Vol. 11 No. 2
March 2007

Cross-genre Assignment for Spring

Spring Workshop Format

Vertigo, Residency Film

Area Plenary Lecture

Spring Graduation

Fiction Students & Ulysses

Screenwriting Foundation

Paris Update

MFA Electives

Spring Pre-Reading for All

Because You Asked

High Horse, Faculty Anthology

Life of a Writer

     Students

     Faculty and Staff

    Alumni

Reminders and Notes

Classifieds

Spalding Home

MFA Home

Previous Newsletters

May 2006

July 2006

October 2006

Cross-genre Exercise for Spring in Writing for Children
Every semester, all students are required to experiment in a cross-genre activity, which is, for Spring 2007, writing text of less than 250 words for a picture book based on an animal character.

In preparation for the writing exercise, Program Director Sena Jeter Naslund gives a plenary lecture on several animal picture books. Faculty and guests in the writing for children area of concentration participate in a panel discussion of some of their own favorite animal picture books.

Students are welcome to stop by the Spalding Library or the Louisville Free Public Library to look at picture books about animals for additional inspiration. Student writing, to be turned in at a date listed in the residency schedule, grows out of these introductory experiences. Toward the end of the week, students hand in picture-book texts. Writing for children faculty select some of the texts to be read aloud by their authors in a plenary session. (top)

Hitchcock’s Vertigo to Be Shown at Residency
At the Spring 2007 residency, the MFA Program presents Vertigo for common screening. Screenwriting students are required to attend this viewing, but all students are welcome. A craft discussion led by screenwriting faculty directly follows this film’s presentation.

Plenary Playwriting and Screenwriting Lecture
The MFA Residency features a general introductory talk to prepare students to study the book-in-common area for the following residency. Kathleen Driskell presented “A Poetry Primer” in Spring 2006, which preceded W. S. Merwin’s visit in the fall; last residency’s talk by Ellie Bryant, “The Universe of Children’s Writing,” preceded Daniel Handler’s visit this spring.
The Fall 2007 Residency features playwriting and screenwriting as the book-in-common area, and in May, Charlie Schulman gives an introductory talk on playwriting and screenwriting technique. This talk benefits students in all areas, including playwriting and screenwriting.

Spring Graduation Set for 6 p.m. Friday, June 1
The spring graduation takes place at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 1, in the Crystal Ballroom at the Brown Hotel. Dinner for that evening is on your own; students are encouraged to participate in the Gallery Hop that evening (see article below). The traditional farewell dinner takes place on Saturday, June 2, in the Crystal Ballroom at the Brown Hotel. (top)

Gallery Hop and the Interrelatedness of the Arts
After graduation, students and faculty are encouraged to participate in a festive Louisville event, the First Friday Gallery Hop.

The Gallery Hop includes free trolley transportation along the community’s “Art Zone,” a concentrated area of visual arts galleries. Students may wish to talk about their favorite art from the Gallery Hop at Saturday’s Interrelatedness of the Arts discussion.

Trolleys run from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. and travel along the Main Street, Market Street, and Fourth Street corridors, including a stop directly in front of the Jazz Factory and its building-mate, Glassworks. Participating galleries offer artist openings and refreshments until 9 p.m. Students may choose to dine at a local restaurant on the route. Locally owned favorites include the Jazz Factory as well as East Market Street restaurants Mayan Café, Artemesia, Melillo’s, and Kim’s Asian Grille, among others. Fourth Street Live!, also on the route, features a number of chain restaurants.

For a map of the route and a listing of galleries, visit http://www.trolleyhop.com/

Fiction Pre-Reading Assignment for Spring Residency
James Joyce scholar Michael Groden gives a lecture at the Spring 2007 residency that focuses on his work with Joyce’s manuscripts for Ulysses. He suggests students prepare for this lecture by pre-reading 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.

For additional pre-reading assignments, see article on page 6. (top)

For Screenwriting: Foundation Films and Technical Handbooks
The MFA screenwriting faculty recently developed a short film list for all incoming students to view closely before entering their first residency. Screenwriting faculty strongly suggest that all current screenwriting students become familiar with these films (if they are not already), as knowledge of these films provides a strong foundation for discussion in the workshops, lectures, and staged readings during the residency. The foundation films are Chinatown (1972), The Godfather (1972), Citizen Kane (1941), The Bicycle Thief (1949), and Casablanca (1941).

