Good news today from fiction alum Tim Marsh (MFA '06)!
Last week I had stories accepted by Right Hand Pointing ("Last Pitch"), Whiskey Island ("Get Along Little Doggy, Get Along"), and The Write Room ("Hunger Bite").
That's a great week! Congrats, Tim!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Young Writers Workshop 2010 is almost here!
Every June, the SIUC Creative Writing Program plays host to 30 high-school age creative writers for several days. The young writers become part of our community of writers here in Carbondale, taking classes and attending readings. This year, we have a bevy of readings going on--anyone can come to these events!
YOUNG WRITERS WORKSHOP 2010 READING SERIES
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CARBONDALE
ALL READINGS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
You are cordially invited to attend any or all of the readings below.
JUNE 22, 2010:
SIUC FACULTY READING: PINCKNEY BENEDICT
Faner 1326, (Harry T. Moore Auditorium), 8 PM
SIUC fiction faculty member Pinckney Benedict will debut his new fiction collection, Miracle Boy and Other Stories
JUNE 23, 2010:
SIUC GRADUATE CREATIVE WRITERS READING:
Mark Brewin, Lane Kareska, Melissa Scholes Young and Shawn Mitchell
Faner Hall 1005, 4-5 PM
VISITING WRITER READING: CURTIS L. CRISLER, POET
Faner Hall 1326, (Harry T. Moore Auditorium), 8PM
Curtis L. Crisler, a graduate of the SIUC MFA Program and former YWW staff member, is the author of three books of poetry: Pulling Scabs (Willow Books; Aquarius Press), Spill (the 2008 Keyhole Chapbook Award winner at Keyhole Press), and Tough Boy Sonatas (Wordsong; Boyds Mills Press). His YA mixed-genre novel Dreamist is forthcoming. Crisler and Kevin McKelvey are working on a book of poems tentatively titled Indiana Nocturnes: Our Rural and Urban Patchwork.
JUNE 24, 2010:
SIUC GRADUATE CREATIVE WRITERS READING:
John Owen, Nick Ostdick and Leslie Adams
Faner Hall 1005, 4-5 PM
VISITING WRITER READING: MELANIE DUSSEAU, POET
Faner Hall 1326, (Harry T. Moore Auditorium), 8 PM
Born in Toledo, Ohio, Melanie Dusseau received a BA from Ohio University, an MA from The University of Toledo, and an MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Her poems have appeared in Black Warrior Review, River Styx, and Alaska Quarterly Review, among other journals. The Body Tries Again (Word Press) is her first collection of poems.
JUNE 25, 2010:
SIUC GRADUATE CREATIVE WRITERS READING:
Brenna Lemieux, Katie Zapoluch, Sarah-McCartt-Jackson and Brooks Rexroat
Faner Hall 1005, 4-5 PM
VISITING WRITER/FACULTY READING: KEVIN MCKELVEY, POET,
ALLISON JOSEPH, YOUNG WRITERS WORKSHOP DIRECTOR
Faner Hall 1326 (Harry T. Moore Auditorium), 8 PM
Kevin McKelvey, a graduate of the SIUC MFA Program and former YWW instructor, teaches writing and publishing at the University of Indianapolis. McKelvey’s first book of poems, a chapbook entitled Dream Wilderness, was published by Finishing Line Press.
JUNE 26, 2010:
YOUNG WRITERS WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT READING
Cisne Auditorium, Pulliam Hall 34, 1:30 PM
YOUNG WRITERS WORKSHOP 2010 READING SERIES
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CARBONDALE
ALL READINGS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
You are cordially invited to attend any or all of the readings below.
JUNE 22, 2010:
SIUC FACULTY READING: PINCKNEY BENEDICT
Faner 1326, (Harry T. Moore Auditorium), 8 PM
SIUC fiction faculty member Pinckney Benedict will debut his new fiction collection, Miracle Boy and Other Stories
JUNE 23, 2010:
SIUC GRADUATE CREATIVE WRITERS READING:
Mark Brewin, Lane Kareska, Melissa Scholes Young and Shawn Mitchell
Faner Hall 1005, 4-5 PM
VISITING WRITER READING: CURTIS L. CRISLER, POET
Faner Hall 1326, (Harry T. Moore Auditorium), 8PM
Curtis L. Crisler, a graduate of the SIUC MFA Program and former YWW staff member, is the author of three books of poetry: Pulling Scabs (Willow Books; Aquarius Press), Spill (the 2008 Keyhole Chapbook Award winner at Keyhole Press), and Tough Boy Sonatas (Wordsong; Boyds Mills Press). His YA mixed-genre novel Dreamist is forthcoming. Crisler and Kevin McKelvey are working on a book of poems tentatively titled Indiana Nocturnes: Our Rural and Urban Patchwork.
JUNE 24, 2010:
SIUC GRADUATE CREATIVE WRITERS READING:
John Owen, Nick Ostdick and Leslie Adams
Faner Hall 1005, 4-5 PM
VISITING WRITER READING: MELANIE DUSSEAU, POET
Faner Hall 1326, (Harry T. Moore Auditorium), 8 PM
Born in Toledo, Ohio, Melanie Dusseau received a BA from Ohio University, an MA from The University of Toledo, and an MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Her poems have appeared in Black Warrior Review, River Styx, and Alaska Quarterly Review, among other journals. The Body Tries Again (Word Press) is her first collection of poems.
JUNE 25, 2010:
SIUC GRADUATE CREATIVE WRITERS READING:
Brenna Lemieux, Katie Zapoluch, Sarah-McCartt-Jackson and Brooks Rexroat
Faner Hall 1005, 4-5 PM
VISITING WRITER/FACULTY READING: KEVIN MCKELVEY, POET,
ALLISON JOSEPH, YOUNG WRITERS WORKSHOP DIRECTOR
Faner Hall 1326 (Harry T. Moore Auditorium), 8 PM
Kevin McKelvey, a graduate of the SIUC MFA Program and former YWW instructor, teaches writing and publishing at the University of Indianapolis. McKelvey’s first book of poems, a chapbook entitled Dream Wilderness, was published by Finishing Line Press.
JUNE 26, 2010:
YOUNG WRITERS WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT READING
Cisne Auditorium, Pulliam Hall 34, 1:30 PM
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Congrats to Alex Lumans!
Fine news to share from Alex Lumans (MFA '09, fiction):
I'll be attending the Sewanee Writers' Conference in July. They awarded me a Tennessee Williams scholarship, so Good Ol' Rocky Top, here I come.
Congrats, Lumans!
LINK:
SWC Scholars
I'll be attending the Sewanee Writers' Conference in July. They awarded me a Tennessee Williams scholarship, so Good Ol' Rocky Top, here I come.
Congrats, Lumans!
LINK:
SWC Scholars
Sunday, June 13, 2010
That's Mr. Endowed Professor to You!
Hearty congratulations to Adrian Matejka (MFA '01, poetry) who has been awarded a very special endowed professorship position at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville!
LINK:
Adrian's professorship
LINK:
Adrian's professorship
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Congrats to Amy Blache Graziano (MFA '07)
Amy Blache Graziano (MFA '07, poetry) has had her poem "Ghosts" accepted for publication in the National Poetry Review!
Congrats, Amy!
LINK:
National Poetry Review
Congrats, Amy!
LINK:
National Poetry Review
Friday, June 11, 2010
Congrats to Sarah McCartt-Jackson!
Great news for third-year poetry student Sarah McCartt-Jackson:
I won second prize ($250!) in the Friends of Acadia Journal poetry contest for my poem "Kentucky Rose" as well as an honorable mention for my poem "Gulch"!
LINK:
Friends of Acadia
Congrats, Sarah!
I won second prize ($250!) in the Friends of Acadia Journal poetry contest for my poem "Kentucky Rose" as well as an honorable mention for my poem "Gulch"!
LINK:
Friends of Acadia
Congrats, Sarah!
Friday, June 04, 2010
Alumni Achievements: June 2010
from Andy McFadyen-Ketchum (MFA '09, poetry):
Borderlands is publishing my review of Karen An-hwei Lee's Ardor (Tupelo Press) in an upcoming issue. I'm excited because this is my first largely critical review to be published. Kinda scary too... They have also commissioned me to write a review of David Wevill's Selected Works, edited by Michael McGriff (Truman State University Press).
from Kathryn Kerr (MFA '00, poetry):
Kathryn's poems have appeared recently in:
llinois English Bulletin, Spring 2010, V97 N.2: "The Wall", "Elegy for Nathan", and "What My Students Learned About Writing Fiction"
WordRiver: V2, 2010, "Brother Sun"
from Tim Marsh (MFA '06, fiction):
My essay “The Verse” will appear (for sweet money) in the Newfoundland Quarterly sometime this summer (possibly the fall). I’ll also have stories appearing in Milk Money Magazine and LIT: Journal of the New School, and my CNF piece “Communitas Lost” will headline the July 11th edition of Pure Francis.
Lastly, my CNF essay “A Month Before 30, Summit of Signal Hill” will be recorded and featured at Splinter Generation’s Los Angeles Reading Series, June 24th, for anybody in the area. On that note, please look for my story “How to Make White People Happy” in the upcoming issue of the Los Angeles Review, due out October 1st.
Borderlands is publishing my review of Karen An-hwei Lee's Ardor (Tupelo Press) in an upcoming issue. I'm excited because this is my first largely critical review to be published. Kinda scary too... They have also commissioned me to write a review of David Wevill's Selected Works, edited by Michael McGriff (Truman State University Press).
from Kathryn Kerr (MFA '00, poetry):
Kathryn's poems have appeared recently in:
llinois English Bulletin, Spring 2010, V97 N.2: "The Wall", "Elegy for Nathan", and "What My Students Learned About Writing Fiction"
WordRiver: V2, 2010, "Brother Sun"
from Tim Marsh (MFA '06, fiction):
My essay “The Verse” will appear (for sweet money) in the Newfoundland Quarterly sometime this summer (possibly the fall). I’ll also have stories appearing in Milk Money Magazine and LIT: Journal of the New School, and my CNF piece “Communitas Lost” will headline the July 11th edition of Pure Francis.
Lastly, my CNF essay “A Month Before 30, Summit of Signal Hill” will be recorded and featured at Splinter Generation’s Los Angeles Reading Series, June 24th, for anybody in the area. On that note, please look for my story “How to Make White People Happy” in the upcoming issue of the Los Angeles Review, due out October 1st.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Alumni Sightings: Southern Indiana Review
The Spring 2010 issue of the Southern Indiana Review has work by several alums: poetry by Adrian Matejka (MFA '01) and Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum (MFA '09) and fiction by Alex Lumans (MFA '09).
LINK:
Southern Indiana Review
LINK:
Southern Indiana Review
Alumni Sightings: Greensboro Review
The Spring 2010 issue of the Greensboro Review has work by two alums: fiction alum Brian Hyer (MFA '04) has a story titled "Package" in its pages; poetry alum Travis Mossotti (MFA '10) has a poem titled "After the Snowmelt."
LINK:
Greensboro Review
LINK:
Greensboro Review
Monday, May 24, 2010
Catching Up with Kerry James Evans!
An update from Kerry James Evans (MFA '09, poetry):
I have poems in the current issues of Agni, Briar Cliff Review, and New Letters. Also, New South just accepted a new poem, "Alligator Swamp and the Bayou Blues." Hope all is well in the Dale.
Congrats, KJE!
I have poems in the current issues of Agni, Briar Cliff Review, and New Letters. Also, New South just accepted a new poem, "Alligator Swamp and the Bayou Blues." Hope all is well in the Dale.
