100 15 4189 https://omeka.wilkes.edu/omeka/files/original/d494e48f2e81490339ee5918dbd0be54.pdf eb1e486f5be4cee0b53db179c5aef9ec PDF Text Text About Wilkes Home n Graduate Academics Academics n Graduate Admission & Aid Graduate Programs n Graduate Life Master's Degree Programs About Our Students n n The Arts Creative Writing MA/MFA Revise This! n Archives Revise This! September 2017 Archives Pennsylvania Writers Conference Held on Wilkes Campus Characters at the Conference Creative Writing Program Renamed Archives Mailer Conference Returns in October Fall Creative Writing Workshops AWP18 Schedule Full of Wilkes Names News From Faculty, Students, And Alums Pennsylvania Writers Conference Held on Wilkes Campus The 2017 Pennsylvania Writers Conference was held from July 31 to August 5, 2017 2018 Revise This! November 2019 n 2017 n n �2017. Featuring a 4-day class on memoir taught by Judy Mandel, and a 2-day conference filled with over 20 panels, craft classes, and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey. workshops, PWC17 was a hit. Friday morning kicked off with a 9 a.m. plenary session by four-time National Slam Finalist and 2007 Legend of the Slam Jason Carney (M.F.A. '13) and the first day ended with an Open Mic/Poetry Slam held hosted by Carney, with seven hours of conference activities in between. Saturday morning began with a plenary session featuring book critic for NPR's Fresh Air, Maureen Corrigan and ended with a keynote address by Pulitzer-winning poet and the 19th Poet Laureate of the United States, Natasha Trethewey. Wilkes alums and students were well-represented in both the Open Mic/Poetry Slam on Friday night, hosted by Carney, and over 20 craft classes, workshops, panels and discussions throughout the conference. Save the date for PWC18, which will be held from July 29, 2017 to August 4, 2018. We hope to see you there! Characters at the Conference: PWC By C. P. Gorelick (M.A. '17) Anna Karenina. Captain Ahab. Blanche DuBois. Hamlet. Norma Desmond. Ebenezer Scrooge. A Left to right: Jeff Minton, Vito Gulla, and Tyler Grimm presented a team-taught session on viewing Characters as Objects at PWC17. disparate group at first glance, am I right? They are all fictional characters, but they are from such varying backgrounds. They all have problems, but who doesn't? �The unifying trait of these characters is that they remain in readers' (or, in the case of Blanche, Hamlet, and Norma, viewers') memories long after their stories are done. So, how do authors create such vivid figures? Such achievements are, perhaps, lofty goals when writing, but why not aim high? As a writer of plot-driven farce, character work is something I have always needed improve in my work. So, at the 3rd Annual Pennsylvania Writers Conference, I attended Wilkes Alumus Jennifer Bokal's (M.A. '10) class on writing Goal Statements and the team-taught session on viewing Characters as Objects, led by Tyler Grimm (M.F.A. '10) , Vito Gulla (M.F.A. '13), and Jeff Minton (M.F.A. '13). After the latter had ended, I realized how well the two discussions complimented one another. Each dissected one aspect of character. Bokal focused on the technique of clarifying goals of the people within stories, whether it be protagonists, antagonists, secondary characters, etc. as well as the necessity of writers doing this for themselves. Grimm, Gulla, and Minton took a more clinical approach by examining and analyzing the various types of characters and their various functions in relation to the protagonist and his/her goal, and they emphasized that this technique helped maintain efficiency within a story by pinpointing repetitious or superfluous elements. While the craft classes provided seemingly divergent perspectives on character, all four writers emphasized that each character's actions must be rooted in goals. Moreover, their views on figures within stories can be utilized from early stages of writing to late-in-the-game revisions. Needless to say, I will be using these lessons in my writing. Local business man and philanthropist Richard Maslow, of Dallas, PA. and Naples, Fla. gave a significant financial support to benefit the graduate creative writing program. In Maslow's honor, the program was renamed to the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing on June 23, �2017. Graduate Creative Writing Program Renamed "My family has a deep appreciation for the arts," said Melanie Maslow-Kern, daughter of Richard Maslow and board of trustee member at Wilkes University. "We know that the Wilkes creative writing program is like no other, and we're excited to see how this gift provides new opportunities for students to realize their writing dreams." During the June 2017 Residency, something huge was announced: the Wilkes University Graduate Creative Writing was shedding its name. On June 23, 2017, the program was renamed the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing in honor of Richard Maslow, who gave a seven-figure gift to the graduate creative writing program. Maslow's donation will be used to enhance the creative writing program through innovative classes and workshops, student scholarships, faculty development, and extended programming for the community at large. "Wilkes University thanks Dick Maslow for his vision in giving this gift to the graduate creative writing program, which now will bear the Maslow name," said University President Patrick F. Leahy. "This investment continues his lifelong commitment to the arts and reflects his enthusiasm for a program that has generated incredible student success. His generosity is a vote of confidence in the future of this program and arts education at Wilkes University." Maslow is the former CEO of InterMetro and the founder of the Maslow Family Foundation, which funds programs in the arts, education, special needs education and other charitable giving. The creative writing program is no stranger to the Maslow Family Foundation, which financially supports the Maslow Foundation Salon Reading Series, held �during the residencies in January and June. Creative writing program director Bonnie Culver said the gift provides valuable programmatic support to aspiring writers who come to Wilkes to develop their craft, learn the business of writing, and earn their master of arts and master of fine arts degrees. "The entire creative writing community joins me in thanking the Maslow family for their support. With their dedication to the arts, represented in this generous gift, we can open up more opportunities for students to hone their craft, provide resources for faculty passion projects, and continue our mission of becoming one of the best creative writing programs in the country." Mailer Conference to be held in October  The 15th annual Norman Mailer Society Conference will be held at the Sarasota Lido Hotel, in cooperation with the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee in Sarasota, FL from Oct. 2628, 2017. Mailer was the first founding advisory board member of the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing, and students and faculty from the CW program have read During the 2016 Mailer Conference, held in Long Branch, NJ, the annual Wilkes reading featured Mailer's unpublished first novel, No Percentage. Alumni Hillary Transue (M.F.A. '17) and Caleb Sizemore (M.F.A. '17), Matt Hinton (M.F.A '10) read along with program director Dr. Bonnie Culver and faculty member Ken Vose. and performed his work for the last 14 years as part of the Wilkes U Readers Theatre. This year faculty, alums and students will read from various writers who eulogized Mailer after his death in 2007. The 2017 conference will celebrate and remember Mailer following the 10th anniversary of his death. Fall Creative Writing Workshops Course Name: First Steps in Fiction An introductory workshop in fiction writing. Students of all experience levels and genres are welcome. You may bring a project you already have in the works, or develop one in class. The focus will be on �description and detail, character and dialogue, setting and place, and voice and point of view. The class will consist of topic discussions, a short writing segment, constructive feedback, and revision. Meetings: Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Kirby 108 September 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21 Cost: $65.00 for the entire series Instructor: Jennifer Jenkins  Course Name: Beginner's Blogging Workshop The internet and the blogosphere have given everyone the option to selfpublish their writings, thoughts, ideas, and opinions for the world to see. Blogging can connect you with your audience, with fellow writers, and with your creative spirit. In this course, we will learn the basics of blogging, set up your first personal blog, and learn about the many ways you can create engaging content to build and maintain an audience. Each six-week session begins with a lecture on the topic at hand, followed by a guided activity session with the instructor and your fellow classmates. Some social media experience suggested but not required.  Meetings: Tuesdays 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. – Breiseth 108 September 12, 19, 26, October 3, 10, 17 Cost: $65.00 for the entire series Instructor: Angela Greco Course Name: Playwriting – Playwriting in Two Parts This two part playwriting workshop will teach students how to write a play, with an assignment to write a short one-act or 10-minute play (part one) and return the following week for a read through and critique of their work (part two). Meetings: Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Kirby 103 and Kirby Salon September 16 and 23 Cost: $65.00 for the entire series Instructor: Jan Quackenbush Course Name: Elements of Narration Narration frames the reader's experience and forms the foundation of your story, yet many writers give narrative structure little thought. Through examples and exercises, this workshop will teach you how to choose and better employ narrative techniques (such as point of view and voice) to engage the reader with your fiction. Meetings: Wednesdays 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Kirby 108 September 13, 20, �27, October 4, 11, 18 Cost: $65.00 for the entire series Instructor: Dr. Anthony Kapolka Master Class If You Know What I Mean: Writing Young Adult and Middle Grade Fiction The workshop will focus on both genres fairy-tale and mythical underpinnings, their characters and plots and settings, and the qualities editors tend to look for in historical or contemporary work. Also, we'll discuss crucial craft issues such as point of view and mixing genres, and what themes are allowed -- or not -- in the contemporary publishing marketplace. Participants will submit a 15 to 20-page writing sample – a short story or opening chapter – by September 7. During the workshops, we will engage in readings, discussion, critique, revisions, and planning for post-workshop manuscript completion and submission. Meetings: Evenings (Oct 2-5) – 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Kirby 103 *Note: Class will meet in Breiseth Hall, Room 316 on Oct. 2 ONLY from 6:00 –  8:00 p.m.Saturday (Oct. 7) – 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Kirby 103 October 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 Cost: $125.00 for the entire series Instructor: Lenore Hart AWP18 Schedule Filled with Wilkes CW Names - Gradua The 2018 AWP Conference & Bookfair will be held at the Tampa Convention Center & Marriott Tampa Waterside from March 7-10, 2018. Current students are invited to apply for an AWP17 Laurie Sojourn Jean of Cannady a Hungry (Crave: Soul) discussed her writing process and signed books at the Wilkes and Etruscan booth at AWP17. registration waiver, which covers the cost of conference registration; housing will be provided for graduate assistants, interns, and staff working at AWP. Transportation will be at your expense. Contact Associate Director Bill Schneider at bill.schneider@wilkes.edu for more information. In exchange for your conference waiver, students �are required to spend a minimum of two hours each day working at the Wilkes/Etruscan booth. Working the booth is a great way to network with authors, publishers, and other graduate students from around the country while promoting the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Remica Bingham-Risher (What We Ask of Flesh) signed books at AWP17. Creative Writing to potential students. The full AWP18 schedule will be released in October, and more information can be found at www.awpwriter.org. While you're in Tampa, swing by these sessions and support the Wilkes CW family, including program partners Akashic Books, Etruscan Press, and Kaylie Jones Books: Wilkes: Jason Carney • Old School Slam and Open Mic Susan Cartsonis • Adapting Your Work for TV, Digital and Feature Film Mediums • The Hollywood Equation: Building Your Screenwriting Career and Finding Your Writer's Voice through Peer, Mentor and Comm Kaylie Jones • Tearing Down Societal & Family Myths in Creative Writing Program Partners: AKASHIC BOOKS: Ibrahim Ahmad (Editorial Director) •  Collaboration on Creative Publishing: Supporting New and Diverse Voices •  TECHNO BLACK: Connecting the Mobile Reader to Globally Diverse Writers �Johnny Temple (Publisher and Editor-in-Chief) • Getting the Word Out: How to Approach Book Promotion to Actually Reach Readers • Political Pivoting: Literary Publishing at the Pace of Politics ETRUSCAN PRESS: Kazim Ali (The Disappearance of Seth) • Muslim Writers Speak Out • Two-countries. U.S. Daughters and Sons of Immigrant Parents. An Anthology of Flash Memoir, Personal Essays and Poetry • The Future of Forms • Wesleyan University Press Poetry Reading Nin Andrews (Advisory Board Member) • Hair as Myth and Metaphor: Five Women Poets on Cultural Transgression Remica Bingham-Risher (What We Ask of Flesh) • Stay In Your Lane Or... Bruce Bond (Choir of the Wells, Cinder, The Other Sky, and Peal) • 30 Years of Influence Across Genres in Indigenous Literature: Tribute for Diane Glancy Laurie Jean Cannady (Crave: Sojourn of a Hungry Soul) • Tearing Down Societal & Family Myths in Creative Writing David Lazar (Who's Afraid of Helen of Troy: An Essay on Love) • More and Different: Literary Nonfiction and the University Press Paul Lisicky (The Burning House) • How to Hit the Ground Running: Strategies for Building Better Workshops • Fierce Muses: Inspiration During Times of Social Unrest J. D. Schraffenberger (Saint Joe's Passion) �Stealing from STEM: Applying Pedagogies From Other Disciplines in the Creative Writing Classroom  Tim Seibles (Fast Animal and One Turn Around the Sun)  Stay In Your Lane Or... What We Really Tell When We Tell of Home: The Resonant Poetics of Narrative KAYLIE JONES BOOKS: Patricia Smith (The Year of Needy Girls) If You Haven't Lived It, Can You Write It? J. Patrick Redmond (Some Go Hungry) • Tearing Down Societal & Family Myths in Creative Writing Faculty, Student, and Alumni News Faculty News: Blue Moon Plays recently published Bonnie Culver's play Sniper. Sniper has been produced at college, community theatres, and professional companies since 1995 when it opened in Los Angeles. In 2005, it was produced in NYC at Center Stage when it was a play of the week by The Star-Ledger. Visit nytheater.com for more information. J. Michael Lennon is editing the first two of several volumes of the works of Norman Mailer to be published by the Library of America, the non-profit publisher of major American authors such as Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Herman Melville, Susan Sontag and other canonical writers. Volume one will contain four Mailer works from the 1960s: An American Dream, Why Are J. Michael Lennon's Norman We In Vietnam? The Armies Mailer: The 1960's Collection. Of The Night And Miami and �The Siege Of Chicago (all four won, or were nominated for, the National Book Award). Volume two will contain 36 of Mailer's essays from the 60's, beginning with "Superman Comes to the Supermarket." Publication date for the boxed set is February 27. Order your copy here. Lenore Hart Poyer had two poems ("The Well-Shooter's Wake" and "On Visiting the Castle of My Drawn and Quartered Ancestor") accepted for publication in Alternating Current, and so are also finalists for this year's Charter Oak Prize for a historical poem. Another poem, "Cthulhu, Call Your Mother," will appear in the annual Horror Writers Association HWA Poetry Anthology, later this year. Lenore's short story Thirteen Ways of Living With a Wolf" (read at the June Residency) is a semi-finalist for the David Poyer's Hinter Killer. Florida Review's 2017 Editor's Award in Fiction. David Poyer's newest novel in the Dan Lenson series Hunter Killer is set to release on November 28, 2017, but has already received praise from Publisher's Weekly. "Each book moves the story forward and primes readers for the thrills that are sure to come in future entries." Read the full review here. Student and Alumni News: Molly Barari (M.F.A. '17) has been selected to teach a memoir writing workshop for the 2017 South Dakota Festival of Books in Deadwood, S.D., in September.   Cheryl Bazzoui (M.A. '14) had two reviews posted in Story Circle at storycirclebookreviews.org in June. Bazzoui is featured in Jewels of San Fedele, edited by Donna Ferraro and Roads by Marina Antropow Cramer. Lauren Carey (M.F.A. '11) has accepted a position as part of the writing faculty at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, FL. �Cindy Dlugolecki (M.A. '11) was invited to stage Violet Oakley Unveiled, her full-length one-woman play, at Drexel University, Philadelphia, for a sold-out audience on May 20 for Alumni Weekend. Cindy also had a staged reading of her new ten-minute play, Blocked, during Mt. Gretna's August Cicada Festival.   Brian Fanelli (M.F.A. '10) has been awarded the 2017 Devil's Kitchen Poetry Prize for his latest collection of poems, Waiting for the Dead to Speak (NYQ Books). He will receive a cash prize and give a reading and serve on a panel at the Devil's Kitchen Literary Festival at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale in late October. Patricia Florio (M.F.A. '11) : The Coaster, a Jersey Shore weekly, ran pictures and shared an interview by reporter Denise Herschel focused on Florio's involvement in creating the Brian Fanelli's Waiting for the Dead to Speak. Jersey Shore Writers back in 2001 with Alum Carol MacAllister and Gayle Aanensen. Florio's children's book entitled Puppy in My Pocket, published by Alum Wendy Decker at Serenity Books Publishing and illustrated by AnnMarie Freda was also featured in the article. Lori A. May (M.F.A. '13) has an essay on whale spotting in an upcoming issue of Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel. She was also recently contracted for a story on Oregon surfing. Lori has recently returned from a trip to the Canadian Maritimes, where she was aboard a whale research vessel, attended a shark autopsy, and fit in a little bit of teaching, too. Oliver Reilly (M.F.A. '13) read and performed in Basement Poetry's OUT on August 25th and 26th. OUT is a performance art production featuring original poetry that delves into the vast experiences of members of the LGBTQ+ community.  Anthony Dolan Scott, (M.F.A. '14) started a brand-new full-time faculty position teaching composition and literature classes at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics this fall. It's an award-winning magnet high �school with some of the most talented students and faculty in the state of Maine, named the #1 high school in the state, #19 high school in the nation, #6 magnet school in the nation, and #10 STEM school in the nation. Joseph Schwartzburt (M.F.A. '13) serves on the board of the Flannery O'Connor Childhood Home, which was proud to present the 2017 Ursrey Memorial Lecture with author Ann Hood on Friday September 1st, 2017. The lecture was the 8th iteration of a series whose past presenters have been Roxane Gay, Jaimy Gordon, Luis Urrea, and Robert Olen Butler. Ronnie K. Stephens (M.A. '17) completed a 22-week poetry curriculum for Young DFW Writers, a non-profit bringing weekly writing workshops to 20 schools in the Dallas area. Ahrend Torrey (M.F.A. '16) is currently working on a collection of poems titled City Monk, which is scheduled to be complete by the end of this year. Over the last month his poems have appeared in Sweet Tree Review, Beneath The Rainbow, and Edify Fiction. In August, he launched Colloquial, which is a poetry review that exalts the ordinary and every day. To find out more MA Student Kristen Weller. about Colloquial visit: www.colloquialpoetry.org. Kristen Weller (MA Student) was featured in Hippocampus Literary Journal with her essay entitled What Writer and Teacher Can Tell You About Craft in the Craft column. The piece explores the inner conflict most of us experience who have a passion for honing our craft while managing so many demands from others. Included in the essay is an exploration of Annie Dillard's The Writing Life.  On June 14, 2017, Weller was awarded the Mortimer S. Schiff Award for Reducing Hatred and Prejudice in Northampton, PA. Weller wrote a comprehensive, Holocaust education program for middle school students in my district called "Learn, Listen, Lead: Honoring the Survivors Among Us." The one-day student conference offers nearly 500 eighth graders the chance to see the play, Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl, a literary �drama they had all read and studied as part of their English classes, meet first, second, and third generation Holocaust survivors, and participate in several, art, writing, and discussion activities in small groups. Quick Links Career Development Campus Safety and Internships Centers & Institutes Online Programs Programs E.S. Farley Library Human Resources Jobs at Wilkes Online Nursing Offices & Administration Accessibility Statement Financial Aid Adobe Acrobat® Reader Registrar's Office Finance Office Investor Relations Student Work Study Jobs Veterans Services Visit Quick Links Schedule a Visit Parking Information Virtual Tour Campus Map Make A Gift �Wilkes University 84 West South Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766 1-800-WILKES-U Contact Us Wilkes University © e © d c f � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Subject The topic of the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Description An account of the resource An archive of past issues of <em>Revise This!</em>, the official newsletter of the Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Wilkes University Language A language of the resource English Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Revise This! | 2017-09.pdf Creative Writing Maslow Maslow Family Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Revise This Writing https://omeka.wilkes.edu/omeka/files/original/66fb6bec4238a3a9e94353aaa28ef847.pdf b4b2e91faa71c0946ef1e72ebeaa205b PDF Text Text About Wilkes Home n Graduate Academics Academics n Graduate Admission & Aid Graduate Programs n Graduate Life Master's Degree Programs About Our Students n n The Arts Creative Writing MA/MFA Revise This! n Archives Revise This! June 2017 Archives Pennsylvania Writers Conference Returns, July 30-August 5 Five and a Half Questions for M. Kilburg Reedy Here's to the Graduates! Archives News From Faculty, Students, And Alums Pennsylvania Writers Conference: Bigger and Better Than Ever 2017 2018 Revise This! November 2019 n 2017 n n �  Registration is open for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey. Pennsylvania Writers Conference! For the first time, four-day intensive workshops will be held before the weekend conference, offering participants small-group instruction and critiques. Spend a summer week in Wilkes-Barre honing your craft with expert teachers and motivated peers. Sign up now – space for the preconference workshops is limited! Register Now The weekend PWC event on the Wilkes University campus, August 4-5, will offer �craft classes in creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and National Slam Champ Jason Carney. screenwriting, pitch sessions with agents, a keynote reading by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey, the annual open mic and poetry slam hosted by Def Poetry star and National Slam Champ Jason Carney, and literary panels with editors, film producers, literary agents, publishers, and writers, including a plenary session with Fresh Air reviewer Maureen Corrigan. Sign up at wilkes.edu/pwc by June 30 for the $116 early-bird registration rate for the two-day pass, which covers all conference events including the open mic/poetry slam and keynote reading. Regular price (after June 30) is $145, $75 for students 18 or older with a valid college I.D. The $395 PWC all-access pass includes the kickoff reception July 30, one four-day workshop July 31-Aug. 3, plus all conference events Aug. 45. Learn more about the four-day workshops and register here.  Preconference Workshops Ofer Four-Day Intensives Four-day pre-conference workshops will make the PWC experience richer and more personal for participants. Each workshop runs from July 31 to Aug. 3 and is open to adults of any age. Putting Together a Poetry �NPR Fresh Air reviewer Maureen Corrigan. Chapbook with Rashidah Ismaili Abubakr Participants will discuss and organize poems for a chapbook, begin a narrative poem to be completed and read on the final day of class, and read poets who may not be known to them. Each day will consist of homework, readings, personal work and guided instruction to increase each participant's ability to conceive a chapbook. Rashidah Ismaili Abubakr is a poet, playwright and writer of fiction and nonfiction. Her latest work is Autobiography of the Lower East Side, a novel in linked stories (Northampton House Press). Keeping Them Up All Night: Crafting the Thriller, Adventure, and Military Action Genres with David Poyer This four-day master class focuses on exciting stories told in an accessible way. Participants will learn the requirements and vocabulary of the genre, and craft an elevator pitch, scene outline, short chapter outline and the opening pages of a novel or novella, the basic tools to work on a full-length project of their own. David Poyer is the USA Today bestselling author of more than 40 books, including the Tiller Galloway diving adventures, the Dan Lenson novels of the modern Navy and Marine Corps, and sailing adventures such as �Ghosting and The Whiteness of the Whale. His military career included service in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Pacific, Pentagon, Arctic, and Middle East. Screenwriting: 5 Films/4 Days with Ross Klavan A deep reading and lasting look at five films that concentrate on structure to help you put together a film of your own. Screenwriting is about three things: "Structure, structure, and structure." Find out what that means, learn to use it, and get to see some terrific films. Ross Klavan wrote the film Tigerland (starring Colin Farrell) and the novel Schmuck (Greenpoint Press). He has been a voice actor, journalist, and screenplay writer for New Regency, Paramount and Miramax, among others. Creative Nonfction: Types and Techniques with J. Michael Lennon Understand varieties of creative nonfiction while learning about the key elements of craft: imagery, voice/point of view, character, setting, and story. Each participant should bring six copies of a nonfiction piece for discussion and a private critique with the instructor. J. Michael Lennon is the late Norman Mailer's archivist and editor, and author of the biography Norman Mailer: A Double Life. His work has appeared in Paris Review, The New Yorker, Times Literary Supplement and Creative Nonfiction, among others. He co-founded the Wilkes University Graduate Creative Writing Program and has taught in it since 2005. Creating the World of Your Memoir with Judy Mandel You have a story to tell, a unique journey that can illuminate a path for others. In this workshop, we will discuss and write about issues for memoir writers, including choosing structure, events and scenes, narrative and commentary, theme, details, and perspective. When to tell and when to show, and what's the difference? What will your family say, and should you care? Judy Mandel is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Replacement Child (Seal Press, 2013). She is a writing coach, teacher and editor whose essays, articles and short stories have appeared in Kveller.com, Tishman Review, ASJA Monthly, The Southampton Review and elsewhere. Wonder, Disbelief and Fantastic Fiction: Writing the �New Supernatural, Dark Fantasy, and Fabulist Genres with Lenore Hart Forget the old tropes of shambling zombies and evil demons with bad manicures. More and more writers are creating deep, powerful stories with supernatural or magical elements, suspending disbelief and evoking wonder and unease, in realistic settings inhabited by well-crafted characters. Participants will create a project pitch, step sheet, complete synopsis, and the opening pages of a short story or first chapter while participating in brief readings and critiques. Lenore Hart is the author of seven novels, including Becky and The Raven's Bride, plus YA and children's books, short stories, poetry and nonfiction. She's the editor of the 2017 fiction anthology The Night Bazaar. People and Place with Nicole Dennis-Benn Setting provides a world for the story to take place. But more than that, setting reveals character—who they are, their culture and the social circumstances that shape them and affective the decisions they make. Through reading, writing, and discussion, we will explore how to use the physical environment as a characterization tool. Each student will write at least 10 short poems and two longer narratives, be critiqued twice in class, and have an individual conference with the instructor. Nicole Dennis-Benn is the author of Here Comes the Sun, a New York Times Notable Book and NPR Best Book of 2016. