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

Vol.17 No. 2
March 2010

Reading in Common for Spring 2010

Buenos Aires Residency Books in Common

Cross Genre for Spring: Elevator Plays

Shakespeare Behind Bars: A Documentary

Spring 2010 Guest Lecturers

Buenos Aires: Upcoming Deadlines

Opps for Alums in Buenos Aires

Community Workshop May 22-30

Homecoming May 28-30

Discussion Board and More

Alumni Assoc

Because You Asked

Reading Trail for MFA Authors

Life of a Writer

Students

Faculty and Staff

Alumni

Personal

Program BIC for Spring 2010

Faculty BIC for Spring 2010

Classified: Short Story Contest

Faculty Advisory Committee for Fall 2009

Reminders and Notes

Spalding MFA Home

MFA Home

Previous Newsletters

See other issues of On Extended Wings

 

 
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The Spring 2010 Script and Book in Common Area Is Dramatic Writing

(1) Rebecca’s Gilman’s stage adaptation of McCullers’s The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

At the opening MFA convocation, Friday, May 21, playwright Rebecca Gilman discusses her stage adapation of Carson McCullers’s novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. She is pictured here at a New York City rehearsal of the play. All students and faculty, regardless of concentration, read the script in advance of the residency (download available on Blackboard) and also the novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. If buying a copy, we suggest students purchase the Modern Library’s edition of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (ISBN-10: 0679424741 or ISBN-13: 978-0679424741). Rising second semester students meet in mini-workshops scheduled throughout the residency to discuss their short essays on the stage adaptation of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.

Rebecca Gilman

In addition to The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Rebecca has written many other plays including Dollhouse, Boy Gets Girl, Blue Surge, and The Glory of Living, for which she received a Pulitzer Prize nomination in 2001. Her play Spinning into Butter was adapted for a film and released in 2007. It starred Sarah Jessica Parker and Beau Bridges. Rebecca’s plays have been produced at Goodman Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre, Lincoln Center Theatre, Joseph Papp’s Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club and Manhattan Class Company. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Prince Prize for Commissioning New Work, the Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright, and the George Devine Award, and she was named the 2008 recipient of the Harper Lee Award for Alabama’s Distinguished Writer of the Year. Rebecca teaches playwriting in the Master of Fine Arts program for Writing for the Screen and Stage at Northwestern University. She is a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild. (top)

(2) David Kipen’s The Schreiber Theory

The Program Screenwriting Book in Common selection for the Spring 2010 residency is David Kipen’s The Schreiber Theory. David visits the MFA residency on Monday, May 24, to discuss his book and the art of screenwriting. He will focus much of his talk on the screenplays of William Zaillion; before residency students are to view the following films made from Zaillion’s screenplays: Schindler’s List (1993); Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993); Gangs of New York (2002). David also suggests that students view The Falcon and the Snowman (1985). DVDs of the films may be rented locally or checked out of local libraries. (top)

David joined the National Endowment for the Arts as the director of literature in September 2005. He served that organization until 2009. While at the NEA, David led the agency’s national leadership initiatives in literature, including the Big Read and Poetry Out Loud.

Beginning in 2000, David was the book critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, where he reviewed six to eight books each month. He joined the San Francisco Chronicle in 1998 as editor for the paper’s Sunday “Book Review.” Prior to working with the Chronicle, he was the senior editor with Buzz magazine. He was also a book critic and essayist for National Public Radio’s Day to Day program and presented Santa Monica station KCRW-FM’s weekly commentary and podcast Overbooked. David has served on prize juries for the National Book Critics Circle (where he was also a board member), the Commonwealth Club of California, and PEN West.

All MFA students and faculty should bring book-in-common texts to each plenary discussion of the residency Script and Book in Common.

All students should adjust their semester’s reading lists in order to add all the above titles to their cumulative bibliographies. (top)

Summer 2010: Buenos Aires Residency Books in Common
To prepare for the Summer 2010 MFA residency in Buenos Aires, all attending students should read the Plenary Book in Common: Don Segundo Sombra by Ricardo Güiraldes. This book is out of print, but students can obtain used copies. Be sure to purchase the English translation.
Students should also read the book in common (listed below) for their concentration area.

  • Fiction: Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges (English Translation), Anthony Kerrigan (Editor and Translator). Grove PR, 1994.
  • Poetry: Twentieth Century Latin American Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology, edited by Stephen Tapscott. Univ of Texas PR, 1996, second printing 2006.
  • Creative Nonfiction: In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin, and The Old Patagonia Express by Paul Theroux. Please focus on South American sections of Theroux’s book.
  • Writing for Children and Young Adults: The Magic Bean Tree: A Legend from Argentina by Nancy Van Laan (Author) and Beatriz Vidal (Illustrator). Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 1998.
  • Screenwriting: Film & Script: The Motorcycle Diaries by Walter Salles (View film. Script to be posted on Blackboard).