Congrats, KJE!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Congrats and a Reading Reminder
Travis Mossotti (MFA '10) writes with good news:
Poet Lore just accepted my poem "Rain" for their upcoming fall/winter issue.
Congrats, TM!
LINK:
Poet Lore
Reminder: Travis Mossotti and second-year fiction student Shawn Mitchell will read from their work this Saturday at the Yeiser Arts Center (200 Broadway) in Paducah, KY as part of the River Town Reading Series. The reading begins at 7:30 pm.
Poet Lore just accepted my poem "Rain" for their upcoming fall/winter issue.
Congrats, TM!
LINK:
Poet Lore
Reminder: Travis Mossotti and second-year fiction student Shawn Mitchell will read from their work this Saturday at the Yeiser Arts Center (200 Broadway) in Paducah, KY as part of the River Town Reading Series. The reading begins at 7:30 pm.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Storyspotting: Melissa Scholes Young
Current third-year fiction writer Melissa Scholes Young writes:
My flash fiction "The Town Crier" is up at Paradigm. I wrote this short piece in Jacinda's class this semester when we studied microfiction.
The Town Crier
Congrats, MSY!
My flash fiction "The Town Crier" is up at Paradigm. I wrote this short piece in Jacinda's class this semester when we studied microfiction.
The Town Crier
Congrats, MSY!
Congrats to A.K. Thompson!
Great news also for third-year fiction writer A.K. Thompson:
My interview with Donald Ray Pollock (Real Life: An Interview with Donald Ray Pollock) has been accepted for publication in The Chiron Review. Woo-hoo!
Best,
A.K.
Congrats, A.K.!
LINK:
Chiron Review
My interview with Donald Ray Pollock (Real Life: An Interview with Donald Ray Pollock) has been accepted for publication in The Chiron Review. Woo-hoo!
Best,
A.K.
Congrats, A.K.!
LINK:
Chiron Review
Congrats to Rick Pechous!
Current third-year fiction writer Rick Pechous has great news:
Just heard from Underground Voices, they're wanting to publish a story I wrote called "Outside and Inside." Good stuff. It'll be included in the June issue.
Rick
Congrats, Rick!
LINK:
Underground Voices
Just heard from Underground Voices, they're wanting to publish a story I wrote called "Outside and Inside." Good stuff. It'll be included in the June issue.
Rick
Congrats, Rick!
LINK:
Underground Voices
Monday, May 17, 2010
Catching Up With Ben Percy (MFA '04)
from the fabulous Ben Percy (MFA '04, fiction), who's always up to something:
Hope all's well in Carbondale. Again, I had a great time visiting last month.
As requested, here's some news:
Have an article in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers called "Home Improvement: Revision as Renovation"
Have an article coming out in the June '10 issue of Outside Magazine called "Never Been to Disneyland"
Recently sold a short story/novel excerpt (from The Wilding) to Tin House for their fall '10 "Class in America" issue.
Recently sold a short story to Gulf Coast for fall '10 issue.
Recently sold a short story -- "Writs of Possession" -- slated for the the spring '11 Virginia Quarterly Review
And my collection Refresh, Refresh has been chosen by UW-Stevens Point as their shared freshman text, so all incoming students will be reading and discussing it.
Whoa, Mr. Percy! That's a lot of work and a lot of congrats from your friends here in Carbondale.
Hope all's well in Carbondale. Again, I had a great time visiting last month.
As requested, here's some news:
Have an article in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers called "Home Improvement: Revision as Renovation"
Have an article coming out in the June '10 issue of Outside Magazine called "Never Been to Disneyland"
Recently sold a short story/novel excerpt (from The Wilding) to Tin House for their fall '10 "Class in America" issue.
Recently sold a short story to Gulf Coast for fall '10 issue.
Recently sold a short story -- "Writs of Possession" -- slated for the the spring '11 Virginia Quarterly Review
And my collection Refresh, Refresh has been chosen by UW-Stevens Point as their shared freshman text, so all incoming students will be reading and discussing it.
Whoa, Mr. Percy! That's a lot of work and a lot of congrats from your friends here in Carbondale.
Friday, May 14, 2010
News and Notes about/from SIUC MFA Alums & Faculty
A round-up of recent/forthcoming publications and honors for SIUC writers:
Travis Mossotti (MFA '10, poetry):
"Just got a notice that Southern Humanities Review has accepted "Inside the Skull" for publication." Travis will also read from his work at the Yeiser Arts Center (200 Broadway) in Paducah (along with current fiction student Shawn Mitchell) on May 22 @ 7:30 pm as part of the River Town Reading Series.
Pinckney Benedict, fiction faculty:
"In the Hot Type column of the June issue of Vanity Fair: "Independent presses burn red hot this month. In Miracle Boy and Other Stories (Press 53), the Chekhov of Appalachia, Pinckney Benedict, highlights a culture in which the bizarre and grotesque are commonplace." Pinckney's new fiction collection, Miracle Boy and Other Stories, will be celebrated with a reading during this year's Young Writers Workshop (June 22-June 26). Pinckney will read at 8pm in Faner Hall's Harry T. Moore Auditorium on June 22, 2010.
Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum (MFA '09, poetry):
An excerpt from his poem "Marysarias" appears in the new issue of Center: A Journal of the Literary Arts (published at the University of Missouri).
Allison Joseph, poetry faculty and Jan La Perle (MFA '06, poetry)
New work by Jan and Allison appears in new issue of the Tusculum Review (published by Tusculum College in Greeneville, TN).
Travis Mossotti (MFA '10, poetry):
"Just got a notice that Southern Humanities Review has accepted "Inside the Skull" for publication." Travis will also read from his work at the Yeiser Arts Center (200 Broadway) in Paducah (along with current fiction student Shawn Mitchell) on May 22 @ 7:30 pm as part of the River Town Reading Series.
Pinckney Benedict, fiction faculty:
"In the Hot Type column of the June issue of Vanity Fair: "Independent presses burn red hot this month. In Miracle Boy and Other Stories (Press 53), the Chekhov of Appalachia, Pinckney Benedict, highlights a culture in which the bizarre and grotesque are commonplace." Pinckney's new fiction collection, Miracle Boy and Other Stories, will be celebrated with a reading during this year's Young Writers Workshop (June 22-June 26). Pinckney will read at 8pm in Faner Hall's Harry T. Moore Auditorium on June 22, 2010.
Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum (MFA '09, poetry):
An excerpt from his poem "Marysarias" appears in the new issue of Center: A Journal of the Literary Arts (published at the University of Missouri).
Allison Joseph, poetry faculty and Jan La Perle (MFA '06, poetry)
New work by Jan and Allison appears in new issue of the Tusculum Review (published by Tusculum College in Greeneville, TN).
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Congrats to Alex Lumans!
Alex Lumans (MFA '09, fiction) writes with happy forthcoming publication news:
I will have a story coming out in the next issue of Gargoyle that's due in June. It's called "Cormac McCarthy, Walmart Greeter." And I also have a story in the freshest issue of Rosebud: "How Tall Love Is."
Congrats, Lumans!
LINKS:
Gargoyle
Rosebud
I will have a story coming out in the next issue of Gargoyle that's due in June. It's called "Cormac McCarthy, Walmart Greeter." And I also have a story in the freshest issue of Rosebud: "How Tall Love Is."
Congrats, Lumans!
LINKS:
Gargoyle
Rosebud
Friday, May 07, 2010
Congrats also to
alums Andy McFadyen-Ketchum, Alex Lumans, Martin Call and Shanie Latham, who also received scholarships to attend this year's Ropewalk Writers Retreat. Current second-year fiction writer Lane Kareska also received one.
Watch out New Harmony, C-dale's coming at ya!
Watch out New Harmony, C-dale's coming at ya!
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Congrats to Andy McFadyen-Ketchum
News from Andy McFadyen-Ketchum (MFA '09, poetry):
Looks like Hayden's Ferry Review will be running my interview with SIUC's very own Benjamin Percy in November.
Congrats, Andy!
LINK:
Hayden's Ferry Review
Looks like Hayden's Ferry Review will be running my interview with SIUC's very own Benjamin Percy in November.
Congrats, Andy!
LINK:
Hayden's Ferry Review
Congrats to Sarah McCartt-Jackson!
Great news for second-year poet Sarah McCartt-Jackson--she's been selected to receive a scholarship to this year's Ropewalk Writers' Retreat!
Congrats, Sarah!
Find out more about Ropewalk here;
Ropewalk Writers' Retreat
Congrats, Sarah!
Find out more about Ropewalk here;
Ropewalk Writers' Retreat
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
MFA Graduation GALA--May 8, 2010
The Creative Writing Program of Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Department of English
cordially invites you to attend
our MFA Celebration
May 8, 2010
6:00 PM
SIUC Student Center Renaissance Room
These nine graduating students will read briefly from their thesis works:
Jenna Bazzell
Justin Benton
Azizat Danmole
Laura Gross
Travis Mossotti
Hannah K. New
James Scoles
Reynardo Vargas
Amie Whittemore
Please join us in wishing them congratulations and godspeed. There will be a reception with refreshments before the readings and during the intermissions.
Graduate Faculty:
Pinckney Benedict, Rodney Jones, Judy Jordan, Allison Joseph, Beth Lordan, Jacinda Townsend, and Jon Tribble.
cordially invites you to attend
our MFA Celebration
May 8, 2010
6:00 PM
SIUC Student Center Renaissance Room
These nine graduating students will read briefly from their thesis works:
Jenna Bazzell
Justin Benton
Azizat Danmole
Laura Gross
Travis Mossotti
Hannah K. New
James Scoles
Reynardo Vargas
Amie Whittemore
Please join us in wishing them congratulations and godspeed. There will be a reception with refreshments before the readings and during the intermissions.
Graduate Faculty:
Pinckney Benedict, Rodney Jones, Judy Jordan, Allison Joseph, Beth Lordan, Jacinda Townsend, and Jon Tribble.
Congrats to Melissa Scholes Young!
Very nice news this morning from second-year fiction writer Melissa Scholes Young:
The Village Pariah will be publishing my essay "Lying in Mark Twain's Footsteps" in their inaugural issue out this summer. That makes this Hannibal girl very proud!
The Village Pariah
Also, Paradigm is publishing a piece of my flash fiction entitled "The Town Crier."
Paradigm
Both are publishing print and online editions. I'll let you know when they are up!
The Village Pariah will be publishing my essay "Lying in Mark Twain's Footsteps" in their inaugural issue out this summer. That makes this Hannibal girl very proud!
The Village Pariah
Also, Paradigm is publishing a piece of my flash fiction entitled "The Town Crier."
Paradigm
Both are publishing print and online editions. I'll let you know when they are up!
Monday, May 03, 2010
News and Notes about/from SIUC MFA Alums
Poems by Jan LaPerle (MFA '06, poetry) appear in the new issue of Blazevox. Read them here:
Jan's poems
Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum (MFA '09, poetry)'s poem "Maenon" is forthcoming in Copper Nickel and his poem "Freak of the Week" is forthcoming in Cold Mountain Review.
Kevin McKelvey (MFA '04, poetry) writes: My Desktop Publishing course at the University of Indianapolis edited, designed, and printed books of creative writing by the 7th grade class at Indianapolis Public School #2, Center For Inquiry. Thirteen university students worked with twenty-nine 7th graders to print the books. Each book is a "flip" book with two authors, two front covers, etc. The 7th graders created the writing while working with The Second Story, a local nonprofit that works to improve kids' attitudes about writing, and students from Butler University. My UIndy students chose what to publish, edited the writing, and designed the books. We created 15 books and printed nearly 200 copies in all. Our release reading last week was a success for us and the 7th graders. Here's a link to an article on the project:
Kevin's project
And the Second Story's website: Second Story
Jan's poems
Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum (MFA '09, poetry)'s poem "Maenon" is forthcoming in Copper Nickel and his poem "Freak of the Week" is forthcoming in Cold Mountain Review.