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Elle Magazine, Electric Literature, and others, and she teaches as visiting faculty in the M.F.A. Fiction program at Sarah Lawrence College. �Certifcate Workshops For an additional fee, two workshops offer university-granted certificates in either noncredit or graduate credit (3 credit hours) options. Each program runs four days (July 31-Aug. 3) and includes PWC registration. Certifcate in Literary Publishing with Philip Brady ($675 noncredit, $1,500 graduate credit) The certificate offers an in-depth, intensive immersion into the world of literary publishing, from large to small presses and various business models. Participants will have the unique opportunity to see two literary presses in operation, Etruscan Press and Akashic Books, and hear from professionals working in all areas of the publishing world. Philip Brady's latest book is To Banquet With the Ethiopians: A Memoir of Life Before the Alphabet (Broadstone, 2015). He is a distinguished professor at Youngstown State University and executive director of Etruscan Press. Certifcate in Arts Education with Barbara Taylor ($475 noncredit, $1,500 graduate credit) Invigorate your classroom and engage your students through creative writing. Learn to establish a writers' workshop or take your workshop model to the next level. Generate ways to manage grading, and leave with practical lesson plans to incorporate into your district's curriculum. Writers and nonwriters welcome. Barbara Taylor has taught English for 30 years in the Pocono Mountain School District. Her most recent novel, All Waiting Is Long (Akashic/Kaylie Jones Books, 2014), is the sequel to Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night, named a "Best Book of Summer 2014" by Publishers Weekly. Five and a Half Questions for M. Kilburg Reedy By Lisa Greim One of the special advantages of studying �for an M.A. or M.F.A. in the Wilkes University Creative Writing Graduate Program is the access the program gives to creative Attorney M. Kilburg Reedy teaches a legal issues seminar at each residency and makes herself available to answer questions one-on-one for students in the program. professionals. These people, involved in the marketplace for creative work, can give students realistic feedback on their projects. Each M.A. candidate's thesis draft is read by an outside reader—an agent, editor, theatrical or film producer—who also participates in pitch panels, question-and-answer sessions, and seminars. Attorney M. Kilburg Reedy teaches a legal issues seminar at each residency and makes herself available to answer questions one-on-one for students in the program. Along with expertise in entertainment law as a partner in the New York law firm of Feldman, Golinski, Reedy + Ben-Zvi PLLC, Reedy is a published playwright, songwriter, and theatrical producer with three shows in production in New York: the Broadway premiere of the new musical Come From Away; Nevermore—The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe; and Shear Madness. Somehow, she found the time to answer five and a half questions. 1) Attorney, producer, playwright, songwriter. What's the common thread? What makes you good at all these things? �I started off wanting to be a playwright, and moved to New York after college to pursue that goal. I was able to get a play produced when I was 25, for which I got a great New York Times review calling me a "promising playwright," and that play was successfully produced all around the U.S. and internationally, but I wasn't able to get the next few plays produced, so because I had to earn a living I went to law school and became an entertainment lawyer. I later became a producer because I love the business of theater and wanted to expand my role to including choosing and managing shows (elements that just being the lawyer doesn't offer). And I've continued to write, as and when I've found the time. I have a new play I'm trying to launch now called The Daughter of Time, based on a well-known British mystery novel that I got the rights to adapt.  2) Tell us about your three 2017 productions. What appealed to you about Come From Away, Shear Madness and Nevermore? They're all such different projects, but if there's a common thread in shows I choose to produce or co-produce, it's that they have to be unique in some way. My motto is, "Show me something I haven't seen before." Come From Away is a beautiful and uplifting story about the small town in Canada that welcomed 7,500 stranded travelers on 9/11, where the locals and the "Come From Aways" cared for and comforted each other during a dark time. Nevermore is a gorgeously designed, beautifully composed and written gothic opera about the tormented and transcendent life of Edgar Allan Poe. And Shear Madness is a one-of-akind theater experience in which the audience solves the show's murder mystery. 3) How does the role of a theatrical producer differ from a film or television producer? The two businesses are very different. My legal practice includes film production counsel work, but I've yet to produce a film. There is a filmed version of Nevermore in the pipeline that, if all goes according to plan, will be screened in cinemas in October 2018. 3.5) Come from Away has 40 producer credits, Nevermore 12. Do these producer roles mostly represent a financial investment, or are you involved in the creative or business development of a show? On Come From Away, my producing partner and I are co-producers of the show, not lead producers. Even though we were involved with the show starting in 2013, through its pre-Broadway development, up until it opened in March 2017, our creative and business input was not extensive. On the other hand, for Nevermore, we were the lead �producers, so we made virtually all the creative and business decisions on the project, and were responsible for raising all the money. You can tell our relationship to each project by the positioning of our credit— on Nevermore, our production company name (Radio Mouse Entertainment) is first, whereas on Come From Away we're somewhere in the middle of the pack.   4) As a playwright, what comes first to you in the creative process: characters or story? I think as a playwright I tend to be very story- and message-driven. I write when I have something I want to say, which I think sometimes means my characters suffer, because I don't do what some writers do and start by listening to the characters and letting them do what they want to do naturally.  In fact, the last two projects I wrote are based on pre-existing stories. One is a musical based on a Greek myth, and The Daughter of Time is based on a novel published in the 1950s about a 20th century Scotland Yard inspector who investigates whether Richard III really killed the Princes in the Tower or if he was framed by the Tudors, who succeeded him as rulers of England. It's a timely tale because it's about how a falsehood, if repeated often enough and loudly enough, without contradiction, can become accepted as fact. They say history is written by the victors. 5) What legal issues should rookie writers be paying the closest attention to?  It depends on what the rookie writer is writing. If it's something entirely original, there are very few issues that a writer has to worry about—the main advice I could offer there is, don't plagiarize. If a writer wants to do what I did and adapt an existing literary property that's still in copyright, the writer needs to hire a lawyer to negotiate and draft a license or purchase agreement with the owner of the property, to obtain the necessary rights. And of course, if a writer is writing a memoir or something else based on true events and living people, there are a host of legal issues that the writer should be aware of. All of these are issues that I cover in my presentation for Wilkes during the residency two times a year. After this interview was conducted, Ms. Reedy's Broadway musical Come From Away was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, including Best Original Musical. It was awarded one for "Best Director for an Original Musical." Lisa Greim is an M.A. student in Creative Nonfiction at Wilkes University. She lives in Colorado. �Here's to the Graduates We congratulate the graduates of the Wilkes University Graduate Creative Writing Program, who were awarded their diplomas at the spring graduation ceremony on Saturday morning, May 20, in Wilkes-Barre! M.A. • Darcy Breault  • Joseph Bryan • Melody Breyer-Grell • Deborah Canon • Jeffrey Ford • Allison Foulke • Donald Granza • Carol MacAllister • Maura Maros • Luke Morris • Robert Peck • Donald Roe • Joseph San George • Ora Smith • Michael Soloway • Ronnie Stephens • Brian Thomas M.F.A. • Anna Arnett • Molly Barari • Renee Butts • Patrick Charsky • Gabrielle D'Amico • Robert Holly • Suzanne Ohlmann • Christopher Purita • Martha Rallison • Caleb Sizemore • Hillary Transue Faculty News Kaylie Jones had three personal essays from "a series of essays on my bad mothering" published this spring. The Rumpus published "The Day the FBI Tapped Our Phones," Hippocampus ran "Bad Mother" in its June issue, and The Southampton Review's 10-year anniversary issue features "One True Friend."     �Dr. J. Michael Lennon is editing Norman Mailer's works for the Library of America, an anticipated 8- to 10-volume collection. The first two volumes, covering the 1960s, will be released in early 2018.  Before Harry Turtledove and Cherie Priest, there was The Shiloh David Poyer's latest book, The Shiloh Project. Project. David Poyer's alternate history begins with the victory of the South at Gettysburg in 1863. Today the Mason-Dixon Wall divides Union and Confederacy ... and many other things are different from the world we know. Available again in a new trade paperback edition from Northampton House Press, $12.95. Student and Alumni News Molly Barari (M.F.A. '17) has published her first book, Dakota Heirlooms: Stories from the Past. The book was published in April by Jean Klein's Script Works Press, a division of Blue Moon Plays. The book started as Molly's M.F.A. publishing project, mentored by Dr. Phil Brady. �Writing as Ann McCauley, Cheryl Bazzoui (M.A. '14) produces a monthly blog at www.annmccauley.com. She had two reviews published this month: Shame, Shame, I Know Your Name by Heather Harlan was posted on Story Circle, and The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah was posted on Writer Advice  (click Hooked on Books and scroll to the review).  Cheryl also recorded four book reviews for BookMark at WPSU, her regional NPR station: Time to Heal, American Epochs, Vol. 3, by Todd McClimans; Shame, Shame, I Know Your Name, by Heather Harlan; To the Stars Through Difficulty by Romalyn Tilghman; and Mom, Mania and Me, by Diane Dweller. Randee Bretherick (M.F.A. '13) signed a three-book deal with Camel Press. The first Carrie Shatner Mystery novel, Criminal Misdeeds, will be released in Fall 2018 under the name Randee Green. You can follow Randee at www.randeegreen.com and www.facebook.com/RandeeGreenAuthor. Last fall, Randee also worked as the script supervisor/PA/clapboard extraordinaire on the set of the Blue Iron TV pilot. Wendy Decker (M.A. '15) and her young-adult novel Sweet Tea were the subject of a feature story in The Link News, covering Monmouth County, N.J. Richard Fellinger's (M.F.A. '10) debut novel, Made to Break Your Heart, has been published by Open Books.  Brian Fanelli (M.F.A. '10) participated in two panel discussions at l;t'!l:t: \ ll'-'.ll'lt l~1 1Zld2'1. J2)' Patricia Florio "Celebrating the Poetic t"-lnalod by Annlbno frodo Legacy of Whitman, Williams, and Patricia Florio's (M.F.A. '11) picture book, Puppy in Ginsberg: A My Pocket, will be published in June. Literary Festival and Conference," which was held at the beginning of June in Paterson, N.J. The panels were "Building Literary Citizenship and Expanding Poetry's Audience in Unlikely Places," which he moderated, and "Democratic Vistas: Whitman, Ginsberg, and Williams Among the Poets." In addition, he recently had poems published in Freshwater Literary Journal, Gravel, and Connecticut River Review. There was also a review of his latest book �of poems, Waiting for the Dead to Speak (NYQ Books), in the spring/summer issue of The Paterson Literary Review. Patricia Florio's (M.F.A. '11) ~, picture .j:"("J J,©Veiso book, Puppy in My ~ Pocket, will be published in ' June. Pat Florio and D (~.I ~ L f J Ferrara (M.F.A. "13) edited Jewels of r I -~ -. ·1r""'""J7 _\ , San Fedele, an anthology of work 'D 'Fcrrarnand Patricia 'Fforio,'.Editors created at a memoir retreat in Chianti, Italy, led by Kaylie Jones and Judy Pat Florio and D Ferrara (M.F.A. "13) edited Jewels of San Fedele, an anthology of work created at a memoir retreat in Chianti, Italy, led by Kaylie Jones and Judy Mandel.  Mandel. Wendy Decker's Serenity Books was the publisher. Alums whose work appears in Jewels of San Fedele include Margaret McCaffrey (M.A. '15), Vicki Mayk (M.F.A. '13), Joanne Biles (M.A. '14), Carol McAllister (M.A. '17) and Beverly Major Schwartz (M.A. '09), who also designed the cover.  In July, M.A. student Lisa Greim has been invited to attend the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley's 2017 Writers' Workshop in memoir/nonfiction.  Gerald Gurka (M.A. '07) wrote and directed the play Portraits of the Passion, which was presented on April 7. Redemption, a collection of his Easter plays, was recently reissued by WordsOnStage,  and he's working on a Young Readers story for Northampton Press. Jerry adds: "My �greetings to all in the program which is an awesome part of my life!" Maureen O'Neill Hooker (M.F.A. '09) reports: "I am happy to announce the birth of my new book, Shelly's Heart, which weighs 8 ounces, and contains at least 50,000+ multi-syllable bon mots. It is a memoir of my heart transplant adventure that includes humor, horror, and useful information. It is a page-turner, perfect for a plane trip or afternoon on a porch. The profit will help the Shelly Whitman Endowed Scholarship for the child of an organ donor. To read it may inspire someone to become an organ donor (i.e. Hero!) and it will definitely help a deserving student at East Carolina University. My M.F.A. from Wilkes in 2009 and my post degree mentoring from Dr. J. Michael Lennon are the reason I persisted until now." Shelly's Heart is available on Amazon. Since graduating, Kamron Klitgaard (M.A. '11) has published 23 plays. The latest, Complaint Department and Lemonade, was the most produced play for the publisher, Pioneer Drama Services, with 178 productions in its first year (Sept. 2016 to April 2017). Mark Levy (M.A. '08), a registered patent attorney and member of the New York and Florida bars, has moved to Evergreen, Colo., and been admitted to the Colorado bar.  Dan MacArthur (M.F.A. '12) has started The Cookie Dude business, specializing in handmade, gourmet cookies. With funky names and descriptions for his creations, the business fuses his love of cooking and ridiculous word play. Check out www.thecookiedude.com.  M.A. student Tara Lynn Marta published a short story in The Humor Times, "A Day in the Life of a Would-Be Writer." Tara is also a contributing blogger for the American Writer's M.A. student Tara Lynn Marta published a short story in The Humor Times, "A Day in the Life of a Would-Be Writer." �Museum, and will do a reading for the Writer's Showcase at the Olde Brick Theatre in Scranton. Lori A. May (M.F.A.'13) spoke on a panel, "Don't Forget the Day Job: Preparing Creative Writing Graduates for Lifelong Careers," at the annual AWP Conference in D.C. That discussion is now online as part of AWP's Podcast Series. She has additional podcasts on the writing life available at SoundCloud, as part of her project grant with King County 4Culture. Lori recently led a workshop at Book Publishers Northwest and, as a board member of CCWWP, will be attending their national writing conference in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Vicki Mayk (M.F.A. '13) is teaching a memoir retreat, "Healing Through Our Stories," June 23-25 at the Farmhouse at Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center in Bangor, Pa. More info: vickimayk.com/healing-throughour-stories/ Linda Nguyen (M.F.A.'14) taught a workshop earlier this year about Cinematic Writing in Video Games for Montreal's Pixelles Game Writing Incubator. She recently sold reprint and anthology rights to her short story "Pre-Elementary, My Dear Monkey," which first appeared in RicepaperMagazine. She also became a Scriptwriter this year at Ubisoft Montreal. It's been a long-kept secret, but not anymore: she's working on Far Cry 5. Here's the official announcement trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdaoe4hbMso     Christoph Paul (M.F.A '16) edited and published the anthology This Book Ain't Nuttin to Fuck With: A Wu-Tang Tribute Anthology for CLASH Books. His nonfiction story "The Boy From Military School" was published in Civil Coping Mechanism's anthology, A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault and he is now a columnist for the writing and teaching site LitReactor.  Josh �SHELLY'S HEART MA\JREL'< O'Nuu H00<£11 Maureen O'Neill Hooker (M.F.A. '09) reports: "I am happy to announce the birth of my new book, Shelly's Heart, which weighs 8 ounces, and contains at least 50,000+ multi-syllable bon mots." Penzone's (M.A. '13) short story "The Storyteller" will appear in an upcoming issue of Junto Magazine. Lynne Reeder (M.A. '08) will have her poems appearing in three anthologies: The Soapbox Official Vol. 2, The Howl of the Wild by Winterwolf Press, and [Insert Yourself Here] by The Paragon Journal. Her book, Found Between the Lines, is available now on Amazon, featuring erasure poetry paired with short stories and personal essays. Bill Schneider's (M.F.A. '14) short story "The Funicular" was accepted for publication by Hamline University's HamLitJournal.  Ahrend Torrey (M.F.A. '16) is currently working on a collection of poems titled City Monk, which he plans to complete by the end of this year, and hopes to have published sometime in 2018. In April, his poems "Walking the Dog," "City Monk," and "Feeding Ducks at Lafreniere Park" were published in Anti-Heroin Chic. His poem "Tiny Dancer" was also published in April by The Ravens Perch. Forthcoming in June. His poems will appear in One Person's Trash, The Seethingographer, Edify Fiction, Clear Poetry, and Young Ravens Literary Review. �Quick Links DONATE TO THE WILKES FUND Career Development Campus Safety and Internships Centers & Institutes Online Programs Programs E.S. Farley Library Human Resources Jobs at Wilkes Make A Gift Online Nursing Offices & Administration Accessibility Statement Financial Aid Adobe Acrobat® Reader Registrar's Office Finance Office Investor Relations Student Work Study Jobs Veterans Services Visit Quick Links Schedule a Visit Parking Information Virtual Tour Campus Map Wilkes University 84 West South Street �Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766 1-800-WILKES-U Contact Us Wilkes University © e © d c f � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Subject The topic of the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Description An account of the resource An archive of past issues of <em>Revise This!</em>, the official newsletter of the Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. 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April 2017 Archives Wilkes at AWP in Washington, D.C. Call for Papers for Mailer Conference Take Credit for Your Talent Archives Community Workshops for Spring PWC Returns in August News From Faculty, Students, And Alums 2017 2018 Wilkes at AWP in Washington, D.C. Our nation's capital welcomed more than 12,000 writers, publishers, creative writing faculty, and students to the Annual Conference of Writers and Writing Programs held February 8-11, 2017 at the Washington Convention Center and Washington Marriott Marquis Hotel. Wilkes and program partners were among the thousands of literary lovers in D.C. Revise This! November 2019 n 2017 n n �AWP17 kicked off on Wednesday evening with the 50th Anniversary Gala, benefitting the Association's mentorship program. Etruscan Press and Wilkes University co-sponsored a table at the Gala. Table guests included Program Director Dr. Bonnie Culver; Founding Advisory Board member Dr. J. Michael Lennon; Advisory Board member Tim Seibles; Faculty Members Dr. Phil Brady, Kaylie Jones, Dr. Robert Mooney; Program Partner Johnny Temple; NPR's Maureen Corrigan; Man Booker Prize winner Marlon James (M.F.A. '06); and Associate Director Bill Schneider (M.F.A.'14). Wilkes also provided student volunteers for the Gala, including Etruscan intern Justin Bodnar; M.A. students Aurora Bonner, Lisa Greim, Christopher Owens, Pamela Turchin, and Danie Watson; and alumnae Kelly Clisham and Vicki Mayk, who all donned their cocktail attire and manned the Gala desks. Thursday morning the Bookfair began. Wilkes and Etruscan cosponsored a booth where Wilkes alumni, current students, and faculty answered questions, recruited new students, and networked. Faculty members Rashidah Ismaili Abubakr, Gregory Fletcher, Lenore Hart, Kaylie Jones, Jean Klein, J. Michael Lennon, David Poyer, and Bill Schneider answered the questions of prospective students and faculty. Alumni Austin Bennett, Kait Burrier, Wendy Decker, Brian Fannelli, Pat Florio, Stanton Hancock, Tony Kapolka, Donna Mailes, Jonathan Pierce, and Joseph Schwartzburt, along with current students Whitney Brimat, Melody Breyer-Grell, Bibiana Krall, Pamela Turchin, and Danie Watson manned the booth in shifts throughout the Bookfair. Lisa Greim hopped from event to event, snapping photos of all Wilkesaffiliated presenters. Wilkes faculty, staff, and alumni participated in more than 15 panels, readings, and off-site events. Faculty members Laurie Jean Cannady, Susan Cartsonis, Gregory Fletcher, Kaylie Jones, Jean Klein, Laurie Lowenstein, and Tim Seibles presented or read during the conference. �Alumni Viannah Duncan, Lori Myers, Nisha Sharma, Donna Talarico, Barbara J. Taylor, Jim Warner, and Morowa Yejide represented Wilkes on panels across the convention schedule. Alumni Jason Carney hosted the AWP Old School Slam, sponsored by Wilkes and Etruscan, which boasted an impressive 26 poets who presented their work. Program partners—Akashic Books, Blue Moon Plays, Etruscan Press, Kaylie Jones Books, and Northampton House Press—were all represented at AWP17. Etruscan Press hosted book signings in the booth, including authors Remica Bingham-Risher, Bruce Bond, Laurie Jean Cannady, David Lazar, J.D. Schraffenberger, Tim Seibles, and D. M. Spitzer. Kaylie Jones Books hosted a book signing after their reading, including authors Laurie Lowenstein, J. Patrick Redmond, Patricia Smith, and Barbara J. Taylor. Literary agent and outside reader Albert LaFarge stopped by the booth to engage current students and alumni about their current projects. Wilkes Graduate Creative Writing Program Founding Advisory Board Member Colum McCann and alum Marlon James were featured speakers. AWP17 also marked Program Director Bonnie Culver's final year as Chair of the AWP Board of Trustees. Dr. Culver has served on the Board of Trustees for four years as Chair, and will now be serving as Vice Chair. Of her service, Dr. Culver says, "The board I serve with is one of the most diverse, committed, and experienced groups I have had the joy of joining." In her final words as Board Chair, Dr. Culver says, "Our association's new story can only be written by all of us, through conversations, engagement, philanthropy, and your own writing and good works." Next year's AWP will be held in Tampa, Florida from March 7-10, 2018. The 2018 Conference Subcommittee is seeking proposals that feature panelists who are diverse in their backgrounds, pursuits, affiliations, and ages, and who represent a broad range of perspectives and experiences. AWP encourages participation from current and recent graduate students. Successful proposals observe the guidelines and modules by which the Subcommittee receive and review proposals. Please read the Event Proposal Guidelines carefully as well as information about How Events Are Selected. If you have questions about submitting a proposal, please email the AWP 2018 Conference Subcommittee at events@awpwriter.org. Event proposals for the 2018 conference may be submitted until Monday, May 1, 2017 at 11:59 p.m. ET (8:59 p.m. PT). Call for Papers for Mailer Conference The 2017 Norman Mailer Society Conference will be held Oct. 26-28 at �the Sarasota Lido Hotel, Sarasota, Fla., in cooperation with the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. Two or three papers will be presented in one-hour time slots, with the remaining time going to participant discussion and audience questions. To accommodate all presenters, paper presentations should be no longer than ten minutes. Panels will also run for one hour, as will most video screenings. Please indicate media requirements in your proposal. $100 travel grants are available for students whose proposals are approved. Guidelines for submission: Email a 50-word biographical statement and a 150-200 word abstract of the proposed presentation to the program cochairs by June 1, 2017. Phillip Sipiora (psipiora@gmail.com), Maggie McKinley (mmckinle@harpercollege.edu), and J. Michael Lennon (jmlennon1@charter.net) are the program co-chairs. Please email them with ideas for panels, papers, or special events. Take Credit for Your Talent By Danie Watson It's no secret that to receive an M.F.A. at Wilkes University, students must complete a six-credit internship. What is a secret are the number of hours each graduate student puts in for their internship. According to Megan Boone Valkenburg, the Coordinator of Student Development, each graduate student at Wilkes completes an average of 70 to 75 community service hours per year, but this number doesn't include the Graduate Creative Writing Program. Valkenburg isn't just interested in the hours each student puts in every year. She also wants to focus on the impact of the service to our writing community and beyond. "We want to tell the story of Wilkes University and the story of how our students impact their communities and communities of origin. To be able to tell that story of the good works students are doing; their ingenuity and inspiration—it's amazing," says Valkenburg. "Once you get that synergy going, amazing things start to form—marginalized students find a voice, prisoners have an outlet. It's so important for community-minded people to step up." Education Internships And they have. In the education track of the M.F.A., internships have included developing curriculums, teaching creative writing to underserved populations, and much more. A few examples of outstanding internships �include: John Winston conducted a middle school creative writing program for underserved students at Gompers Elementary/Middle School in Detroit, Mich. The craft- and reading-based class included interaction with a local author via Wikispace, and culminated with a presentation of work for parents and guardians. John also sponsored Adopt-An-Author, a free nationwide nonprofit program designed to excite young adults about reading and writing through the use of best-selling thrillers, heroic nonfiction stories, motivational books and direct contact with the authors via personal appearances, classroom phone calls, emails, and interactive websites. He also designed and taught several workshops for adult learners at the Las Vegas Writer's Conference: World Building in Fiction; Poetry as Fiction Workshop; and The Journey to IA: From Recording Artist to Author. Vicki Mayk designed, implemented, and taught a memoir workshop for the bereavement program of St. Luke's Hospice, which is part of St. Luke's University Hospital in Bethlehem, Pa. The sessions covered the building blocks of memoir, aimed at introducing participants to the tools needed for crafting essays or beginning full-length memoirs about family members they have lost. Vylinda Bryant designed and implemented creative writing classes that emphasized the use of the Visual Arts as a springboard for the writing process. Vylinda developed units and lesson plans for elementary school students through adults at The Hermitage Museum and Gardens in Norfolk, Va. Bill Schneider instructed a creative writing workshop series for veterans, held at the West Pittston Library in Pennsylvania. Bill designed the sessions to help veterans find a voice, enhancing his instruction with video clips and readings, prompting participants to bring their words to the page. Rachel Strayer instructed a playwriting workshop for grades 7-12 at the South Abington Library, Clark Summit, Pa. Rachel designed lessons for playwriting format; identifying theatrical ideas; developing character; using stage directions to create setting, tone, and visual aesthetic; crafting good dialogue; writing a beginning, middle, and end; and revising a final script. Each workshop included writing prompts, followed by a craft lesson focusing on a particular skill or element of playwriting. Students staged a public reading of their scripts. In addition, Rachel completed a two-week internship at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, MN. Rachel assumed administrative duties, facilitated the workshop and staged reading of the visiting playwrights, and supervised a PlayLab. �Ashley Supinski developed a fiction writing workshop for teenage writers in Northampton, Pa., in which the group worked on aspects of craft and produced a final publication. The class met Saturday mornings at the public library and included oral delivery and reading components. Dr. Nancy McKinley says, "I could provide 30 or more examples. The interns have done amazing community service, and many have reached out to underserved communities. In fact, one of my personal goals is to help facilitate ways for bringing The Arts to underserved populations. Thus, by helping to prepare interns, I make inroads, and we spread the power of the word." Publishing Internships In the publishing realm, interns have written grants, copyedited, launched publishing endeavors, developed podcasts, and more. Some Etruscan interns have even gone on to work for a press. Dr. Phil Brady describes a few success stories below: Molly Barari accomplished something very special; she turned her activities with senior citizens into a unique project, and somehow got the project finished on schedule. Dakota Heirlooms has been submitted to the publisher and is now available. I couldn't be prouder or happier for Molly and for her publisher, Jean Klein. Austin Bennett came up with one of the best capstones for an internship I've seen. His portfolio included an extensive guide to researching grants, and also included particular grant-targets and strategies. He's taken on possibilities for River and South as well as Etruscan. He wrote a concise and commanding rationale for writing book reviews, and wrote a publishable book review. He also researched the work of H. L. Hix—a daunting task—and is preparing, post-internship, to interview Hix. He has just accepted a tenure-track assistant professor position at City College at Montana State University Billings. In addition, Austin was very supportive of his colleagues on the bulletin board. He is a talented and charismatic young man, and I predict a great future in writing and teaching for him. Leah Vernon took on so many new occupations: copyediting, reviewing memoir, writing study guides, following production, assisting with marketing, and supporting the work of her fellow interns on the bulletin board. All this, she accomplished—and did it on the