In addition, all screenwriting students (new and continuing) should be familiar with the following texts before the Spring 2007 residency: 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)

Reid Hall Is MFA’s Campus in Paris
Many of the MFA Program’s summer-residency workshops and lectures are to take place at Reid Hall, near Luxembourg Gardens. Reid Hall is the Paris home of Columbia University and also serves as an educational center for many American universities. Plenary sessions take place in the Grand Salle; workshops take place in smaller classrooms. MFA students also have access to Reid Hall’s reference library, galleries and two picturesque gardens. The walk from the MFA Program’s hotel, Hotel des Jardins du Luxembourg, to Reid Hall takes approximately ten to fifteen minutes.

“Café Days” for Paris Workshops
The owners of several Parisian cafés have agreed to host workshops during the cafés’ quiet afternoon hours. “Café days” are scheduled to allow workshoppers to enjoy lunch at the cafés before beginning work. Workshops rotate to allow all students to experience the ambience and cuisine of several cafés during the residency. About half the workshops take place in cafés; the rest are held in Reid Hall.

While Paris is moving toward making public places smoke-free, smoking is still allowed in cafés and restaurants. Several of the cafés offer a private room for MFA workshops, and most have nonsmoking sections; however, students may encounter smoke in Paris dining establishments. (top)

Traveling to Paris: ISIC Card, Travel Insurance, Passport
All MFA students attending the Paris residency must obtain an International Student ID Card. To do so, visit the ISIC website (www.myisic.com) and click “Get Your Card.” Students can apply for the card online or use the website’s search tool to locate the nearest ISIC office. Applicants must present a Spalding student ID or a signed letter on official Spalding stationery as proof of full-time student status. Also required are a driver’s license or birth certificate, a photo, and $22 (by money order, if applying in person). If applying in person, call the local ISIC office first to verify requirements.

ISIC provides basic travel insurance, but the MFA Program strongly recommends supplemental travel insurance. Such insurance may be purchased through a travel agent or through companies such as Travel Insurance Select (http://www.travelinsure.com/what/selecthigh.htm) or Travelex (http://www.travelex.com/us/personal/travelinsurance.asp?content=tie).

Travel to France requires a current, valid passport; however, no visa is required. (top)

MFA Invited to American Embassy in Paris
MFA students and faculty are invited to a private tour of the art collection at the American Embassy in Paris on Thursday, June 28. A reading by Sena Jeter Naslund, open to the American community in Paris, follows at the Embassy. This event is not formal; however, suggested attire is “best casual.”

The MFA Program Offers Two Electives: ENG650 and ENG660
The MFA in Writing Program offers two elective courses for students who would like additional study.

One is the opportunity to register for an additional semester (ENG650) of mentored instruction before the degree is finished. ENG650 is an optional enrichment course and is not required for graduation. This course benefits students who wish to receive additional practice writing in their genre or do additional work in a minor or another genre, provided they apply and are accepted to study in that area of concentration. Packets include original writing only.

The other elective is ENG660, which is a teaching practicum. This course serves MFA students who would like to include a specialization in teaching creative writing at the post-secondary level. This 12-hour course follows the regular MFA fall or spring semester schedule and begins with a Louisville residency. During the residency, ENG660 students take part in a workshop that focuses on the teaching of writing of mixed genres. Students also attend special teaching lectures and presentations. Students attend “regular” lectures in areas outside their concentration to gather a wider perspective for teaching.

During the at-home portion of the semester, ENG660 students arrange a teaching practicum with the help of their mentor, read and write widely on creative writing pedagogy, and develop syllabus and course management strategies.

Neither of these electives take the place of the four core courses of the MFA Program but may be added to enrich a student’s course of study. By taking either or both of these electives before the MFA degree is conferred, students may qualify to receive financial aid to help defray tuition costs.
For more information on these opportunities, please contact Kathleen Driskell, Associate Program Director, at kdriskell@spalding.edu. (top)

Graduate Assistantships for Spring 2007
The MFA Office announces the awarding of the following graduate assistantships for spring 2007.

Student Editor for The Louisville Review: David Harrity, Juyanne James
Student Assistant Editor for The Louisville Review: Patty Houston, Mari Beth Stanley
Office Assistant: Adriena Dame, Ellyn Lichvar
Publications Assistant: Kim Stinson-Hawn (top)

AWP Seeks Panel Proposals for New York 2008
Students and faculty are encouraged to submit panels for consideration at the annual AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) 2008 conference and bookfair, to be held in New York City between January 30 and February 2. The deadline for proposals is May 1. Students may consider their ECE topics as potential panel topics. It appears that AWP favors panels that include members from more than one institution.