Kevin McKelvey (MFA '04, poetry) writes: My Desktop Publishing course at the University of Indianapolis edited, designed, and printed books of creative writing by the 7th grade class at Indianapolis Public School #2, Center For Inquiry. Thirteen university students worked with twenty-nine 7th graders to print the books. Each book is a "flip" book with two authors, two front covers, etc. The 7th graders created the writing while working with The Second Story, a local nonprofit that works to improve kids' attitudes about writing, and students from Butler University. My UIndy students chose what to publish, edited the writing, and designed the books. We created 15 books and printed nearly 200 copies in all. Our release reading last week was a success for us and the 7th graders. Here's a link to an article on the project:
Kevin's project
And the Second Story's website: Second Story
Friday, April 30, 2010
Discover Paul Guest!
Terrific news for Paul Guest (MFA '99, poetry). His memoir, One More Theory About Happiness, has been chosen for Barnes & Noble's "Discover Great New Writers" Program.
You can pre-order Paul's latest here:
One More Theory About Happiness
Congratulations, Paul!
You can pre-order Paul's latest here:
One More Theory About Happiness
Congratulations, Paul!
News from Alex Lumans
Alex Lumans (MFA '09, fiction) sends this news:
I have a story called "Wands" in a new anthology called Three Times Daily that just got launched a week ago at the Cuirt Book Festival in Galway, Ireland. It features writing from all of the graduates of the NUIG Masters in Writing program (and somehow I burgled my way into its pages, too).
There's no real link for it yet, but here's the best I can do:
Galway
I have a story called "Wands" in a new anthology called Three Times Daily that just got launched a week ago at the Cuirt Book Festival in Galway, Ireland. It features writing from all of the graduates of the NUIG Masters in Writing program (and somehow I burgled my way into its pages, too).
There's no real link for it yet, but here's the best I can do:
Galway
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
More Pinckney Benedict News!
My story "Pig Helmet & the Wall of Life" is up over at Cal Morgan's terrific Fifty-Two Stories
Fifty-Two Stories. 52S is Harper Perennial's "little experiment in social engineering through the regular administration of short fiction," where they publish a new story every week. Our grad students should send them work. Link to submit is on the front page.
Congrats and thanks for the tip, PB!
Fifty-Two Stories. 52S is Harper Perennial's "little experiment in social engineering through the regular administration of short fiction," where they publish a new story every week. Our grad students should send them work. Link to submit is on the front page.
Congrats and thanks for the tip, PB!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Congrats to Nick Ostdick!
First-year fiction MFA Nick Ostdick has good news this afternoon:
I'll be presenting some fiction this fall at MMLA in Chicago (November 4-7). I'll be reading on the panel "Menace in Fiction,' and will be presenting my short story 'Mudholes' which was written this semester during Pinckney's workshop. Huge thanks to all in workshop who had a hand in shaping this story. Stoked.
LINK:
MMLA
I'll be presenting some fiction this fall at MMLA in Chicago (November 4-7). I'll be reading on the panel "Menace in Fiction,' and will be presenting my short story 'Mudholes' which was written this semester during Pinckney's workshop. Huge thanks to all in workshop who had a hand in shaping this story. Stoked.
LINK:
MMLA
Praise for Pinckney Benedict and Miracle Boy
from Pinckney Benedict, SIU fiction faculty and writer extraordinaire:
"Have just learned that MIRACLE BOY AND OTHER STORIES (Press53, May 23), has been longlisted for the The Cork City - Frank O'Connor Short Story Award. Cork
So there’s that."
There's that indeed! Congrats, PB!
"Have just learned that MIRACLE BOY AND OTHER STORIES (Press53, May 23), has been longlisted for the The Cork City - Frank O'Connor Short Story Award. Cork
So there’s that."
There's that indeed! Congrats, PB!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Congrats to Travis Mossotti!
Publication news from third-year poetry student Travis Mossotti: Copper Nickel accepted the poem "Marizibill" over the weekend.
Congrats, TM!
LINK:
Copper Nickel
Congrats, TM!
LINK:
Copper Nickel
Congrats to Kerry James Evans
Kerry James Evans (MFA '09, poetry) has had recent publication news:
The Pinch accepted my poem "Atomic Bible."
Congrats, KJE!
LINK:
The Pinch
The Pinch accepted my poem "Atomic Bible."
Congrats, KJE!
LINK:
The Pinch
Upcoming Writers on the Road Event: UMSL
The SIUC Graduate Writers Forum will present literary readings by writers from the University of Missouri Saint Louis' MFA Program on Friday, April 30th from 4-5:30 pm in the SIUC Student Center's Mississippi Room. The writers who will be reading from their creative works will be novelist Angie O'Gorman, poet K. William Kyle, fiction writer Kenny Squires and poet Joe Betz.
Congrats to Elena Pearson!
Elena Pearson (MFA '07, poetry) (who publishes under her maiden name, R. Elena Prieto) has had her poem "Courting Mary Ann Cotton" accepted for inclusion in A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry, edited by Oliver de la Paz and Stacey Lynn Brown.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Poemspotting: Travis Mossotti
Travis Mossotti's poem "I watched her going into a gas station" appears in the latest issue of Harpur Palate (volume 9, number 2), the national literary journal published at Binghamton University in New York.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Poemspotting: Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum
"Winters, We Watch the Snow Descend Slowly," a poem by Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum (MFA '09 poetry), appears in the Fall 2009 issue of South Dakota Review.
LINK:
South Dakota Review
LINK:
South Dakota Review
Writers on the Road: Mizzou Edition
tip courtesy Shawn Mitchell:
Thursday April 15th, we are sending a Writers on the Road contingent from SIUC to read in Columbia, MO for the MU folks that we had here last semester. The readers will be Mark Jay Brewin, Jr., Shawn Andrew Mitchell, Travis Mossotti, and Richard Pechous. It's at 7:00pm at Top Ten Wines in downtown Columbia, and it's going to be heckova good time.
Thursday April 15th, we are sending a Writers on the Road contingent from SIUC to read in Columbia, MO for the MU folks that we had here last semester. The readers will be Mark Jay Brewin, Jr., Shawn Andrew Mitchell, Travis Mossotti, and Richard Pechous. It's at 7:00pm at Top Ten Wines in downtown Columbia, and it's going to be heckova good time.
Congrats to Alex Lumans!
Alex Lumans (MFA '09, fiction) has some great post-AWP news to share:
"I have a story entitled "Tunnel Out of Georgia" in the newest issue of Black Warrior Review that came out in the last week or so. Page 1, baby!
And I also have a poem coming out in the next issue of The South Carolina Review (home state!) entitled "Endangered Species."
Congrats, Lumans!
"I have a story entitled "Tunnel Out of Georgia" in the newest issue of Black Warrior Review that came out in the last week or so. Page 1, baby!
And I also have a poem coming out in the next issue of The South Carolina Review (home state!) entitled "Endangered Species."
Congrats, Lumans!
Upcoming Literary Events in Carbondale
Learn more about the upcoming Little Grassy Literary Festival, sponsored by the Graduate Writers Forum of SIUC, here:
Little Grassy Literary Festival
Little Grassy Literary Festival
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Congrats to Travis Mossotti!
Travis Mossotti writes with news of several upcoming publications:
"It's No Secret" was picked up by the American Literary Review; "The Escape Artist" by Washington Square Review; and "Yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion" by Southeast Review.
Congrats, TM!
"It's No Secret" was picked up by the American Literary Review; "The Escape Artist" by Washington Square Review; and "Yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion" by Southeast Review.
Congrats, TM!
Literary Events in C-dale: Wednesday, April 14
Grassroots, SIUC's undergraduate journal, will have its spring release party this Wednesday:
Grassroots is pleased to announce we will be celebrating the release of our 2010 issue with a party this coming Wednesday, April 14 at 7:00 pm in the Hall of Presidents at Morris Library. We invite all faculty and students to read their work to help us get the party rocking! We'll have delicious desserts and good company, so bring your sweet tooth and a friend!
--Amy Mckenzie, Grassroots Editor-in-Chief
Also on the 14th, SIUC poet Judy Jordan will be presenting at the next Sigma Tau Delta meeting on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 (6:00-7:00 p.m. in the Mississippi Room of the Student Center).
Professor Jordan’s first book of poetry, "Carolina Ghost Woods," won the 1999 Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, the 2000 National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as the Utah Book of the Year Award, the OAY Award from the Poetry Council of North Carolina, and the Thomas Wolfe Literary Award. Her second book of poetry, "Sixty Cent Coffee and a Quarter to Dance," was recently published by LSU press. This past year she has completed two full-length plays and is currently working on a memoir and a third book of poetry.
Grassroots is pleased to announce we will be celebrating the release of our 2010 issue with a party this coming Wednesday, April 14 at 7:00 pm in the Hall of Presidents at Morris Library. We invite all faculty and students to read their work to help us get the party rocking! We'll have delicious desserts and good company, so bring your sweet tooth and a friend!
--Amy Mckenzie, Grassroots Editor-in-Chief
Also on the 14th, SIUC poet Judy Jordan will be presenting at the next Sigma Tau Delta meeting on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 (6:00-7:00 p.m. in the Mississippi Room of the Student Center).
Professor Jordan’s first book of poetry, "Carolina Ghost Woods," won the 1999 Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, the 2000 National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as the Utah Book of the Year Award, the OAY Award from the Poetry Council of North Carolina, and the Thomas Wolfe Literary Award. Her second book of poetry, "Sixty Cent Coffee and a Quarter to Dance," was recently published by LSU press. This past year she has completed two full-length plays and is currently working on a memoir and a third book of poetry.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Making Mama Proud: More Great News from MFA Carbondale folks
from James Scoles, third-year fiction writing student:
I've been awarded a major writing grant by the Canada Council for the Arts--six months of financial support--for me to work on my novel 'Spit in the Ocean.' The grant also covers a month-long return trip to Ireland this fall.
from Leslie Adams, first-year poetry student:
I just got the news that Quarterly West has accepted two poems, "Notes from the Cold" and "Elegy with Moon and Snake," for publication. Exciting!
from Tim Marsh (MFA '06, fiction):
The Los Angeles Review will publish my story "How to Make White People Happy" in October, and Pure Francis will publish my CNF piece "Communitas Lost" this summer.
How's that for good news!
I've been awarded a major writing grant by the Canada Council for the Arts--six months of financial support--for me to work on my novel 'Spit in the Ocean.' The grant also covers a month-long return trip to Ireland this fall.
from Leslie Adams, first-year poetry student:
I just got the news that Quarterly West has accepted two poems, "Notes from the Cold" and "Elegy with Moon and Snake," for publication. Exciting!
from Tim Marsh (MFA '06, fiction):
The Los Angeles Review will publish my story "How to Make White People Happy" in October, and Pure Francis will publish my CNF piece "Communitas Lost" this summer.
How's that for good news!
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Congrats to Emily Pruitt!
Emily Pruitt (MFA '03, poetry) has had two poems--"Adult Children Anonymous" and "Tokens"--accepted for publication by Big Muddy, the literary journal published by Southeast Missouri State University.
Congrats, EM!
LINK:
Big Muddy
Congrats, EM!
LINK:
Big Muddy
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Congrats to Lane Kareska!
Second-year fiction MFA student Lane Kareska sends exciting news from Ireland:
I was recently informed that my novel "I Will Kill the Sin Eater" made it to the finalist round of the New Rivers Press MVP contest. The prize is one thousand dollars and publication. This was a contest I entered because of CRWROPPS- so thanks again, Allison!