run, since our original plan was to work with KJB as well as Etruscan. To top it off, she took a trip to Minneapolis and attended AWP, where she met a number of authors and publishers, including Laurie Jean Cannady, whose book Leah had been working on all term. I'm confident that Leah learned as much as possible from this internship. She's a powerful, talented young writer and I think she will accomplish whatever she sets her mind to. �Johanna James demonstrated the most essential qualities in the dynamic and challenging world of publishing: she is imaginative, intrepid, flexible, and endowed with big-picture vision. She launched a new publishing endeavor, Black Ink, which promises to offer new opportunities to writers of diverse backgrounds and points of view. Most importantly, Johanna brought about a new enterprise that has promise and participation from an impressive community. She is a model for what the M.A. in Literary Publishing can be and I have no doubt that she will continue to work with Wilkes and to share resources and encouragement with members of the program and candidates for the publishing degree. Suzanne Ohlmann accomplished something very special; she conceived, developed and produced her first podcast—first in a series I expect, called Storycatcher, which brings together writers, readers, and ordinary (and weird) folk to discuss the activity of making and hearing stories. Suzanne's gifts—her performance background, her talent as a writer, her community building talent, her wit and charm—are all part of story catching. This project has legs, and will far outlast its beginnings as an internship. Of her publishing internship, April Line says, "I loved the real-world experience of writing grants with Etruscan. I have not since felt as professionally validated and useful as I did during my internship. Both Bill Schneider and Phil Brady were incredibly encouraging and positive, and I had pretty broad autonomy to make things happen, which I also appreciated because it signaled that they trusted me and my instincts." These amazing internships completed by M.F.A. students are not counted in the average number of hours at Wilkes. To include the Graduate Creative Writing Program in the student averages, each student needs to complete a quick survey outlining the type of service, number of hours, and where the service was completed. Please watch for the forthcoming survey from the Creative Writing Program. Your responses will help Valkenburg share our success stories. The results will be shared with the Institutional Research Department at Wilkes, and help showcase how our writing community has achieved many of the University's core values. Danie Watson is a graduate assistant for Etruscan Press and an M.A. student in creative nonfiction at Wilkes University. Community Workshops Offered in Spring 2017 �As the snow melts and the flowers begin to bloom, Wilkes is once again offering community writing workshops for adult students, taught by program alums and faculty. The cost for each workshop series is $65.00. Poetry Workshop This adult workshop will focus on the construction of a poem from a single word or idea to a fully developed piece. Using short verse to create a compact image/thought, participants will explore narrative poems to create and develop dramatic poetry and/or story. Requirements: Each participant is expected to write at least ten short poems and two longer narratives during the workshop series. Reading and discussions of poetry handouts and participation in workshopping individual poems and critiquing others. Final presentation of work should be in the form of a chapbook that workshop participants will compile throughout the workshop series. Meetings: Tuesdays – 6-8 p.m., April 25, May 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30 Instructor: Rashidah Ismaili Abubakr Social Media Workshop: How to Leverage Social Media to Publish Your Work and Promote Yourself Social media isn't just for liking photos of your second-cousin's lobster dinner or watching hilarious cat videos—you can learn to wield the social sphere to your professional and creative advantage! This six-week adult workshop introduces you to the various social media platforms that are popular today, and will teach you how to market yourself and your writing in unique and exciting ways. In this class, your instructor will work with you to build your online persona and show you how to reach out to new communities and new readers. Classes are divided into lecture and activity sessions, and each class will have a take-home assignment. Requirements: Each participant should have access to a computer and the internet. Please bring a smartphone to class. Meetings: Tuesdays – 5:30-7:30 p.m., May 2, 9, 16, 23 30 and June 6 Instructor: Angela Greco The Poetry of Revision: What Fiction Writers Can Learn from Ezra Pound This adult workshop will focus on applying certain elements to prose from poetry, such as word play and concision, to help fiction writers revise their stories. Workshop participants will look at several poets, especially more modern ones, in addition to Ezra Pound's The ABC of Reading. Requirements: Each participant should have access to a computer and �a printer; bring copies of three consecutive, double-spaced pages of a work-in-progress to the first workshop; and carry a folder, notebook, and colored pen (not black ink) to each workshop. Meetings: Tuesdays – 6-8 p.m., May 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 and June 6 Instructor: Francisco Tutella Blueprints to the Silver Screen: An Intro to Screenwriting The screenwriter is the first person to see the movie. In this six-week adult workshop, we'll explore the art of crafting compelling stories, characters, and images from your imagination to the page, ready for the silver screen. Course participants will utilize the learnings gained from these discussions to craft individual short screenplays ready for presentation at the workshop's conclusion. Course Text:The Screenwriters Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script, 6th edition. by David Trottier Meetings: Wednesdays – 6-8 p.m., May 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 and June 7 Instructor: Robert Holly Personal Histories Each participant in this adult workshop will create their own personal history of their families, passed down to create a legacy, tracing their ancestry and location in the Wilkes-Barre area, using all family records, Bibles, census information, school and public records, as well as family lore. A major source for their writing will be the stories that have been handed down for generations, songs, crafts and recipes. Each participant will bring all these elements to write their own personal history and will share in workshop their process of collection of materials, means of archiving stories, and discussions around regional histories and persona identities within various communities. Supplemental sources may include interviews with elders in families, religious leaders, priests and ministers, old photographs, videos, letters, personal materials (such as clothes and household possessions), handouts about online genealogy searches, as well as local libraries. Requirements: Each participant will maintain a notebook or folder as a permanent record of their heritage. The type of notebook is up to the workshop participant, but it should be such that one can add to and is sturdy to last for years to come. Meetings: Wednesdays – 6-8 p.m., April 26, May 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 Instructor: Rashidah Ismaili Abubakr From Plot to Page: Turning an Idea into Prose This adult workshop is designed to help writers turn ideas into stories. In �the first week, we will begin by discussing where ideas come from. Then we'll introduce organizational techniques such as outlining and other prewriting strategies. Finally, we'll write, read, and workshop the stories we create from those original ideas. This workshop can accommodate new writers, writers looking to start a new project, or writers deep into revision. Weeks two to six will focus on workshopping work at the author's discretion. Meetings: Thursdays – 6:30-8:30 p.m., May 11, 18, 25, June 1, 8 and 15 Instructors: Robert Antinozzi and Alyssa Waugh PWC Returns to Wilkes Mark your calendars for the 3rd Annual Pennsylvania Writers Conference, which is set to launch July 30 and wrap up August 5, 2017. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey is slated as the keynote speaker, and a schedule is in the works to include weeklong workshops in a variety of writing genres as well as a two-day conference with craft classes, panel discussions, guest speakers, and pitch sessions with agents. For more information, visit http://wilkes.edu/pwc. Faculty News Bonnie Culver, program director, was elected to the Executive Committee of the AWP Board of Trustees. She will serve as vice chair of the board. Gregory Fletcher (Playwriting faculty) made his short story debut with his story "Friends of Vera" in the anthology The Night Bazaar, published �by Northampton House Press. Lenore Hart has a poem in Forgotten Women: A Tribute in Poetry, edited by Ginny Lowe Connors and published this spring by Grayson Press. The book was available in time for International Women's Day (March 8). Some of the contributors read at a book launch in Connecticut through the Riverwood Poetry Series on March 9. J. Michael Lennon reviewed Joan Didion's new book, South and West, in the (London) Times Literary Supplement Feb. 2. "Editor, edit thyself," Mike's review of Robert Gottlieb's memoir for the TLS, pulls no punches: "Avid Reader: A Life is full of stale phrases, sketchy anecdotes and perfunctory accolades for all the wonderful guys and gals he's worked with over the years." Nevertheless, Dr. Lennon writes, Gottlieb tells fascinating stories about the writers he coddled, cajoled, and masterminded into print, including Chaim Potok, Lauren Bacall, and Robert Caro. Lennon's edition of Norman Mailer's The Fight (about "The Rumble in the Jungle," the Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman championship bout in Zaire in 1974) has just been published by Taschen Books in an oversized edition with hundreds of photos. David Poyer did a long interview with the Center for International Maritime Security about his writing process and the background for his Modern Navy novels, specifically the latest, Onslaught, which was published in December. Student and Alumni News Austin Grant Bennett (M.F.A.'15) began work in January as an instructor for City College at Montana State University Billings. Tom Borthwick (M.F.A. '09) published a short story, "Silencing the Machine," in Altered States II: a Cyberpunk Anthology. It's available on Amazon in print and digital formats, and was cited as a standout and favorably reviewed at the Cyberpunk website, Neon Dystopia. Another short story, "Long in the Dying," was published in Phantaxis Magazine. It's available for purchase on Amazon. 2017 M.F.A. grad Gabrielle D'Amico's(pictured right) screenplay, Plan B, has been optioned by Intuition Media, a production company whose partners include Susan Cartsonis, Suzanne Farwell �and Brent Emery. Angela Eckhart, "one of the Original Tattooed Wilkies from the Class of 2009," doesn't have any news but writes, "I am thrilled to be connected with this writing community, even though I haven't visited a residency for quite some time." Brian Fanelli (M.F.A. '10) recently had an essay on Thoreau, Emerson, and the American poetic tradition accepted for publication by the Philadelphia-based Schuylkill Valley Journal. A preview of the essay appears online, and the print version will be published in June. Richard Fellinger (M.F.A. '10) has signed a contract with Open Books to publish his debut novel, Made To Break Your Heart. Publication is slated for June 2017. D Ferrara's (M.A. '13) screenplay, Arvin Lindemeyer Takes Canarsie, won the Outstanding Feature-Length Screenplay at the Oil Valley Film Festival. This piece had formed the basis of her thesis at Wilkes. With Pat Florio, she is also editing a book of short fiction and memoir created by participants at a workshop with Kaylie Jones and Judy Mandel in Tuscany, due out later this year from Wendy Decker's Serendipity Press. Sandee Gertz (M.F.A. '12) hosts "Everyday Poetry: Poetry for the People!" on Radio Free Nashville -- available worldwide on the net. She says: "It's a live call-in show and features Working Class Poetry—and poetry rooted in place, work, blue-collar, white-collar, pink-collar concerns, etc. It also features place-based and Americana travel poetry." She's looking for submissions of work in any genre (especially interested in working people, parenting, domestic labor and Southern stories), author interviews, and music. "I'd be happy to have any alums send work for consideration on the show. I also play roots music so am always looking for submissions for that as well!" Send submissions (poetry, stories, books, recordings) to Sandee Gertz, 1805 Cahal Ave, Nashville, �TN 37206 or sandeegertz@gmail.com. Cooper Gorelick (M.A. student) continued his research for his thesis project—a screenplay about a theater company—by playing the role of Juror No. 9 in Rutgers-Camden's production of Reginald Rose's 12 Angry Jurors, Feb. 22-26. The launch for Heather Harlen's (M.A. '08) latest book, Shame, Shame, I Know Your Name, was March 4 at the Moravian Book Shop in Bethlehem, Pa. Paul Jackson (M.A. '14) had 3 poems published in Fictional Café in January. Nichole Kanney (M.F.A '15) had her feature-length comedy screenplay Shady Birch selected as a finalist for the 2017 Nashville Film Festival. Kimberly Behre Kenna (M.A. '15) had her poem, "Spirit's Stream," published in the January edition of GFT Press. She was recently hired to write humanities curriculum, and teach for the Pathfinder program at Hopkins School in New Haven, Conn. Pathfinder is a free academic enrichment program for middle school students, attending city schools, who have a strong desire to prepare for and attend college. Monique Antonette Lewis (M.F.A. '12) was a featured reader for Great Weather for MEDIA in New York and the FBomb and The Art of Storytelling reading series, both in Denver. Her flash fiction story, "You're Cursed," was published by PoetryBay in December. She also spoke on a panel during Regis University's Mile-High MFA residency to discuss At The Inkwell. Lori A. May (M.F.A.'13) has an essay in the latest quarterly issue of Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel. She was recently interviewed about her book The Write Crowd for Understorey Magazine. She is currently working on a series of podcasts as part of her project grant with King County. Todd McClimans' (M.A. '12) latest novel, Time To Heal (Overdue Books, 2017), the third installment in his American Epochs series, was reviewed in the February issue of VOYA, a library journal devoted to young adult literature. "McClimans paints a vivid picture of the bloodiest time in American history—the Civil War," reviewer Richard Vigdor writes. Kirkus Reviews liked it too, saying, "He writes in a sharp, energetic prose ('Kristi Connors lunged to catch a rolling can of Coca-Cola as it spread a fizzling brown wave across her desktop'), and the novel's quick pace and unusual chronology make for an engrossing read. ... lively and fun ... A well-constructed, compelling addition to an ongoing time-travel tale." �Josh Penzone's (M.A. '13) short story "Artificial Tree" appeared in Eunoia Review. Also, his short story "A Soldier's Story" kicks off the anthology The Neighbors, produced by Zimbell House Publishing. Dania Ramos' (M.A. '10) short story "Vista Eterna" was published in the anthology The Night Bazaar: Eleven Haunting Tales of Forbidden Wishes and Dangerous Desires (Northampton House Press). Her short musical Work With Us, co-written with Michael Aquino, was featured in Continuing the Conversation: An Evening of Short Plays in Response to the Election (Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre). Dania's book Who's Ju, also from Northampton House, has won or been a finalist for several international awards, including Best Hispanic YA eBook 2016, finalist for the Mariposa Prize, and now a finalist for the 2017 Sakura Prize in Japan. l)k\',\l)S, ·----·---.-- M.F.A. ---·------------- student Ronnie _,. __ ,. --------- K. __,._ ----_,__,,, Stephens reports, "My second poetry collection, They Rewrote Themselves Legendary, is now available via my website. The collection is a fully illustrated collaborative work, pairing ekphrastic poems with artwork by Desarae Lee, and was released in late February by Timber Mouse." Timber Mouse is an independent publisher, based in Austin, Texas, that promotes the work of spoken-word artists. (pictured right) Donna Talarico (M.F.A. '10) edited Selected Memories: Five Years of Hippocampus Magazine, the first release from Hippocampus' books division. The book was officially launched with a live event and reading at AWP 2017. Also at AWP, she served on a panel about grassroots conference promotion. In spring 2017, Talarico is teaching "Marketing Books and Magazines" at Rosemont College, and personal branding workshops at Pennsylvania College of Arts and Design. Quick Links Career Development �DONATE TO THE WILKES FUND Campus Safety and Internships Centers & Institutes Online Programs Programs E.S. Farley Library Human Resources Jobs at Wilkes Make A Gift Online Nursing Offices & Administration Accessibility Statement Financial Aid Adobe Acrobat® Reader Registrar's Office Finance Office Investor Relations Student Work Study Jobs Veterans Services Visit Quick Links Schedule a Visit Parking Information Virtual Tour Campus Map Wilkes University 84 West South Street �Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766 1-800-WILKES-U Contact Us Wilkes University © e © d c f � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Subject The topic of the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Description An account of the resource An archive of past issues of <em>Revise This!</em>, the official newsletter of the Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Wilkes University Language A language of the resource English Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Revise This! | 2017-04.pdf Creative Writing Maslow Maslow Family Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Revise This Writing https://omeka.wilkes.edu/omeka/files/original/d8c4d9bd3f5de759319daa04e41f10a7.pdf 9bba0a22f681ca9b27cd08bd2b3cea2e PDF Text Text About Wilkes Home n Graduate Academics Academics n Graduate Admission & Aid Graduate Programs n Graduate Life Master's Degree Programs About Our Students n n The Arts Creative Writing MA/MFA Revise This! n Archives Revise This! - Winter 2017 Winter 2017 5.5 Questions for Jacob Hebda: On Mailer Conferences Jacob currently a 2018 512/514 Revise This! - student and November 2019 Wilkes University graduate assistant who has attended three Mailer Society Archives 2017 Hebda is Norman Archives "Whether I discover how writers are inspired by each other or how critics interpret their art, participating in this vast web of interaction remains n 2017 n n �a powerful and humbling experience, as well as an opportunity to learn." - Jacob Hebda Conferences. In 2014, Hebda presented a paper on Mailer's cosmology compared to that of Ralph Waldo Emerson titled, "Clashing Cosmologies: Mailer's An American Dream as a Romantic Nightmare." In 2016, Hebda presented a paper on John Milton's influence on Norman Mailer titled, "The Mailerian Ego and the Problem of Evil in the Modern World: A View of the Russian Section of The Castle in the Forest through the Authorial Ego of D. T." In 2017, Hebda presented a paper on the characteristics of the epic tradition evident in Mailer's Ancient Evenings titled, "A Novel of Epic Proportions: Norman Mailer's Ancient Evenings and the Epic Tradition." Hebda earned his B.A. in English from Misericordia University in 2014, and his M.A. in English from the State University of New York at New Paltz in 2017. Danie Watson is a freelance writer based in Scranton, PA. She is currently pursuing her M.A. in fiction from Wilkes University, where she serves as a graduate assistant. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START RESEARCHING s THE WORK OF NORMAN MAILER? WHAT GOES INTO WRITING A PAPER FOR THE s NORMAN MAILER SOCIETY CONFERENCE, AND WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE PROCESS? WHAT ARE YOUR RESEARCH INTERESTS IN s NORMAN MAILER, AND HOW HAVE THEY EVOLVED OVER TIME? HOW DID YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH THE s NORMAN MAILER SOCIETY BRING YOU TO THE MASLOW FAMILY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN CREATIVE WRITING? WHICH MAILER WORK WOULD YOU RECOMMEND s �FOR SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO JUMP INTO THE WORLD OF NORMAN MAILER? WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR THOSE WHO s ARE INTERESTED IN PRESENTING AT THE NORMAN MAILER SOCIETY CONFERENCE? From PA to FL: Wilkes at Mailer Wilkes faculty, alums, and students participated in panels and From left to right: Jan Quackenbush, Carol Lavelle, Matthew Hinton, Patricia Florio, Dale Louise Mervine, Richard Priebe, and Nicole DePolo attended the 13th Annual Norman Mailer Conference, which was held in Provincetown, MA in 2015. presentations at the 15th Norman Mailer Society Conference held October 26 to 28 in Sarasota, Florida, sponsored by the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus. The annual Wilkes University Readers Theatre reading featured Dr. Bonnie Culver and Matthew Hinton (M.F.A. '10) in a performance and discussion titled "Remembering Norman." Program co-founder and founding faculty member Dr. J. Michael Lennon presided as president of the Norman Mailer Society and stepped down during the conference. Maggie McKinley was elected in his stead. Current M.A. student Jacob Hebda presented a paper on the characteristics of the epic tradition evident in Mailer's Ancient Evenings titled "A Novel of Epic Proportions: Norman Mailer's Ancient Evenings and the Epic Tradition." Winter Reminders PAY IT FORWARD INITIATIVE Alumni and �faculty may nominate one incoming student in each cohort for the Pay It Forward scholarship, which applies $2,500 against his or her first semester's tuition. Lisa Greim was a recipient of the Pay It Forward scholarship from faculty member Kaylie Jones. If you know a writer who would be a great asset to our program, you have the power to pass along a $2,500 program award. This one-time payment is used to offset tuition— an incredible benefit when you consider that most creative writing students pay tuition out of their own pockets. The deadline for applications is December 15, 2017 for the next January residency. To Pay It Forward, share our program's successes with a prospective student. Send me their contact information and we'll track them through the admissions process. Or, simply ask them to reference your name when completing their application. The Pay It Forward award will be applied to their first bill once they are accepted into the program and begin their studies. ETRUSCAN PRIZE Students: The w annual Etruscan Prize for the best single page in any genre will be judged this year by Etruscan author Bruce Bond. Winner receives a $100 honorarium, a complimentary subscription of Etruscan titles, and a limited edition Etruscan Press Executive Director Dr. Phil Brady(left) and Executive Editor Dr. Bob Mooney (right) awarded Ronnie K. Stephens (M.A. '17) the 2017 Etruscan Prize for his poem "What I Know Now. broadside of the winning piece. �"Send us one page: your best page, in any genre. It can be beginning, middle or end. It can be prose, script, or poetry. Send us a page that sings." Deadline is April 15, 2018 | Please submit entries to: etruscanpress.submittable.com Beat the winter blues with a creative writing workshop! Nonfiction Places and Spaces Place plays an important role in both fiction and nonfiction writing, often assuming the role of another character in novels, short stories, memoir, essays and literary journalism. In this adult workshop, we'll consider writers who have made place and location central to to their writing. Participants will write about personal and public landscapes from a variety of perspectives, from memories of home to capturing places visited. Exercises will include incorporating multi-sensory detail, the role of research, and using place to support character description. Fiction writers who are setting their work in real-life places also will benefit from this workshop. Meetings: Mondays – 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. – Kirby Hall, Room 108 January 29, February 5, 12, 19, 26, and March 5 Cost: $65.00 for the entire series Instructor: Vicki Mayk   Social Media for Beginners Social Media isn't just for liking photos of your second-cousin's lobster dinner or watching hilarious cat videos -- you can learn to wield the social sphere to your professional and creative advantage! This six-week adult workshop introduces you to the various social media platforms that are popular today, and will teach you how to market yourself and your writing in unique and exciting ways. In this class, your instructor will work with you to build your online persona and show you how to reach out to new communities and new readers. Classes are divided into lecture and activity sessions, and each class will have a take-home assignment. Meetings: Tuesdays – 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. – Breiseth Hall, Room 108 January 23, 30, February 6, 13, 20, and 27 Cost: $65.00 for the entire series Instructor: Angela Greco   �Preparing You and Your Manuscript for Publication This five-week workshop is designed for adult learners over the age of 18. Participants will be provided an overview of how to prepare completed literary projects for submission to publishers. Through a variety of lectures, workshop exercises, and group discussions, participants will discover what it takes to prepare themselves – and their work – for consideration. A comprehensive look at industry standards and best practices include crafting a project synopsis, drafting a query letter, understanding the author questionnaire process, creating a thumbnail, keynote, and writing the book description. Meetings: Wednesdays – 5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. – Breiseth Hall, Room 106 January 31, February 7, 14, 21, and 28 Cost: $65.00 for the entire series Instructor: Bill Schneider   Creative Nonfiction: Memories and Memoir Writing memoir requires transformation of complex, often incomprehensible emotions into clear words with which a reader could empathize. Learning from our memories comes from allowing ourselves to explore the gray areas and know that feelings – good or bad – are important. Understanding memories and perceptions is essential to this process. The writer needs to be sensitive to the idea that others involved in these may have different perceptions and memories and may not want to share their personal matters with the world. Open to adults of any age. Meetings: Thursdays – 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. – Breiseth Hall, Room 106 February 1, 8, 15, 22, March 1 and March 15 (No meeting on March 8) Cost: $65.00 for the entire series Instructor: Joyce Victor   Realistic Fiction: Employing Reality and Real Imagery into Fiction Writing This adult workshop will focus on using real environments to cultivate scenes in realistic fiction writing. During the six-week workshop series, participants will focus on imagery, dialogue, character, timeline, and studying the "greats" (imbuing inspiration from great writers). Each workshop will include exercises, free writing, discussion, and takeaways for continued writing. �Meetings: Saturdays – 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. - Karambelas Media Center, Room 135 February 3, 10, 17, 24, March 3 and 10 Cost: $65.00 for the entire series Instructor: Rachael J. Hughes Faculty, Alumni, and Student News -~ :I l ll ~ l • ...- ....:I !' lrl'l 1_ ..,_... ' -.,,=---• ; fj • FACULTY NEWS: Lenore Hart and David Poyer taught at the Ossabaw Writers Workshop on Ossabaw Island, GA from 27-30 October. Lenore Hart's The Night Bazaar sets up its tents at KGB Bar on December 13. Six anthology authors will present individual and group dramatic readings (some in costume, of course) selected from stories in the anthology. The reading will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Red Room. Readers include Wilkes faculty, alums, and NHP authors Gregory Fletcher, Mau VanDuren, Naia Poyer, Frances Williams, Corinne Nulton, and Lenore Hart. The Night Bazaar is nominated for the 2017 James Tiptree Award, specifically for the story "The Kindly Ones" by Naia Poyer. The James Tiptree Jr. Award, since 1993, has sought to promote and recognize works of speculative fiction that 'explore and expand our understanding of gender. Chapter one of Troublesome Creek, Lenore's novel currently in-progress, will appear in the Spring 2018 issue of The Virginia �Literary Journal. Lenore's poem "Struck By Light" was named the winner of the 2017 Connecticut River Review Poetry Prize. The judge was Benjamin Grossberg. The prize was $400, and the poem will be published in the spring edition of the Connecticut River Review. J. Michael Lennon has edited The 1960's Collection--a boxed set containing the works of Norman Mailer to be published by the Library of America. Volume one Four Books of the 1960's, will contain four Mailer works from the 1960s: An American Dream, Why Are We In Vietnam?The Armies Of The Night and Miami and The Siege Of Chicago (all four won, or were nominated for, the National Book Award). Volume two, Collected Essays of the 1960s, will contain 36 of Mailer's essays from the 60's, beginning with "Superman Comes to the Supermarket" and gathers for the first time all the essential essays from the classic collections The Presidential Papers, Cannibals and Christians, and Existential Errands. Publication date for the boxed set is February 27, 2018. Associate Program Director Bill Schneider (M.F.A. '14) was invited to be a reader of United Airlines employee entries for the anthology Farewell to the 747: Queen of the Skies. He attended a farewell event held aboard a United 747 at Newark Liberty International Airport on October 24, where �many of the entries selected for the anthology were presented. ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWS: J.C. Alonso Jr. (M.F.A. '14) had his poem published in Haiku Journal Issue 52. His novel Murderer's Wake, a sea story of a merchant marine was published ----MURDERER'S -,,._,~.,,~~ ............ ...,_ ................. ._ ........ ._ ... .._~..._~ •lf"IC-. by Northampton House Press (print date Jan 1, 2018.) Alonso was also hired as Adjunct Professor at Nova Southeastern University, and hired as Writing Lab Instructor at Broward Colle. Molly Barari (M.F.A. '17) led two book discussions on the South Dakota One Book, Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal, as a South Dakota Humanities Council Scholar this fall. Barari was selected by the Humanities Council earlier in the year to receive the scholar honor. Maxwell Bauman (M.F.A. '15) had his collection of Jewishthemed short stories The Anarchist Kosher Cookbook published by CLASH Books. The book is available for preorder via Amazon and B&N, and will officially be for sale on Dec 5th. D Ferrara's (M.A. '14) short story "The Bookkeeper" has been accepted for publication by Duct, a journal of stories. Cheryl Bazzoui (M.A. '14) had her new novelPressure Cooker Christmas come out in November. It is a satisfyingly realistic contrast from the usual sugarcoated Christmas novels. It is told through the voice of Marlene O'Malley, wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, nurse, friend, etc., as she and her husband, Bob, close in on their most unforgettable Christmas. Marlene insists she loves Christmas. Bob hates Christmas. He wants to cancel their annual Swearing in of the Christmas Tree party, but it's become a Willow Lane tradition. Their far less than perfect family is irresistibly �lovable, despite their many foibles. This story will help even the most Scrooge-like reader find a generous helping of Christmas spirit. Bazzoui writes under the penname of Ann McCauley. Learn more about her at www.annmccauley.com Patricia Florio (M.F.A. '11) co-founder of the Jersey Shore Writers (2001) was asked by the Bradley Beach library, Fourth Avenue Branch, to form a monthly writing group on Thursday, November 9 at 6:30 pm. This comes on the heels of her library readings to children from her current children's book, Puppy in My Pocket. Rachael J. Hughes's (M.F.A. '12) Memoir Us Girls is slated for publication this fall with Big Table Publishing. Maureen Hooker (M.F.A. '09) will be the keynote speaker for a state conference of Vidant Hospitals' Information Technology Systems Managers on January 18, 2018 at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro, NC. (Book signing too). Jennifer Jenkins (M.F.A. '17) had her story "Ambulance" printed in Parentheses Journal in October 2017. Her book reviews have appeared in Hippocampus Magazine in April, July, and October 2017. She was also awarded an honorable mention for Glimmertrain's Very Short Fiction Award in September 2017. Mark Levy (M.A. '08) joined Messner Reeves LLP, a Denver law firm, in October as Intellectual Property Counsel. That's a rare situation in which being 68 years old is an advantage. Lori A. May (M.F.A. '13) has an essay, "This is What it Sounds Like," in the latest issue of Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel. Nisha Sharma (M.F.A. '13) sold at auction The Singh Family Trilogy, in which three Sikh-Punjabi brothers bound by tradition and love pursue the ultimate act of revenge by taking down an empire in the name of honor to Avon Impulse, a Harper Collins Imprint. Christy White (M.A. '17) had three poems from her thesis, Unexpected Comfort, chosen to be published in the Fall 2017 online zine, The Blue Guitar Magazine. The poems are: "Blessing," "Reading a Used Paperback at Midnight" and "On This Earth We Call Home."The Blue Guitar Arts and Literary Magazine is a project of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts. �Quick Links Career Development Campus Safety and Internships Centers & Institutes Online Programs Programs E.S. Farley Library Human Resources Jobs at Wilkes Make A Gift Online Nursing Offices & Administration Accessibility Statement Financial Aid Adobe Acrobat® Reader Registrar's Office Finance Office Investor Relations Student Work Study Jobs Veterans Services Visit Quick Links Schedule a Visit Parking Information Virtual Tour Campus Map ...... "'... ~ NriJ"""• ,C •~ -~-- : ~~~· Wilkes University �84 West South Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766 1-800-WILKES-U Contact Us Wilkes University © e © d c f � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Subject The topic of the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Description An account of the resource An archive of past issues of <em>Revise This!</em>, the official newsletter of the Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Wilkes University Language A language of the resource English Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Revise This! | 2017-01.pdf Creative Writing Maslow Maslow Family Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Revise This Writing https://omeka.wilkes.edu/omeka/files/original/784ccffcf42aee30c864476c014d342d.pdf 76967549641fd69fa03a41d0f8298706 PDF Text Text About Wilkes Home n Graduate Academics Academics n Graduate Admission & Aid Graduate Programs n Graduate Life Master's Degree Programs About Our Students n n The Arts Creative Writing MA/MFA Revise This! n Archives Revise This! December 2016   Archives E. S. Farley Library Collection Of Published Works Grows Five And A Half Questions For Susan Cartsonis Warm Your Winter With Wilkes Community Writing Workshops Archives Norman Mailer Conference Student Reminders News From Faculty, Students And Alums 2017 2018 Clearing a section of the stacks: the E.S. Farley Library Collection of Published Works by Danie Watson During the 10th anniversary celebration of the Wilkes University Graduate Creative Writing Program in 2015, Director Dr. Bonnie Culver Revise This! November 2019 n 2016 n n �discovered a way in which Wilkes could set itself apart from all other creative writing programs. "As I was looking through our program materials including bios, Revise This! and alum notes, I began a bibliography that included nearly a thousand items—books, films, collections, published plays, chapbooks, memoirs— physical pieces of published, produced work," Dr. Culver said. "We then tried to find any program, anywhere—residency or low-residency—that had amassed a collection of its creative works. We could find none, certainly nothing like what our program offered." Our goal was to create the largest single collection of a creative writing program in the world. By end of last year, the E. S. Farley Library Collection of Published Works was launched with donations received from faculty, alums, current students, and Advisory Board members. When I began my graduate assistantship in February 2016, the Library Collection was my first assignment. At the time, there were about 150 titles in the collection, and very few copies in the archive. My first goal was to review the list of titles in the collection, determine what was in the library, and what we were missing. From there, I determined how many copies we had of each title. Our goal was to obtain two copies of each title: one for circulation, and one for the archives. Along with the Program's library liaison, Carl "Eddie" Clem, I pored through the books donated to the Creative Writing Program. We also spent time searching the Farley Library shelves. We discovered that 248 titles were already in the collection. Many of these titles have copies in both the archives and on the shelves; but our work is not over, as there are many works not included in the collection. "The Library will include these works within its local catalog, as well as in WorldCat (www.worldcat.org), making the items discoverable worldwide. This collection will also become usable to those patrons outside of the Wilkes-Barre area via interlibrary loan, increasing discoverability and �exposure to the worldwide library community," says Clem. "We encourage the donation of a second copy for [the library's] Archives and Special Collections, to preserve the impact of the University and its graduates." The Library Collection has grown significantly with donations of published works by authors affiliated with the program, including Blue Moon Plays, Etruscan Press, Kaylie Jones Books, Northampton House Press, and SenArt Films, but we are far from reaching our goal. More than 1,000 titles are needed. Everyone can leave his or her mark! We're asking that current students, faculty, and alumni donate copies of their favorite work by a program-affiliated author. Each piece of the collection is notated with a golden medallion on the cover. Donated books contain a nameplate before the title page, stating who donated the book to the collection and recognizing the importance of good literary citizenship. The E.S. Farley Library Collection of Published Works cannot grow to be the largest collection without your help. The current list of published works in the collection may be found at http://wilkes.libguides.com/creativewritingcollection. Danie Watson is a graduate assistant for Etruscan Press and M.A. student in creative nonfiction in the Wilkes Graduate Creative Writing Program. She lives in Nanticoke, Pa. Five and a half questions for Susan Cartsonis by Lisa Greim Producer Susan Cartsonis has had a busy 2016. Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life opened Oct. 16; Carrie Pilby premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September; and Deidra and Laney Rob a Train finished principal photography in Utah last summer, and will be released as a Netflix Original in 2017. A member of the Creative Writing Program faculty and advisory board, Cartsonis founded Storefront Pictures to make "smart, high-quality films that appeal to female audiences." Along the way, she has championed the need for women in all aspects of the film industry – female directors, producers, screenwriters and investors. �I'll lead with a self-serving question. I write fction and memoir. What will make my manuscript something you want to option? If there's a good and original, and in some way, universal idea at the center of your story, then it might be a good prospect for adaptation to screen. That's not to say it can't be unique, but there has to be some core notion that is relatable. For example, everyone has felt "less than" or like an outsider, and so The Duff found a wide audience beyond its core of teenage girls. Deidra and Laney Rob a Train is a Netfix Original. Are projects for online distribution handled diferently than those for theatrical release?  I will let you know when I get through this process, but YES, I can tell it's different already. Netflix considers the online launch every bit as important as a premiere in movie theaters. There are different priorities surrounding publicity materials. And online distributors seem particularly knowledgeable about demographics that they can reach that might be ignored by theatrical distributors. The credits list for Carrie Pilby is full of women — director Susan Johnson, screenwriter Kara Holden (from the novel by Caren Lissner), and producing partners Suzanne McNeil Farwell and you. Is the needle for women in Hollywood moving at all, or are people just talking about this issue more? Talking about the issue creates awareness, which makes the needle move—but the needle or the proportions of women in film are the same paltry proportions as in the government and in big business. Interestingly, that proportion is healthier in independent film, where the financial barrier to entry is not as high. There's a Sundance/Women in Film study that looks at those stats—and endeavors to improve them. The main focus being: get women access to funding. I noticed all three of your current projects have YA roots. What about YA titles and topics appeals to you? I'm just a YA magnet because I'm immature. Seriously, I think that the vulnerability, questions about identity, and worldview of YA material appeals to me as something that we carry with us our entire lives. I like to think that the themes we explore will speak to audiences of all ages. Please tell a story that will make Wilkes screenwriters feel good about what they do. Wilkes screenwriters come from diverse perspectives and bring all sorts �of fresh experiences to the world of film. I personally now have two projects set in the Scranton area. Not being from Hollywood (and very few people are actually from Southern California) is an advantage in my opinion. We get tired of movies that reference the 405 freeway...and we long for stories that we connect with, that allow us to "take a vacation" to other places! What is it about movies? Why are they your life's work? I'm a storyteller and have been one since I was a small child. I started by telling stories to my four younger brothers and sisters to entertain them, wrote and performed plays in school and after school, and made my first film at 12. I love movies because they allow a storyteller to connect with a large audience, and create a shared perspective that has power to transcend differences of culture and specific experience. I've always known that storytelling and connecting with an audience is powerful and important. And I believe that in ways small and large, we can affect culture and influence the world. Lisa Greim is working on her M.A. in creative nonfiction from Wilkes University, when she isn't writing something else in Arvada, Colo.  Community Workshops will warm the winter Community Creative Writing Workshops will be offered on the WilkesBarre campus in February, March, and April. The six- and seven-week sessions, which cost $65, include: • Intro to Poetry with Dawn Leas, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Mondays, Feb. 20 March 27 • Advanced Techniques in Memoir Writing with Vicki Mayk, 6-8 p.m., Mondays, Feb. 27 - April 3 • Playwriting Workshop: The One Act Play with Bonnie Culver, 6-8 p.m., Tuesdays, Feb. 21 – March 28 • Creative Nonfiction: Taking the "I" and "Me" Out of Memoir with Rachael Hughes, 6-8 p.m., Tuesday, March 14 – April 25 (7 sessions) • Intro to Screenwriting (Tools and Techniques) with Kelly Clisham, 6-8 p.m., Thursdays, Feb. 23 – March 30 • Word Watering: Storytelling, Healing, and (Re)Constructing Identity with Virginia Grove, 9-11 a.m., Saturdays, March 4 – April 8 In addition, Dawn Zera will teach two Saturday sessions for children and teens on Feb. 4, Getting Serious About Creative Writing and Putting the Fun Back in Writing. Each are $10. �Full info and registration can be found on the Wilkes Creative Writing website. Wilkes Creative Writing Program at Mailer Conference Wilkes faculty, alums, and students participated in panels and presentations at the 14th Norman Mailer Society Conference, "Return to Long Branch," held Sept. 29 - Oct. 1 on the Monmouth University campus in West Long Branch, N.J. A panel, "Remembering Muhammad Ali" included Michael Mailer and John Buffalo Mailer. K.C. Leiber performed Bonnie Culver's one-woman play A Ticket to the Circus, based on Norris Church Mailer's memoir. The annual Wilkes reading  featured Mailer's unpublished first novel, No Percentage.  Student reminders Alums and faculty may nominate one incoming student in each cohort for the Pay It Forward scholarship, which applies $2,500 against his or her first semester's tuition. Students: The annual Etruscan Prize for the best single page in any genre will be judged this year by Etruscan author Myrna Stone. Deadline �is April 15, 2017. Winner receives a $100 honorarium, a complimentary subscription of Etruscan titles, and a limited edition broadside of the winning piece. "Send us one page: your best page, in any genre. It can be beginning, middle or end. It can be prose, script, or poetry. Send us a page that sings." Email your page as an attachment to books@etruscanpress.org. >> CSIS cttr1Ut u.111-.nlATJC.lt t, ~.. ,rllKAl1(1~4l ''"°'r~ CSIS >> [ABOVE] David Poyer and Lenore Hart Poyer. Faculty News Gregory Fletcher's play Family of Flechner appears in the newly published anthology The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2016 by Smith & Kraus, Inc. Christine Gelineau's book Crave was a finalist in the poetry category for the 2016 CNY Book Awards, a program of the Syracuse YMCA's Downtown Writers Center. Winners were announced Dec. 8. Lenore Hart Poyer has a lot going on. Connecticut-based Graystone Press will include her poem "Crazy Quilt 1918" in Forgotten Women, an anthology due in early 2017. Her novel in progress, The Alchemy of Light, about a photographer of the dead who clashes with Thomas Edison, as the Great Genius is inventing the electric chair, was a semi- �finalist in the 2016 Faulkner-Wisdom "Words & Music" Novel Competition in August. Lenore gave a talk Oct. 6 at the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin, where she and David Poyer addressed a group there on – among other topics – the current American publishing landscape, and the necessity of book promotion for authors. She was invited to join the Irish Writers Union, and did so on Nov. 1. Finally, Lenore's latest Elisabeth Graves novel, published earlier in Norway by Egmont Boker (Oslo), was released in a first North American edition Oct. 11.  For the first time ever, Kaylie Jones and two Kaylie Jones Books authors were invited to participate at the Miami Book Fair in November. Kaylie moderated a panel with Barb Taylor (M.F.A. '15) and J. Patrick Redmond, on the important role indie presses like Akashic Press play in the increasingly commercialized world of fiction.  J. Michael Lennon's review of Avid Reader: A Life by Robert Gottlieb, former editor of The New Yorker, and editor-in-chief at Simon and Schuster and Alfred Knopf, will appear in an upcoming issue of the Times Literary Supplement (London). On Nov. 3, David Poyer and Lenore Hart attended a book launch at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, for On War and Politics (Naval Institute Press, November 2016), which Dave co-authored with General Arnold Punaro. Lenore also provided editorial assistance, received credit in the book, and got to meet her longtime hero, John Warner! Dave's new novel Onslaught (St. Martin's, 2016) received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, which described the 16th novel in the Dan Lenson series as "superb." Quarterdeck magazine said, "David Poyer's page-turning Lenson series, featuring all-too-real scenarios relating to current world affairs, sets the standard for present-day naval fiction."  Student and Alumni News Maxwell Bauman (M.F.A. '14)reports that Baphomitzvah won Best Screenplay in the November IndustryBOOST Audience Awards competition on GetIndieWise.com. Tom Borthwick's (M.F.A. '08) film Solacium, based on a previously published short story by Borthwick, debuted at the Belin Film Festival in October. Kait Burrier (M.F.A. '14) recently relocated to Madison, WI, where she �joined Ideas That Evoke, an award-winning boutique social media agency, as their first full-time copywriter. Tara Caimi (M.F.A. '10) presented "Fiction Techniques in Memoir: Using Craft Elements and Privileged Perspective to Engage Readers and Gain [ABOVE] Poem Fusion, Sangue della Radici Festival. Trust" at HippoCamp 2016. She developed and taught the five-week workshop "Crafting Creative Personal Essays and Memoir" for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Penn State. On Nov. 3, Tara visited the English 212 Introduction to Fiction Writing class at Penn State to speak about guidelines for submitting short stories and essays. As an independent contractor, Tara took on the temporary role of managing editor for the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, leading the charge to turn the association's member newsletter into a professional, broader-reaching journal. Craig Czury (M.F.A. '08) conducted a public Poem Fusion—multi-lingual poetry performance—at the Sangue della Radici Festival, Sept. 23, in Soncino, Italy. On Nov. 19, Czury presented his Coal Mines / Gas Lines at the British Council in Milano. Screenwriter Gabrielle D'Amico (M.A. '15) attended CineStory in October. Look for a future blog post about the experience on the redesigned Wilkes Write Life blog. Heather M. Davis (MFA '12) says: "You can now watch Completely Normal on Amazon and Vimeo! I helped with an early draft of the script and have a 'Story By' credit." Brian Fanelli (M.F.A. '10) During the September 20 program of "The Writer's Almanac," Garrison Keillor read Brian's poem, "Raking Leaves." He had a poem, "Halloween," published on Verse Daily. His �new book, Waiting for the Dead to Speak, was reviewed on the Best American Poetry blog, and he gave a radio interview for the program "Weekly Reader," hosted by graduate students at the University of Minnesota, Mankato. The Jersey Shore Writers held their first Holiday Book Convention & Open Mic on Dec. 11 at 3 p.m. at the Jersey Shore Arts Center. More than 20 New Jersey authors offered books for sale. Monique Antonette Lewis (M.F.A. '12) is now a travel writer for The Huffington Post. April Line (M.F.A. '15) has a new job, writing for the development and marketing department of the YWCA. Her Adipocere handmade vegan soap and Dr. Fictitious line of body care products are for sale at adipoceresoap.net. Donna Malies' (M.A. '11) one act play, Secrets She Kept, was produced for the Pensacola Little Theatre on Oct. 15. Gale Martin (M.F.A. '10) taught a creative writing workshop Nov. 26 at the Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro, Vt. Lori A. May (M.F.A. '13) has new writing in Time Out New York. She will be in New York this January leading a number of workshops and lectures. She is also a featured reader for January's At The Inkwell reading series at KGB Lit Bar, founded by alum Monique Antonette Lewis and hosted by alum Andi Talarico. In February, Lori will be speaking on a panel at AWP and signing books at the Bloomsbury booth in the AWP book fair. Todd McClimans' (M.A. '12) novel Time Underground, the second in a time-travel American History series, was named a Silver Medalist in the 2016 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards. The third book in the series, Time to Heal, will be released by Overdue Books on January 1, 2017. Two Wilkes writers were finalists in New Millennium Writings' 42nd contest:Ginger Marcinkowski (M.F.A. '11) in Flash Fiction for "Tsunami615" and Lisa Greim (M.A. student) in Fiction for "Walter Says Good Morning." Linda M.C. Nguyen (M.F.A. '14) will have a science-fiction short story published next year with Ember: A Journal of Luminous Things. She also worked on the WatchDogs 2 video game as a Legal Coordinator on the Narrative Team at Ubisoft Montreal. The game was released Nov. 15 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.  �Josh Penzone's (M.A. '13) short story "Falling Away" has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. It appeared in Five on the Fifth, an online journal. Josh's words of encouragement about submitting stories to literary magazines is the December feature on the Wilkes Write Life blog. The Importance of Sex Education, a short film written and directed by Laurie Elizabeth Powers (M.F.A. '13), was a top 21 finalist in the 2016 Louisiana Film Prize and took a Best Actress award at the festival. The film will begin making the festival rounds starting with the Lone Star Film Festival in Ft. Worth, Texas, where the filmmakers will be appearing for a Q&A, and the Idaho Laugh Fest in January, with others TBA. Screening schedule and trailer at www.importancemovie.com. Laurie's feature script Who I Am Now was an official selection in the LA Lift Off Film Festival and a top 10 finalist in the Northern Lights Screenplay contest. Dania Ramos (M.A. '10) was one of seven contributing playwrights for Women Rising: Stories of Hope, which was produced by Speranza Theatre Company in October.  Joy Smith (M.F.A. '13) had her article "Getting Students Excited About Analytical Writing" published in the September edition of AMLE Magazine (Association of Middle Level Educators). The article outlined a process for teaching students how to analyze literature in their writing and how individual conferencing and student ownership of the revision process served to improve academic writing and standardized test scores.  Donna Talarico's (M.F.A. '10, M.A. '16) article "What Does an Author's Website Need to Succeed?" was featured in the November edition of The Writer Magazine. She also presented a content writing workshop and conducted a multimedia storytelling workshop at the Higher Education Web Professionals' annual national conference in Memphis in October.  Douglas James Troxell's (M.A. '13) short story, "Epidemic," appeared in The Book of the Macabre, a morbid collection of twisted tales published by Dreamfusion Press. Ordering information can be found on Amazon or dreamfusionpress.com. Don't forget to like his author page on Facebook!  Quick Links Career Development �DONATE TO THE WILKES FUND Campus Safety and Internships Centers & Institutes Online Programs Programs E.S. Farley Library Human Resources Jobs at Wilkes Make A Gift Online Nursing Offices & Administration Accessibility Statement Financial Aid Adobe Acrobat® Reader Registrar's Office Finance Office Investor Relations Student Work Study Jobs Veterans Services Visit Quick Links Schedule a Visit Parking Information Virtual Tour Campus Map Wilkes University 84 West South Street �Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766 1-800-WILKES-U Contact Us Wilkes University © e © d c f � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Subject The topic of the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Description An account of the resource An archive of past issues of <em>Revise This!</em>, the official newsletter of the Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Wilkes University Language A language of the resource English Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Revise This! | 2016-12.pdf Creative Writing Maslow Maslow Family Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Revise This Writing https://omeka.wilkes.edu/omeka/files/original/00adb002e6a14345fbd2f01a8c9c6133.pdf d4cbdb364a95629584370054305755c0 PDF Text Text About Wilkes Home n Graduate Academics Academics n Graduate Admission & Aid Graduate Programs n Graduate Life Master's Degree Programs About Our Students n n The Arts Creative Writing MA/MFA Revise This! n Archives Revise This! October 2016 PAY IT FORWARD SCHOLARSHIP; NEW FACULTY/ALUM Archives Archives SCHOLARSHIP Tim seibles HONORED BY THE STATE OF virginia fanelli's "waiting for the dead to speak" RELEASED BY NY Quarterly BOOKS 2017 2018 Revise This! November 2019 21 summer grads receive diplomas NEWS FROM FACULTY, STUDENTS AND ALUMS Scholarship programs turn writers into graduate students n 2016 n n �Now entering its second year, the $2,500 Pay It Forward scholarship grant has helped attract 15 students to the Wilkes University Graduate Creative Writing Program by using marketing's most powerful medium: word of mouth. Pay It :,:~:"'" 10 fEU.DW'S~P DATf' f'-t-- I c)..0/G ~---~ ~; ~ ~i~rr:J,lkM. f/4u1Mti1t'r J$s:-ooo.oo I . -.JII/( +h~ axd, /JIZI ,____, :Jw,uJ 'alu,m.f)i/A. Jan Quackenbush and Kaylie Jones display the James Jones Literary Society's donation to the new Faculty/Alum Scholarship fund. Forward puts scholarship money in the hands of every Wilkes Creative Writing faculty member and alum, who can nominate one student per term for the award. The $2,500 defrays a portion of tuition in a student's first semester in the program. Another scholarship initiative now in development got a boost in June with a $5,000 donation from the James Jones Literary Society. The Faculty/Alum Scholarship Fund, organized by Dr. J. Michael Lennon and Jan Quackenbush, will be added to the merit awards given each June to continuing students. Those scholarships are based on faculty nominations, and include the Beverly Hiscox, Norris Church Mailer, and Jennifer Diskin Scholarships, and the Bergman Family Foundation Award. In its first semester, 10 students in the Jan. 2016 cohort received Pay It Forward awards, including seven in the low-residency cohort (faculty and alums who referred them are in parentheses): • • Cooper Gorelick (referred by Anne Henry) • Christopher Owens (Bill Schneider) Lisa Greim (Kaylie Jones) • Patrick Kelley (Rachel Strayer) • Bibiana Krall (David Poyer) • Mark Rivera (Danielle Poupore) �• Pamela Turchin (Nichole Kanney) Janine Dubik of the new Wilkes-Barre weekender program (referred by Sam Chiarelli) and Mesa weekenders Toni Muma (referred by Austin Bennett) and Christy White (referred by Bonnie Culver) also received $2,500 scholarships. In June, four more low-residency students and one Wilkes-Barre weekender received Pay It Forward scholarships: • Todd Conaster (Phil Brady) • Christa Mallecoccio (Rachel Strayer) • Camika Spencer (Lori A. May) • Lindsey Wotanis (J. Michael Lennon) • Amanda Cino (Rick Priebe) Know someone who would benefit from the program? Let them know about the $2,500 scholarship, and pass along their names and contact information to Program Director Dr. Bonnie Culver. Tim Seibles named Poet Laureate of Virginia Etruscan Press author and Wilkes Creative Writing Advisory Board member Tim Seibles was named Poet Laureate of Virginia July 15 by Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Seibles read from his National Book Award-nominated collection, Fast Animal (Etruscan Press, 2012), at the June residency, and spoke at the closing banquet. Here's a video of him reading "Ode to My Hands" from Fast Animal at the National Book Awards Finalists Reading in 2012. A dedicated ambassador for poetry, Seibles has won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. He received his bachelor's degree from Southern Methodist University and his MFA in creative writing from Norwich University/Vermont College of Fine Arts. He teaches in the M.F.A. program in Creative Writing at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. Sheri Reynolds, a colleague at Old Dominion, called Seibles "a visionary writer and teacher ... a generous mentor to his students and a much-loved colleague." �Five and a half questions for Brian Fanelli (M.F.A. '10) by Lisa Greim A literal shout-out to a Wilkes poet happened Sept. 20 when The Writer's Almanac, a daily update produced by American Public Media and sponsored by the Poetry Foundation, featured work from Brian Fanelli's new book. Click this link to hear "Raking Leaves," read by a familiar voice, A Prairie Home Companion's retired host, Garrison Keillor. Brian Fanelli's Waiting for the Dead to Speak. Waiting for the Dead to Speak is Fanelli's second full-length book of poetry, published Sept. 12 by the New York Quarterly Foundation's imprint, NYQ Books. Reviewer Maria Mazziotti Gillan calls Fanelli's work "vibrant, muscular, carefully crafted poems rooted in working-class rural Pennsylvania." Links to order from your favorite bookseller may be found at New York �Quarterly's website. You can also find both the book and its author at a launch party Oct. 7 at the Olde Brick Theater in Scranton, or at readings