    Students should bring their texts to the book-in-common sessions at the residency in Argentina. There may be additions made to the BIC prereading list. Please check the Thursday Memo each week on Blackboard to stay informed. (top)

    MFA Commissions Four Elevator Plays for Spring 2010 Residency
    The MFA Program has commissioned a series of Elevator Plays to be performed by the Specific Gravity Ensemble for students and faculty at the Spring 2010 residency. Prior to the performances, Rand Harmon, president and founding Aristic director of Specific Gravity Ensemble, will present a talk on his company’s history of presenting site-specific performances. He will also discuss the art of writing very short plays. All students at the Spring 2010 residency will write an elevator play as part of the cross-genre curriculum assignment.

    Rand is the original creator of Specific Gravity’s signature events Elevator Plays and Elevator Plays 2: Beyond the Norm! He is currently pursuing his PhD in Theatre/Performance Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and recently directed Pandora Production’s I Am My Own Wife, and SGE’s The Most Beautiful Lullaby You’ve Ever Heard, Macbeth, and Marco Polo and InterLifeChangeCycle, both short site-specific performance events featured at Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival Kick-off Parties 2008 and 2009. (top)

    Shakespeare Behind Bars to be Screened at Residency
    The MFA Program has invited Curt Tofteland to present the prize-winning film Shakespeare Behind Bars at the Spring 2010 residency. The film chronicles the internationally critically acclaimed Shakespeare Behind Bars program at the Luther Luckett Correctional Complex in LaGrange, Kentucky. Curt served as the Founder and Artistic Director of this program until 2008. Philomath Films chronicled Shakespeare Behind Bars in a documentary that premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and was screened at 40+ film festivals around the world, winning a total of 11 film awards. After the film is screened, Curt will lead a discussion on the Shakespeare Behind Bars Program and the film. (top)

    Currently, Curt is a freelance theatre artist, a role to which he brings thirty-two years of professional theatre experience. From 1989 to 2008, he was the Producing Artistic Director of Kentucky Shakespeare Festival. Curt conducts residencies, workshops, and master classes at theatres and universities throughout country. As a director and an Equity actor, he has 200+ professional productions to his credit. Additionally, he has presented 400+ performances of his one-man show, Shakespeare’s Clownes: A Foole’s Guide to Shakespeare. Curt is a published poet and essayist. (top)

    MFA Program Welcomes Spring 2010 Guest Lecturers
    In addition to Rand Harmon and Curt Tofteland, the MFA Program welcomes Lori A. May and Jonathan Weinert to the Spring 2010 residency.

    Lori A. May’s talk “Online Marketing for Writers” addresses many new media opportunities for writers to present their work, including Twitter, Facebook, and blogging. Lori is a part-time writing instructor and a member of the AWP, MLA, and the Michigan College English Association. She is a frequent guest lecturer and workshop presenter at writers’ conferences and graduate writing programs. Her creative works have appeared in publications such as The Writer, Rattle, Tipton Poetry Journal, and anthologies such as Van Gogh’s Ear. She is the author of two novels and a poetry collection, stains: early poems. Her next book, The Low-Residency MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Creative Writing Students, is forthcoming in December 2010 (Continuum Books). May is also Founding Editor of The Ambassador Poetry Project and Editor-in-Chief of Poets’ Quarterly. More information is available online at www.loriamay.com. (top)

    Jonathan Weinert presents his lecture “No Things But in Ideas: The Power and Uses of Abstraction in Poetry” at the Spring 2010 residency. His debut, In the Mode of Disappearance (Nightboat Books, 2008), was selected by Brenda Hillman for the 2006 Nightboat Poetry Prize, and was named a finalist for the 2009 Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America. Jonathan’s poems and reviews have appeared in Ploughshares, The Kenyon Review, Pleiades, Harvard Review, Washington Square Review, American Letters & Commentary, and elsewhere. His interview with visiting writer W. S. Merwin, conducted jointly with poetry faculty member Jeanie Thompson, was published in The Louisville Review. Jonathan is a graduate of Brandeis University and the MFA in Writing Program at Spalding University. He serves as an advisor at the Lesley University MFA in Creative Writing Program. He lives in Concrd, Massachusetts, with the poet Amy M. Clark and their son, Jonah. (top)

    Buenos Aires: Upcoming Deadline
    Final payment is due on April 24 for travel expenses for the Buenos Aires residency. Students receiving financial aid may charge all transportation and housing costs to their student account.