AWP’s Conference includes more than 300 events with more than 1,000 participants, and the proposal process is competitive, so it is important that all individuals submitting a proposal are familiar with AWP’s guidelines and expectations. See the AWP website conference page for more information. www.awpwriter.org/ conference/2008proposal.php (top)

Because You Asked
Question: Tell me more about the AWP Conference so I know if I should attend.
Answer: Each year, about a dozen faculty members and twenty or so students from Spalding make their way to the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Annual Conference. AWP is our professional organization, and this annual conference is the biggest for writers in the U.S. The conference was held in Atlanta this past March and in Austin, Texas, the year before. Next year, it takes place in New York City.

In Atlanta, nearly 5,000 conferees attended readings, panel discussions, and the book fair. Students interested in publishing can learn more about literary journals and small presses; walking through the book fair allows you to meet editors and publishers face to face. During the day, panel discussions take place. Many panel members are graduate students who have come together to propose a panel. Our Spalding students could group with other students to present the work of their ECEs and gain valuable conference experience in presenting. Pedagogical forums are available to those who may wish to teach. In the evening (and during the day, too), there are many readings and book signings. This is an opportunity to hear some of the most prominent and disparate writers in the world all in one venue.(top)

Students and faculty can also learn about the opportunities their AWP memberships afford them: for instance, AWP’s web site (awpwriter.org) provides forums for discussion, job listings, and archived scholarly articles about writing and its pedagogy.

Of course, one of the best things about going to AWP is that you run into lots of people you know from Spalding: current students, alums, and faculty.

(top)

Life of a Writer

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

Students

Holiday House accepted Joan Donaldson’s young adult novel, By My Own Hands, which she worked on with Luke Wallin. The story takes place at the utopian community of Rugby, Tenn., and focuses on farming, land use, and creativity. She also has an essay, “Wings of White,” in the Bear River Review online journal. The essay is the result of taking a nature writing workshop with Jerry Dennis last summer at the University of Michigan’s writing conference, for which Joan received a scholarship.

Joe Gisondi wrote the cover story for the College Media Review’s fall 2006 issue, a publication distributed to college journalism advisers and professors across the country. The article, “Getting It Write,” focuses on ways to provide helpful and constructive critiques for student publications. (top)

Claudia Labin read one of her short stories on March 1 in Lilly Auditorium at the IUPUI School of Liberal Arts as part of an International Women’s Day Celebration. The line up included poetry, fiction, and dramatic performance. Community groups and institutions were represented. (top)

Drew Lackovic went to Harbor Creek High School and read from The Canterbury Tales in Middle English to three classes of 12th grade English students on February 7. Aside from thinking that he was speaking in Irish, the students enjoyed the reading immensely.

Andrew Najberg’s chapbook of poems Easy to Lose was recently accepted for publication by Finishing Line Press. It is to come out in 2007.

Rosanne Osborne’s review of Suzanne Marrs’ biography, Eudora Welty, appears in the spring issue of The Alabama Review. Rosanne also served as evaluator of poetry submitted for the member section of the 2006-07 edition of The Reach of Song, the annual poetry anthology of the Georgia Poetry Society.

Mari Stanley read at Third Tuesday Coffeehouse in Owensboro, Kentucky, on February 20. She read poems alongside Western Kentucky University faculty members Tom Hunley, Nancy Roberts, and Jeff Fearnside. (top)

The Minnetonka Review has selected two of Matt Urmy’s poems for publication. “Then I Woke Up” and “The Chorus of These Worlds” are to appear in the next summer or winter issue. Matt was recently a guest speaker at the University of Tennessee in Marilyn Kallet’s Dream Works class.

Faculty & Staff

Dianne Aprile’s essay, “Don’t Hold Back,” is forthcoming in the summer 2007 issue of New Madrid. Her memoir excerpt, “The Thickness of Water,” has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize by The Louisville Review. In January, Dianne spent a brief writer’s residency at Hopscotch House, provided by The Kentucky Foundation for Women. In February, she served on the committee selecting finalists for the 2007 Thomas Merton Poetry of the Sacred Contest, for which the poet and Rumi translator Coleman Barks is final judge. It is her sixth consecutive year on the committee.

Richard Goodman’s essay, “The Man Who Bumped Against Me,” is posted on The Subway Chronicles, http://www.thesubwaychronicles.com/.