in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York this fall. The full schedule is on his website: brianfanelli.com/events/ Fanelli holds a Ph.D. from Binghamton University, along with his Wilkes M.F.A., and is Professor of English at Lackawanna College. We asked him a few questions about the pieces in Waiting for the Dead to Speak and the life of a poet. Has your writing process changed since you started your M.A.? My schedule is vastly different now than when I enrolled in the Wilkes program and even different from when I finished the M.F.A. in 2010. I have a full-time teaching load and committee responsibilities that come with the job. So, I tend to write around my teaching schedule, often in the morning and then later at night. When I was in the program, I worked a few part-time jobs and had more time for writing. That said, I still follow a routine of writing first thing in the morning, before I do anything else. Often, my thoughts are most fluid in the morning. How has your poetry changed? My poetry has changed drastically since I enrolled in the Wilkes Creative Writing Program. I have deepened my knowledge of the poetic tradition, for one, thanks to the reading lists that my mentors gave me while in the program. It has also deepened because of my experience finishing my doctorate at Binghamton University. I had to take a variety of courses and read poets that I may not have read if not for the program. I have always written narrative poetry. I like poetry that is accessible in its language and democratic. I also like poetry that tells a story in whatever form that may take. I think, however, that I am getting more comfortable writing longer, meditative poems. I used to write far shorter narrative poems, but now I try to push deeper. I'm also more comfortable trying different forms. I thought the most evocative line was, "The worst thing to do is to forget." Is that why you write? That line comes from the book's title poem, "Waiting for the Dead to Speak," and it was about my father, specifically how I never dreamt about him after he died, unlike my other family members. I had this fear that I would forget certain memories of him, and I felt this frustration because I didn't dream about him. This book, more than anything else I've written, is about the past, about the different ways that the dead speak to us, either through dreams or through memories. It is also about the idea of not forgetting, which is what that line is all about. �The personas in your poetry are so representative of the diferent selves we try on as we go through life: punk rocker and homeowner, working-class kid and overworked adjunct. Was this a conscious choice as you wrote, to set up these parallels? I wrote the poems over a span of five or six years, through different workshops, including some of the workshops I completed in the Wilkes program. I don't think I intentionally meant to represent the different ideas of self, since the poems were written over a longer period of time. However, when I started organizing the collection, which was a long process, I was conscious of how the poems interacted and spoke to each other, even worked against each other at times. To paraphrase Frost, the order of a book of poems should act like the final poem. Who and what are you reading now? I have always been interested in issues of class and labor, so I just finished two books that got a lot of buzz within the last year, Nancy Isenberg's book White Trash: A 400 Year History of Class in America and JD Vance's book Hillbilly Elegy. I liked them both. I was drawn to Isenberg's historical lens of class issues, which was a nice contrast to Vance's personal account of growing up poor in rural Ohio. I think both books are so important now, in the context of this election cycle and the rise of Trumpism, more specifically the anger of the white working-class. I also just read and plan to re-read Ross Gay's Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. It is a wonderful, moving collection of poems. The poems are about gardening, but they're about more than that. They are these long narratives that use gardening as an entry point to talk about memories of the poet's family or friends long gone. I'm going through an anthology called The Fire This Time, which was just released and deals with matters of race in America. Other than that, I've been reading in preparation of what I'm teaching this semester, so a lot of American literature, going back to the Puritans, to Anne Bradstreet's poems, to Phyllis Wheatley, to Native American accounts of the American experience. It's been helpful when trying to figure out where we've been as a country and where we may be headed. Is there a moment or an experience from your Wilkes program that has stuck with you? I remember sitting down with my poetry mentors during some of my first residencies. I remember Christine Gelineau and Neil Shepard handing me lists of books that I needed to read. I realized how much I didn't know and how much I wanted to learn. All of us are always learning. There are writers we haven't read yet. The Wilkes program is really great at pushing you, expanding your knowledge, and pulling you out of your comfort zone as a writer and reader. I am forever grateful for that. �Lisa Greim, a freelance journalist and content marketing writer in Denver, is a graduate assistant  pursuing her M.A. degree in Creative Writing from Wilkes University. Summer Commencement includes 21 creative writing degree recipients   Three cheers for the following members of the Wilkes writing community, who completed their work at the June residency and received degrees Sept. 11 at Wilkes' summer graduation ceremony. Master of Arts • Anna Laurene Arnett (Creative Nonfiction) • Spencer Aubrey (Poetry) • Michelle Byrnes (Screenwriting) • Wendy Decker (Fiction) • Kayleigh DeMace (Fiction) • Brianna Eller (Fiction) • Joshua Horwitz (Creative Nonfiction) • Jennifer Jenkins (Fiction) • M. Anthony Kapolka (Fiction) • Nathalie O'Brien (Fiction) • Dale Louise Mervine (Fiction) • Kerri Miller (Poetry) • Michael Mortimer (Screenwriting) • Donna Talarico (Publishing) • Kristin Vath (Fiction) Master of Fine Arts • Caryn Devincenti • Megan Haikes • Corinne Nulton • Vanessa Taylor-O'Connor • Ezzel Thomas • John Winston Faculty News Screenwriting faculty member Ross Klavan is one of three authors, along with Charles Salzberg and Tim O'Mara, in Triple Shot, a new compilation of three novellas just published by Down and Out Books. His �noir-ish story of cops who go bad, and then worse, is called "Thump Gun Hitched." Fiction faculty member Lenore Hart's narrative poem "Crazy Quilt 1918" was selected for inclusion in the upcoming anthology Forgotten Women, forthcoming later this year from Grayson Books. A novel manuscript, The Alchemy of Light (formerly Dead Light), which Hart has read from several times at residencies, was a semifinalist for the Faulkner-Wisdom Novel Award.  Galleys are completed for faculty member Nancy McKinley's short story "The Dog" in the canine-themed anthology To Unsnare Time's Warp. She promises, "The collection of dog stories and poems will make you howl with literary delight." You can get a pre-publication discount at Main Street Rag Publishing's online bookstore.  Playwriting faculty member Juanita Rockwell was awarded the 20162017 Marion International Fellowship to write a play with songs set on the day of the bombing of Hiroshima, from the perspective of various women whose work led to its detonation. She just returned from "Scientific Delirium Madness 3.0," the third annual July residency at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, with a dozen scientists and artists working on projects that bridge the (imaginary) gap between science and art.  Student and Alumni News Cheryl Bazzoui (M.A. '14) has been busy writing book reviews on the Story Circle Network's website: Hope You Guess My Name by Heather Harlen; Six Car Lengths Behind an Elephant: Undercover & Overwhelmed as a CIA Wife and Mother by Lillian McCloy; and In Robin's Nest by Elizabeth Sumner Wafler. Her review of Tipping Point by fiction faculty member David Poyer aired on WPSU's BookMark.  Jennifer D. Bokal (M.A. '10) gave a presentation on character development at the Lilac City Fiction Writers August meeting. In early September she presented on writing love scenes at the Connecticut Fiction Fest. Jen also signed a three-book contract with Harlequin's Romantic Suspense line, with the first one released for the holidays in 2017. Jen is represented by Chris Tomasino of the Tomasino Agency. M.A. �Todd Conner appears this fall in Metamorphoses. student Todd Conatser, whose stage name is Todd Conner, will present three performances of Metamorphoses Sept. 27, Oct. 25 and Nov. 15 at the Players Club,16 Gramercy Park South, New York City. Seats are available by guest RSVP only at mayasphereproject@gmail.com. A $15 cash admission will be asked at the club, whose dress code is business casual. Conner premiered his solo storytelling version of Ovid's epic mythology in 2000 at the S. Mark Taper Foundation Amphitheatre in Beverly Hills, Calif. Entertainment Today in L.A. called it a "grand combination of art and entertainment." Conner learned to play the harp for this production, and composed new music to accompany his live storytelling. Wendy Decker (M.A. '16) will teach a young adult workshop at Neptune Public Library in Neptune, N.J., 6-8 p.m. on Sept. 29. Cindy Dlugolecki (M.A. '11) had her 10-minute play, A Matter Of Taste, produced in August at Hershey Area Playhouse. The Bombcatchers, another 10-minute work, had two staged readings, at Mt. Gretna Playhouse in August and Hershey Area Playhouse in September. Cindy also signed a contract with Once-in-a-Blue Moon Plays to publish her one-act Christmas comedy, A.N.G.E.L.s Inc. Gale �NHA EDUCT ~~ 0~ OMANCE MADNESS! IMUSIC BY Gale Martin's Don Juan in Hankey, Pa. Martin's (M.F.A. '10) novel Don Juan in Hankey, Pa., has been reissued in a newly revised edition by Northampton House Press. Editor Lenore Hart says: "Peek beneath the surface of an extraordinary small-town opera company, and get to know a fabulous cast of characters: determined flirts, a lusty singing gaucho, ingenious manipulators, a bipolar ketchup heiress, devious lovers, and some very determined ghosts. Delve into high society in Hankey, Pa.—a world of simmering seductions, convoluted mysteries and entertaining intrigues. Don Juan in Hankey, Pa., will delight readers everywhere, opera lovers or not!" Janine P. Dubik (M.A. student) is among 16 writers whose poems were selected for the 2016 Poetry in Transit program with the Luzerne County Transportation Authority in Wilkes-Barre. In its 10th year, Poetry in Transit displays the poems in each LCTA bus route from September through August. The 2016 program launched Aug. 19. Richard Fellinger (M.F.A. '10) published a pair of op-eds on the presidential race in July and August in the Lancaster paper, lancasteronline.com.  M.A. student Cooper Gorelick is now working for the Theater �Department at Rutgers University Camden as a production stage manager and event staff crew, starting with their production of Little Shop of Horrors, which runs Oct. 26-30. He adds: "It's what I'll be contending with while I write an M.A. screenplay about putting on a play." Heather Harlen (M.A. '08) participated in the Collingswood Book Festival Oct. 1 in Collingswood, N.J., showcasing her novel Hope You Guess My Name: A Thriller, from Northampton House Press. Heather also wrote an essay for Yoganonymous called "Closer To Quiet: How Meditation Helped Me Heal My Grief." Scenes from Lit Crawl Sept. 2 in Denver, organized by Monique Antonette Lewis M.F.A. student Jennifer Jenkins is teaching "Thinking and Writing" at King's College for the fall 2016 semester, while she continues to write for the marketing/communications department at Wilkes as a graduate assistant. Monique Antonette Lewis (M.F.A. '12) was the lead organizer for the first annual Lit Crawl Denver, a project of the Litquake Foundation. The Sept. 2 event featured more than 30 local writers holding readings across six venues in northwest Denver. Her organization, At The Inkwell, also held a reading which included Aurora, Colo., poet laureate Jovan Mays. Lori A. May (M.F.A.'13) has new writing in the Seattle Post Intelligencer and Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel. She will be at AWP 2017, speaking on the panel "Don't forget the day job: preparing creative writing graduates for lifelong careers." In October, Lori is presenting at �three writers' conferences: Write on the Sound, Surrey International Writers' Conference, and BinderCon NYC. She is also a featured reader at the WordsWest Literary Series in Seattle, taking place October 19. Josh Penzone's (M.A. '13) short story "After Zion" appears in the October issue of FICTION Silicon Valley. His short story "The Scratch" will appear in an upcoming issue of Chantwood Magazine. Jim Scheers (M.A. '08) showcased his novel This Is What You Want, This What You Get (Northampton House Press) at the Collingswood Book Festival Oct. 1 in Collingswood, N.J. M.A. student Karley Stasko has been appointed a graduate assistant to Dean Paul Riggs in the Wilkes University College of Arts, Humanities and Social Services. M.A. student Ronnie K. Stephens reports: "I've had numerous posts from my blog picked up by various outlets over the last couple of months, including Scary Mommy and The Good Men Project. The topics range from the dreaded sex talk and parenting through divorce to Pokemon Go and mental health. I even had my son's birth story circulated by the You Share Project!" Quick Links Career Development Campus Safety and Internships Centers & Institutes Online Programs Programs E.S. 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September 2016 Archives James Craig M.A. '10 passes away Pennsylvania Writers Conference recap, award winners Community programs panel Norman Mailer Society Conference, Sept. 28-Oct. 2 Fall Community Workshops AWP17 schedule, call for student volunteers Faculty News Student/Alum News Archives 2017 2018 Revise This! November 2019 n 2016 n n �  James Craig came to Wilkes to study playwriting, but majored in fiction and wrote mystery novels as well as plays. Playwright and novelist Jim Craig M.A. '10 passes away by Lisa Greim A familiar presence at almost every residency, James Craig, M.A. '10, died unexpectedly July 30. He was 69. A self-described "recovering advertising man," Jim Craig spent 14 years teaching middle school English and social studies in the Ephrata School District after leaving the advertising world. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Sandra of Lancaster, Pa.; sons Ryan of Lancaster and Jared of Millersville, Pa.; his sister Karen Craig of Cleveland, Ohio; and one granddaughter. "Jim had the soul of a writer, a teacher, and a friend," said Todd McClimans, M.A. '12. "He always had an encouraging word for others and loved to share his gifts with the world." "Jim came to the Wilkes Creative Writing Program to write plays," said Program Director Bonnie Culver, and several of his plays were produced while he attended Wilkes, but he chose to major in fiction instead. He came back each January and June, to catch up with members of his cohort, other alums, staff and faculty. Faculty member Jean Klein �said Jim was "one of the brightest lights in the playwriting foundations course." Klein said she waved to him across the cafeteria in June, but he didn't see her. "I B l thought, 'Okay, catch you later, Jim,'" Klein said. "But somehow I didn't. Not that time. I look forward to it one day and hearing the new stories [he will] have to tell." Jennifer Bokal, M.F.A. '10, recalls catching up over lunch at the program's 10th anniversary celebration. Blue Lines Up in Arms (Sunbury Press, 2015) "Every few minutes our conversation ceased. It wasn't that we lacked something to say. It was because someone new had stopped by to say hi to Jim. To each and every person, Jim had a smile, a handshake or a hug. He was as excited to learn of the successes of others as he was to share his own." His mystery novel, Blue Lines Up in Arms (Sunbury Press, 2015), launched last fall at Barnes & Noble in Wilkes-Barre, in cooperation with the Penguins hockey team—its protagonist is an ex-hockey player from Wilkes-Barre. Lawrence Knorr, Sunbury's president and CEO, described Jim as "completely in as an author," traveling to minor-league hockey rinks, street fairs and bookstores around Pennsylvania to promote his work. Funeral services were held Aug. 3 in Millersville. Memorial contributions may be made to the children's ministries at Grace Community Church, 212 Peach Bottom Rd., Willow Street PA 17584. Online condolences may be left at the Charles F. Snyder Funeral Home's website. Lisa Greim is working on her M.A. degree in creative writing from Wilkes University. She is a journalist in Denver. Art, craft and love of writing celebrated at PWC16   The annual �Lenore Hart (left) and Dania Ramos (right) listen to Todd McClimans during the PWC panel "The World of Between: Writing for Middle Grade Readers in the 21st Century" Pennsylvania Writers Conference Aug 5-6 attracted 124 attendees to the Open Mic, Poetry Slam and all-day conference. Maureen Corrigan, from NPR's Fresh Air, delivered the opening plenary session, noting how dedicated folks were to the literary world. "Why else would you be in the Darte on a Saturday morning?" Corrigan asked the crowd. Wilkes Provost Anne Skleder opened the evening event by affirming the University's and President Leahy's commitment to the arts to a round of applause. Jay Parini closed the conference with a heartfelt keynote that expanded on his life, writing career, dual citizenship, invitation to a dinner at the White House, and the pride he continues to feel as "a Pennsylvania writer."  Wilkes alums and students   were wellrepresented among the winners of both the Open Mic/Poetry Slam on Friday night, hosted by alum and Barbara Taylor (left) and Chris Campion (right) listen to Cheryl Bazzoui (center) during the Pennsylvania Fiction writers panel at PWC former slam star Laura Moran, and the three-genre Writing Competition announced on Saturday. PWC Open Mic/Poetry Slam Host: Laura Moran (M.F.A. '12)   �OPEN MIC • First Place – $150 Award: Gale Martin (M.F.A. '10) • (Left to right) Lenore Hart, J. Michael Lennon, and Kaylie Jones during the PWC "Publishing Pathways" panel Second Place – $100 Award:   Robert Fillman • Third Place – $50 Award: Ginger Laura Moran hosts the PWC Open Mic and Poetry Slam Marcinkowski (M.F.A. '11) POETRY SLAM • First Place – $150 Award: Lauren Gonsalves • • Third Place – $50 Award: Richard Aston Second Place – $100 Award: Stephen Taren PWC Writing Competition: Creative Nonfction Judge: Dr. J. Michael Lennon of the Wilkes faculty, who said, "All show talent and narrative sophistication." First Place – $150 Award - "Last Supper" – Aurora Bonner (M.A. student) Second Place – $100 Award: "American Buffalo" – W. Y. Fellenberg Third Place – $50 Award: "Their Man" – Anne Henry (M.F.A. '11) Poetry Judge: Dr. Phil Brady (Wilkes faculty, Etruscan Press Executive �Editor) • First Place – $150 Award: Robert Fillman • Second Place – $100 Award: W. Y. Fellenberg • Third Place – $50 Award: Eric Chiles Fiction Judge: Barbara J. Taylor (M.F.A.'15) • First Place – $150 Award: "Automation" – Olivia Smialek • Second Place – $100 Award: "An End to War" – Anne Henry (M.F.A. '11) • Third Place – $50 Award: "Redemption" – Janine Dubik (M.A. student) Save the date for PWC17: Aug. 4-6, 2017 at Wilkes University. 2016 PA Writers Conference Winners: PWC panel on community programs sparks new ideas by Pamela Turchin �As a Wilkes creative writing student and a teacher, I feel not just the the tight-knit sense of community among faculty and students, but also how alums return this gift by promoting writing and reading in their own communities. I have been thinking about asking my old high school if they will let me volunteer to teach an after-school creative writing program. I remember how much I wished we had an opportunity like that when I was a student there. This idea led me to the PWC panel "Beyond Putting Words on the Page: Hosting a Reading Series and Teaching in Community Spaces" with Wilkes faculty member Christine Gelineau and M.F.A. graduates Dawn Leas ('09), Brian Fanelli ('10) and Patricia Florio ('11). Fanelli and Leas host opportunities for writers to participate in open mic events through the Writer's Showcase at the Old Brick Theatre in Scranton. Florio co-founded the Jersey Shore Writers, and organizes writing events at the Jersey Shore Arts Center, both in Ocean Grove, N.J. The panel members shared their experiences, while offering valuable practical advice: • Establish ties with community members who are vested in supporting the arts, which can lead to finding affordable, and sometimes even free, local venues for a reading series or writing workshop. • Start small. Once you have formed a steady group that meets on a regular basis, begin thinking about inviting outside published writers to read their work at your events. • Don't be afraid to approach your local library about teaching a writing workshop. Most libraries are thrilled to hear from writers seeking this kind of opportunity. Workshops that are open to the public give people a chance to write their stories and share them. Teaching a three- to five-week workshop is the norm. • Although it is important to be a good literary citizen, be careful not to over-commit to giving back to your community, so much that you begin to neglect your own writing. These writers inspired me by creating their own writing spaces to share with others. They convinced me that someday I can do the same. Pamela Turchin, a Northeastern Pennsylvania native, is a graduate assistant  pursuing her M.A. degree in Creative Writing from Wilkes University. �Norman Mailer Society conference meets Sept. 28-Oct. 2 The 14th annual Norman Mailer Society Conference will be held at Monmouth University, Long Branch, N.J. from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2. Mailer was the first founding advisory board member of the Wilkes University Creative Writing Program, and students and faculty from the CW program have read and performed his work for the last 13 years as part of the Wilkes U Readers Theatre. This year faculty, alums and students will read from his unpublished novel No Percentages. The conference will open Thursday evening with a workshop production of Norris: A Ticket to the Circus, a one-woman show written by Bonnie Culver, based on Norris Church Mailer's memoir. K.C. Lieber, a New York City-based actress, will read the role. The performance will be in the Wilson Hall auditorium on the Monmouth University campus, beginning at 8 p.m. The reading is open to the public. Faculty, alums, and current students participating in either the readers theatre or giving papers this year include: Bonnie Culver, Nicole DePolo, Matthew Hinton, Kaylie Jones, Michael Mailer, Caleb Sizemore, Hillary Transue, and Ken Vose. Dr. J. Michael Lennon is the organizer of the conference and the current president of the Norman Mailer Society. Register now for Fall Community Workshops Once again this fall, seven non-credit community workshops will be offered on the Wilkes University campus, taught by Wilkes faculty and M.F.A. alums. The cost of each workshop is $65. Advance registration for all of the fall workshops is available at wilkes.augusoft.net. We welcome your help to support and stimulate interest in our writing community. Word of mouth is our best referral source, so please share the news with anyone interested in the writer's craft.  Screenwriting – Basics and Format Throughout this six-week workshop, participants will learn the proper format for a screenplay and why that format is used. They will engage in exercises designed to progressively develop a more succinct writing style for the movie script page. Participants will develop a story idea, and transform that idea into a beat sheet that will aid in completing five to 10 pages of a first draft. • Meetings: Mondays 6 – 8 p.m. – Breiseth 108 • Sept. 12, 19, 26, Oct. 3, 10, 17 �• Cost: $65 for the entire series • Instructor: Draper Brown Playwriting 101 Learn the basic elements of writing a play while learning the formatting rules and conventions of theatre. Each student will complete a 10- to 15minute play. All plays will have formal staged readings in the last week of class, where playwrights will be guided through the entire process of writing a play and hearing their play read by actors. • Meetings: Tuesdays 6 – 8 p.m. – Kirby 108 (except on Oct. 4, which will be held in Dr. Harold Cox Hall – 245 S. River St.) • Sept. 20, 27, Oct. 4, 11, 18, 25 • Cost: $65 for the entire series • Instructor: Dr. Bonnie Culver Creative Nonfction – Writing Memoir The late author William Zinsser said, "Writers are the custodians of memory." In this non-credit workshop, participants will learn the basics of crafting memoir. Through in-class exercises and weekly assignments, students will learn the foundations of memoir—one of today's most popular forms of non-fiction writing. Ways to structure and approach a book-length work also will be explored. Issues of truth-telling and the challenges of memory also will be discussed. The instructor will address attendees' individual projects, allowing both beginning and more advanced writers to participate at their own level. • Meetings: Wednesdays 6 – 8 p.m. – Kirby 108 • Sept. 21, 28, Oct. 5, 12, 19, 26 • Cost: $65 for the entire series • Instructor: Vicki Mayk Poetry This workshop will focus on two main elements of creating a poem: crafting the poem and reading poets. There will be a balance between writing new poems, critiquing old poems in a workshop format and discussing poets, their poems, as ways of enhancing individual skills and information. Our goal is to have a completed collection of poems that may be the beginning of a future chapbook and further studies. • Meetings: Wednesdays 6 – 8 p.m. – Kirby 103 • Sept. 21, 28, Oct. 5, 12, 19, 26 • Cost: $65 for the entire series • Instructor: Dr. Rashidah Ismaili Abubakr �Intro to Screenwriting (Tools and Techniques) This six-week workshop will explore writing for the big screen. We'll examine the tools and techniques screenwriters use to tell effective stories. We'll cover screenplay genre, formatting and structure. Students will write a short or begin a feature-length screenplay. We'll work on pieces together during class and have table reads of each work during the final session. • Meetings: Thursdays 6 – 8 p.m. – Kirby 108 • Sept. 15, 22, 29, Oct. 6, 20, 27 (No meeting Oct. 13) • Cost: $65 for the entire series • Instructor: Kelly Clisham Fiction The workshop will cover the foundations of fiction writing and include inclass writing exercises and group workshops to give both beginning and established writers opportunities to expand their knowledge of the writing craft and enhance their skills. In-class workshops of students' writing are designed to provide honest feedback in a casual, supportive, and respectful environment. Participants will be expected to share their work aloud and offer insightful comments on how to improve their peers' work. • Meetings: Fridays 6 – 8 p.m. – Kirby 108 (except on September 30, held in Farley Library LL-002) • Sept. 16, 23, 30, Oct. 7, 21, 28 (No meeting Oct. 14) • Cost: $65 for the entire series • Instructors: Alyssa Waugh and Robert Antinozzi Writing the YA Novel In this intensive five-week workshop, students will learn the components of a YA novel while building an outline. Class will include a combination of lecture, discussion and critiquing. To conclude the class, students will receive a brief overview of publishing opportunities available for those interested in shopping their novel after it's completed. • Meetings: Saturdays 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Kirby 108 (except Oct. 1: Farley Library LL-002) • Sept. 17, 24, Oct. 1, 8, 15 • Cost: $65 for the entire series • Instructor: Nisha Sharma AWP17 schedule includes many Wilkes CW names �Wilkes and Etruscan Press will have a robust list of presenters at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs' 50th annual conference, which takes place Feb. 8-11, 2017, at the Washington, D.C., Convention Center and Washington Marriott Marquis Hotel. Current students are invited to apply for an AWP17 registration waiver, which covers the cost of conference registration; housing will be provided for graduate assistants, interns, and staff working at AWP. Transportation will be at your expense. Contact Associate Director Bill Schneider at bill.schneider@wilkes.edu before Thursday, Sept. 15 to reserve a registration waiver. In exchange for your waiver, you   will be required to spend a minimum of two hours each day on the convention floor, working in (Left - right) Tim Seibles and Laurie Jean Cannady the   Susan Cartsonis Wilkes/Etruscan booth. The Bookfair is a great opportunity to meet �authors and publishers, and network with other graduate students, writers and industry professionals from all over the world. You will promote the Wilkes Creative Writing Program to potential students and faculty, host Etruscan Press book signings, and provide a positive presence to the literary community. Your registration gives you access to the full schedule of workshops, readings, keynotes and social events. Wilkes alums and faculty appearing at AWP17 include: • Laurie Jean Cannady (faculty, Etruscan author): Two sessions, But That's Not How It Was: Memoir Writers on Pushing Back Against Expected Narratives and Celebrating the Hurston/Wright Foundation: Twenty-Seven Years of Literary Legacy • Jason Carney (M.F.A. '13): Hosting the Old School Slam on both Thursday and Friday, Feb. 9 and 10 • Morowa Yejidé (M.F.A. '12): Two sessions, Come Firewalk With Me: The Black Mind and A Reading and Conversation from Paycock Press • Viannah Duncan (M.F.A. '10): Gender and Genre: How Do Our Prejudices Affect Our Preferences? • Donna Talarico (M.F.A. '10): Starting Small: Grassroots Workshops and Conferences • Susan Cartsonis (faculty): The Hollywood Equation: Combining Community and Mentorship to Take Control of Your Screenwriting Career • Jim Warner (M.F.A. '09): Variations on Audionarrative: The Next Wave of Literary Podcasting • Jean Klein, Gregory Fletcher (faculty), Lori Myers (M.A. '09): Why Every Writer Should Construct at Least One Play • Nisha Sharma (M.F.A. '14): Writing the South Asian Diaspora in Young Adult Fiction • Kaylie Jones (faculty), Barb Taylor (M.F.A. '15), Laurie Loewenstein (faculty): Kaylie Jones Books: A Reading • Dr. Bonnie Culver, as chair of the AWP Board of Trustees, will be a conference host. Etruscan Press authors and contributors at AWP17 include: • Remica Bingham-Risher, Tim Seibles (advisory board): Beyond Sex: The Poetics of Desire • Paul Lisicky: Looking Outward: Avoiding the Conventional Memoir • Jeremy Schraffenberger: Old Journals, New Writing: Editors on History and Discovery • Julie R. Enszer: Recovering Out of Print Queer Literature • Diane Thiel: The Influence of Introductory Creative Writing Textbooks • Bonnie Friedman: Tips and Tricks from the Trenches: Lit Mag Editors Share Funding, Staffing, and Operational Strategies for �Survival and Compassion Fatigue: Avoiding Vicarious Traumatization in the CNF Classroom • Kazim Ali: Two sessions, Translating Contemporary African Poetry and Dance and Movement and Meditation as Part of the Writing Process • Shara McCallum: Women and their Bodies Faculty News Carrie Pilby, produced by Susan   Cartsonis, will have its world premiere at rn the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Directed by Susan Johnson, the film stars Bel Powley, Nathan Lane, Vanessa Bayer and Gabriel How Does That Make You Feel? TRUE CONl'ESSIONS !'ROM BOTH SIDES 01' THE THERAPY COUCH i:omo av Shetry Amatenstein Byrne. On Aug. 8, Cartsonis completed Beverly Donofrio appears in the anthology, "How Does That Make You Feel?" production on Deidra and Laney Rob a Train in Salt Lake City. Directed by Sydney Freeland, it will be released as a Netflix Original Movie in spring 2017. Cartsonis also produced Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life, which opens in theaters Oct. 7. Directed by Steve Carr, the film stars Lauren Graham. Bonnie Culver's one-woman show, Norris: A Ticket to the Circus, was given an invitation-only staged reading at the Drama Book Shop's Arthur Seelen Theatre on June 14. A workshop production of the play will be given at the Mailer Conference Sept. 29 at Monmouth University. �"My Serial Therapists," an essay by Beverly Donofrio, appears in the anthology, How Does That Make You Feel?, a shockingly honest look at the therapeutic experience from both sides of the couch. It will be released in September by Seal Press, with readings in New York City and vicinity in September and October, listed on the book's website and Facebook page. Gregory Fletcher published an essay, manhood / ˈmanˌho͝od / noun, in Longridge Review, Creative Nonfiction #4, edited by Elizabeth Gaucher. He interviewed Arthur Kopit for A Conversation Between Two Playwrights, which appeared in the Jerome Robbins Foundation newsletter (volume 3, no. 1), edited by Gregory Victor. Faculty member Sara Pritchard's "Bell Bottom Blues" was published in the Spring 2016 issue of Crossborder Journal. "Notes on Rudolph Nureyev's Hat" is forthcoming in The Cossack Review. Sara was the judge for the recent Leapfrog Press book prize and The Cossack Review story prize. She will be reading in Richmond, Va., on Sept. 17, at the launch of At the Inkwell's newest venue. Student and Alumni/ae News Amye Archer (M.F.A. '12) had a craft article, "Writing the Truth in Memoir," published in Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction. Amye was also the guest speaker for the National Association of Memoir Writers' Public Roundtable Series in June.  