    Special Options for Alums in Buenos Aires
    A few slots are still available for alumni who would like to participate in the Buenos Aires residency. Alums may join faculty and students at group meals and outings, including walking tours, a tango evening, and an overnight trip to the pampas. This option allows alums plenty of time to write or to explore the city on their own.

    In addition to the events mentioned above, alums have three options for participating in the residency curriculum. Our Retreat Plus option offers admittance to lectures, panels and other classroom sessions. The Full Residency option lets alums participate in workshop, as well as all other classroom sessions. Alums may also begin an Enrichment semester with the Buenos Aires residency.

    Alums who would like to participate in the residency at any level should contact Katy immediately at kyocom@spalding.edu. (top)

    MFA Offers Community Workshop in Creative Writing
    The MFA Program is again offering a “Community Workshop” to creative writers during the Spring 2010 residency, May 22-30. Community Workshop students participate in an eight-day, non-credit writing workshop and are invited to attend all MFA residency events, including lectures and panel discussions normally reserved exclusively for MFA students. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please tell those interested to email mfa@spalding.edu for more information and registration details or see www.spalding.edu/communityworkshop. (top)

    Homecoming May 28-30
    The MFA Alumni Association is planning Homecoming for May 28-30. Several sessions for alums are planned on Friday and Saturday. Please follow this link for the schedule: http://www.spaldingmfaalum.com/Spalding_MFA_Alumni_Association/Homecoming_2010.html.

    The Celebration of Recently Published Books by Alumni takes place at 5 p.m. Friday, May 28, at the Brown Hotel and is followed by a book signing.

    There is no registration fee to attend Homecoming; however to better plan the events, attendees are asked to register. Alumni, spring 2010 graduates, and faculty are invited to attend a free brunch on Saturday, May 29, in the Spalding mansion.

    Alumni who are planning to attend may want to make reservations at the Brown Hotel now (502-583-1234). Be sure to ask for the Spalding Friends and Family rate, which is $129. (top)

    Discussion Board for Contests, Deadlines, and More The “Contests” section of the discussion board on Blackboard has much more information than contests. It includes calls for submissions or papers, information on grants and residencies, fellowships, etc. Check in from time to time to find out what opportunities are out there. Faculty, students, and alumni may also post information to this discussion board. (top)

    MFA Alumni Association
    The website for the MFA Alumni Association is http://www.spaldingmfaalum.com. If you have questions or are interested in working with this group, send Terry Price an email at terry@terryprice.net. Check out the Spalding MFA Alumni Facebook page. (top)

    Because You Asked
    Q: Can I bring a guest to residency meals?
    A. Graduating students are invited to purchase tickets for their guests to attend the Farewell dinner, which immediately follows graduation.
    With the above exception, in the past, we have not opened our group meals to guests. Group meals are intended to be times when students and faculty can relax together and enjoy each other’s company or “talk shop” in the context of our writing community. Our time together as a community is limited and dear, and we value the opportunity to be together without distraction.

    However, if a student finds it necessary to travel with a companion, he or she may make dinner reservations for guests at certain meals. For curricular reasons, guests are NOT permitted at the opening night meal, the Thursday dinner at the Brown, or at any catered (weekend) lunches.

    Students may purchase a ticket for guests for the following dinners: Saturday, May 22, catered by Jarfi’s, $36; Sunday, May 23, catered by Shalimar (Indian cuisine), $18; Monday, May 24, catered by Sicilian Pizza, $18; Wednesday, May 25, catered by Mark’s Feed Store (barbecue), $25; and Saturday, May 29, farewell dinner at the Brown, $48.

    Payment for reserved meals is due by May 1. If payment is not received by the deadline, the reservation will be canceled. Make checks payable to Spalding University and send to Katy Yocom, Spalding University, 851 S. Fourth St., Louisville, KY 40203. (top)

    Life of a Writer

    Students

    Becky Browder announces that her story “Arnie’s Gift” was published in the December 20, 2009, issue of The Anniston Star in Anniston, Alabama. Also, Becky was a finalist in the 2009 Midnight Sun Fiction Contest, which is sponsored by Permafrost, a literary journal out of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. (top)

    Kate Buckley announces that her poem “Neshoba County, Mississippi, 1964” has been nominated by Shenandoah for The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses XXXV, due out this November. This is Kate’s third Pushcart Prize nomination and the second this year—her poem “Honesty” was recently nominated by New Southerner. Both poems are from her second collection of poetry, Follow Me Down (Tebot Bach, 2009). Kate’s currently doing readings in support of Follow Me Down, including a recent reading at Los Angeles venue The Ruskin Art Club.