You are very welcome, LK!
LINK:
New Rivers Press
I was recently informed that my novel "I Will Kill the Sin Eater" made it to the finalist round of the New Rivers Press MVP contest. The prize is one thousand dollars and publication. This was a contest I entered because of CRWROPPS- so thanks again, Allison!
You are very welcome, LK!
LINK:
New Rivers Press
Congrats to Melissa Scholes Young!
Current second-year fiction MFA student Melissa Scholes Young has upcoming publication news:
New Madrid accepted my nonfiction essay "Carne" for publication in their Summer 2010 journal. Jon edited this essay for me last fall, and I'm grateful!
Congrats, Melissa!
New Madrid accepted my nonfiction essay "Carne" for publication in their Summer 2010 journal. Jon edited this essay for me last fall, and I'm grateful!
Congrats, Melissa!
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Looking Forward: Little Grassy Literary Festival Schedule
2010 Little Grassy Literary Festival: April 22 & 23, 2010
sponsored by the Graduate Writers Forum
SIUC MFA Program in Creative Writing
Thursday, April 22, 2010:
3-4:30pm Readings by Todd Hearon and Jennifer Richter
Morris Library, John C. Guyon Auditorium
6:30-8:30pm Readings by Ben Percy and Drew Perry
Morris Library, John C. Guyon Auditorium
Friday, April 23, 2010:
10-11 am Writers Panel Discussion: Morris Library, John C. Guyon Auditorium
Carolyn Forche, David Clewell, Ben Percy, Drew Perry
11am-12pm Reading by David Clewell
Morris Library, John C. Guyon Auditorium
12-1pm Book Signing and Reception
Morris Library, 1st Floor Rotunda
1-2 pm Reading by Carolyn Forche
Morris Library, John C. Guyon Auditorium
sponsored by the Graduate Writers Forum
SIUC MFA Program in Creative Writing
Thursday, April 22, 2010:
3-4:30pm Readings by Todd Hearon and Jennifer Richter
Morris Library, John C. Guyon Auditorium
6:30-8:30pm Readings by Ben Percy and Drew Perry
Morris Library, John C. Guyon Auditorium
Friday, April 23, 2010:
10-11 am Writers Panel Discussion: Morris Library, John C. Guyon Auditorium
Carolyn Forche, David Clewell, Ben Percy, Drew Perry
11am-12pm Reading by David Clewell
Morris Library, John C. Guyon Auditorium
12-1pm Book Signing and Reception
Morris Library, 1st Floor Rotunda
1-2 pm Reading by Carolyn Forche
Morris Library, John C. Guyon Auditorium
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Congrats to Jenna Bazzell!
Third-year poetry MFA student Jenna Bazzell is a winner in this year's annual AWP Intro Competition:
Details here:
Poetry Winners, AWP Intro
Details here:
Poetry Winners, AWP Intro
Storyspotting: Melissa Scholes Young
Second-year fiction student Melissa Scholes Young has a new story, "Scrap Metal Baby" in The Front View.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Poemspotting: Alums and Faculty
Poems by Leslie Adams (current first-year in poetry), Tim Shea (MFA '08, poetry) and SIUC faculty poet Allison Joseph appear in the latest issue of New South, a literary journal located at Georgia State University.
Poems by SIUC faculty poets Rodney Jones and Allison Joseph appear in the 35th anniversary issue of River Styx.
A review of MFA '04 Curtis Crisler's first book of poems, Tough Boy Sonatas, appears in the new issue of Big Muddy.
Poems by SIUC faculty poets Rodney Jones and Allison Joseph appear in the 35th anniversary issue of River Styx.
A review of MFA '04 Curtis Crisler's first book of poems, Tough Boy Sonatas, appears in the new issue of Big Muddy.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Roxana Rivera Memorial Poetry Contest Winners: 2010
Announcing the Winners of the 2010 Roxana Rivera Memorial Poetry Contest
SPONSORED BY THE CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM AND THE WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAM
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CARBONDALE
Judge Lee Ann Roripaugh, poet and professor at the University of South Dakota, has chosen to honor the following poets and their poems:
UNDERGRADUATE WINNERS:
First place: Jonathan Veach for “Renoir’s Vase of Chrysanthemums”
Second place: Stephenie DeArcangelis for “How It Is, Not Why”
Third place: Rheanna Pulley for “Mondays in Winter”
GRADUATE WINNERS:
First place: Amie Whittemore for “Lightning Bug Season”
Second place: Sarah McCartt-Jackson for “Vanishing Point”
Third place: Ruth Awad for “When My Mother Returned”
Honorable Mention: Jonathan Travelstead for “Clam Gulch, Alaska”
Please join us on Monday, March 29 2010 at 4 pm in the SIUC Student Center Auditorium for an awards ceremony featuring a reading from our judge, Lee Ann Roripaugh, the author of On the Cusp of a Dangerous Year (SIU Press)and two other collections of poetry. The winners will also read their award-winning poems. There will be a booksigning and reception in the Old Main Lounge after the ceremony.
The Roxana Rivera Memorial Poetry Contest honors the memory of Roxana Rivera, who was a poet and graduate student in English at the time of her death in 2003. Additional support for this contest comes from the Judge William Holmes Cook Endowment.
SPONSORED BY THE CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM AND THE WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAM
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CARBONDALE
Judge Lee Ann Roripaugh, poet and professor at the University of South Dakota, has chosen to honor the following poets and their poems:
UNDERGRADUATE WINNERS:
First place: Jonathan Veach for “Renoir’s Vase of Chrysanthemums”
Second place: Stephenie DeArcangelis for “How It Is, Not Why”
Third place: Rheanna Pulley for “Mondays in Winter”
GRADUATE WINNERS:
First place: Amie Whittemore for “Lightning Bug Season”
Second place: Sarah McCartt-Jackson for “Vanishing Point”
Third place: Ruth Awad for “When My Mother Returned”
Honorable Mention: Jonathan Travelstead for “Clam Gulch, Alaska”
Please join us on Monday, March 29 2010 at 4 pm in the SIUC Student Center Auditorium for an awards ceremony featuring a reading from our judge, Lee Ann Roripaugh, the author of On the Cusp of a Dangerous Year (SIU Press)and two other collections of poetry. The winners will also read their award-winning poems. There will be a booksigning and reception in the Old Main Lounge after the ceremony.
The Roxana Rivera Memorial Poetry Contest honors the memory of Roxana Rivera, who was a poet and graduate student in English at the time of her death in 2003. Additional support for this contest comes from the Judge William Holmes Cook Endowment.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Publication Congratulations to...
Alex Lumans (MFA '09, fiction):
I just had a story accepted for the Cincinnati Review (fall issue) called "Before I Offer Myself to the Birdmen."
And I also got a proposal accepted for a breakout session (called "Remaking the Real") at the
Ohio Festival of the Short Story that will go on this coming May 7 and 8 in Cincinnati.
Mark Brewin (second-year, poetry):
My poems "The Sunken House, The Rough Floor" and "Self-Portrait with a Mouse in my Future Mother-In-Law's Kitchen" have been picked up at La Fovea, an online publication with an interesting premise. I recommend others check it out...
I just had a story accepted for the Cincinnati Review (fall issue) called "Before I Offer Myself to the Birdmen."
And I also got a proposal accepted for a breakout session (called "Remaking the Real") at the
Ohio Festival of the Short Story that will go on this coming May 7 and 8 in Cincinnati.
Mark Brewin (second-year, poetry):
My poems "The Sunken House, The Rough Floor" and "Self-Portrait with a Mouse in my Future Mother-In-Law's Kitchen" have been picked up at La Fovea, an online publication with an interesting premise. I recommend others check it out...
Monday, March 22, 2010
Congrats to Mark Brewin!
Second-year poetry MFA student Mark Brewin has happy news to report:
I am pleased to e-mail you and say that the Los Angeles Review has accepted "From These Split Ends" and "Jersey Devil" for publication in their fine journal. Thank you so much.
-mb.
Congrats, Mark!
I am pleased to e-mail you and say that the Los Angeles Review has accepted "From These Split Ends" and "Jersey Devil" for publication in their fine journal. Thank you so much.
-mb.
Congrats, Mark!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Alumni Theater Project: Other People's Letters
Abby Wheetley (MFA '09, fiction) sends word of a very interesting upcoming theater project she and the folks in Special Collections have put together:
On the evening of April 8th, 2010, the Special Collections Research Center will be hosting an evening of dramatic readings from their collections. The event will begin at five thirty, take place in the John C. Guyon Auditorium and will be followed by a brief reception in the 1st Floor Rotunda with food and beverages.
Highlights include a letter from Charlie Chaplin during the McCarthy Era, a sustained correspondence from James Joyce to his publisher, a look into the daily life of a woman during the civil war and an entertaining account of a Paris trip from Henry Miller.
Attendees to the event can expect to be entertained, amused, shocked and touched by the intimacy and revelations that comes from reading Other People’s Letters. The event is free and open to the public.
The Special Collections Research Center of the Morris Library at Southern Illinois University Carbondale collects and preserves unique and rare historical materials in selected subject areas, and promotes the use of these materials by the Southern Illinois University Carbondale community, scholars, and the public. Its goal is to advance scholarship and further the educational, research, and service missions of the university.
On the evening of April 8th, 2010, the Special Collections Research Center will be hosting an evening of dramatic readings from their collections. The event will begin at five thirty, take place in the John C. Guyon Auditorium and will be followed by a brief reception in the 1st Floor Rotunda with food and beverages.
Highlights include a letter from Charlie Chaplin during the McCarthy Era, a sustained correspondence from James Joyce to his publisher, a look into the daily life of a woman during the civil war and an entertaining account of a Paris trip from Henry Miller.
Attendees to the event can expect to be entertained, amused, shocked and touched by the intimacy and revelations that comes from reading Other People’s Letters. The event is free and open to the public.
The Special Collections Research Center of the Morris Library at Southern Illinois University Carbondale collects and preserves unique and rare historical materials in selected subject areas, and promotes the use of these materials by the Southern Illinois University Carbondale community, scholars, and the public. Its goal is to advance scholarship and further the educational, research, and service missions of the university.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Alumni Reading Alert: Greg Schwipps, MFA '98, fiction
Greg Schwipps (MFA '98, fiction) reads from his work in Paducah, KY on Saturday, March 27 as part of the RiverTown Reading Series (7:30 pm at the Yeiser Art Center, 200 Broadway Street Paducah, KY 42001-0732). He'd love to to see some friendly SIUC faces in the crowd!
LINK: Yeiser Art Center
LINK: Yeiser Art Center
Contest Deadline Extension: Roxana Rivera Memorial Poetry Contest
CONTEST DEADLINE NOW EXTENDED TO MARCH 22, 2010
ANNOUNCING THE 2010 ROXANA RIVERA MEMORIAL POETRY CONTEST
Join SIUC’s Creative Writing and Women’s Studies Programs as we honor the memory of a wonderful poet and celebrate Women’s History Month.
The Roxana Rivera Memorial Poetry Contest honors the memory of Roxana Rivera (1977-2003), who was a first-year creative writing graduate student from Lynwood, California. Roxana, a graduate of California State University Long Beach, earned her Bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies and English. While at SIUC, Roxana was a PROMPT Scholar and a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of English.
To remember this special woman and poet, a campus-wide poetry contest will be held, with divisions for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Gift certificates will be awarded as prizes in both divisions:
$55 for first place $35 for second place $25 for third place
This contest is open to all students currently enrolled at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Students of all majors are encouraged to participate in this contest.