Roy Hoffman was on an AWP panel in Atlanta on March 2, “Shalom, Y’all: Jewish Writing in the South.” On February 15, he was the keynote speaker, sponsored by the Alabama Humanities Foundation, at a literary conference in Andalusia, Ala., with the theme, “Storyteller In the House.” Roy’s novel, Chicken Dreaming Corn, is reviewed in the Winter ’07 issue of The Southern Review, and his nonfiction collection, Back Home, has been reissued in soft cover on the Spring ’07 list of University of Alabama Press. His personal essay, “Windows,” about his late father’s law office, is in the March/April issue of Preservation: The Magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. His recent Sunday features for the Mobile Press-Register include “Waging Peace,” January 28, about sixteen-year-old anti-Iraq War blogger Ava Lowery from Alexander City, Ala., and “African Dreams,” February 11, on Sylviane Diouf’s book about a group of Africans, former slaves, who settled near Mobile after the Civil War. (top)

Jody Lisberger is to be a panelist in this summer’s Ocean State Writing Conference, June 22-23. At University of Rhode Island in February, as part of the Dana Shugar Women’s Studies Colloquium, she read her CNF essay called “DES and Diflucan: Pharmaceutical Marketing Choices—Why Women Should Take Heed.” During January, sponsored by the North Kingstown and Rhode Island Arts Councils, she taught a three-day memoir workshop based on Anne Fadiman’s book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.

Karen Mann served as a grant reveiwer for Kentucky Foundation for Women in October.

“Visions and Revisions: An Editor’s Dream,” Cathleen Medwick’s article about Knopf editor Vicky Wilson’s country retreat, appeared in the “Escapes” section of The New York Times on October 27.

Nancy McCabe received a 2007 Individual Creative Artist fellowship in creative nonfiction from the Pennsylvania Arts Council. (top)

Jeanie Thompson’s poem “Before the Solstice” appears in Confrontation, Fall 2006/Summer 2007. On January 16, Jeanie presented her essay, “Where the Spirit Moved Me,” as part of a panel on All Out of Faith: Southern Women Writers on Spirituality at the Wiregrass Museum of Art in Dothan, Alabama. She spoke to high school writers February 21 on “The State of Contemporary Writing” at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art. Jeanie moderated and was a presenter on a panel called “The Art of Advocacy: How to Make Legislators Your New Best Friends,” at the AWP Conference in Atlanta on March 3. She presented a lecture called “The Poet Tells Herself” at the Writing Today Conference at Birmingham Southern College on March 10. Jeanie interviewed 2007 Harper Lee Award recipient William Cobb for Alabama Arts Radio, WTSU Public Radio, 89.9 FM. The interview is to be aired in March.

Katy Yocom’s short story “Sea of Tranquility” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by New Southerner. Katy recently read from her novel in progress, Tiger Woman, while lecturing for Kim Crum’s (Fall 2003) creative writing class at Spalding. She reads in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, on March 22. (top)

Alumni

“Midnight, Year Thirty,” by Cynthia Rausch Allar (Spring 2004) has been accepted to appear in the fall issue of Paper Street. This poem is from her thesismanuscript.

Jennifer Anthony’s (Spring 2005) four-part series, “Tonics,” was accepted for the spring, summer, fall, and winter 2007 issues of The First Line, which can be found at http://www.thefirstline.com. Her short story about transmogrification, “Palomar,” was one of the top ten winners in the Per Contra Fiction contest, hosted by Drexel College. More information can be found online at www.percontra.net/6pcprizewinners.htm. (top)

Tara Goldstein’s (Fall 2006) play Pound Predators, which was read aloud during the last residency, is to have a rehearsed reading March 6 at the University of Toronto in celebration of International Women’s Day. A self-production of the play is to take place the first two weeks of July during the Toronto Fringe Festival. Tara’s play Lost Daughter, which was her creative thesis, is to be given a professional rehearsed reading April 15 at the Toronto Jewish Community Centre.

Brian Hampton’s (Spring 2005) full-length play, The Jungle Fun Room, was selected as a finalist in the Long Beach Playhouse New Play Festival.

Diana Raab’s (Fall 2003) chapbook, My Muse Undresses Me, was accepted by Pudding House. Her essay “Journaling Through Difficult Times” appears in the spring 2007 issue of Coastal Woman. Her memoir/biography, Regina’s Closet: A Grand-daughter Discovers Her Grandmother’s Secret Journal (MFA thesis) is due out in the fall of 2007 by Beaufort Books. For more news, check out her updated website at http://www.dianaraab.com. (top)

Michele Ruby (Spring 2006) has a story, “Sound Effects,” forthcoming in the spring 2007 issue of Lilith, and her short story “Storm Damage” has been accepted for the April 2007 issue of Rosebud. The MacGuffin is to publish her short story “Nota Bene” in the fall of 2007.

Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen (Spring 2003) has joined the online faculty of Gotham Writer’s Workshop. In February, to raise awareness of Down Syndrome, her 1998 picture book We’ll Paint the Octopus Red was featured in special “story times” at 500 Barnes and Noble stores across the United States. (top)

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: TBA (top)

Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) for Fall 2006

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.