Tree of Sighs.

Edie Hemingway’s (May 2004) co-authored historical novel for children, Broken Drum, has been licensed by Scholastic Book Fairs and Book Clubs. They are to publish a new edition, with new title and cover art, to be marketed on their Fall 2006 list to elementary schools nationwide.

Erin Keane’s (May 2004) chapbook has been accepted for publication by Snark Publishing.

Cyn Kitchen’s (May 2005) short story, “Savior,” was published on http://sfwp.org, the literary journal of the Santa Fe Writers Project. Cyn also has started a blog, "The Cynical Kitchen," which is a regularly updated collection of essays. It can be viewed at http://www.cynkitchen.blogs.com Cyn’s poem, “Phone Marrow,” appears in the February 2006 issue of Literary Mama magazine. (top)

Richard Newman (October 2004) had a poem selected by Billy Collins for Best American Poetry 2006.

Diana M. Raab (October 2003) writes a monthly column called “Your Muse” for Inkbyte.com. Her poem “The Way I Live,” is to appear in an upcoming issue of The Writer's Journal.

Michele Ruby (May 2005) has a poem, “Old Coat,” coming out in the Spring 2006 edition of Dogwood: A Journal of Prose and Poetry.

Dawn Shamp (May 2005) read from her novel, On Account of Conspicuous Women, on January 31 at the Vermont Studio Center.

Pam Steele (Spring 2004) recently hosted a birthday observance for the poet William Stafford at the Hermiston, Oregon, Public Library. Each year, The Friends of William Stafford organization sponsors these events all over the country during the month of January. Pam has poems forthcoming in two publications: “Blackberries” in Limestone and “The Swimmers” in The Ronde House Anthology. Ice River Press is to publish Pam’s chapbook in the fall.

Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen (May 2003) wrote a book review for the December issue of “Peace Corps Writers” (http://www.peacecorpswriters.org), a site that promotes writing by former Peace Corps volunteers. She also was included in the latest edition of Something About the Author, a library reference work that highlights contemporary authors and illustrators in children’s literature. Stephanie spent a week at the Taipei American School in Taiwan as a guest author. In addition to large group assemblies for Grades K-5, she conducted two-day writing workshops for grades 4 and 5. (top)

Jonathan Weinert’s (October 2005) poem “Le Village de Sauve” has been accepted for publication in 32 Poems. His review of Frank Bidart’s Star Dust is slated to appear in the upcoming issue of Harvard Review.

Deidre Woollard’s (October 2003) story “Date-Stamped” appears in issue four of The Big Ugly Review (http://www.biguglyreview.com). She gave a reading at the launch party for the issue on January 15 at Club Deluxe in San Francisco.

Laverne Zabielski’s (May 2004) book release party for her memoir The Garden Girls’ Letters and Journal was on February 9 at the Limestone Club, in Lexington, Ky. She featured her “Truly Wearable Art” from “The Garden Girls’ Collection” and did a performance art reading, which was accompanied by guitarist Larry Vogt. Also in February, she read at the Carnegie Center. Laverne is scheduled to be part of the InKy Reading Series at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 10, at The Rudyard Kipling in Louisville. If one purchases a book at this event or orders directly from Laverne@Zabielski.com, he or she receives a complimentary CD “Wrapt in Wax Paper,” prose, poetry, and music by Laverne and Larry. Her memoir is also available at http://www.WindPub.com or http://www.amazon.com

Aimee M. Zaring (May 2005) read from her novel for the InKY Reading Series at the Rudyard Kipling in December. She also received a grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women to revise and complete her novel in 2006.

Change of Address

Jessica Hume’s new address is 1805 Richmond Dr., Louisville, Ky., 40205.

Diana Cohn’s new email address is dreamcarver@mac.com

(top)

Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC)

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.

• K. L. Cook, Fiction
• Rane Arroyo, Poetry
• Cathleen Medwick, Creative Nonfiction
• Ellie Bryant, Writing for Children
• Eric Schmiedl, Playwriting/Screenwriting

Books in Common for Spring ’06

Students read the Book in Common, Life Studies by Susan Vreeland, and the Faculty/Guest Book in Common in the area of concentration that they are to study in the spring semester in preparation for a discussion with the author at the spring 2006 residency.