    Eric Cravey gave a one-hour presentation on essay writing to the Women of Color Cultural Foundation Inc. in Jacksonville, Florida, in February. He spoke to 10th- through 12th-graders who are taking part in a foundation essay contest in which the top prize is a $1,000 college scholarship. Students select a country and write a 500- to 700-word essay about geo-political aspects of that country. This month, Eric will complete a semester of service as a volunteer with the Clay County Literacy Coalition in Orange Park, Florida, where he teaches Intermediate Writing II. The coalition serves adult students who need literacy training; the students hail from 48 different countries. In fall 2009, Eric taught basic writing for the coalition. (top)

    Carolyn Flynn recently learned that her short story “Pretend” was short-listed for the Danahy Fiction Prize at the Tampa Review. She worked on that story during workshop at the Barcelona residency with faculty member Robin Lippincott and her mentor group, so thank you very much! In addition, her short story “Blood” won the Albuquerque the Magazine short fiction contest and will be published in the April issue. Read it at abqthemag.com. Another story, “Improvising,” was short-listed at Hayden’s Ferry Review. Carolyn read recently at the Women and Creativity Women Writers event at the National Hispanic Cultural Center with Spalding MFA Associate Program Director Kathleen Driskell, novelist Lisa Lenard-Cook, artist and literary blogger Roma Arellano of redRavine.com and Santa Fe poet laureate Valerie Martinez. The NHCC is in Albuquerque. Carolyn’s story about Elizabeth Gilbert’s (Eat, Pray Love; Committed) recent appearance in Albuquerque is up at redRavine.com. (top)

    Eva Gordon announces that her prose poem “Backyard Jungle” has been accepted for publication in the Spring 2010 issue of Prism Review, the print literary journal at University of La Verne, in La Verne, California. Go to laverne.edu/academics/arts-sciences/prism-review.

    Amy Hanridge reviewed Heidi W. Durrow’s new novel, The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, in the March 2010 issue of Bookslut. The review can be found at bookslut.com/fiction/2010_02_015791.php. (top)

    Jenny Luper announces that two poems, “Fixed” and “Cow Heads and Defibrillators,” have recently been published in the March 2010 issue of TUSK Digital Magazine. Look for more of her work to be featured in future issues as she is now a contributing editor for TUSK. Visit TUSK online at faddiscreative.com/TuskMagazine_10March.html to check it out.

    Chris Mattingly recently had four baseball poems accepted to Ryder Magazine as part of a special baseball installment. Chris was also invited to feature at Holler Poets in Lexington, Kentucky, this summer. He also recently learned that Southern Indiana Review was publishing one of his poems. In addition, Chris was a featured poet on Lexington’s WRFL program “Accents.” The hourlong radio program can be heard at katerinaklemer.com/audio/accents_103009.mp3. You can also hear Chris talk about ekphrastic poetry and read his poem at the public-republic online literary site “Saint of Raisin’ Hell, John Haywood, 2003” at public-republic.net/literary-term-of-the-week. A handset letterpress edition of his chapbook Ad Hoc will be released at Associated Writing Programs in April. (top)

    Brian Russell reports that his chapbook, Meeting Dad: A Memoir, is being released in April 2010 by Accents Publishing (accents-publishing.com). He will be signing copies of his book at the AWP Conference in Denver, Colorado, in April. On April 23, he will be a guest on WRFL 88.1 FM Lexington’s radio program, “Accents–A Radio Show for Literature, Art and Culture,” hosted by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer (Fall 2009). The book will launch with a reading and book signing April 4 in Chicago.

    (top)

    Faculty and Staff

    Julie Brickman announces that her story “The Cop, the Hooker and the Ridealong” appeared in the September-October 2009 issue of North American Review.

    K. L. Cook had three stories—“On the Strip,” “Noise,” and “Wedding Photograph, June 1963”—published in the inaugural issue of Wrong Tree Review, a new journal edited by Spalding MFA alums Jarrid Deaton (Fall 2007) and Sheldon Lee Compton (Fall 2007). Kenny will be at the Associated Writing Programs conference in Denver on April 7–10 and will be on a panel with fellow WILLA Award winners on April 8. (top)

    AWP has invited Kathleen Driskell to talk about future trends in low-residency MFA Programs at the AWP Conference Town Hall Meeting in Denver in April. She will also participate in the Low-Residency MFA Director’s Caucus at the AWP Conference. In the Kentucky Great Writers Series at The Carnegie Center in Lexington, Kentucky, Kathleen reads at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 13, with Jim Tomlinson and Cecelia Woloch. Her poem “Cupid” has been accepted for publication in The Cortland Review.