This Year’s Theme: “Things I Would Do For You”
DEADLINE: Monday, March 22, 2010 at 4pm
Submission Guidelines: Submit an entry packet with:
1) A cover sheet with your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and poem titles. Indicate on your cover sheet whether you are an undergraduate or graduate student.
2) Poem(s) on individual sheets (one poem only per page). No identifying information on the poems themselves, please. There is no entry fee, but there is a limit of three poems per entrant. If sending entries via e-mail, please send in rtf file format only.
The contest theme is provided to spark your creativity, and entries that reflect upon the theme in the lives of women are particularly welcome.
Entry packets should be submitted to Prof. Allison Joseph, English Dept., Faner Hall 2380, Mail Code 4503. Entries may be sent via campus mail or dropped off at the English Department office (Faner Hall 2380) during regular campus office hours. Entries can also by e-mailed to roxpoetrycontest*at*gmail.com (replace (at) with @)
Winners will be honored at a special awards ceremony to be held March 29, 2010.
ANNOUNCING THE 2010 ROXANA RIVERA MEMORIAL POETRY CONTEST
Join SIUC’s Creative Writing and Women’s Studies Programs as we honor the memory of a wonderful poet and celebrate Women’s History Month.
The Roxana Rivera Memorial Poetry Contest honors the memory of Roxana Rivera (1977-2003), who was a first-year creative writing graduate student from Lynwood, California. Roxana, a graduate of California State University Long Beach, earned her Bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies and English. While at SIUC, Roxana was a PROMPT Scholar and a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of English.
To remember this special woman and poet, a campus-wide poetry contest will be held, with divisions for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Gift certificates will be awarded as prizes in both divisions:
$55 for first place $35 for second place $25 for third place
This contest is open to all students currently enrolled at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Students of all majors are encouraged to participate in this contest.
This Year’s Theme: “Things I Would Do For You”
DEADLINE: Monday, March 22, 2010 at 4pm
Submission Guidelines: Submit an entry packet with:
1) A cover sheet with your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and poem titles. Indicate on your cover sheet whether you are an undergraduate or graduate student.
2) Poem(s) on individual sheets (one poem only per page). No identifying information on the poems themselves, please. There is no entry fee, but there is a limit of three poems per entrant. If sending entries via e-mail, please send in rtf file format only.
The contest theme is provided to spark your creativity, and entries that reflect upon the theme in the lives of women are particularly welcome.
Entry packets should be submitted to Prof. Allison Joseph, English Dept., Faner Hall 2380, Mail Code 4503. Entries may be sent via campus mail or dropped off at the English Department office (Faner Hall 2380) during regular campus office hours. Entries can also by e-mailed to roxpoetrycontest*at*gmail.com (replace (at) with @)
Winners will be honored at a special awards ceremony to be held March 29, 2010.
Congrats to Renee Evans!
Happy news this morning from Renee Evans (MFA '09, fiction):
My short short "The Fifth Jar" has been picked up for the June issue of Weave magazine.
Congrats, Renee!
LINK: Weave
My short short "The Fifth Jar" has been picked up for the June issue of Weave magazine.
Congrats, Renee!
LINK: Weave
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Reading Tomorrow: Corrected Location
MARCH 18, 2010
Allison Joseph and Allison Funk Poetry Reading
SIUC Student Center OHIO (not Mississippi Room), 4PM
Allison Funk is the author of four books of poems: The Tumbling Box (C & R Press, 2009); The Knot Garden (Sheep Meadow Press, 2002); Living at the Epicenter (Northeastern University Press, 1995); and Forms of Conversion (Alice James Books, 1986).
She is Professor of English at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Allison Joseph is the author of six books of poems, including the recently released My Father’s Kites (Steel Toe Books, 2010). She is director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at SIUC, and also serves as editor and poetry editor of Crab Orchard
Review.
The reading is free and open to the public. Books by both authors will be for sale after the reading.
Allison Joseph and Allison Funk Poetry Reading
SIUC Student Center OHIO (not Mississippi Room), 4PM
Allison Funk is the author of four books of poems: The Tumbling Box (C & R Press, 2009); The Knot Garden (Sheep Meadow Press, 2002); Living at the Epicenter (Northeastern University Press, 1995); and Forms of Conversion (Alice James Books, 1986).
She is Professor of English at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Allison Joseph is the author of six books of poems, including the recently released My Father’s Kites (Steel Toe Books, 2010). She is director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at SIUC, and also serves as editor and poetry editor of Crab Orchard
Review.
The reading is free and open to the public. Books by both authors will be for sale after the reading.
Two Amazing Upcoming Events: March 24/25, 2010
Two amazing upcoming events: March 24/25, 2010---one at John A. Logan, one on campus at SIUC.
Sundown Towns and Why They are Important in Southern Illinois
A free lecture by Dr. James Loewen
O’Neil Auditorium, John A. Logan College
Thursday, March 25, 3:30 p.m.
Sundown towns are communities that excluded African Americans (or sometimes Chinese Americans, Jewish Americans or other minorities) by force, law, or custom. These communities are called “sundown towns” because some of them posted signs at their city limits reading, typically, “N-----, Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On You In…” Some towns are still all white on purpose.
Professor James Loewen, author of the book Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism and creator of
the online newsletter The Sundown Town News: A Newsletter Dedicated to the Abolition of its Subject, has identified thousands of such towns across the country, including at least 440 in Illinois. Many of these towns are in southern Illinois, including several in the John A. Logan College district.
For more information, contact David Cochran at (618) 985-2828, extension 8689
Thursday, March 25, 3:30 p.m.
John A. Logan College - O’Neil Auditorium
The talk is free and open to the public
And:
The Black Affairs Council will be hosting an event for Women's History Month. We have invited Audrey Petty, Director of MFA-Creative Writing Program at University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. The lecture will be held on March 24, 2010 at 7:00P.M
Title of lecture:
Up South, Southside: Girlhood in the Promised Land: A Collection of Essays about Identity, Family, food and Place
LECTURE DESCRIPTION:
She will be presenting an excerpt from Up South, Southside: Girlhood in the Promised Land, a memoir-in-progress. As a whole, the work is concerned withthe interplay between place and identity. With the occasion of a road trip South
with her husband and infant daughter as a structural framework for the narrative,she has set out to consider how the Great Migration has defined her family’s story and also shaped her own inner compass.
Audrey Petty, an award-winning author and Associate Professor/Director of the Creative Writing Program -English Department at the University of Illinois-Champaign Urbana, will discuss her current work on an oral history of the Chicago Housing Authority’s high-rise housing projects. Petty’s poetry has been published in Crab Orchard Review and Cimarron Review. Among her other accomplishments, Ms. Petty has been awarded a residency at the Hedgebrook Colony, the Richard Soref Scholarship from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Tennessee Williams Fellowship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Her fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and she’s also been the recipient of fellowships and grants from the Ford Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council and the Hewlett Foundation. For more information contact Black Affairs Council at 618-453-2534.
Sundown Towns and Why They are Important in Southern Illinois
A free lecture by Dr. James Loewen
O’Neil Auditorium, John A. Logan College
Thursday, March 25, 3:30 p.m.
Sundown towns are communities that excluded African Americans (or sometimes Chinese Americans, Jewish Americans or other minorities) by force, law, or custom. These communities are called “sundown towns” because some of them posted signs at their city limits reading, typically, “N-----, Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On You In…” Some towns are still all white on purpose.
Professor James Loewen, author of the book Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism and creator of
the online newsletter The Sundown Town News: A Newsletter Dedicated to the Abolition of its Subject, has identified thousands of such towns across the country, including at least 440 in Illinois. Many of these towns are in southern Illinois, including several in the John A. Logan College district.
For more information, contact David Cochran at (618) 985-2828, extension 8689
Thursday, March 25, 3:30 p.m.
John A. Logan College - O’Neil Auditorium
The talk is free and open to the public
And:
The Black Affairs Council will be hosting an event for Women's History Month. We have invited Audrey Petty, Director of MFA-Creative Writing Program at University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. The lecture will be held on March 24, 2010 at 7:00P.M
Title of lecture:
Up South, Southside: Girlhood in the Promised Land: A Collection of Essays about Identity, Family, food and Place
LECTURE DESCRIPTION:
She will be presenting an excerpt from Up South, Southside: Girlhood in the Promised Land, a memoir-in-progress. As a whole, the work is concerned withthe interplay between place and identity. With the occasion of a road trip South
with her husband and infant daughter as a structural framework for the narrative,she has set out to consider how the Great Migration has defined her family’s story and also shaped her own inner compass.
Audrey Petty, an award-winning author and Associate Professor/Director of the Creative Writing Program -English Department at the University of Illinois-Champaign Urbana, will discuss her current work on an oral history of the Chicago Housing Authority’s high-rise housing projects. Petty’s poetry has been published in Crab Orchard Review and Cimarron Review. Among her other accomplishments, Ms. Petty has been awarded a residency at the Hedgebrook Colony, the Richard Soref Scholarship from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Tennessee Williams Fellowship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Her fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and she’s also been the recipient of fellowships and grants from the Ford Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council and the Hewlett Foundation. For more information contact Black Affairs Council at 618-453-2534.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Women's History Month: Upcoming Events
Check out this calendar of upcoming Women's History Month events:
Women's History Month events
Women's History Month events
Recent & Upcoming Alumni Publications: Hamm and Meyerhofer
from Justin Hamm (MFA, fiction '05):
Wanted to drop a line to let you know about some of my recent acceptances and so forth. First of all, Artocratic has a poem of mine, "Apocalypses I Covet, Apocalypses I Don't," in the March issue, and Plains Song Review's blog features a recording of me reading "illinois, my apologies," which they published last year.
Also, "the electric widower" appears in jmww's recently released "Best of" anthology IV and they'll feature a recording of the poem on their blog in conjunction with that in the near future, while in April, my poem "down home" will appear in decomP.
And finally, my short story, "I Am Not Lenny Coolidge" will appear in the inaugural issue of Revisitations later this month.
from Michael Meyerhofer (MFA, poetry, '06):
Got a few braggy poetry updates to pass on... “Number Twenty-Five,” was taken by Anti-Poetry, “Dedication” was taken by Rattle, “Dear Leviticus” was taken by Southern Indiana Review, “Affirmative Action” was taken by African American Review, and “The World’s Oldest Dildo” was taken by Juked. Also, my reviews of David Linton’s The Selected Poems of Li Po and Barbara Louise Ungar’s The Origin of the Milky Way were taken by Rattle.
Congrats JH and MM!
Wanted to drop a line to let you know about some of my recent acceptances and so forth. First of all, Artocratic has a poem of mine, "Apocalypses I Covet, Apocalypses I Don't," in the March issue, and Plains Song Review's blog features a recording of me reading "illinois, my apologies," which they published last year.
Also, "the electric widower" appears in jmww's recently released "Best of" anthology IV and they'll feature a recording of the poem on their blog in conjunction with that in the near future, while in April, my poem "down home" will appear in decomP.
And finally, my short story, "I Am Not Lenny Coolidge" will appear in the inaugural issue of Revisitations later this month.
from Michael Meyerhofer (MFA, poetry, '06):
Got a few braggy poetry updates to pass on... “Number Twenty-Five,” was taken by Anti-Poetry, “Dedication” was taken by Rattle, “Dear Leviticus” was taken by Southern Indiana Review, “Affirmative Action” was taken by African American Review, and “The World’s Oldest Dildo” was taken by Juked. Also, my reviews of David Linton’s The Selected Poems of Li Po and Barbara Louise Ungar’s The Origin of the Milky Way were taken by Rattle.