M.F.A. student Molly Barari has developed a new creative writing course for senior citizens in collaboration with Agape Spiritual Center of the Black Hills in Rapid City, S.D. The course, titled Thus Far, focuses on obituary writing as seniors make end-of-life preparations. M.A. student Melody Breyer-Grell published a review of Dr. Rashidah Ismaili Abubakr's Autobiography of the Lower East Side in the Huffington Post. Chris Campion (M.A '13) recently published an article titled "Don't Chase Belts, Chase Experiences" on JiuJitsuTimes.com and spoke at the Pennsylvania Writers Conference on the challenges of writing a novel based in Pennsylvania. Jason Carney's (M.F.A. '13) nonprofit, Young DFW Writers, starts its third year with 16 high schools participating in Louder than a Bomb DFW. Its civic engagement focus for this year will be domestic violence and other forms of violence, partnering with the North Texas Food Bank and �the Genesis Women's Shelter to give students space to turn the poet into an activist and their art into activism. Young DFW Writers will hold the largest youth poetry festival in Texas this year. Carney will be lecturing at the University of Arkansas Sept. 20 and Drake University Oct. 5. M.F.A. student Gabrielle D'Amico had her screenplay, Plan B, selected as a semifinalist for the 2016 CineStory Feature & Fellowship Competition, earning her an invitation to the CineStory retreat in Idyllwild, Calif., this October.  Brian Fanelli's (M.F.A. '10) new collection of poems, Waiting for the Dead to Speak, will be published in September with NYQ Books. A personal essay by D Ferrara (M.A. '13) will appear in The Storyteller Magazine's anthology.  The essay, "The Tyranny of Memory," is a whimsical look at how our memory tricks and traps us. Patricia Florio (M.F.A. '11) introduced the Jersey Shore Writers to a new open mic series at Danny's Steak House in Red Bank, N.J., reading from her first memoir, My Two Mothers. On Sept. 25, alums Barb Taylor and Brian Fanelli will read from their new books at the Jersey Shore Arts Center.  In June, M.A. student Lisa Greim's   \I story, "Charley Says Good Morning," was among 10 prose pieces selected for a juried workshop taught by Steve Almond at Lighthouse (Left - right) London Co-hosts Patricia Foster, Gemma Weekes and Rachel Rigby and founder Monique Antonette Lewis Writers Workshop's annual LitFest conference   �in Denver. Tara Lynn Marta Monique Antonette Lewis (M.F.A. '12) launched her reading series, At The Inkwell, in London on July 21. The reading, "A Tribute to Prince and David Bowie," attracted a standing crowd. The London series will be held every third Thursday at Counter Albion. She also formed a partnership with the Visual Arts Center of Richmond to host quarterly fiction and poetry readings and writing workshops, launching Saturday, Sept. 17. Ginger Marcinkowski (M.F.A. '12) presented a writing workshop Aug. 6 at the Pennsylvania Writers Conference and will teach three classes about writing for the Christian market at the Hampton Roads Writers Conference in Norfolk, Va., Sept. 15-17. M.A. student Tara Lynn Marta's short story, "Beyond the Gates," was published last March in The Gorge, online publication in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Another short story, "A Writer's Life" will be published by Aaduna in August. Lori A. May (M.F.A. '13) has accepted a position on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Creative Writers and Writing Programs (CCWWP). She will present a session at the first annual Creative Writing Studies Organization conference this fall at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. Lori was recently a guest speaker at the Pacific Northwest Writers Association conference, and will speak this fall at a number of writing festivals, including the Surrey International Writers' �Conference in British Columbia, and BinderCon in New York City. Lori is currently finalizing edits on a new book, with more details to come soon. Vicki Mayk (M.F.A. '13) published "Writing Grief: A Memoir Workshop in a Hospice Bereavement Program" in Chrysalis, a journal of transformative language arts, published by Goddard University. The article discusses the workshop she developed as part of her M.F.A. teaching project. Danielle Poupore (M.F.A. '13) has accepted a new job at Coker College as director of institutional identity. The literary non-profit Seersucker Live: A Literary Performance, of which Joseph Schwartzburt (M.F.A.'13) is a board member, will present The Tin Curtain Episode, featuring Tin House managing editor, Rob Spillman, author of the new memoir All Tomorrow's Parties. The event will also feature authors Julia Elliott (The New and Improved Romie Futch) and Regina Bradley (Armstrong State professor and 2016 Harvard Hiphop Fellow). The event takes place Aug. 31 in Savannah, Ga. Douglas Troxell's (M.A. '14) story "Snow Day" was the featured story in Flash Fiction Magazine July 29. His short story "Epidemic" will appear in the short story collection Infected in the fall. You can visit his new website at douglasjamestroxell.com.   Quick Links Career Development Campus Safety and Internships Centers & Institutes Online Programs Programs E.S. Farley Library Human Resources Jobs at Wilkes Online Nursing Offices & Administration Accessibility Statement Financial Aid Adobe Acrobat® Reader Registrar's Office Finance Office Student Work Study Make A Gift �Jobs Investor Relations Veterans Services Visit Quick Links Schedule a Visit Parking Information Virtual Tour Campus Map Wilkes University 84 West South Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766 1-800-WILKES-U Contact Us Wilkes University © e © d c f � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Subject The topic of the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Description An account of the resource An archive of past issues of <em>Revise This!</em>, the official newsletter of the Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. 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Title A name given to the resource Revise This! | 2016-09.pdf Creative Writing Maslow Maslow Family Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Revise This Writing https://omeka.wilkes.edu/omeka/files/original/4001da704b8731622c37710d573effd4.pdf 426c4da826528f18b5b559a6cbeac1b8 PDF Text Text About Wilkes Home n Graduate Academics Academics n Graduate Admission & Aid Graduate Programs n Graduate Life Master's Degree Programs About Our Students n n The Arts Creative Writing MA/MFA Revise This! n Archives Revise This - July 2016 Revise This! | July 2016 First Mesa Cohort Don Their Caps Archives Archives By Danie Watson   Three 2018 members of the first Revise This! - weekender November 2019 cohort of the Wilkes Graduate Creative Writing Program received their 2017 The first Mesa cohort graduates from the Wilkes degrees University Graduate Creative Writing Program on following a June 4. Left to Right: Anna Arnett, Michael ceremony Mortimer, Spencer Aubrey. held June 4 at the Mesa Center for Higher Education. These students enrolled in 2014, when the Weekender Program debuted at the Wilkes satellite campus in Mesa, Arizona. Among the M.A. recipients was 91-year-old Anna Arnett, who became the oldest Colonel to join the Wilkes Alumni Association with an M.A. in creative nonfiction. Arnett earned a B.A. in English education with a n 2016 n n �minor in history in 1970, and an M.A. in English education in 1973, both from Arizona State University. Two members of her cohort also completed their M.A. requirements: Spencer Aubrey in poetry and Michael Mortimer in screenwriting. Arnett worked with Dr. J. Michael Lennon to complete her creative nonfiction manuscript Forever Endeavor, which depicts the life and travels of her Mormon family, beginning with her grandparents, who moved out west 150 years ago. "She is a superb writer with an eye like a pair of tweezers for the telling detail," Lennon said. "She takes us through bad weather, swollen streams, Indian visitors, runaway horses, and lots of warm family stories of struggle and perseverance. She has polished and edited the story beautifully, and it will be of interest to all readers interested in the amazing pioneers of the westward movement in the midnineteenth century." Spencer Aubrey was mentored by Dr. Philip Brady to create his chapbook apokalupsis, which addresses the themes of walking through the stages of Christian life and homelessness through the eyes of someone who experiences both. Brady had nothing but praise for Aubrey's poetry. "Spencer is the real thing," he says. "He brings passion and urgency to his work, and he is in possession of an original voice that comes across on the page and through the air. His project has spirit and depth, and he brings an original perspective to age-old questions about love, God, and the power of the soul." Aubrey says that the relationships he made at Wilkes are paramount to his development as a poet and as a person. His advice to other students: "Build relationships beyond your cohort. I love my cohort, though building community with others beyond it has given me the opportunity to gain perspective on my writing and life in general from multiple angles." Michael Mortimer worked with Ross Klavan to create his screenplay An Idiot's Tale, which is a murder-mystery plot involving neo-Nazis, drug cartels, B-movie makers, illegal immigrants, and a possible war with Mexico. According to Klavan, "Mike writes like a pro and he works like one, too. He didn't hold back and he wasn't afraid of making mistakes so he trusted his own process. ... He worked draft after draft, understood the notes I gave him and made good use of that critique, and I got to watch him sculpt his story from an initial idea to a fully working narrative." Of the mentor/mentee relationship, Mortimer says, "As you work one-on-one with a mentor, the crucial thing becomes being open to constructive criticism and being willing to explore facets of your ideas that you never even thought of, as painful as that process can sometimes be." Arnett, who received a shout-out from Wilkes Provost Anne Skleder �during the May 21 commencement in Pennsylvania, said that Wilkes has kept her on target. The most important advice for anyone considering Wilkes, she said: "Know yourself. Figure out what you want to learn, find out if Wilkes offers it, and whether you can and will follow their lead, then have at it." Mortimer agrees. "This program reinvigorated me and, with the help of the awesome faculty, upped my creative abilities, while at the same time giving me a lot more confidence and opening my range of professional possibilities. On top of all that, it has introduced me to a whole community of like-minded individuals. As Wilkes Creative Writing Faculty member Sara Pritchard told me, 'You're now officially one of the creative freaks! Welcome to the tribe.'" Danie Watson is pursuing her M.A. degree in creative writing from Wilkes University. She has no idea what she wants to do when she grows up, and currently resides in Nanticoke, Pa., with her similarly named boyfriend Daniel and her two nerdy cats, Optimus Prime and Albus Dumbledore. Summer Creative Writing Workshops The Wilkes University Graduate   Creative Writing program continues to offer its writing workshop series, with three workshops this summer. Two workshops will take place on the Wilkes University Wilkes Creative Writing faculty member Kaylie Jones and her master class work on their memoirs in Spring 2016. campus, while one will be conducted online. Take a look at what we're offering this summer �and hear from the instructors themselves, all Wilkes Creative Writing alums. Adults of any age 18 or older, regardless of their education level are welcome. Registration is $60 for each series. Follow your passion, write your story, and learn to get published. Register for these summer workshops here. The Craft of Comedy 6-8 p.m. on Mondays – conducted online July 11 to Aug. 15 Instructor: Nichole Kanney M.F.A.'15 As a master's student, Nichole Kanney helped create a cooperative weekly online writing group, in which cohort members from all over the country still participate every Thursday. That activity spawned the idea of running an online workshop. "Since we're a low-res program, it makes sense to incorporate the online component students will experience, should they enroll in the program," Kanney says. To facilitate the class, Kanney says, "Every writer who signs up for the class will need a valid email, internet connection, and access to Google Hangouts. Hangouts allow us to see each other face to face, provided the users have a webcam, and has proven effective for three years with my weekly workshop. It's simple to use, and rarely has technical difficulties." Material to be workshopped will be emailed to class participants. Because her workshop will focus on comedy, Kanney will "examine the different craft elements that make comedy effective in writing: character, setting, and dialogue. Since comedy is not limited to one genre, I will pull examples from popular film/television (screenwriting), fiction, and creative nonfiction. The point is to go beyond the 'situation' and make the funny happen naturally, instead of feeling forced." Kanney disputes the notion that comedy isn't teachable. "I think that once you understand what comedy is and go below the surface jokes, it becomes easier to recognize what will make others laugh. This class is also great for the writer who may not necessarily be writing a straight comedy work, but wants to find a way to reduce tension in their story." Kanney recalls pitching a comedy script to Stephen La Rue, former creative director at 20th Century Fox TV. "I was laughing during the pitch. I apologized for laughing at myself, and he said, 'If you can't laugh at your own work, no one else will.'" Nonfiction Places and Spaces �Wednesdays, 6–8 p.m. July 13 to Aug. 17 Instructor: Vicki Mayk M.F.A.'13 Vicki Mayk, Director of Public Relations for Wilkes University and editor of Wilkes magazine, says she "wanted to teach a workshop that would allow writers—and me—to focus on one aspect of creative nonfiction. I actually saw a similar workshop offered online and thought a workshop that explores setting would be fun." She's excited to work on the various writing exercises with students. "Exercises involving setting, really any location, make for something that allows a writer to do something that is more physically experiential. It's a nice change of pace to do exercises that aren't just 'in our heads' or growing out of research." She's planning a field trip for one of the exercises as well. One of her goals for the class is "to see fellow writers have insights about how setting can better inform their creative nonfiction, whether they are working on memoir, a research work, or essays, and that they will think about setting in different ways." Essential Elements of Creative Nonfiction Thursdays, 6–8 p.m. July 14 to Aug. 18 Instructor: Sam Chiarelli M.F.A.'16 Workshop veteran Sam Chiarelli will be teaching his third class at Wilkes. For "Essential Elements of Creative Nonfiction," Chiarelli says, "I've taken both what I've learned, and ideas from my students, to create this new series. I want students to think of this as a six-week CNF boot camp." In this class, Chiarelli explains, "We are going to cover everything from structure and setting to dialogue and characterization. If that sounds like a lot to cover in six weeks, it is." Chiarelli notes that the class will be both enjoyable and intense because he will be assigning readings between workshops. "The concept behind this workshop is to learn to read like a writer, to take apart published works of creative nonfiction and find out how they work and why they're effective. Finally, we'll apply that knowledge to our own writing and editing," he says. Fiction and creative nonfiction use the same approaches to get different results, Chiarelli says. "The invented worlds of fiction are assembled to divulge great truths. Creative nonfiction is more about personal experience, connecting with other people through a journey that the �reader is invited to take." Nonfiction is powerful, he says, because the reader knows that the story is true. "The elements of fiction and creative nonfiction are similar, but the ultimate objectives are not the same. Whether students are working on chapters for a book-length memoir or just looking to create some essays, I think this workshop will be very beneficial to them. I'll be using a variety of sources—both essays/memoirs/books and craft materials." Chiarelli is excited about this workshop series, and looks forward to working with new students. "The students I've had in previous workshops have been so excellent. I know they are going to be up for this challenge. This is also a great workshop to take if you're new to creative nonfiction. Whether this is your first workshop or your tenth, you'll take away plenty to help with your own work," he says. Register for these summer workshops here. PWC: Catching Up with Corrigan and Parini  By Danie Watson   Designed to engage, empower, and educate the literary community, the Maureen Corrigan, book critic for NPR's Fresh Air, will host a plenary session entitled "Reviews that Mattered." Pennsylvania Writer's Conference is a two-day event held on the Wilkes University campus Friday and Saturday, Aug. 5–6. This conference will include a morning plenary session, hosted by Maureen Corrigan, book critic for NPR's Fresh Air, and feature a keynote address by Scranton native, biographer, novelist, and poet Jay Parini. Corrigan and Parini �are both   excited to return to the WilkesBarre area. Something about this area keeps him coming back again and again, Parini says. "I always feel drawn to northeast Jay Parini will deliver the keynote address following dinner on August 6. Pennsylvania, as I was born in Pittston and raised in Scranton—and I still have relatives in the Wilkes-Barre area." Because some of his work is set in the area, he believes it's important to come back to his roots. "It's important to keep in touch—physically—with this region," he says. On the other side of the coin, Corrigan is looking forward to her return to Wilkes to "speak to and hear from writers of all ages, at all stages of their careers, and from diverse backgrounds." Corrigan says that her job at Georgetown University surrounds her with students from 18 to 25, so she is enthusiastic about branching out and speaking to writers at all different stages of their lives. The Pennsylvania Writer's Conference will combine the literary communities of both Wilkes-Barre and the Wilkes University Graduate Creative Writing Program. Corrigan and Parini touched on the importance of community and competition, and how this assists the writing process. Corrigan says, "It is crucial for writers to find a community of other writers and readers that they trust, in order to brainstorm, test out drafts of works in process, and get advice about agents, editors, and fellowships, among other things." �Parini also stresses the importance of finding a literary community, and says that he likes the idea of community-based writing. Since PWC is open to a wide range of adults, Corrigan says she's excited to meet conference-goers, "get recommendations for the work of writers [she] is not familiar with, and to be exposed to new voices and small press authors." To get the most out of the Pennsylvania Writer's Conference, Corrigan advises, "Attend as many events as you possibly can, and talk to strangers." Because the Wilkes University Graduate Creative Writing Program is a community-based experience, the fun doesn't end with PWC. The Wilkes satellite campus in Mesa, Arizona, will host the Arizona Writer's Conference, Nov. 11– 12, at the Mesa Center for Higher Education. Keynote speaker will be Alberto Álvaro Ríos, who holds the Katharine C. Turner Endowed Chair in English and is a Regents' Professor at Arizona State University. Ríos' most recent book of poems, A Small Story About the Sky, was published in 2015 by Copper Canyon Press. Along with nine books of poetry and three short story collections, Ríos's memoir about growing up on the border, Capirotada, won the Latino Literary Hall of Fame Award and was the OneBookArizona choice in 2009. His honors include Guggenheim Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, PEN/Beyond Margins and Walt Whitman awards, the first Western States Book Award for fiction, selection as a National Book Award finalist, and six Pushcart Prizes in poetry and fiction. Danie Watson is pursuing her M.A. degree in Creative Writing from Wilkes University. Giving Back to the Literary Community by Danie Watson It's no secret that the Wilkes community fosters a love of literature �and the act of putting words on a Jason Carney (left) is the director of the Young page. What DFW Writers, which urges students to use their sets our writing to define themselves and their community surroundings. apart is what we do with that love and passion: share it. Two Wilkes alumni give back so often, it's become part of their jobs. Jason Carney M.F.A.'13 and John Winston M.F.A.'16 spend their time working with youth, encouraging them to read and use their skills to write about change. Carney is the founder and director of Young DFW Writers, which runs writing programs in high schools across the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, including the Dallas edition of the national Louder than a Bomb program. Young DFW Writers urges students to use their writing to define themselves and their surroundings. Winston founded the "Adopt an   Author" program to bridge the gap between authors and their young readers, and to create a John Winston (center) created the "Adopt an place Author" program, to create a place where girls where girls and boys learn to love reading and writing. and boys learn to love reading and writing. This program was born out of the first outreach �program he was ever involved in, which involved motivating middle school-aged boys to read. "The discovery of your own voice is one of the most powerful tools a person can have," Carney says. "When you define who and what you are. the world is powerless to strip those definitions from you. We live in a society where bias is the norm, the foundation, and we have to break that cycle. Writing is one tool to help break this cycle." Winston believes writing in underserved communities helps to foster "an essential and vivid imagination, something sorely missing in underserved communities. Seeds are planted in the writing process that germinate and grow through the reading process and have an immeasurable effect on the community as whole." For Carney, the most meaningful part of his outreach is the creation process. "Seeing a young person catch fire with poetry is so energizing. Watching them find belief in their abilities and who they are as people is a real gift." At the end of the process, not only have the students changed, they have changed him, he says. Winston was touched by a 15-year-old high school freshman who attended one of his workshops on poetry as lyrics and music in literature. This young man was so inspired that he attended the rest of Winston's workshops, and took his suggestion to put an element of music in his work. "He had even altered a piece of his own work by my last workshop to reflect that sentiment, and presented it to the rest of the attendees." Carney says that he believed his students had a larger impact on him than he had on them. In South Dakota, Carney worked in a juvenile detention center, where a 14-year-old boy made an impression on him. This boy had ties with the Aryan Nation, and had not been on a good path for quite some time. Carney "planted some seeds," and says that the last he heard, the young boy was improving his attitude, his grades, and his acceptance of other people. Wilkes has impacted both Winston and Carney's outreach. Carney says that Wilkes has "given him legitimacy," and he has become "an allaround better human being," who uses Wilkes as a standard in his outreach. "They set the bar high," he says. "I have to live up to those examples. Invest in other writers. Cultivate those examples. I need to give freely what was given to me." Winston agrees that he has to follow the example set by Wilkes. He says, "They lead by example and I will follow suit accordingly when it comes to my own outreach, and the various programs that present themselves." �Their advice for those who want to involve themselves in outreach: Get out there and do it. Carney comments that it is important to give on more than just Christmas and Thanksgiving. Danie Watson is pursuing her M.A. degree in Creative Writing from Wilkes University. Faculty News Faculty member J. Michael Lennon's review of Don DeLillo's new novel, Zero K, appeared in the May 6 issue of the (London) Times Literary Supplement.His review of Charles Strozier's Your Friend Forever, A. Lincoln appeared in the May 5 issue of Illinois Times. Student News Cheryl Bazzoui M.A.'14 reviewed two novels, All Waiting is Long by Barbara J. Taylor, and Tipping Point, David Poyer's new naval adventure, on the BookMark program of NPR affiliate WPSU. Under her pen name, Ann McCauley, she placed an essay, "Worse than Writer's Block," in the May/June issue of Working Writer Newsletter; reviewed Dimestore by Lee Smith in the summer issue of Writer's Advice; and reviewed All Waiting is Long on StoryCircle.org. She will be part of a panel, "Pennsylvania Fiction: What It Is and What It Does," at the Pennsylvania Writers Conference at Wilkes Aug. 5–6. Wendy Lynn Decker, M.F.A. student and author of YA novel Sweet Tea, shared writing tips at the Neptune Library in Neptune, N.J., in May, and discussed her novel with the library's young adult book club in June. Richard Fellinger, M.F.A.'10, has published a number of opinion columns on the presidential race in the Lancaster, Pa., newspaper LNP/LancasterOnline.com. Donna Ferrara, M.A.'14, saw her short story "Lucille" published in an anthology, Crack the Spine: XII. Her essay, "Snow White and the Art of Toyota Maintenance," was published in Stirring: A Literary Collection.  