    Helena Kriel reports that her film Skin was released in November 2009. It has been getting awards at different festivals, including the audience award at the Afrika Film Festival, Belgium (2009); audience award at AFI Dallas; audience and jury favorite awards, Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles; audience award, Santa Barbara; First Film Award, Time for Peace; Best Feature Film, Palm Beach International Film Festival 2009; and Circle Audience Award, Film Fest DC, Washington, D.C., 2009. (top)

    Jody Lisberger was invited to be a Women’s History Month speaker at SUNY Cortland. On March 4, she gave a talk on feminist theory and writing craft called, “Writing Down the Body: Making the Invisible Visible, the Silent Spoken.”

    Joyce McDonald has been invited to lead three writing workshops at the 62nd Annual Philadelphia Writers’ Conference on June 11–13 in Philadelphia. Her poem “Snake Bite” has been accepted by The Louisville Review and will appear in the spring 2010 issue.

    Sena Jeter Naslund, program director, extends congratulations to Tori Murden McClure, who has recently been selected as the next president of Spalding University. Tori is a graduate in creative nonfiction of the Spalding MFA program as well as a graduate of Smith College, Harvard University, and the University of Louisville. Her recently published nonfiction account of rowing solo across the Atlantic Ocean is titled A Pearl in the Storm. Sena announces that her forthcoming novel, Adam & Eve, is now available for pre-publication sale on amazon.com. She recently spoke in Montgomery, Alabama, to the Writers Forum convocation of Young Alabama Writers. (top)

    Molly Peacock traveled to England for the launch of the British edition of The Second Blush at the Troubador Cafe Series, where she participated in a panel about British and American poetry. She was also the featured interview in the most recent Rattle literary magazine. The Canadian edition of her new book, The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life’s Work at 72, will be published next October, coinciding with the next volume of The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2010, of which she is general series editor.

    Neela Vaswani returned from a three-week visiting-writer-in-residence stint at IIIT Hyderabad, India (a Carnegie Mellon affiliate). She taught an intensive mixed-genre workshop at the university, visited with family and friends, and did some literacy work with children via a nonprofit organization.

    Luke Wallin announces that his story “Monster,” which he read at the Fall 2009 residency, is live online at the journal Moon Milk Review, which specializes in magical realism. Luke and second semester fiction student Eva Gordon have a contract to write the second edition of The Everything Guide to Writing Children’s Books. (top)

    Alumni

    Cynthia Rausch Allar (Spring 2004) was a finalist in the Split This Rock 2010 Poetry Contest with her poem on Proposition 8, “Bellwether.”

    Susan Christerson Brown (Fall 2003) has recently launched a new blog, “Mildly Mystical: Glimpsing the Eternal in Ordinary Time,” which can be found at mildlymystical.com. She also led a recent writing retreat, along with other members of the KaBooM Writing Collective including Pam Sexton (Fall 2003). At the retreat, she invited participants to enter their writing through the senses. Her brief reflection on that retreat can be read at kaboomwriters.com/2010/03/writing-from-the-senses.

    Bobbi Buchanan (Fall 2004) was interviewed in January, along with Spalding alum Angela Jackson-Brown (Fall 2009), for the “Accents” radio show, hosted and produced by Spalding MFA alum Katerina Stoykova-Klemer (Fall 2009). Bobbi’s essay “Signs of Life” will appear in Volume 2 of Motif: Chance, to be published this summer by Motes Books. Her essay “On Waking” appeared in the February issue of Still: Literature of the Mountain South, which can be found online at stilljournal.net

    Amy M. Clark (Fall 2004) has two poems forthcoming in Southern Poetry Review. Her debut collection of poems, Stray Home (University of North Texas Press), winner of the Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry 2009, is now available. Find out more at amymclark.com. She will read from her book at the Spalding Alumni Celebration of Recently Published Books in May. (top)

    Joan Donaldson (Spring 2008) will have two essays on the middle school version of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program test. Also, Joan received the Korean translation of her picture book, The Secret of the Red Shoes. It is fun to see the story in another language! Joan’s new novel On Viney’s Mountain will receive an award from the Friends of American Writers, a Midwest literary organization that works to “encourage high standards and to promote literary ideals.” The award recognizes new voices and has been presented to Richard Peck and Rebecca Caudill. Joan will accept the award at the celebration on April 21.

    Barry George (Fall 2009) announces that his first chapbook, Wrecking Ball and Other Urban Haiku, has been published by Accents Publishing. More information is available at accents-publishing.com.

    Karen George (Spring 2009) has a flash fiction piece, “Where His Eyes Swim,” published in Vestal Review’s Tenth Anniversary print issue 35. (top)

    Nathan Gower (Fall 2008) reports that his short story “Heather” was published in Paradigm journal’s Weiss Issue (Winter 2010). Read it online at paradigmjournal.com. The story is being considered for publication in Paradigm’s annual print anthology later this year.

