Allison Joseph a Grand Prize Winner in Dancing Poetry Contest

SIUC faculty poet Allison Joseph's poem "Xenophilia" is a grand prize winner in the 2008 Dancing Poetry Contest sponsored by Artists Embassy International. The poem will be performed at ceremony in September at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum. Two other poems by Allison also received recognition as second-place winners.
Dancing Poetry

Forthcoming Pubs: Michael Meyerhofer (MFA '06, poetry)

Michael Meyerhofer's poem "A Plea for the Cessation of Fruit Metaphors" will be published in North American Review.
Check out North American Review at
NAR
Update from MM:
"My prose-poem, "The Shipbuilder," was just accepted by Quick Fiction. :)"
Check out Quick Fiction at
Quick Fiction

Meyerhofer Book News: the Official Announcement

Congrats again to Michael Meyerhofer (MFA '06, poetry) on the acceptance of his second book for publication.
Here's the official word from Steel Toe Books:
Steel Toe News

Pinckney Benedict is the Best

We have objective proof that SIUC fiction professor Pinckney Benedict is indeed the best. From an e-mail from PB himself:

"I have just received copies of NEW STORIES FROM THE SOUTH 2008: THE YEAR'S BEST, edited by ZZ Packer, which contains my story "Bridge of Sighs," originally published in ZOETROPE: ALL-STORY last summer."

Congrats, PB!

News from Cynthia Roth (MFA '01)

Exciting news from Cynthia Roth (MFA '01, poetry). Let us hope for reruns:

"WSIU Channel 8 aired an Arts In Illinois segment about me on July 20th. It originally aired in Chicago in May, and was produced by WTTW11 Chicago. The show is specifically about the intersection of art and family life.

They didn't tell me about the broadcast in advance! I was watching Foyle's War and it came on afterwards, to my surprise. They also aired it in Chicago before I knew it existed. I did get a DVD of the program in the mail 3 weeks ago. I'm the last artist in a program featuring 4 different artists.

I will let you know when it is on again, and when it is posted in the WTTW archive online. They did a good job. They said I am from Kentucky, not TN, but that's okay. Otherwise it is pretty neat!"

Adrian Matejka (MFA '01) finalist for Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry

MFA poetry alum Adrian Matejka's manuscript "Mixology" was selected as a finalist for the Prairie Schooner Book Prize. Adrian will receive $1000, but not publication of his book.
Details about the prize can be found here:
Prairie Schooner Book Prize

SIUC Writers Read in Chicago and St. Louis This Week

SIUC MFA faculty member Allison Joseph will read in Chicago on July 20 at Woman Made Gallery.
Woman Made Gallery

Poets Amie Whittemore (second-year), Jenna Bazzell (second-year) and Jason Lee Brown (MFA '08, fiction) will read as part of the River Styx at Duff's Hungry Young Poets Series on July 21 in St. Louis.
Hungry Young Poets

Kerry James Evans a finalist for Wick Prize

Kerry James Evans (third-year, poetry) writes:

Although the winner has been announced, I was named a finalist in the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize (Kent State University).
There were 21 finalists and nearly 400 entries.

Congrats, Kerry!

For more about the Wick Prize, visit
Wick Poetry Prize

SIUC's Allison Joseph reads in Detroit tonight

SIUC faculty poet Allison Joseph reads from her work tonight as part of The Write Word Write Now Summer Solstice Reading Series, presented by the Detroit Poetry Collective & Music Hall Center for Performing Arts

Location: Jazz Cafe at the Music Hall, 350 Madison Ave., Detroit MI, 48226 (Between Brush and Randolph)

Allison will read with Will Copeland, francine J. harris and Ross Gay.

The reading is free and open to the public. READINGS START AT 7PM.
BOOK SIGNING TO FOLLOW THE READING

The reading is funded in part by:
Detroit Poetry Collective Inc, Music Hall Center for Performing Arts, U of M, Dept of English, MFA in Creative Writing Program
Motown Writers Network, Wayne State University Press

About The Detroit Poetry Collective

The Detroit Poetry Collective was formed to cultivate urban artists through creative writing (poetry, fiction, and non-fiction); to develop, provide and support literary programs that foster multicultural literacy and creative critical thinking. Its purpose is to provide a safe-haven for Detroit writers by way of academic readings, scholarships, stipends, awards, poetry slams, writer’s retreats, conferences, guest speakers, works.