M.F.A. alumna Lori A. May had an essay published in Off the Shelf, the book blog of Simon & Shuster. She has jointed the masthead as a contributing writer for Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel. Lori recently attended the Northwest Travel Writers Conference, and is wrapping up a series of events related to a new project supported by a creation grant from 4Culture, an arts organization in King County, Washington. Finally, Lori is quite pleased to have checked State No. 50 off the to-travel list. �Vicki Mayk, M.F.A.'13, published the personal essay "Shared History" on Literary Mama. Adrienne Pender, M.F.A.'11, reports that her play N is a finalist and will be performed in a staged reading at the Dayton Playhouse's FutureFest New Works Festival July 21-24. N is also scheduled for a staged reading at the Eugene O'Neill Festival in September in Danville, Calif., and will receive its fully staged world premiere at Theatre in the Park in Raleigh, N.C., in February 2017. Caleb Sizemore, M.F.A. student, had his dark comedy Stripped workshopped in July at Wolfbane Theatre Co.'s New Works Festival in Appomattox, Va. Donna Talarico M.F.A.'10 was published in mental_floss, The Guardian, Higher Education Network, Currents (trade journal in higher ed communications), and the Los Angeles Times, with forthcoming work in Games World of Puzzles, The Writer, and Currents. Donna appeared on ABC 27 in January and February for a social media segment, gave a writing presentation to NYU's social media group, spoke about communication planning at Leadership Lancaster's 2016 Leadership Advantage Summit, and presented at Wilkes' Tom Bigler High School Journalism Conference. She's scheduled to present twice at the Elements Web Conference at Penn State, and she had a storytelling workshop accepted for the HigherEdWeb Conference in Memphis in October. M.A. student Alan Yount created and published an adult coloring book, A Walk Around Nantucket, with his husband Scott Widmeyer. It is the first resort-centric coloring book in the United States. You can learn more about it here. Dawn D'Aries Zera, M.F.A. '13, was one of 10 finalists for the prestigious 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for socially engaged fiction. The award, founded by novelist Barbara Kingsolver, is presented biennially to the author of a previously unpublished novel of high literary caliber that promotes fiction that addresses issues of social justice and the impact of culture and politics on human relationships. Zera's manuscript, titled Earth Teach Me, focuses on issues concerning the environment. Quick Links �DONATE TO THE WILKES FUND Career Development Campus Safety and Internships Centers & Institutes Online Programs Programs E.S. Farley Library Human Resources Jobs at Wilkes Make A Gift Online Nursing Offices & Administration Accessibility Statement Financial Aid Adobe Acrobat® Reader Registrar's Office Finance Office Investor Relations Student Work Study Jobs Veterans Services Visit Quick Links Schedule a Visit Parking Information Virtual Tour Campus Map Wilkes University 84 West South Street �Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766 1-800-WILKES-U Contact Us Wilkes University © e © d c f � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Subject The topic of the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Description An account of the resource An archive of past issues of <em>Revise This!</em>, the official newsletter of the Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Wilkes University Language A language of the resource English Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Revise This! | 2016-07.pdf Creative Writing Maslow Maslow Family Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Revise This Writing https://omeka.wilkes.edu/omeka/files/original/8fb205cac3843590b7e50e8685da6590.pdf 753793e5fe25b7d816d582aafec8a553 PDF Text Text About Wilkes Home n Graduate Academics Academics n Graduate Admission & Aid Graduate Programs n Graduate Life Master's Degree Programs About Our Students n n The Arts Creative Writing MA/MFA Revise This! n Archives Revise This - May 2016 Revise This! | May 2016 Adding Years: An Interview with Mrs. Anna Arnett Archives Archives By Dale Louise Mervine 2017 "Finding Wilkes has added years to my life," said Mrs. Anna Arnett, who, at age 91, will be the oldest student to graduate from Wilkes this June. 2018 While she did mention that she wishes she had heard of Wilkes Revise This! - University in Mesa sooner, she asserts, "I was really ready for Wilkes and November 2019 have not regretted a moment of my enrollment. It came fairly late in my life, but definitely has enriched it." Mrs. Arnett first heard of Wilkes at a church Christmas breakfast. It was the same morning her daughter told her to "quit fiddling around with fiction and poetry until you have written every story you know about the family." It just so happened that Wilkes had an open house that day. So she went directly from the breakfast to the campus to get more information. As Mrs. Arnett recalls, "I talked with Bonnie [Culver], and left with a student ID!" "Wilkes offered me exactly what I was looking for, and in a format to fit my n 2016 n n �capabilities. How could I not be a fan of the university that has given me a new lease Anna Arnett at Tortilla Flat, Ariz. during March 2016 Wilkes Graduate Creative Writing Program Mesa Weekender ethnography site inspection. Photo credit: Michael Mortimer on life? I am thrilled with the way I've been treated, or should I say babied, all the way through. I have never had more delightful people to work with. Dr. [J. Michael] Lennon has been absolutely fantastic. I doubt I've ever had more fun than I have had since I enrolled in Wilkes." When speaking of Dr. Lennon, Mrs. Arnett exuded excitement, saying that he, "epitomizes what Ella Wheeler Wilcox said: 'A pat on the back is only a few vertebrae removed from a kick in the pants, but is miles ahead in results.' Dr. Lennon is profuse with his praise. He truly inspires me to keep improving." While Mrs. Arnett knew she would focus on her family history and try to make it readable to teens, she mused, "I don't think I needed to be told what to write, but Dr. Lennon continually points ways to write it better." "Miss Anna" as her fellow classmates call her, was born in Rexburg, Idaho. In the middle of her senior year of high school, December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, changing her world. "I was taking shorthand and typing to earn a civil service stenographer rating. I worked for a couple of years and happened to meet my future husband, Air Cadet Charles Arnett, at Sunday School in Indianapolis. I saw him a second time the next weekend then not again until I went to Seymour to see him get his wings on my 19th birthday. I didn't lay eyes on him again for 22 months. On his third bombing mission out of England, over Germany, fighter planes hit three of his engines. Charles made it back to the coast but crash-landed in occupied Holland, and became a prisoner of war for eleven months and eleven days, but who's counting? Almost as soon as Charles got back to his home in Arizona, on Wednesday, June 5, 1945, while I was attending Utah State, he proposed, by mail and phone, that we get married in the Arizona Temple on June 15th. I agreed, flunked all my finals, lost ten pounds, made frantic preparations, caught a bus for Arizona and when I stepped out of the bus into his arms, I knew I'd made the right choice. We were married for time and eternity on the fifteenth. �I've detailed my story in Lolly's Yarns. Charles died March 8, 2008, but I still feel married. He's only on another overseas assignment. I've always regarded Charles as the most perfect man I could have stood to live with." Growing up on a farm just south of Rexburg, Mrs. Arnett fondly remembered the area, but was more interested in sharing tidbits from her thesis project, which concerns the history of her family. "They were real pioneers," she emphasized. "My mother was born in 1886...on a cattle ranch in a two-room log cabin with a dirt floor and a dirt roof. But a nice fireplace," she laughed again. When I asked her from where her lineage stems, she quipped, "How far back?" and then proceeded to fill in her impressive ancestry. On her father's side, her grandfather was born in Sweden and her grandmother in Denmark. "They joined the Mormon church there," she went on, "[and] came to Utah—before the railroads— so they were real pioneers there." Her mother's immigrant ancestor, she recalled, "was not on the Mayflower, but he built a house in Connecticut in 1650...that was her Wilcox line." This long line of Americans originated in England. "My mother's mother was born after the Mormons were driven out of Nauvoo [Illinois]. She was born in Winter Quarters and arrived in Salt Lake in September 1847, making her one of the earliest Utah pioneers, I knew her; I think I was about in seventh grade when she died. It's been wonderful to learn more about her." When I asked about her experience at Wilkes and working on her manuscript, she noted that, "It's just been delightful and besides that, having goals I needed to meet helped me make a lot of progress that I have procrastinated for decades in organizing my parents' histories. It has given me a closeness to them that surprises and delights me. I've made field trips into Utah to see where my mother was born and then again where she got her elementary education." When asked to give advice to those considering the program, Mrs. Arnett replied thoughtfully, "I think everyone has a story to tell. It might be a very short story, but every individual is completely unique. Well, maybe not completely unique, because we follow the trends of our society but we each do it in our own unique way. And each person has agency to decide, and is responsible for their own decisions. For instance, nobody can force you to do anything you don't want to do. They might force you physically, but they cannot take away your agency to decide what you will do, or how you will react. Therefore, each one of us is totally responsible for our own decisions." As a woman who has lived "for at least six weeks in sixteen different states and two foreign countries (Australia and Japan)," Mrs. Arnett does not shy away from new experiences. "I love all people, but I think it's a treat when I'm with (or reading about) people who have the same general objectives, namely to express themselves vocally and in print and thus pass on ideas and ideals." Dale Louise Mervine is completing her M.A. in the Wilkes Graduate Creative Writing Program. She lives in York, Pa. �AWP16 - Los Angeles The City of Angels welcomed Etruscan authors, Wilkes students and staff alike for the 49th annual AWP Conference and Bookfair. The Wilkes students enjoying dinner break at AWP. Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference and Bookfair, or AWP16, boasted over 12,000 attendees—in the form of authors, publishers, presses, writing programs, and staff. AWP16 featured 550 events, with over 2,000 presenters, and Etruscan authors participated in various ways: panels, book signings, and readings...both within the conference and at off-site events in the Los Angeles area. Etruscan, in conjunction with partner Wilkes University, hosted book signings featuring: Bruce Bond, Laurie Jean Cannady, Renée D'Aoust, David Lazar, Diane Raptosh, and Tim Seibles. Cannady and Lazar were also seen signing books at other booths around the Book Fair, while Diane Raptosh and Tim Seibles read and signed books at offsite events. Kazim Ali, Bruce Bond, Renée D'Aoust, David Lazar, Paul Lisicky, and Tim Seibles also served on panels throughout the weekend. Etruscan also co-sponsored the AWP Old School Slam and Open Mic which was held on both Thursday and Friday nights. Winners of the slam were awarded Etruscan gift bags, complete with their choice of three Etruscan books. Slam attendees flocked to Twitter, using #AWPOldSchoolSlam to enter their name for an Etruscan sponsored contest. One winner was named each night of the Slam, and the prize was a book of the winner's choosing. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of AWP, and the staff is already looking forward to the event, which will be held in Washington, D.C. from February 8-11, 2017. �Patience and Persistence: Making a Living With Writing Writing can be a lonely endeavor. When working on an individual piece, writers might easily find themselves cocooned Lori A. May. up in their own world. Eventually a writer may work with editors, agents, or others to get their writing into print, but the initial creativity and reshaping and editing the work is done in a somewhat lonely place. Not that we necessarily mind. We often need that quiet and alone time to get ideas down and to shape our writing. But then there are times we need each other, and we need a community to remind us that we share our lonely pursuit with many others. For those who have jobs outside of "just" writing, we share in those communities and can learn and grow in them, but these places are filled with all kinds of people, not just writers. When we come together at Wilkes for residencies, we are hyper-focused on our writing, our writing peers, and our writing experiences. We push aside the day-to-day issues of running a household, of working a nonwriting job, of caring for aging parents, growing children, and various pets. We take that time for ourselves, to focus on and revel in the one thing we all have in common: our love for writing. The Wilkes community is strong, and we feel that strength in January and June during our residencies. For the writers with non-writing careers, they need to shift their focus back to their regular lives once they return from residency. For those with writing-careers, perhaps they slide back into their lives a little more slowly, being able to savor the momentum they picked up at residency. In either situation, the time comes to turn back home and get back to work. Instead of waiting for the next six months to pass, however, and the next residency to begin, there are things a writer can do to enhance their creative side. Lori A. May, Wilkes alum and faculty member, has crafted a career out of her writing and has built that career out of patience and persistence. Below is an interview with Lori about her many hats as writer as well as how she balances her �professional work with personal writing, and advice for those just stepping in to freelancing shoes. What are your "writer" hats? I'm a big believer in diversifying one's portfolio, so I practice what I preach and wear many different writer hats. My main focus, of course, is on my own work: creative nonfiction, poetry, and fiction, occasionally. My work extends into freelance writing and editing, and I also travel extensively to guest lecture and teach at a variety of conferences and residencies across North America. Those are activities specific to my personal writing life, things that are important to my own development and role as a writer. I also teach and my primary gig is being a mentor in the University of King's College nonfiction MFA program in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I have a wonderful cast of students I adore and it's incredibly fulfilling to work with them as they craft their nonfiction books. Of course, the Wilkes community also knows I teach at the Wilkes residencies and I supervise publishing internships for River & South Review, our studentrun literary journal. So, yes, I diversify my workload, and always seem to be shuffling and adding shiny new things to my plate. What local communities do you involve yourself in as a writer versus "writer" as a job? It's a challenge being a "local" writer when I travel so much. I'm on the road for about 30,000 miles each year, and then in the air several thousand miles more, attending and speaking at a variety of events, so my "region" is North America. I'm a Canadian writer, transplanted to Seattle now after a near-decade in Detroit, and never seem to be in one place for very long. That being said, I feel it's important to involve myself in my many communities, so I have a sense of place and belonging among my peers. Wherever I am at the moment, I participate in reading series, both at the mic and attending in support of other writers. I'm also a member of a number of writing groups, both online and in person, that keep each other motivated and informed about writing craft, publication opportunities, and more. This can be incredibly fulfilling, and I value these connections I maintain. That sense of belonging in a community is important to me as we feed off one another's successes and cheer each other on during challenges. I hope I contribute to others' writing lives as much as others contribute to mine. I'm also a fan of book reviewing, and contributing to the conversation about contemporary publishing. Book reviewing keeps me connected to what's current, and is also a way I offer my time to the community. I also have to say how much I have valued the Wilkes community, both the experience of being at residency and keeping relationships with faculty and alums during the terms away. We have a �great source of inspiration among us and I am grateful for the many lasting friendships that have developed over the years. How do you balance your own writing: do you set aside time every day for journaling, for a specific writing piece you are working on, for this job, for that job--and how do you get yourself to focus on each individually and not get hooked up by one or another? Maintaining a specific schedule is not my forte, thanks to my travel itinerary. What I am consistent about, though, is making sure the writing always comes first. That may mean focusing on one larger project for the bulk of the day, or dabbling at a few smaller writing tasks, but writing is always number one. Whether I am traveling or at home, I try to start my day with writing new draft material each morning. This is the really rough stuff that wouldn't see the light of day, possibly for a time, or perhaps ever. This is my time to create, to be inventive, and to give myself permission to play. After that, I focus on the projects at hand, and that may mean an entire morning is spent on editing or revising a book project, then the afternoon is spent on promotional work or business matters. When I have student work come in for review, I schedule my time accordingly so they become a priority on my to-do list. When that happens, I'll usually do my morning writing first and then work on student material for the rest of the day. I also carve out a great deal of time for play and napping. Finding balance is always a challenge, but if I feel good and treat myself well, I work so much better. For those just getting into freelancing, or attempting to make writing their job, what advice do you have? What have you found works when it comes to balancing the work side of writing with the job side of writing? My biggest advice is to take it one thing at a time. A writer can't do everything all at once. Even though I am an advocate for diversification, I am not a big fan of multi-tasking. Writing, and its related activities, takes focus and time. Beyond running the laundry while I edit, I am not a very good multi-tasker. It makes me feel too disoriented. Instead, I tackle one to-do list item at a time, pay it the attention it deserves, and then move on to the next. For new writers, it can seem especially overwhelming to consider the writing, editing, pitching, social media and more that comes with the job, but everything is manageable in steps. Set goals for what you want to accomplish, then create a plan to make it happen. Strategic planning and realistic goal-setting are critical to keeping my writing life in order. That to-do list should also include friend and family time, quiet thinking time, and time for anything else that's important for self-care. That will help create a sense of balance. Any other anecdotal insights into making writing a full time job, or �how you weave your various hats together? I often have emerging writers come to me for advice on how to make a living and how to make writing their full-time profession. I'm always happy to hear about their goals and share some of my experiences, while perhaps offering insight into how to get things off the ground. What is most frustrating to me, though, is the impatience factor. So many times, a new writer wants everything to happen all at once, without paying mind to how long it can take to make a living out of this craft. Sure, for some people, it can seem to happen overnight. That was not my experience. My first paying publications were more than twenty years ago, but it has taken me years—decades—to get to where I am today. A livable wage didn't come to me overnight and even after my first and second novel, I was still maintaining non-writing jobs to pay the bills. I definitely want to encourage emerging writers on their paths, but I also hope to offer some reality checks that patience is necessary, and so is persistence. Writing can be a long-term profession if you go that route, but like anything else it takes perseverance to build a career. It's incredibly rewarding, but it takes time to make writing a full-time career. Lori A. May writes across the genres in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She edits, teaches, and travels as a frequent guest speaker--all the while drinking copious amounts of coffee. 
Her latest book, The Write Crowd: Literary Citizenship & The Writing Life, is now available from Bloomsbury. Also new from 2014 is Square Feet, a full-length poetry book, available from Accents Publishing. Lori is also the author of The Low-Residency MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Creative Writing Students (Continuum/Bloomsbury), stains: early poems, and two crime novels. She's polishing up a travel/immigration memoir and, under the influence of caffeine, is at work on another manuscript. From 2004 to 2016: PWC Then and Now by Danie Watson The PENNSYLVANIA WRITERS CONFERENCE w WILKES �Pennsylvania Writers Conference will be returning to the Wilkes University campus from August 5 to August 6, 2016. The conference is a two-day event designed to engage, educate, and empower the literary community. However, PWC 16 is not the first of it's kind. In 2004, Wilkes first hosted PWC, which featured Norman Mailer as the keynote speaker. Dawn Leas, Assistant to the President and M.F.A '09, attended the conference, which was held from June 25-26, 2004. She said that her most memorable moment was hearing Mailer speak, which was one of the last times he was on the Wilkes campus. "Norman Mailer is one of those literary icons you grow up hearing about. He is always larger than life, whether it be in interviews, or in real life, or in the stories Bonnie [Culver] and Mike [Lennon] tell." Mailer's speech, which concerned point of view, plot, realistic characters, and the unconscious mind as part of the writing process, was so dynamic, Leas can remember where she was sitting in the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center. This year, PWC's keynote speaker will be Scranton native and poet, novelist, and biographer, Jay Parini. His works include Robert Frost: A Life, which won the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for best nonfiction in 2000, New York Times bestseller One Matchless Time: A Life of William Faulkner, and Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal. Parini's keynote address will take place at 7 PM on Saturday August 6, 2016, in the Henry Student Center Ballroom. Behind the scenes of both PWC 2004 and 2016 is Margaret Petty, Director of Continued Learning. Petty is in charge of registration for 2016, and played a key role in 2004. She reminisces about 2004, noting that once Mailer was announced as the keynote, the registrations came tumbling in. However, the registration and submission process in 2004 was a little different. It was all done manually through snail mail. "People were mailing in manuscripts in boxes and envelopes, and we sent out invoices and welcome letters. All I remember is that submissions were stressful. They were in limbo in the mail—sometimes they were not received, or we would get them late." Petty says PWC 16 is a streamlined registration process since it's all done online—even submissions for the writing competition. Although registration is just like online shopping—cart and all—the Center for Continued Learning will be accepting calls to register those who are not comfortable with the online system. Like PWC 2004, this year's conference will include workshops, panels, �and craft classes in the genres of creative nonfiction, fiction, playwriting, poetry, and screenwriting. PWC 16 will also contain two plenary sessions: "Reviews that Mattered" by NPR's Fresh Air Book Critic, Maureen Corrigan, and another by the Wilkes faculty. When Leas attended the conference in 2004, she took a poetry workshop with Rashidah Ismaili, who urged Leas to apply to the program. Because of her obligations, Leas wasn't able to attend the program until January 2006, but her time at PWC 2004 sealed the deal with Wilkes. PWC 16 will include an element of competition. Like 2004, there will be a writing competition, in the genres of creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. Submissions may not exceed five pages, and are due by July 22, 2016 with a $5 entry fee. Attendees may submit in all genres, $5 per entry. Winners will be awarded following the keynote address on August 6, and the awards are: $150 for first place, $100 for second place, and $50 for third place. Not only will there be a writing competition, PWC 16 will also include an open mic and poetry slam on Friday, August 5, from 7 PM to 9 PM. The events are open to the public for a $5 admission fee, and attendees may present for $5 per event. The influence of the Pennsylvania Writers Conference can be as large or as small as you make it. For Leas, PWC 2004 is still impacting her life today. Her latest poetry collection, Take Something When You Go, concludes with that very poem she wrote in Ismaili's poetry workshop at PWC 2004. Leas is excited that the conference is returning to Wilkes. "Bringing the conference back is a great idea; not just to recruit more students, but to provide more literary events in the area, and to offer an outlet to be part of a writing community." For more information about the Pennsylvania Writers Conference, and the schedule of events, please visit the Wilkes website. Danie Watson is currently working towards her M.A. at Wilkes University. She currently lives in Nanticoke, PA. Faculty News Faculty member Robert P. Arthur, with former Wilkes student, Francis Williams, won Chanticleer Book Award for PASSOVER in category of ghost novel. Arthur was also nominated for Library of Virginia Book Award (poetry) and Mary Lynn Kotz Book Award (poetry). �Faculty member Gregory Fletcher had an essay, Thanks, Dad, I Think published in Diverse Voices Quarterly, Volume 8, Issue 28. His short play Hangman is having its second production of the year in the festival Take Ten at the 13th Street Repertory at the end of April. Faculty member Rashidah Ismaili was part of a panel Saturday, April 2, held at City College, CUNY and Columbia University. She was also part of the PEN Voices International Festival April 25 – May 1 in New York City at various locations. Faculty member and M.F.A. alum Lori A. May taught a Master Class at The Banff Centre this spring, as part of the Creative Nonfiction Collective Conference. Other recent events include a reading at Seattle's At The Inkwell reading series, launched by Wilkes alum Monique Antoinette Lewis, and a workshop at Book Publishers Northwest. Lori is also attending the Canadian Book Summit in Toronto, Ontario, and presenting at the Pacific Northwest Writers Association conference this summer. Student News Molly Barari, M.A. alum '15 has been selected as a 2016 South Dakota Humanities Scholar. She has also been accepted to The Writer's Hotel Conference in NYC in June, under the mentorship of Scott Woven and The New Guard Literary Review. Over the winter, Molly created and taught a class for Community Education of the Black Hills called Heirlooms: Creative Life Writing for Seniors. Kimberly Behre Kenna, M.A. alum '15 had her poem, "First Day at St. Margaret's Shelter," published in East Meets West American Writers Review 2015 Winter Edition. Her poem, "Neap Tide," was selected for publication in the upcoming issue of Rubbertop Review. Craig Czury, M.F.A. alum '08 had Thumb Notes Almanac translated into Italian by Aldo Villagrossi and published as Non Pensare Ai Camion (Milano). Craig has poetry performances with actors & musicians in Soncino, Romanengo, Goito, Salsomaggiore, and Crema, with interviews on LOMBARDIA TV and Radio Alta in May-June. Brian Fanelli, M.F.A. alum '10 will have his new book of poems, Waiting for the Dead to Speak, published in September by NYQ Books. His poem, "What Our Cat Teaches Me in Dreams," was published in the spring issue of Stone Canoe out of Syracuse, and another poem, "Trying to Call Forth a Ghost," was recently published in the print anthology of the Kentucky Review. The anthology is a "best of 2015." The poems in it originally appeared on the journal's website. �Tyler Grimm, M.F.A. alum '13 will have his short story "Broken Smile" published by VOX, Elizabethtown College's literary magazine, in April. He has also been nominated for the 2016 Elizabethtown College Student Senate Engaging Educator Award. Nichole Kanney, M.F.A. alum '15 had her short screenplay, Fridge Mates, selected as one of two finalists for the 2016 Nashville Film Festival Family/Animated Screenplay Competition. At press time, we learned Nichole won this award. Congratulations! Dawn Leas, M.F.A. alum '09 released her poetry collection, Take Something When You Go, in mid-April by Winter Goose Publishing. She also recently had three poems, "Day Job," "Last Sunday in August," and "Sinew," published in Clear Poetry, an online journal based in the UK. Mark Levy, M.A. alum '08 has a book of essays, Trophy Envy, now at the printer. Monique Antonette Lewis, M.F.A. alum '12 At The Inkwell reading series launched in Denver, in February, and in Seattle, in March. She also welcomed Wilkes alumnae Kait Burrier and Andi Talarico, in March, as the new co-hosts for At The Inkwell New York. This July, Monique will launch the reading series in London, which will be At The Inkwell's first international presence. Learn more at www.attheinkwell.com. Margaret McCaffrey M.A. alum '15 had her story "Original Sin" - written in Taylor Polites fiction class - commended and accepted for publication in an anthology by Melaleuca Blue. Josh Penzone, M.A. alum '13 will have his short story "Rose" appear in The Critical Pass Review's upcoming winter magazine. Dania Ramos, M.A. alum '10 had two short plays in the 6th Annual OneMinute Play Festival at Luna Stage. Her play Hielo was featured in the New Jersey Women Playwrights Reading Series co-presented by Writers Theatre of New Jersey, Speranza Theatre Company, and Jersey City Theater Center. Lynne Reeder, M.A. alum '10 earned first place for her poem "Of Green Stuff Woven" and her poem "Colored" earned her the title of 2016 Perry County Poet Laureate in the 18th annual Perry County Council of the Arts Poetic Excellence Awards. Julia Steier, M.A. alum '10 had her essay about "Facing my Fear" featured in The Guardian.  �Heather A. Taylor, M.F.A. alum '14 has been promoted to Director of the McCann Learning Center at Bethany College. She has also joined the Etruscan Press staff as Production Editor.  Quick Links Career Development Campus Safety and Internships Centers & Institutes Online Programs Programs E.S. Farley Library Human Resources Jobs at Wilkes Online Nursing Offices & Administration Accessibility Statement Financial Aid Adobe Acrobat® Reader Registrar's Office Finance Office Investor Relations Student Work Study Jobs Veterans Services Visit Quick Links Schedule a Visit Parking Information Virtual Tour Campus Map Make A Gift �Wilkes University 84 West South Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766 1-800-WILKES-U Contact Us Wilkes University © e © d c f � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Subject The topic of the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Description An account of the resource An archive of past issues of <em>Revise This!