    Brian Hampton (Spring 2006) is teaming up with BigBean Productions (bigbeanproductions.com) for the film adaptation of his play, Checking In. More information will be available at brianhampton.net.

    Colleen S. Harris (Fall 2009) reports a busy 2010. From her creative thesis, the poems “Challenger,” “Bud Vase” and “Copper in Fire” will appear in this year’s issue of Penguin Review, and “Gift Shop, Museum of Natural History,” “Carving Your Name” and “Coleman Canoe” have received acceptance for a future issue of Bellowing Ark. Her poem “Star Inside the Apple” will appear in Orange Coast College Review. Out of Colleen’s newest unpublished manuscript, “The Green of Breakable Things,” the poem “Fishing” will appear in Third Wednesday, and poems “The Ant” and “Clearing Weeds from Daddy’s Grave,” will appear in a future issue of Bellowing Ark. In nonfiction, Colleen’s book chapters, “Millennials, Gen-X, Gen-Y and Boomers, Oh My! Managing Multiple Generations in the Library” and “Management Tips for Merging Multiple Service Points” will appear in the book Library Management Tips That Work, edited by Carol Smallwood. The American Library Association will publish the book in 2010. Colleen has another two book chapters, “Low- and No-Cost Development Opportunities for Librarians” and “Managing Staff Stress During Budget Crises: Lessons for Library Managers” forthcoming in the book Surviving and Thriving in the Recession: A How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians, to be published by Neal-Schuman in 2010. Finally, on the job front, Colleen has accepted a professorship at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she will work as a librarian and head of the library’s access services department as of May 2010. (top)

    Lisa Jayne (Fall 2009) announces a ribbon-cutting for White Mountain Regional Theater on March 8 in Show Low, Arizona. The regional theater’s first season will feature an adaptation by Lisa of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost to be performed in June, and an original full-length play by her, titled Coeur d’Alene, which will be performed in October. The focus of White Mountain Regional Theater is to offer quality theatrical productions for the White Mountain area and to offer opportunities to playwrights, actors and directors to experiment and grow in their craft. See whitemountainregionaltheater.com.

    René R. Ketterer (Fall 2007) is team-teaching a course called “Interdisciplinary Game Design for Advocacy” with Dr. Marifran Mattson during the Spring 2010 semester at Purdue University. The grant-sponsored course leads students through such topics as advocacy campaign design and communication, storytelling, narrative design for game play and online social gaming. The students will participate in the design of a game for use in the “Motorcycle Safety at Purdue” health campaign. See ItInvolvesYou.com. (top)

    Loreen Niewenhuis (Spring 2007) and Vickie Weaver (Fall 2005) were on the Indianapolis campus of Butler University to hear Junot Diaz read February 11. They think Junot is way cool.

    Mary Popham (Fall 2003) published book reviews in the Louisville Courier-Journal: December 2009 – “A is for Appalachia: the Alphabet Book of Appalachian Heritage” by Linda Hager Pack, illustrated by Pat Banks; “The Man Who Lived in a Hollow Tree,” by Anne Shelby, illustrated by Cor Hazelaar; January 2010 – “World Premieres from Horse Cave Theatre,” edited by Warren Hammack and Liz Bussey Fentress; “We All Live Downstream: Writings About Mountaintop Removal,” edited by Jason Howard; book reviews in New Southerner magazine, Winter 2009–Seed Across Snow by Kathleen Driskell; book review in ForeWord magazine: January/February 2010–“The Snowbound House” by Shane Seely; book review for Kentucky’s BookClub@KET; January 2010–“A Separate Country” by Robert Hicks.

    Rosemary Royston (Fall 2009) will have two poems published in March 2010. “Two Minutes Shy” will be in The Comstock Review, and “White” will be published by Dark Sky Magazine (darkskymagazine.com). (top)

    Bob Sachs (Spring 2009) was awarded honorable mention in the Glimmer Train November 2009 Short Story Award for New Writers for his story “Blue Room with Woman.” His story “Kessler’s Shoes” will be published in the 2010 Spring Edition of Mobius, the Journal of Social Change (mobiusmagazine.com). His photograph “Nest Building 101” received honorable mention in the 2010 Literary LEO photography contest. (See leoweekly.com/literary-leo-2010—black-white-photography-winners.)

    Dawn Shamp (Spring 2005) was visiting author at Illinois’ Knox College on February 4. Knox assistant English professor Cyn Kitchen (Spring 2005) invited Shamp to address her creative writing students about researching historical fiction. Knox’s Caxton Club, a student-run organization devoted to the pursuit of literary interests (named for the first English printer, William Caxton), also sponsored Shamp in a public reading from her novel, On Account of Conspicuous Women (St. Martin’s Press, 2008). (top)

    Savannah Sipple (Fall 2008) announces that her poem “Eve’s Regret” will appear in the Spring 2010 issue of New Southerner, and her poem “Intruder” will appear in the Spring 2010 issue of Appalachian Heritage.