Allison Joseph to teach workshop in Evanston, Illinois

SIUC faculty member Allison Joseph will teach a workshop for the Illinois-based literary journal RHINO at the Evanston, Illinois library:

FOURTH SUNDAYS
RHINO POETRY WORKSHOPS
and peer exchange
sponsored by RHINO/the Poetry Forum

COME AND TRY OUT YOUR NEW WORK ON US!

Evanston Public Library
Church & Orrington
1:30-4:30 -- Room 108

RHINO/the Poetry Forum invites all poets to its Poetry Workshop & Peer Exchange. Attendees bring 15 copies of a poem to be critiqued, and participate in an ongoing discussion of poetry and poetics. No registration is required, and the workshop is free, though a $5 donation is appreciated.

Sunday, July 27th, 2008
Leader: Allison Joseph

Allison Joseph lives, writes and teaches in Carbondale, Illinois, where she serves as director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing. She is also editor and poetry editor of Crab Orchard Review, a journal of creative works, and director of the Young Writers Workshop, an annual creative writing conference for teen writers. She is the author of five collections of poems, most recently Imitation of Life (Carnegie-Mellon University Press) and Worldly Pleasures (Word Press). She has received fellowships from the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers Conferences, as well as from the Illinois Arts Council.

Topic: Dispatches from a Poetry Editor.

For more about Rhino, visit
RHINO

Congrats to Michael Meyerhofer (MFA '06, poetry)

Michael Meyerhofer's second full-length collection, Blue Collar Eulogies, has been accepted for publication by Steel Toe Books! When asked for a quote about this good fortune, MM said, "The royalty of the advance should almost cover the postage and entry fees!"

Steel Toe Books

Congrats, Michael!

Local paper recognizes SIUC MFA students

The Southern has a press release today about Josh Woods (third-year, fiction) and Rachel Furey (third-year, fiction) being winners in the national Press 53 Contest:

Southern Illinoisian

Congrats to Kathryn Kerr (MFA '00)

Kathryn Kerr (MFA '00, poetry) has had another chapbook accepted for publication. The chapbook, which is still in search of a title, will be published by Pikestaff Publications of Normal, Illinois.

Congrats, KK!
Here's more information about Pikestaff:
Pikestaff Publications

Upcoming Readings by SIUC MFAs and Recent Grads

Kerry James Evans (poetry, third-year) will be reading from his work at the 14th annual "Southern Writers, Southern Writing" Graduate Student Conference to be held at the University of Mississippi July 17-19, 2008.

Poets Amie Whittemore (second-year), Jenna Bazzell (second-year) and Jason Lee Brown (MFA '08, fiction) will read as part of the River Styx at Duff's Hungry Young Poets Series on July 21 in St. Louis.
Hungry Young Poets 2008

Allison Joseph to read at Woman Made Gallery, Chicago

SIUC MFA faculty member will read in Chicago on July 20 at Woman Made Gallery. Details here:
Drawing from Experience Reading

MFA Grads in New Issue of Pleiades

New poems by Adrian Matejka (MFA '01) and Chad Parmenter (MFA '05) appear in the new issue of Pleiades (28.2).

Adrian's poems are "Mulatto Ego Remix" and "Synth Composite Basketball: No More Fundamentals," and Chad's poem is "[Tina mia]." Also included in the issue is a review of Quiver of Arrows by Carl Phillips, written by Chad Parmenter.

For more about Pleiades, visit
Pleiades on the Web

Matt Guenette at Verse Daily

Fresh off his Young Writers Workshop appearance, here's Matt Guenette (MFA '99) at Verse Daily:
Verse Daily

Mark Your Calendars: Devil's Kitchen Literary Festival 2008

It's July, it's hot, and it's the perfect time to start thinking about SIUC's annual fall literary festival, the Devil's Kitchen Fall Literary Festival. The 2008 dates are October 23, 24, and 25. Watch this blog for information about the writers who will be coming to Carbondale for our three-day celebration of all things literary.