Congrats JH and MM!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Upcoming Poetry Reading: Women's History Month
MARCH 18, 2010
Allison Joseph and Allison Funk Poetry Reading
SIUC Student Center Mississippi Room, 4PM
Allison Funk is the author of four books of poems: The Tumbling Box (C & R Press, 2009); The Knot Garden (Sheep Meadow Press, 2002); Living at the Epicenter (Northeastern University Press, 1995); and Forms of Conversion (Alice James Books, 1986).
She is Professor of English at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Allison Joseph is the author of six books of poems, including the recently released My Father’s Kites (Steel Toe Books, 2010). She is director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at SIUC, and also serves as editor and poetry editor of Crab Orchard
Review.
The reading is free and open to the public. Books by both authors will be for sale after the reading.
Allison Joseph and Allison Funk Poetry Reading
SIUC Student Center Mississippi Room, 4PM
Allison Funk is the author of four books of poems: The Tumbling Box (C & R Press, 2009); The Knot Garden (Sheep Meadow Press, 2002); Living at the Epicenter (Northeastern University Press, 1995); and Forms of Conversion (Alice James Books, 1986).
She is Professor of English at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Allison Joseph is the author of six books of poems, including the recently released My Father’s Kites (Steel Toe Books, 2010). She is director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at SIUC, and also serves as editor and poetry editor of Crab Orchard
Review.
The reading is free and open to the public. Books by both authors will be for sale after the reading.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Joseph on "The Writers' Almanac"
Faculty poet Allison Joseph's poem "Elegy for the Personal Letter" (from her latest book My Father's Kites) was read today by Garrison Keillor on his radio program "The Writers' Almanac." You can hear the poem at
The Writers' Almanac
The Writers' Almanac
Monday, March 08, 2010
Forthcoming Poems from Alumni Poets
Will Tyler (MFA '09) has publication news as does Amy Blache Graziano (MFA '07):
Will:
I got another poem accepted. "My Devil" will be appearing in Clackamas Literary Review.
Amy:
Just got word that Blue Earth Review is taking two poems for their upcoming issue: "Dear Jesus" and "I Wonder if They Do it Anywhere Else."
Congrats, Will and Amy!
LINKS:
Clackamas Literary Review
Blue Earth Review
Will:
I got another poem accepted. "My Devil" will be appearing in Clackamas Literary Review.
Amy:
Just got word that Blue Earth Review is taking two poems for their upcoming issue: "Dear Jesus" and "I Wonder if They Do it Anywhere Else."
Congrats, Will and Amy!
LINKS:
Clackamas Literary Review
Blue Earth Review
Friday, March 05, 2010
Forthcoming Publications: Sexton and Evans
Recent alums Jared Yates Sexton (MFA, fiction, '08) and Kerry James Evans (MFA, poetry, '09) have had new work accepted for forthcoming publication:
Jared: Got word that my story "Just Listen" was accepted by the literary journal BULL for a future issue.
LINK: BULL
Bull
Kerry: North American Review just picked up my poem: "Two Prophecies."
LINK: North American Review
North American Review
Congrats, you two!
Jared: Got word that my story "Just Listen" was accepted by the literary journal BULL for a future issue.
LINK: BULL
Bull
Kerry: North American Review just picked up my poem: "Two Prophecies."
LINK: North American Review
North American Review
Congrats, you two!
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Accepted Poems by Happy Poets
Today's happy dance news:
First year poet Leslie Adams's poem "And This" has been accepted for publication in the Adirondack Review.
LINK to Leslie's poem:
And This
Second-year poet Mark Brewin's poem "Field Lesson" has been accepted for publication in Copper Nickel.
LINKS:
Adirondack Review
Copper Nickel
First year poet Leslie Adams's poem "And This" has been accepted for publication in the Adirondack Review.
LINK to Leslie's poem:
And This
Second-year poet Mark Brewin's poem "Field Lesson" has been accepted for publication in Copper Nickel.
LINKS:
Adirondack Review
Copper Nickel
Contest for current SIUC Students (Undergrads and Grads)
ANNOUNCING THE 2010 ROXANA RIVERA MEMORIAL POETRY CONTEST
Join SIUC’s Creative Writing and Women’s Studies Programs as we honor the memory of a wonderful poet and celebrate Women’s History Month.
The Roxana Rivera Memorial Poetry Contest honors the memory of Roxana Rivera (1977-2003), who was a first-year creative writing graduate student from Lynwood, California. Roxana, a graduate of California State University Long Beach, earned her Bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies and English. While at SIUC, Roxana was a PROMPT Scholar and a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of English.
To remember this special woman and poet, a campus-wide poetry contest will be held, with divisions for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Gift certificates will be awarded as prizes in both divisions:
$55 for first place $35 for second place $25 for third place
This contest is open to all students currently enrolled at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Students of all majors are encouraged to participate in this contest.
This Year’s Theme: “Things I Would Do For You”
DEADLINE: Friday, March 19, 2010
Submission Guidelines:
Submit an entry packet with:
1) A cover sheet with your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and poem titles. Indicate on your cover sheet whether you are an undergraduate or graduate student.
2) Poem(s) on individual sheets (one poem only per page). No identifying information on the poems themselves, please. There is no entry fee, but there is a limit of three poems per entrant.
The contest theme is provided to spark your creativity, and entries that reflect upon the theme in the lives of women are particularly welcome.
Entry packets should be submitted to Prof. Allison Joseph, English Dept., Faner Hall 2380, Mail Code 4503. Entries may be sent via campus mail or dropped off at the English Department office (Faner Hall 2380) during regular campus office hours. Winners will be honored at a special awards ceremony to be held March 29, 2010.
Join SIUC’s Creative Writing and Women’s Studies Programs as we honor the memory of a wonderful poet and celebrate Women’s History Month.
The Roxana Rivera Memorial Poetry Contest honors the memory of Roxana Rivera (1977-2003), who was a first-year creative writing graduate student from Lynwood, California. Roxana, a graduate of California State University Long Beach, earned her Bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies and English. While at SIUC, Roxana was a PROMPT Scholar and a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of English.
To remember this special woman and poet, a campus-wide poetry contest will be held, with divisions for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Gift certificates will be awarded as prizes in both divisions:
$55 for first place $35 for second place $25 for third place
This contest is open to all students currently enrolled at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Students of all majors are encouraged to participate in this contest.
This Year’s Theme: “Things I Would Do For You”
DEADLINE: Friday, March 19, 2010
Submission Guidelines:
Submit an entry packet with:
1) A cover sheet with your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and poem titles. Indicate on your cover sheet whether you are an undergraduate or graduate student.
2) Poem(s) on individual sheets (one poem only per page). No identifying information on the poems themselves, please. There is no entry fee, but there is a limit of three poems per entrant.
The contest theme is provided to spark your creativity, and entries that reflect upon the theme in the lives of women are particularly welcome.
Entry packets should be submitted to Prof. Allison Joseph, English Dept., Faner Hall 2380, Mail Code 4503. Entries may be sent via campus mail or dropped off at the English Department office (Faner Hall 2380) during regular campus office hours. Winners will be honored at a special awards ceremony to be held March 29, 2010.
Forthcoming Publications by Fiction Alums
Good news from Rachel Furey (MFA '09) and Chad Simpson (MFA '06):
from Rachel:
Allison,
Since this story has always been special to me, I'm happy to report
that "Growing Breasts for Spiderman" has finally found an appropriate
home: an anthology titled Wait a Minute, I Have to Take Off My Bra.
It will be published by Inkspotter Publishing in Sept.
Best,
Rachel
LINK: Inspotter Publishing:
Wait a Minute
from Chad:
Hi, Allison--
My story "Phantoms" (http://freightstories.com/Simpson.html) was just published in Freight Stories No. 6
Phantoms.
"Phantoms" is also the title story of my chapbook of flash fictions and short-shorts, which will be out on April 16th from Origami Zoo Press. More info is available here:
Origami Zoo
I hope all's well.
Cheers,
Chad
from Rachel:
Allison,
Since this story has always been special to me, I'm happy to report
that "Growing Breasts for Spiderman" has finally found an appropriate
home: an anthology titled Wait a Minute, I Have to Take Off My Bra.
It will be published by Inkspotter Publishing in Sept.
Best,
Rachel
LINK: Inspotter Publishing:
Wait a Minute
from Chad:
Hi, Allison--
My story "Phantoms" (http://freightstories.com/Simpson.html) was just published in Freight Stories No. 6
Phantoms.
"Phantoms" is also the title story of my chapbook of flash fictions and short-shorts, which will be out on April 16th from Origami Zoo Press. More info is available here:
Origami Zoo
I hope all's well.
Cheers,
Chad
Monday, March 01, 2010
Congrats to Nick Ostdick!
First-year fiction student NIck Ostdick sends this news:
My story "True Hair" published in December by Storyglossia has been nominated by the mag's editor for a 2010 StorySouth Million Writer's Award. Not quite a Pulitzer or anything, but I'm stoked.
Congrats, Nick!
LINK:
True Hair
My story "True Hair" published in December by Storyglossia has been nominated by the mag's editor for a 2010 StorySouth Million Writer's Award. Not quite a Pulitzer or anything, but I'm stoked.
Congrats, Nick!
LINK:
True Hair
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Literary Happenings in C-dale: Week of February 22, 2010
The Graduate Writers Forum presents readings by four current MFA students: poet Hannah Katie New, fiction writer Nick Ostdick, fiction writer Melissa Scholes Young and poet John Stanford Owen.
4PM SIUC Student Center Kaskaskia Room, Thursday February 25. Free and open to the public.
The staff of GRASSROOTS, SIUC's undergraduate literary and art magazine, presents an Open Mike Party, also on February 25th. Starting at 7 PM, there will be food and music in the Faner Hall Humanities Lounge. Bring your poems and prose to read, or just come listen. Free and open to all.
4PM SIUC Student Center Kaskaskia Room, Thursday February 25. Free and open to the public.
The staff of GRASSROOTS, SIUC's undergraduate literary and art magazine, presents an Open Mike Party, also on February 25th. Starting at 7 PM, there will be food and music in the Faner Hall Humanities Lounge. Bring your poems and prose to read, or just come listen. Free and open to all.
A Plethora of Good News from Alums and Current Students
So much good news to report from SIUC MFA alums and current students:
Betsy Taylor (MFA, fiction, '99) reports:
My flash fiction, The Chocolate Bar Kid, was accepted by Apparatus magazine, an online publication. The story went up this week, and the url is Apparatus
Tim Marsh (MFA, fiction, '06) says:
February has been a good month. Prick of the Spindle will publish my CNF piece "Getting to Know You" in its next issue (4.1, late March). I've also been selected as the feature poet for the Spring Issue of Litterbox Magazine (please refrain from the obvious joke if you don't like the poems). The poems "Post Grad" and "Adult Supervision, White Horse Beach. 4th of July" will appear in the issue.
Jason Brown (MFA, fiction, '08) writes:
Poetry: In early April, RockSaw Press will publish my poetry chapbook, Blue Collar Fathers, which should debut at the AWP conference, and I have poems in the current issue of the American Poetry Journal (“Advice for the New You”) and Spoon River Poetry Review (“Intersection”) —both poems are in the chapbook.
Fiction: The Literary Review has accepted for publication my short story “Big Cowboy” (a.k.a the penis festival story). And an excerpt “Hognose” from my thesis will appear in the Platte Valley Review.
Editing: I have finished editing, with Jay Prefontaine, the new anthology, New Stories from the Midwest (Ohio University Press), which is slated for a winter 2010/2011 publication. The generous Lee Martin wrote the introduction. I also have to say that the anthology would not have been possible without Shanie Latham, who I can’t thank enough.