    Cristina Trapani-Scott (Spring 2009) was awarded second place for column writing in the 2009 Michigan Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. Also, her essay “The Power of Pebbles” was accepted for publication in the Cup of Comfort for a Better World anthology due out in March.

    Christamar Varicella (Fall 2004) has work in or forthcoming in three literary journals. “The Floating Dock,” a short story workshopped at Spalding, has been accepted for publication in Birmingham Arts Journal. “Le Chat,” a flash fiction story created at Spalding during a writing exercise following a lecture on magical realism by Neela Vaswani, appears online in Issue 16 of Clockwise Cat (clockwisecat.blogspot.com). His short story “Wiener Roast” is set to appear in the Spring 2010 issue of The Broken Plate, a literary magazine produced at Ball State University. He also regularly posts humorous essays, literary parodies, fake author interviews and book reviews at dailybrass.blogspot.com. (top)

    Vickie Weaver (Fall 2005) attended the Midwest Writers Workshop Mini-Conference March 13 in Muncie, Indiana.

    Laverne Zabielski (Spring 2004) is exhibiting at Kentucky Crafted, The Market, in March at the Kentucky Exposition Center. Lanette Freitag and Laverne will share booth 543. Her newly invented FeltLOOM is making her crazy. It’s all she wants to do. Now she nuno-felts as many different kinds of silk and wool she can think of. Try one more idea after another. She will have wool rugs, jackets, purses and shawls. She will have silk boleros, poetry vests, riding coats, dresses and poetry skirts. And several new nuno-felted pieces in silk and merino, then Shibori-dyed.

    Aimee Zaring (Spring 2005) wrote a book review on Byron Pitts’ memoir, Step Out on Nothing, in The Courier-Journal. Her short story “Remains” appears in the 15th issue of Bloodlotus (bloodlotus.org).

    (top)

    Personals
    Congratulations to Teneice Delgado (Fall 2006) and her husband, Jesus, on the birth of a son, Benicio Edward Reyes Delgado, on February 15.

    Congratulations to Drew Lackovic (Spring 2008) and his wife, Sue, on the birth of Jack Chaucer on March 15.

    Program Books in Common for Spring 2010
    All students and faculty read the following Program Books/Scripts in Common in preparation for the Spring 2010 residency. Bring the texts to the appropriate sessions at the residency.

  • David Kipen’s The Schreiber Theory
  • Rebecca Gilman’s The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (posted on Blackboard)
  • Carson McCullers’s The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (if buying a copy, we suggest students purchase the Modern Library’s edition [ISBN-10: 0679424741 or ISBN-13: 978-0679424741])

    Students should also view (in their entirety) the following films written by Steven Zaillion to prepare for residency discussions: Schindler’s List (1993); Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993); Gangs of New York (2002). DVDs of the films may be rented locally or checked out of local libraries. (top)

    Faculty Books/Scripts in Common for Spring 2010
    In addition to the Program Book in Common, students also read a Faculty Book/Script in Common in their area of concentration. The Faculty Books/Scripts in Common are:

    Fiction: Eleanor Morse, Chopin’s Garden (order from amazon.com)
    Poetry: Jeanie Thompson, The Seasons Bear Us
    Creative Nonfiction: Luke Wallin, Conservation Writing: Essays at the Crossroads of Nature and Culture
    Writing for Children & Young Adults: Silas House, Eli the Good
    Playwriting: Kira Obolensky, Modern House (posted on BB)
    Screenwriting: Brad Riddell, The Plebe (posted on BB) (top)

    Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) for Fall 2009
    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.

  • Crystal Wilkinson, fiction
  • Maureen Morehead, poetry
  • Robert Finch, creative nonfiction
  • Ellie Bryant, writing for children and young adults
  • Eric Schmiedl, playwriting/screenwriting

    (top)

    Reading Trail for MFA Authors
    When one of our faculty, students, or alumni publishes a book, we celebrate that success. In keeping with the community spirit fostered by the Spalding MFA Program, we want to actively support those authors when they travel to promote their books. We are collecting information to create a Reading Trail of possible reading opportunities, which we will make available to all MFAers.

    Spalding students and faculty hail from all over the United States and beyond. Many of us live in communities that offer reading series, which are affiliated with a local independent bookstore or university or are run on their own, such as Louisville’s own InKY (founded by Spalding alums).

    You can support Spalding authors by providing an introduction to reading series organizers or simply passing along information about reading opportunities in your area. Providing us with this information does not commit you to anything you are unable to do. We simply hope to put together a list of possibilities that will help authors market their books successfully. (top)

    If you have helpful ideas that you wish to share, email Karen Mann at kmann@spalding.edu to request the Reading Trail form to complete and return.