Fiction: Blackberries, Blackberries by Crystal Wilkinson
Poetry: Laughing Sickness by Kathleen Driskell. To order, send check for $10 made out to Fleur-de-Lis Press to Liz Nethery, Spalding University, 851 S. Fourth St., Louisville, KY 40203, or order from amazon.com
Nonfiction: The Eye Is Not Enough by Dianne Aprile. To order, email mlhess@mlhess.win.net
Writing for Children: The Flag Maker by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Playwriting: Character Assassins by Charles Schulman (The script is mailed to students.)
Screenwriting: Obscenity by Claudia Johnson and Matt Stevens (The script is mailed to students.) (top)

Reminders and Notes

Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) Members
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.

for October 2005 Semester

  • Kenny Cook, Fiction
  • Rane Arroyo, Poetry
  • Cathleen Medwick, Creative Nonfiction
  • Ellie Bryant, Writing for Children
  • Eric Schmiedl, Playwriting/Screenwriting

    Both students and faculty are invited to make suggestions to the FAC for exploration by the Associate Program Director and larger faculty. However, students and faculty should directly and immediately consult the Program Director about any issues concerning specific individuals' performance in the program. (top)

    Financial Aid: The The MFA Program offers scholarships to students entering their first semester in the program. Returning students who desire financial assistance should apply for graduate assistantships. Applications for scholarships and assistantships should be directed to the MFA Office. Check the Tuition and Fees page on the MFA website (http://www.spalding.edu/mfaforms) for deadlines.

    Federal student loans, which are handled through Spalding's financial aid office and not through the MFA program, are available to all eligible graduate students.

    Students need to re-file the FAFSA for each new school year (the school year is fall/spring). Students who received finanical aid for the May 2005 semester need to re-file for the October semester. (top)

    For help with financial aid questions, call Vicki Montgomery at 800-896-8941 ext. 2731 or 502-585-9911, ext. 2731 or email vmontgomery@spalding.edu Students may enter or update their FAFSA information online at www.fafsa.ed.gov (top)

    Deferment Form. For students who receive notice their loans have gone into repayment while still enrolled in school. Fill out deferment form (click here) and fax to Jennifer Gohmann at 502-992-2424. Include the address and/or fax number of where the deferment form should go to in Section 7 (on the 2nd page). For multiple loans, fill out one deferment form per loan company. On the fax cover sheet, state that you are an MFA student. If you have questions, Jennifer's email is jgohmann@spalding.edu

    MFA Scholarship Fund: Donations to the MFA in Writing Scholarship Fund may be made “in honor of” or “in memory of” a friend or loved one or organization. To make a donation, contact Cindy Schnell, Donor Relations Coordinator in the office of Development and Alumni Relations. Email: cschnell@spalding.edu Phone: (800) 896-8941, ext. 2505 or (502) 585-9911, ext. 2505.

    High Horse Faculty Anthology: MFA-ers may order High Horse: Contemporary Writing by the MFA Faculty of Spalding University by sending a check for $14 for each book to Louisville Review, Spalding University, 851 S. Fourth St., Louisville, KY 40203. MFA-ers may request a complimentary copy of the anthology be sent to prospective students. Email the prospective student’s name and address to mfa@spalding.edu mfa@spalding.edu

    MFA Students/Faculty/Alums Discussion Board. The MFA Discussion Board is off to an energetic start. Currently, the most active topic is Publishing Opportunities, which lists contests and calls for submission, for example, a call for submissions from Alligator Juniper, the national literary journal at Prescott College, where Kenny Cook is fiction and creative nonfiction editor. Students and faculty are welcome to post information in this area and others. See the MFA Discussion Board at:

    http://eres.spalding.edu/bboard.asp?cid=246&cname=ENG001MFA

    For easy access to the Discussion Board, students and faculty are encouraged to bookmark the site. (top)

    Online information: MFA in Writing forms, deadlines, and other student and faculty information are available online at http://www.spalding.edu/mfaforms Newsletters are at http://www.spalding.edu/mfanewsletter For convenience, bookmark these two pages. Both web addresses are case sensitive. The MFA Office is happy to mail program forms or the newsletter, if requested. Email kyocom@spalding.edu. (top)

    Life of a Writer is an important newsletter column that reports on experiences around the writing life of our students, faculty, and alums.
    Email submissions to mfanewsletter@spalding.edu

    Life of a Writer pieces should be written as a paragraph in third person. It is helpful for alums to include their graduation semester, such as Jake Doe (October 2003). Spell out month and state names. Include publishers, date of publication, and Website addresses, when appropriate. (top)

    Below is a list of some of the kinds of activities that might be included in the Life of a Writer column.

  • Published a book, essay, poem, book review, play, etc.
  • Given a public reading
  • Visited a classroom to talk about writing
  • Judged a writing competition
  • Attended a writing conference
  • Served on a panel about writing
  • Volunteered in a project about writing or literacy

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

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

    Email Life of a Writer information to Jamey Temple at mfanewsletter@spalding.edu

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