Kerry James Evans (MFA, poetry, '09) sends this news:
SIUC alums are well-represented in Copper Nickel's new issue :
Adrian Matejka's "Ego Elevator Music," "Mass Appeal" and "Money Folder"
James Miller's "Ike Turner at the Stackhouse: Clarksdale, MS 1998" and "Evening Train: Skip James, February 1931"
Kerry James Evans' "Mary Magdalene Leaving Jesus" and "Atlanta"
A.K. Thompson (current second-year student, fiction) says:
The Smoking Poet accepted my creative non-fiction piece, "Poor Man's Cocaine ~ or ~ A Question of Tobacco" for publication in their next issue (March 2010), Website: The Smoking Poet
From James Scoles (current second-year student, fiction):
I got word yesterday that my story 'Train Running Through' was a Finalist in Glimmer Train's Open Fiction Contest. Also, huge, huge thanks to Pinckney Benedict for nominating a story of mine (featured in Prairie Fire) for Pushcart Prize XXXV.
From Rachel Furey (MFA, fiction, '09):
I have a couple more for you. Stymie Magazine accepted a piece I wrote back in Carbondale, "Hey, ref, what's up with the mercy rule?" for their Autumn/Winter '10 issue. I also had a short memoir piece,"Directing Frog Traffic," accepted into an upcoming anthology titled A Daughter's Story. A shout-out and thank you to the CRWROPPS list,where I discovered both of these opportunities.
Congrats to everyone on these successes! Thanks for keeping the MFA Carbondale blog lively!
Betsy Taylor (MFA, fiction, '99) reports:
My flash fiction, The Chocolate Bar Kid, was accepted by Apparatus magazine, an online publication. The story went up this week, and the url is Apparatus
Tim Marsh (MFA, fiction, '06) says:
February has been a good month. Prick of the Spindle will publish my CNF piece "Getting to Know You" in its next issue (4.1, late March). I've also been selected as the feature poet for the Spring Issue of Litterbox Magazine (please refrain from the obvious joke if you don't like the poems). The poems "Post Grad" and "Adult Supervision, White Horse Beach. 4th of July" will appear in the issue.
Jason Brown (MFA, fiction, '08) writes:
Poetry: In early April, RockSaw Press will publish my poetry chapbook, Blue Collar Fathers, which should debut at the AWP conference, and I have poems in the current issue of the American Poetry Journal (“Advice for the New You”) and Spoon River Poetry Review (“Intersection”) —both poems are in the chapbook.
Fiction: The Literary Review has accepted for publication my short story “Big Cowboy” (a.k.a the penis festival story). And an excerpt “Hognose” from my thesis will appear in the Platte Valley Review.
Editing: I have finished editing, with Jay Prefontaine, the new anthology, New Stories from the Midwest (Ohio University Press), which is slated for a winter 2010/2011 publication. The generous Lee Martin wrote the introduction. I also have to say that the anthology would not have been possible without Shanie Latham, who I can’t thank enough.
Kerry James Evans (MFA, poetry, '09) sends this news:
SIUC alums are well-represented in Copper Nickel's new issue :
Adrian Matejka's "Ego Elevator Music," "Mass Appeal" and "Money Folder"
James Miller's "Ike Turner at the Stackhouse: Clarksdale, MS 1998" and "Evening Train: Skip James, February 1931"
Kerry James Evans' "Mary Magdalene Leaving Jesus" and "Atlanta"
A.K. Thompson (current second-year student, fiction) says:
The Smoking Poet accepted my creative non-fiction piece, "Poor Man's Cocaine ~ or ~ A Question of Tobacco" for publication in their next issue (March 2010), Website: The Smoking Poet
From James Scoles (current second-year student, fiction):
I got word yesterday that my story 'Train Running Through' was a Finalist in Glimmer Train's Open Fiction Contest. Also, huge, huge thanks to Pinckney Benedict for nominating a story of mine (featured in Prairie Fire) for Pushcart Prize XXXV.
From Rachel Furey (MFA, fiction, '09):
I have a couple more for you. Stymie Magazine accepted a piece I wrote back in Carbondale, "Hey, ref, what's up with the mercy rule?" for their Autumn/Winter '10 issue. I also had a short memoir piece,"Directing Frog Traffic," accepted into an upcoming anthology titled A Daughter's Story. A shout-out and thank you to the CRWROPPS list,where I discovered both of these opportunities.
Congrats to everyone on these successes! Thanks for keeping the MFA Carbondale blog lively!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Poemspotting: Amie Whittemore
Current third-year poetry MFA Amie Whittemore's poem "Movement of Heat" appears in the Winter/Spring 2010 (Volume 22, number 1) issue of Sycamore Review .
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Congrats to Kerry James Evans (MFA '09)!
Kerry James Evans (MFA '09) has been one busy poet:
I'm the featured poet for Beloit Poetry Journal for the month of February. So far we've had some good discussion up on the forum: musicality, blues, section breaks, space, distance, landscape and more. I'm looking forward to see where the discussion can go.
Join the discussion at
Kerry James Evans
I also have poems in the current issues of Fugue and The Florida Review and Beloit Poetry Journal just accepted two more poems for publication: "An Empty House" and "Packed in Ice."
Congrats, KJE!
I'm the featured poet for Beloit Poetry Journal for the month of February. So far we've had some good discussion up on the forum: musicality, blues, section breaks, space, distance, landscape and more. I'm looking forward to see where the discussion can go.
Join the discussion at
Kerry James Evans
I also have poems in the current issues of Fugue and The Florida Review and Beloit Poetry Journal just accepted two more poems for publication: "An Empty House" and "Packed in Ice."
Congrats, KJE!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Congrats to Melissa Scholes Young!
Second-year fiction MFA student Melissa Scholes Young has news to share as well:
The editor of Mothering just called to let me know they want my essay, "To Nurse or Not to Nurse" (forgive me, Shakespeare, but Mama needs a new pair of shoes), to be the feature article in their May/June print magazine.
LINK: Mothering
Also, my paper "In Service of the Body: An Academic and Creative Approach to the Interdisciplinary Study" was accepted for presentation at the National Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference at Indiana University in March. It's a research paper that resulted in a short story. I wrote it last semester between Dr. Klaver's class and Beth's workshop.
Congrats, MSY! Way to work academia!
The editor of Mothering just called to let me know they want my essay, "To Nurse or Not to Nurse" (forgive me, Shakespeare, but Mama needs a new pair of shoes), to be the feature article in their May/June print magazine.
LINK: Mothering
Also, my paper "In Service of the Body: An Academic and Creative Approach to the Interdisciplinary Study" was accepted for presentation at the National Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference at Indiana University in March. It's a research paper that resulted in a short story. I wrote it last semester between Dr. Klaver's class and Beth's workshop.
Congrats, MSY! Way to work academia!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Congrats to Brenna Lemieux
Second-year poet Brenna Lemieux writes again from Ireland:
I'm writing to let you know that I'm behaving myself (for the most part) here in Ireland and that I've just heard from
The Connecticut Review that they've accepted the poem "My Father's Moonlilies" for publication in their next issue.
Congrats, Brenna! Someone likes SIUC MFAs in CT!
I'm writing to let you know that I'm behaving myself (for the most part) here in Ireland and that I've just heard from
The Connecticut Review that they've accepted the poem "My Father's Moonlilies" for publication in their next issue.
Congrats, Brenna! Someone likes SIUC MFAs in CT!
Storyspotting: Alex Lumans (MFA '09)
Alex Lumans (fiction, MFA '09) has a story in the latest issue of the Greensboro Review (Fall 2009, Number 86). The story is titled "Brainbarn."
Congrats to Tim Marsh (MFA '06)!
Fiction grad Tim Marsh has good news to share:
I had a few acceptances last month. My piece "A Month Before 30, Summit of Signal Hill" will appear in an upcoming edition of The Splinter Generation. The Evansville Review will also publish my CNF story "Discovery Channel" in Issue XX.
LINKS:
Splinter Generation
Evansville Review
Congrats, Tim! Keep the good news coming!
I had a few acceptances last month. My piece "A Month Before 30, Summit of Signal Hill" will appear in an upcoming edition of The Splinter Generation. The Evansville Review will also publish my CNF story "Discovery Channel" in Issue XX.
LINKS:
Splinter Generation
Evansville Review
Congrats, Tim! Keep the good news coming!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Congrats to Travis Mossotti!
Current third-year poetry student Travis Mossotti continues to place poems in fine magazines:
The Cincinnati Review accepted "One Act: Opening Night" for publication. Also, the Connecticut Review accepted "Too Many Hillsides for the Dead" for one of their upcoming issues. I love snail-mail surprises.
Congrats, TM!
LINKS:
Cincinnati Review
Connecticut Review
The Cincinnati Review accepted "One Act: Opening Night" for publication. Also, the Connecticut Review accepted "Too Many Hillsides for the Dead" for one of their upcoming issues. I love snail-mail surprises.
Congrats, TM!
LINKS:
Cincinnati Review
Connecticut Review
Monday, February 08, 2010
Allison Joseph's new book now available
Faculty poet Allison Joseph's latest collection of poems, My Father's Kites, is now available from Steel Toe Books.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Alumni Reading Alert: Melanie Dusseau MFA '03, poetry)
Melanie Dusseau, MFA '03, author of the new poetry collection The Body Tries Again will read from her book at 3 pm on Thursday, February 25th, at the Carlson Library on the main campus of the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio. This venue is located at 2801 Bancroft, in the Canaday Center, 5th Floor. For more information, visit
U Toledo Library
U Toledo Library
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Congrats to Jan La Perle (MFA '06)
Poetry alum Jan LaPerle (aka Jan Matthews) has had a short-short published by Hobart! Congrats, Jan!
Congrats to John Flaherty (MFA '09)
John Flaherty (MFA '09, fiction) writes with new story news:
Hi, Allison -
Just wanted to report that a story of mine went up today on McSweeney's. It is entitled "An Aspiring Club DJ Reluctantly Moves On to Weddings." I'm including the link here, and it is also available on their iPhone app, if, you know, you're into that sort of thing.
Hope all is well!
Best,
John Flaherty
Congrats, John!
Hi, Allison -
Just wanted to report that a story of mine went up today on McSweeney's. It is entitled "An Aspiring Club DJ Reluctantly Moves On to Weddings." I'm including the link here, and it is also available on their iPhone app, if, you know, you're into that sort of thing.
Hope all is well!
Best,
John Flaherty
Congrats, John!
Words, Photos, Music
A multimedia presentation of a ghazal written by faculty poet Allison Joseph for the re-opening of SIUC's Morris Library can be found here.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Alumnispotting: Sou'wester and Southern Indiana Review
A new poem ("A Mural in the Abandoned Cane Hill Asylum") by Melanie Jordan (MFA '01) appears in the new issue of Sou'wester, the literary journal of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
New poems and stories by SIUC-connected authors appear in the most recent issue of Southern Indiana Review. In this issue, you'll find new poems by faculty poet Allison Joseph and poetry alum Matthew Guenette and a new story by fiction alum Ben Percy.
New poems and stories by SIUC-connected authors appear in the most recent issue of Southern Indiana Review. In this issue, you'll find new poems by faculty poet Allison Joseph and poetry alum Matthew Guenette and a new story by fiction alum Ben Percy.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Congrats to Rachel Furey (MFA '09)
Congrats to MFA fiction alum Rachel Furey on getting two pieces accepted for publication:
Since it wouldn't have seemed quite right if I had gotten a piece infor one of my parents and not the other, I'm happy to report that Ihave work forthcoming in both the Thanks Mom (due out in March) and Thanks Dad (due out in April) editions of
Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Hope all is well here. Ice and snow here, but staying warm.