    Thank you for being an active part of our Spalding MFA community!

    Classified

    The new literary journal Trajectory (www.trajectoryjournal.com) is now accepting submissions of short stories (10,000 words or less), poems (3-5), creative nonfiction, and black and white photographs/artwork that illuminate an artist’s truth for his/her readers. The publication is looking for honest, straightforward writing that engages, enlightens, and entertains the reader. The publication is open to all subjects and styles but tends to lean a bit to the Hemingway, Bukowski, Carver school. Trajectory is designed for the adult reader and is interested in new voices, as well as more established ones.
    Short Story Contest. The entry fee is $15, and the deadline is June 1. Send a brief cover letter with contact info, SASE, and the entry (no identifying info). May enter more than one time (separate fee for each entry). Winner will receive $250 and publication in Trajectory. All submissions are considered for publication. Trajectory will be published twice each year and subscriptions are $20. Send submissions or subscription orders to Trajectory, P.O. Box 655, Frankfort, KY 40602. Include a SASE for response. All works will be recycled. For more information see www.trajectoryjournal.com, or email Chris Helvey, editor, at adobechris@hotmail.com. (top)

    Reminders and Notes

  • Apply Now for U.S. Passport for Summer 2010 Travel: Students, alumni, and faculty who are planning travel to the Buenos Aires Summer 2010 residency should apply for their passports as soon as possible.

    Financial Aid: The MFA Program offers scholarships to students entering their first semester in the program. Returning students who desire financial assistance other than student loans should apply for graduate assistantships. Applications for scholarships and assistantships should be directed to the MFA Office. Information for assistantships is on Blackboard under SEMESTERS/ [your semester]/ DOCUMENTS: GENERAL INTEREST.

    Federal student loans are available to all eligible graduate students and are available for the fall, spring, or summer semesters. For help with financial aid questions, call Vickie Montgomery at (800) 896-8941, ext. 2731 or email vmontgomery@spalding.edu. Students may enter or update their FAFSA information online at fafsa.ed.gov.

    All Spring 2010 students: Fill out the FAFSA for the 09-10 school year, using 2008 tax information.

    All Summer 2010 students (which includes spring-stretch students): fill out the FAFSA for the 10-11 school year, using 2009 tax information. Spring-stretch students receiving financial aid through students loans do not receive residual checks until June 4.

    Classifieds in the newsletter: Submissions of writing-related advertisements, such as calls for submission, services for writers, etc., may be made to mfanewsletter@spalding.edu

    Online information: Newsletters are archived online at spalding.edu/mfanewsletter. For convenience, bookmark this page. The web address is case sensitive. (top)

    Life of a Writer: Please remember to email Life of a Writer news to the program at mfanewsletter@spalding.edu because this is a vital part of our community—to sharing writing successes. The Program wants to share good news with everyone and compiles records of publications, presentations, readings, employment, and other related information on faculty, students, and alums.

    Life of a Writer pieces should be written as a paragraph in third person. If you are an alum, please alum include your graduation semester, such as Jake Doe (Fall 2003). Spell out month and state names. Include title(s) of the work, publishers, date of publication, and web site addresses when appropriate.

    Examples of kinds of activities that might be included in the Life of a Writer column are publishing in journals or magazines or in book form, winning awards or other prizes, giving a public reading, visiting a classroom to talk about writing, judging a writing competition, attending a writers conference, serving on a panel about writing, or volunteering in a project about writing or literacy. (top)

    About The Masthead: The image in our masthead is a photograph of a Louisville fountain, “River Horse,” by Louisville sculptor Barney Bright. The sculpture references both the location of Louisville as a river city on the banks of the Ohio and as the host, for more than 125 years, of the Kentucky Derby. The winged horse Pegasus, of Greek mythology, has long been associated with the literary arts and the wings of poesy.

    Sena Jeter Naslund, Program Director
    Karen J. Mann, Administrative Director
    Kathleen Driskell, Associate Program Director
    Katy Yocom, Program Associate
    Gayle Hanratty, Administrative Assistant
    Carolyn Flynn, Newsletter Editor

    Master of Fine Arts in Writing •Spalding University
    851 S. Fourth St. • Louisville, KY 40203
    (800) 896-8941, ext. 2423 or (502) 585-9911, ext. 2423
    mfa@spalding.eduwww.spalding.edu/mfa


    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
    Gayle Hanratty, Administrative Assistant

    Email Life of a Writer information, Because You Asked questions, or classifieds to Carolyn Flynn at mfanewsletter@spalding.edu

    .(top)

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