Congrats, Rachel to you and your parents!
Since it wouldn't have seemed quite right if I had gotten a piece infor one of my parents and not the other, I'm happy to report that Ihave work forthcoming in both the Thanks Mom (due out in March) and Thanks Dad (due out in April) editions of
Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Hope all is well here. Ice and snow here, but staying warm.
Congrats, Rachel to you and your parents!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Congrats to Brenna Lemieux
Second-year poet Brenna Lemieux sends good news from Ireland:
I just found out one of my poems got picked up by New Delta Review, so I thought I'd brag a little. It's called "Life of Eloise (Temporary Exhibit)."
Congrats, Brenna! We miss you in C'dale!
I just found out one of my poems got picked up by New Delta Review, so I thought I'd brag a little. It's called "Life of Eloise (Temporary Exhibit)."
Congrats, Brenna! We miss you in C'dale!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Alumni Publications: Forthcoming and Recent
Melanie Dusseau (MFA '03, poetry)'s first book of poems,
Alex Lumans (MFA '09, fiction)'s story "Excavating the Blind" appears in
Story Quarterly #43. The journal is now published at Rutgers University-Camden.
Andy McFadyen-Ketchum (MFA '09, poetry) writes to say: "Looks like the South Dakota Review is taking "Winters we Watch the Snow Descend Slowly." That makes a third of the poems in my thesis published....feels more legit somehow..."
Congrats to all these fabulous alums!
The Body Tries Again (Word Press), is now available and can be ordered from Amazon. com and Barnes & Noble.
Alex Lumans (MFA '09, fiction)'s story "Excavating the Blind" appears in
Story Quarterly #43. The journal is now published at Rutgers University-Camden.
Andy McFadyen-Ketchum (MFA '09, poetry) writes to say: "Looks like the South Dakota Review is taking "Winters we Watch the Snow Descend Slowly." That makes a third of the poems in my thesis published....feels more legit somehow..."
Congrats to all these fabulous alums!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Upcoming Alumni Readings: Adrian Matejka (MFA '01)
Poetry alum Adrian Matejka will be reading from his work both close to home and far away:
via Jake Adam York, editor of Copper Nickel at the University of Colorado Denver
Poet Adrian Matejka, author of Mixology, a 2008 National Poetry Selection, and contributor to the 13th issue, will read at 4pm on Wednesday, January 27th in the Recital Hall of the King Center on the Auraria Higher Education Campus. Books will be on sale. Copper Nickel 13, will sell for $5 to ANY student with an ID. A reception will follow at the Denver Press Club, 1330 Glenarm, at 6pm, with a contributor reading at 7pm.
Adrian will also read with his faculty colleagues at our sister school, SIUE, in Saint Louis:
Thursday, Jan. 21, SIUE is hosting a reading by creative writing faculty at the Regional Arts Commission on 6128 Delmar at 6 p.m. Adrian Matejka, Stacey Lynn Brown, Valerie Vogrin, Geoff Schmidt, and Allison Funk will read. The event is open to all.
via Jake Adam York, editor of Copper Nickel at the University of Colorado Denver
Poet Adrian Matejka, author of Mixology, a 2008 National Poetry Selection, and contributor to the 13th issue, will read at 4pm on Wednesday, January 27th in the Recital Hall of the King Center on the Auraria Higher Education Campus. Books will be on sale. Copper Nickel 13, will sell for $5 to ANY student with an ID. A reception will follow at the Denver Press Club, 1330 Glenarm, at 6pm, with a contributor reading at 7pm.
Adrian will also read with his faculty colleagues at our sister school, SIUE, in Saint Louis:
Thursday, Jan. 21, SIUE is hosting a reading by creative writing faculty at the Regional Arts Commission on 6128 Delmar at 6 p.m. Adrian Matejka, Stacey Lynn Brown, Valerie Vogrin, Geoff Schmidt, and Allison Funk will read. The event is open to all.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Upcoming Literary Event in Carbondale
HELP FOR HAITI: A LITERARY BENEFIT
Sponsored by the MFA Program in Creative Writing
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Thursday, January 28, 2010
SIUC Student Center Cambria Room
7-8:30 PM
Free and open to the public with donations gratefully accepted
All donations to go to the International Relief Fund of the American Red Cross
Sponsored by the MFA Program in Creative Writing
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Thursday, January 28, 2010
SIUC Student Center Cambria Room
7-8:30 PM
Free and open to the public with donations gratefully accepted
All donations to go to the International Relief Fund of the American Red Cross
Rodney Jones poem to appear in BAP 2010
Beloved MFA faculty member will appear in Best American Poetry 2010 (editor, Amy Gerstler) with his poem "North Alabama Endtime!"
Congrats, Mr. Jones!
Congrats, Mr. Jones!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Fantastic news from fiction faculty member Jacinda Townsend!
I'll let Jacinda tell you all in her own inimitable style:
My book deal is a done deal now, so yes feel free to share this on the blog--it's a historical novel called Saint Monkey and it's with Norton, though I'm not sure when it's coming out. (I've been told to think this weekend about a "delivery date," about which I'm a little freaked, but I think I'm going to seriously tunnel in and try to revise by June, because let's be for real I'm not going to get anything done this summer with two kids all up in my grill 24/7.
Congrats on the book deal, Jacinda!
My book deal is a done deal now, so yes feel free to share this on the blog--it's a historical novel called Saint Monkey and it's with Norton, though I'm not sure when it's coming out. (I've been told to think this weekend about a "delivery date," about which I'm a little freaked, but I think I'm going to seriously tunnel in and try to revise by June, because let's be for real I'm not going to get anything done this summer with two kids all up in my grill 24/7.
Congrats on the book deal, Jacinda!
Congrats to...
MFA poetry alum Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum:
Spoon River Poetry Review will be publishing "The Lives of Boys" and "Self-Portrait, 1997" in the coming months.
and
current fiction student Melissa Scholes Young:
After too many rejections to count, my baby, my "Scrap Metal Baby," has been accepted for publication in The View From Here's print journal for April 2010. "Scrap Metal Baby" is a short story that came out of a writing assignment in Pinckney's workshop. It was and is a stretch and a challenge for my writing style to write surreal. Pinckney made me do it. I'm grateful. "Scrap Metal Baby" can now be born. Her mama needs a rest.
Congrats Andy and Melissa!
Spoon River Poetry Review will be publishing "The Lives of Boys" and "Self-Portrait, 1997" in the coming months.
and
current fiction student Melissa Scholes Young:
After too many rejections to count, my baby, my "Scrap Metal Baby," has been accepted for publication in The View From Here's print journal for April 2010. "Scrap Metal Baby" is a short story that came out of a writing assignment in Pinckney's workshop. It was and is a stretch and a challenge for my writing style to write surreal. Pinckney made me do it. I'm grateful. "Scrap Metal Baby" can now be born. Her mama needs a rest.
Congrats Andy and Melissa!
Pinckney Benedict Goes International!
Fiction faculty member Pinckney Benedict has the following great news:
Good news: My new fiction collection, Miracle Boy and Other Stories, which will be published in the US by Press53 in May, has been picked up by the excellent Salt Publishing for UK, European, and Australian publication in September.
More info at
Miracle Boy and Other Stories
Good news: My new fiction collection, Miracle Boy and Other Stories, which will be published in the US by Press53 in May, has been picked up by the excellent Salt Publishing for UK, European, and Australian publication in September.
More info at
Miracle Boy and Other Stories
Friday, January 15, 2010
Alumni Reading Alert: Melanie Dusseau (MFA '03) to read at College of DuPage
The invitation comes from Liz "Kershner" Whiteacre (MFA '02, poetry):
I invite you to banish just-before-mid-term blues and spend Wednesday, February 17th with me to celebrate Melanie and her first collection, The Body Tries Again. She'll be performing the 17th from 7-8:30 p.m. (I can get you an invite to the faculty dinner too... ;) in SRC 2800 in Glen Ellyn, IL at College of DuPage. Join Mel and me for a minication (there are talks of hitting the Shed and Magnificent Mile Thursday)--you deserve it. And, the glow from this reunion could get you easily to spring break (for that, you're on your own).
For info on Mel D's new book, visit:
The Body Tries Again
I invite you to banish just-before-mid-term blues and spend Wednesday, February 17th with me to celebrate Melanie and her first collection, The Body Tries Again. She'll be performing the 17th from 7-8:30 p.m. (I can get you an invite to the faculty dinner too... ;) in SRC 2800 in Glen Ellyn, IL at College of DuPage. Join Mel and me for a minication (there are talks of hitting the Shed and Magnificent Mile Thursday)--you deserve it. And, the glow from this reunion could get you easily to spring break (for that, you're on your own).
For info on Mel D's new book, visit:
The Body Tries Again
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Curtis Crisler (MFA '04) featured on Read Write Poem
Read Write Poem is a great site for poets and poetry lovers. MFA alum Curtis Crisler (poetry, '04) was recently interviewed for a piece there:
The B Sides
The poem referenced in the article above can be found here: They will say
The B Sides
The poem referenced in the article above can be found here: They will say
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Adrian Matejka (MFA '01) to appear in BAP 2010
Adrian Matejka (MFA '01, poetry) 's poem "Seven Days of Falling" (the first poem in his award-winning collection Mixology) has been selected to appear in the 2010 edition of Best American Poetry! Congrats, AD!
Congrats to Melanie Martin (MFA '04, poetry)
Congrats to Melanie Martin (MFA '04, poetry)! Three of her poems ( "This Body, This Anchor", "Casting a Line", and "Poem for Roxana") are scheduled to be published in an upcoming anthology titled
Beside the City of Angels: An Anthology of Long Beach Poetry, (edited by Paul Kareem Tayyar). The anthology will be published by World Parade Books in February.
Beside the City of Angels: An Anthology of Long Beach Poetry, (edited by Paul Kareem Tayyar). The anthology will be published by World Parade Books in February.
Ben Percy (MFA '04) reads at River Styx
Fiction alum (MFA'04) Ben Percy will read as part of the River Styx at Duff's Series in St. Louis, MO on January 18, 2010:
River Styx reading series
River Styx reading series
Monday, January 11, 2010
Congrats to Andy McFadyen-Ketchum!
Andy McFadyen-Ketchum (MFA '09, poetry) writes with an impressive list of forthcoming publications:
My poem "Corridor" will appear in Southern Indiana Review, a section of "Marysarias" in CENTER out of U of Missouri, "Constellations" in Blueline out of New York (if you have short nature poems, send them there!), and "To Touch the Moon" in Grist out of U of Tennessee. I also have an interview with Robert Wrigley forthcoming in the Missouri Review, an interview with Nicky Beer forthcoming in New Orleans Review (her first book,The Diminshing House, will be out Monday!), and a review of Michael McGriff's Dismantling the Hills forthcoming in Third Coast.
Congrats, AMK, on all these forthcoming pubs!
My poem "Corridor" will appear in Southern Indiana Review, a section of "Marysarias" in CENTER out of U of Missouri, "Constellations" in Blueline out of New York (if you have short nature poems, send them there!), and "To Touch the Moon" in Grist out of U of Tennessee. I also have an interview with Robert Wrigley forthcoming in the Missouri Review, an interview with Nicky Beer forthcoming in New Orleans Review (her first book,The Diminshing House, will be out Monday!), and a review of Michael McGriff's Dismantling the Hills forthcoming in Third Coast.
Congrats, AMK, on all these forthcoming pubs!
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Adrian Matejka (MFA '01) nominated for NAACP Image Award!
Adrian Matejka (MFA'01) has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the Poetry Category for his National Poetry Series-winning collection Mixology! Congrats, AD!
NAACP Image Awards
NAACP Image Awards
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