</em>, the official newsletter of the Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Wilkes University Language A language of the resource English Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Revise This! | 2016-05.pdf Creative Writing Maslow Maslow Family Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Revise This Writing https://omeka.wilkes.edu/omeka/files/original/94d60e29eebb3fb5639d451defa16040.pdf 63e2d365aefcef748f2c82edb7fd96bf PDF Text Text About Wilkes Home n Graduate Academics Academics n Graduate Admission & Aid Graduate Programs n Graduate Life Master's Degree Programs About Our Students n n The Arts Creative Writing MA/MFA Revise This! n Archives Revise This - March 2016 Revise This! | March 2016 Archives Archives 2017 2018 Revise This! November 2019 Marlon James with Kaylie Jones. Rearranging the Deck Chairs: An Interview with Kaylie Jones By Dale Louise Mervine When I first sat down with Kaylie Jones, it was to discuss Marlon James and his success. I knew she was writing a piece for Wilkes Magazine, but I didn’t know what it encompassed, and was uncertain what direction the n 2016 n n �interview should take. While Kaylie began with meeting Marlon, the conversation evolved into a discussion of work ethic, inherent talent, and frustration with the publishing industry. I had tapped into a side of Kaylie Jones that pulsed with the energy of her passion. That frustration led, in part, to the creation of Kaylie Jones Books, an imprint of Akashic Books. The masthead of the website reads, “The list of brilliant novels unable to find homes within the mainstream is growing every day. It is our hope to publish books that bravely address serious issues—historical or contemporary—relevant to society today.” While relating the story of meeting Marlon and reading what would become his first published novel, John Crow’s Devil, Kaylie tapped into that passion for finding and publishing a damn good novel. John Crow’s Devil is Marlon’s first book, published in 2005. His second book, The Book of Night Women was published in 2009. A Brief History of Seven Killings was released in 2014. In publishing, do you see a change happening? I spoke with Susan Cartsonis about the push in Hollywood for more diversity, and she noted that it’s not really happening yet. Do you see it changing in publishing at all?  Mainstream publishing to me looks like they’re rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It seems to me that the model is no longer working but no one has figured it out—they’re trying to figure out ebook lines, selfpublishing lines, the self-publishing Penguin line, Booktrope, whatever, but there are several problems. It’s a brand new world, like the Wild West with the Internet. This advent of self-publishing. It’s so easy to go onto Amazon and publish your own book that every idiot in the world who thinks they have a book is self-publishing. It used to be called “vanity press” publishing in the old days. And it’s still vain—egotistical and vain to think you can just slap a cover on your work and call it a book. I’ve always discouraged people from [self-publishing] because it’s creating a tsunami of really mediocre books and blocking the way of serious publishers who want to help get independent books out there to their audience. There’s a kind of disingenuous feel to self-publishing these days—which really annoys me personally—where writers don’t tell you honestly they’re self-publishing. The books are disguised. [Self-publishing] is very discouraging, and, in a way, has changed publishing. The whole picture has changed and no one really knows yet where it’s going to go. But hopefully, eventually, it will even out. I feel like I’ve had amazing students and amazing books published from the programs where I teach, and many successful books. I believe some people are lacking the willingness to do the work. Many want to be writers, but they don’t want to do the work; they don’t want to write. �Marlon does the work. He works tirelessly, all the time. How much of that do you see in the programs where you teach, where someone comes in with the talent and they don’t have far to go? There is a great spectrum with writing and it’s very interesting that you can compare it to ballet school. Kids will get sent at six years old to ballet school and the professional ballet teacher will pick out from that group ones who have the right body type, who have special agility, special grace. The teacher will start nurturing and grooming the ones who are going to be ballerinas. With fiction, you don’t need to be eight years old to start, but there’s the same idea: you start out with a certain proclivity, a certain talent, and a certain ear. Some people have an ear and some people don’t; I believe that can’t be taught. You can teach a decent writer to be a very good writer, but you can’t give somebody greatness, that magic. But I know a lot of writers I never thought would amount to anything—and I don’t mean in this program, I mean in my life—who have become bestselling, very successful writers. Marlon already had that in place, he just needed an opening. All doors were closed because our publishing industry is filled with cowards. They pigeonhole everybody. If you’re a black writer they’ll put you in a press called “Armistead Press;” if you’re gay, they’ll put you in an LGBT press, which is limiting. They’re curtailing readership by focusing on getting the readers that they think they’ll get. It seems Marlon wants to push against that assumption in the publishing industry. Yes, and he’s right. He’s pushing against 400, 500 years of colonialism too. All you have to do is look at The Last of the Mohicans for two minutes to see what the opinion of the “great white male” is, and what a woman’s role is. It’s horrifying. Marlon’s point is very interesting … he’s very brave … because he’s going against even the Jamaican conception of color and hierarchy. Being gay is illegal [in Jamaica]—you go to jail for life if you’re gay. Marlon is at risk for his life. He came out in a major New York Times article this year. Now, he’s like a different person, he’s so free from the weight of this. In school Marlon read all the classics, all the British writers, the colonials. Then he started branching out into anti-colonial African, AfricanAmerican, and Caribbean writers, who are pushing back against that sort of ingrained philosophy. �Did Marlon have that work ethic? He already had it. He’d already written a novel, he’d already revised that novel, and that novel needed a little work but it didn’t need substantial work, just a little revision. The Book of Night Women was his thesis from Wilkes. He wrote it in a year, so he really had the discipline and he really worked. Different people work at different paces; it’s not about speed. It’s about dedication and ambition and a willingness to really put that first in your life. Marlon was that dream student who has done the work already and is not coming to [their program] having watched too much TV and thinking “I’m going to write a sitcom and it’s going to be a novel,” but never having read a novel. That’s the worst possible situation because they’ve never read. They don’t know what it entails; they just know they want to be a writer, but they don’t know why. Marlon already had that dedication. He didn’t learn that from us, we just opened the door for him. That’s what we should be doing, opening the door for people who are really serious about pursuing a literary writing career. He does such a fantastic job with writing in dialect, when some writers struggle with that kind of writing. Marlon has such an ear for dialect, such a talent writing that. That was in John Crow’s Devil too, you could immediately see that he understood how to translate dialect into a readable English. I don’t find that dialect difficult at all. I think people resist it because they’re not used to it. That’s one of his great talents, and it’s unapologetic. Why would Marlon conform to our English when he’s Jamaican? When his Jamaican dialect comes from African tribes, and many sources who had English imposed on them when they were brought as slaves? There’s something very unapologetic about the way he uses dialect; it works very well. Marlon studied a lot of different colonial, as well as non-colonial, writers who used dialect in their fiction and adapted it to his own style. I don’t think there’s any rule that you shouldn’t use dialect; using it well is the problem. It could be terrible. Some people don’t do it well and they shouldn’t [use dialect.] It’s a question of ability. ABrief History Of Seven Killings is a demanding book and he’s not apologizing for it, making the book very thick, demanding, and emotionally painful for the reader. No Hidden Secrets: H. L. Hix on �Process, Publishing, and Reviews American Anger Etruscan Press, 2016 Wilkes University Graduate Creative Writing Program advisory board member H. L. Hix teaches in the creative writing MFA program at the University of Wyoming. His latest collection of poetry, published by Etruscan Press, has garnered literary accolades and has achieved a trifecta of literary mentions: American Anger received reviews in Library Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, and on NPR. In Library Journal, American Anger was included as a “Spring 2016 Poetry: Top Picks,” where it was described as “Instead of being downbeat…this dried-eyed collection is positively energizing.” �Publisher’s Weekly, points out that, “Hix’s book-length project joins other recent volumes in its corrosive anguish about a society both unequal and heavily armed,” and that it is “nothing if not unified: eight parts, each with many short segments in prose and verse, examine the word and the idea of anger.” NPR, which included American Anger in their 2016 poetry review, points out that Hix, “a prolific wellspring, froths, rages, boils over,” and that “unless you are made of stone, you will find, in these troubled and troubling times, some of your heart echoed here.” NPR, incorporated on February 26, 1970, has been in the forefront of public radio since its inception and it now utilizes the power of digital media to reach people all over the world. As H. L. Hix alludes to below, their power to introduce people to new types of literature gives writers of all genres hope for reception across the globe. Having published over 11 books of poetry and literary criticism with Etruscan Press, and over 30 books of translation, prose, and anthology in total, Hix isn’t slowing down. What are your thoughts on these accomplishments? It’s very gratifying. Poetry books receive very little attention in the world, so any notice or review is good news! And it is great in this case to be featured in these venues, because they are venues addressed to a broad public, not only to poetry readers, and this book does not only address regular readers of poetry. It is, for instance, a book about the election. The anger that is so prominent a part of the campaign rhetoric, and that is being expressed by voters, is not new or exceptional, and American Anger tries to understand it by putting it into a larger context. Can you give me some insight into your writing process, and perhaps some advice for other writers? Probably neither my process nor my advice is very remarkable, but maybe that’s good news: it suggests that there’s no secret that some writers have access to but that is hidden away from others. But the main feature of my process and my first piece of advice are essentially the same. The advice would be to find a time when you can secure “mental space” on a regular basis. For me, for my process, that’s way early in the morning, because it’s BEFORE frustrating committee meetings and before phone calls and so on, and because I can claim that time every day. But the advice is not early morning per se: the advice is whatever time you can make work in your life on a regular basis, whether that’s late at night or early in the morning or at lunch or (like William Carlos Williams) between appointments. Now that you've reached this level in your writing, do you think �about things like this when you are writing or working on publishing a book? I don’t think about things like book publicity at all while I’m writing. While I’m writing, I’m only trying to understand the world and my life, not to appeal to anyone. Once the book is written and the publication process kicks in, though, one has to “shift gears” and try to find and occupy those points of common ground that give others reason to engage with the work. What is the impact of being reviewed in publications such as these? Especially for poetry, the impact is great. Most people these days have been bullied away from poetry by bad experiences in school and by its erasure from popular culture, so few people will venture a new poetry book without some assurance that it might be understandable, for one thing, and might be worthwhile. To have Library Journal and NPR lend their authority to it greatly improves its odds of finding a readership. The Weekender is Off and Running in Wilkes-Barre Wilkes Graduate Creative Writing Weekender Program Mesa Cohorts – March 5, 2016 In 2015, the Wilkes University Graduate Creative Writing Program expanded its offerings with a new Weekender program in Mesa, Arizona. �During November 13-14, 2015, Wilkes hosted the Arizona Writers Conference to showcase the hallmarks of the program to members of the Mesa community. With various workshops and panel discussions on fiction, non-fiction, screenwriting, playwriting, and poetry, Wilkes also offered instant enrollment decisions. The Arizona Writers Conference was designed in part to attract prospective students from Mesa into the low-residency graduate program and to provide a second option for those not able to come to Pennsylvania for the January and June residencies. The Weekender format delivers the class modules of each residency throughout four faceto-face weekends during each project term. Students complete their online work in the foundations classes while meeting faculty on the ground every seven weeks. While online learning enables students to engage with others in any part of the world, the one-week residencies in January and June facilitate interactions between students and faculty and allow everyone to enjoy the community of which they are now a part. The Weekender now takes that eight-day residency and stretches it out over the eighteen-week semester. This benefits local students who cannot take a full week off two times each year. In January, Wilkes expanded the Weekender format to the Wilkes-Barre campus. Two inaugural Weekender students, Janine Dubik and Samantha Patterson, began their project term with the rest of the 501 cohort in January—but their first Weekender ended on Sunday, January 10. They returned to campus February 26 –28 for the second Weekender. Janine described their experience: Our second residency weekend was fun. On Friday night, we attended the musical "Dogfight" at the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts. The student production was excellent; its small ensemble cast handled multiple roles as well as stagehand duties. The pit orchestra, under the direction of Ken McGraw [adjunct instructor], was outstanding. Since the weekend focused on Image and Voice, it was the perfect field trip. Bill Schneider is always thinking of ways to convey writing fundamentals as well as create interesting writing prompts. On Saturday, Samantha Patterson and I visited the Polish Room in the Eugene S. Farley Library, and we brainstormed our Archetype presentation, which is due during our May residency weekend. The creative writing program continues to be a learning experience. Some cobwebs still exist in parts of my brain. During my college days, I wasn't working full-time as I do now. It's a balancing act. �And now with the Weekender available in both Mesa and Wilkes-Barre, it’s a slightly easier act to balance. AWP 2016 Preview: Wilkes & Etruscan Press Ready for L.A. Dr. Bonnie Culver, Wilkes Creative Writing Program Director and CoFounder with Marlon James at the April 8th opening celebration of AWP's 2015 Annual Conference and Bookfair in Minneapolis. Photo credit: Robb Cohen It’s the biggest academic writing event of the year. More than 13,000 writers and publishing professionals from around the world will take part in the Association of Writers and Writing Program’s Annual Conference & Bookfair, happening in Los Angeles, CA, March 30 through April 2, 2016. The event attracts undergraduate and graduate students of all ages, faculty and staff members from creative writing programs around the nation and beyond, accomplished authors, publishing professionals from independent presses, literary magazine editors, and many other literaryaffiliated people. From hundreds of panels and a massive book fair to dozens of off-site events, it’s no wonder this conference is one of the most-awaited literary events of the year—whether for learning the craft and business of writing, browsing books and publishing opportunities, meeting friends, or networking with peers. The Wilkes University Graduate Creative Writing Program is proud to once again be a benefactor of this literary event, and also to share a �book fair booth (1100) with one of their publishing partners, Etruscan Press. Not only will members of the Wilkes and Etruscan community be greeting attendees from their home base on the exhibit hall floor, they also will be educating and entertaining as part of panels, readings and other conference-related events. Here’s a preview of where you can find our Wilkes and Etruscan presenters: Meet Etruscan Authors One benefit to attending AWP is that you can meet Etruscan authors. Check the printed program and the AWP Facebook page. Below is the schedule, where you can meet authors and snag a copy of their work: THURSDAY, MARCH 31 • 1 p.m.– Laurie Jean Cannady (Hippocampus Magazine Booth, Table 118) • 2 p.m. – Diane Raptosh FRIDAY, APRIL 1 • 9 a.m.– Renee D’Aoust • 11:30 a.m. – David Lazar • 2:30 p.m. – Bruce Bond SATURDAY, APRIL 2 • 10:30 a.m. – Laurie Jean Cannady & Tim Seibles Hear from Authors, Faculty Members, Students and Alumni at 20+ events Thousands and thousands of people submit proposals to present at AWP each year, and only several hundred are selected. Some panels that feature Wilkes and Etruscan authors are below, including Bruce Bond, Beverly Donofrio, Marlon James, Paul Lisicky, and Lori A. May; follow the links to learn more about the session and co-panelists. THURSDAY, MARCH 31 • Noon to 1:15 p.m. – Bruce Bond: Dynamic Duos: Art & Words Collaborations, or How Prompted Inspiration Leads to Exhibition– Room 410 • 1:30 to 2:45 p.m. – Rachel Eliza Griffiths: Poetry, Politics, and Place: A Reading and Conversation with Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Luis J. Rodriguez, Sponsored by Poets House– Petree Hall • 3 to 4:15 p.m. – Renee D’Aoust: Old Neighborhoods, New Locales: How Place Shapes Our Writing and Our Literary Identities – Room �408 B • 3 to 4:15 p.m. – Tim Seibles: Beyond Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll: Far Out Poets Read Poems About the '60s.– Room 515 B FRIDAY, APRIL 1 • 9 to 10:15 a.m. – Kazim Ali: Necessary Hybridity: The Politics & Performance Of Making Multi-Genre, Multi-Media, Multi-Ethnic Literature Visible – Room 502 A • 9 to10:15 a.m. – Fred Courtright: Phoning It In: Using QR Codes to Bring Poetry to a New Audience– Room 511 • 1:30 to 2:45 p.m. – Lauren Cerand: The Author as Entrepreneur: How to Build Your Writing Business– Room 408 A • • 1:30 to 2:45 p.m. – Marlon James: The New Globalism – Room 502 B 1:30 to 2:45 p.m. – Jim Warner: Two Sides of the Mirror: Writing About Body Image Across Gender– Room 402 AB • 3 to 4:15 p.m. – Paul Lisicky: Story as Survival: LGBTQ Memoir–  Diamond Salon 6&7 • 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. – David Lazar: After Montaigne, Before Sunrise: Teaching and Writing about the Essays– Room 515 B • 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. – Lori A. May: Should I Know Who You Are? Book PR for the Modern Age– Room 408 A SATURDAY, APRIL 2 • 9 to 10:15 a.m. – Beverly Donofrio: Writing the Spiritual Memoir– Gold Salon 1 • 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. – Shara McCallum: West Virginia Writers’ Workshop: How We Made It to Year 20; How Your Writing Conference Can Too!– Room 404 AB • Noon to 1:15 pm. - Marlon James: Helping: A Tribute to Robert Stone– Diamond Salon 6&7 • 3 to 4:15 p.m. – Kazim Ali: A Tribute to Donald Revell– Room 403 A • 3 to 4:15 p.m. – Julie R. Enszer: 40th Anniversary Celebration of Calyx and Sinister Wisdom– Room 407 • 3 to 4:15 p.m. – Toi Derricotte: (Still) Got the Juice: Fierce Writing by Women Poets of a Certain Age– Room 515 A • 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. - Tim Seibles: Calling White Allies: What White Writers Can Do to Foster Inclusion and Support People of ColorRoom 409 AB Old School Slam The trend of having a Wilkes-affiliated, award-winning slam poet host the AWP Old School Slam continues. This year, Jeremiah Blue—a student from the Wilkes University Mesa, AZ, location—will host the Slam in Room 511, on both Thursday, March 31 and Friday, April 1, from 10 p.m. to midnight. �Off-Site Events Here are three events featuring Etruscan Press authors: • March 31, 7 to 9 p.m. – Diane Raptosh & David Lazar reading at Gatsby Books • April 1, 7 to 9 p.m. – Diane Raptosh reading at Flintridge Books & Coffee House • April 3, 2 to 4:00 p.m. – David Lazar and Tim Seibles at June 2013 The conference program lists hundreds of other events in all sorts of genres at all sorts of venues; give it a look and make the most of your time in LA by attending events beyond the conference walls. Other AWP Announcements In addition to our program staff, there are a few members of the Wilkes Creative Writing faculty attending AWP. If you stop by Booth 1100, you might run into a few familiar faces including Becky Bradway, Susan Cartsonis, Beverly Donofrio, Rashidah Ismail Abubakr, Lori A. May, and Neil Shepard and two dozen students and alumni who will be representing Wilkes. Etruscan Press will be selling books at the booth with an option to ship the purchases home instead of stuffing them in overpacked luggage. On the Wilkes side, they will be sharing information about the lowresidency creative writing programs in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. and Mesa, Ariz. —including the new Weekender programs. Genres include creative nonfiction, documentary studies, fiction, playwriting, poetry, publishing and screenwriting. There will be details about the upcoming Pennsylvania Writers Conference (happening this August), and info about the various community workshops Wilkes has to offer. Follow Along with Us on Social Media Whether you’re right there with Wilkes in California or watching from afar, be sure to follow along with the action in LA on social media using the official conference hashtag, #awp16. Reps from Wilkes and Etruscan will be sharing moments from AWP, too. Follow along on Twitter with @WilkesUWriting and @Etruscan_Press—and also use hashtag #wilkesAWP. They’ll also share photos and updates on Instagram, and both Facebook pages: the public program and the private community Facebook group. �To learn more about Etruscan’s AWP activity and its featured authors, visit the Meet Us in LA page. Planning Ahead for 2017 If you won’t be in L.A. this year, it’s not too early to begin planning for 2017, when AWP heads back east, to the nation’s capital—perhaps more within driving distance for the majority of community members. The dates for AWP 2017 are Feb. 8-11, 2017—and it will be the 50th anniversary of the AWP conference. A limited number of conference registrations are available to students and alumni to help make professional development possible. Check with the Creative Writing office in fall 2016 to find out how you can get more involved with AWP.   Pennsylvania Writers Conference Returns to Wilkes University The Pennsylvania Writer’s Conference is returning to Wilkes University on Friday and Saturday, August 5 and 6. Faculty and alums are invited to submit their workshop, panel, or craft class proposal to Bill Schneider by April 1, 2016. The two-day conference is designed to engage, educate and empower the literary community. Last held on the Wilkes University campus in 2004, when Norman Mailer was the keynote speaker, the conference is open to adults of all ages, and includes an open mic and poetry slam, craft classes, writing workshops, and literary panels hosted by editors, film producers, literary agents, publishers, and writers. Scranton native and poet, novelist and biographer Jay Parini will deliver the keynote address. Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air book critic, will conduct craft sessions. $100 early bird registration is available until June 30. General registration $130 and students with valid school ID $40. Faculty News Faculty member Philip Brady's poetry received a 2016 Ohio Arts Council $5,000 Individual Artist Fellowship. This is his sixth OAC Individual Artist Fellowship. In addition, his essay, "The Man of Double Deed" was accepted for publication in Hotel Amerika. His essay, “That Lamp is from the Tomb,” is forthcoming in Poet's Quarterly and an essay, “Basketball at Sixty” appeared in Best American Poetry's Blog. Faculty member J. Michael Lennon has contributed the introduction to a new illustrated edition of Norman Mailer’s The Fight, his account of the “Rumble in the Jungle,” the 1974 championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. It will be published by Taschen �Books in the summer of 2016. Faculty member and MFA alum Lori A. May will be at AWP in Los Angeles, presenting on the panel “Should I Know Who You Are? Book PR for the Modern Age.” You will also find her signing books at Bloomsbury’s Bookfair booth #1207. Her book, The Write Crowd: Literary Citizenship & The Writing Life, was nominated for a 2016 Michigan Notable Book Award. She will be giving a featured reading at the Seattle Public Library, Ballard branch, this March. In April, she will be teaching a Master Class at The Banff Centre, as part of the Creative Nonfiction Collective Conference. Lori is also pleased to be a founding member of the Creative Writing Studies Organization, a new U.S. nonprofit focused on creative writing pedagogy. Faculty member Gregory Fletcher had a short play, Hangman, produced in March by Artistic New Directions in New York City. Entertainment attorney Jared Bloch is a New York based attorney who works with our program, He specializes in film and television development, production, distribution and financing. Jared has worked on such films as The Birth of a Nation, which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival; Maggie’s Plan, which premiered at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival; and the upcoming All We Had and Wolves, each of which will have their premiere at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. Student News Amye Archer, MFA ‘11, had her memoir, Fat Girl, Skinny, selected as second runner-up for the Red Hen Press Nonfiction Manuscript Award. She will also be participating in the Woodstock Writer's Festival on April 10th as part of the panel: “Memoir A Go-Go.” Jeremiah Blue, current MA student, will have his spoken word video-one part of a dual, multi-media presentation on the intersection of social justice and slam poetry--published by TEDx, on their official website. A link to the video will be posted online soon. Blue has accepted the invitation to host the Old School Poetry Slam at the 2016 AWP conference in Los Angeles. Cindy Dlugolecki, MA ‘11 had her short play, “Birthday Surprise,” garner an "Honorable Mention" as one of the top ten plays submitted to the Jewel Box New Play Festival in Oklahoma. Robert Holly, current MFA student saw his Masters capstone screenplay, The Champion of The World, accepted as "Official Selection of the 16th Beverly Hills International Film Festival." Robert was also �hired by Penn State Worthington-Scranton this semester as an instructor in Communications. Paul Jackson, MA ‘14 had an article, “The Devaluation of the Written Word,” published in March in the journal, Elite Critiques Magazine (both a print and electronic journal). http://elitecritiques.com/ecm-magazine/ He also has a short story, “Hostility Issues,” published in the journal Our Write Side http://ourwriteside.com/ Nichole Kanney, MFA ‘15 has been accepted to The Writer’s Hotel Conference in NYC, under the mentorship of Scott Woven and The New Guard Literary Review. She will be reading at KGB Bar in June. Monique Antonette Lewis, MFA ‘12, saw her reading series, At The Inkwell, expand to Denver and Seattle. The reading series is also held in New York and San Francisco. Josh Penzone, MA ‘13, saw his short story "Falling Away" appear in the March edition of Five on the Fifth's online magazine.  Anthony Dolan Scott, MFA ‘14, had his poem "The Power of Heritage" published in the Winter issue of Echoes Magazine. His chapbook, The Year Things Came Apart, has been published by Maine Author's Publishing. Dates for a launch at the local university and for a reading at the local library to be announced soon. Nathan Summmerlin, MFA ‘16 has had three scripts selected as Quarterfinalists in three separate competitions. His short film script, Catcophany in the Blue Cat Screenplay contest; his sitcom pilot script, Empire Cafeteria, in the CineStory TV / Digital contest; and his web series pilot, Meat, in the Screencraft Pilot Launch contest. Ahrend Torrey, MFA ‘16 had his prose poem, “The Bird & I,” appear in issue 6 of Guide to Kulchur Creative Journal. Ahrend was also selected to write a featured prose piece “Three Little Words,” which now appears in issue 2 of Wildness. His poems, “Anorexia” and “It’s All About The Cards—” were published in POMPA 2015. Upcoming Workshop Opportunity: MFA student Caryn DeVincenti will be teaching a FREE three-hour workshop at Florida's Wellington Library on Saturday, April 9th, 2016. “Bewitched With The Wicked: How To Create Memorable Villianesses In Fiction & Non-Fiction, A Craft Workshop.” �Quick Links Career Development Campus Safety and Internships Centers & Institutes Online Programs Programs E.S. Farley Library Human Resources Jobs at Wilkes Online Nursing Offices & Administration Accessibility Statement Financial Aid Adobe Acrobat® Reader Registrar's Office Finance Office Investor Relations Student Work Study Jobs Veterans Services Visit Quick Links Schedule a Visit Parking Information Virtual Tour Campus Map Make A Gift �Wilkes University 84 West South Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766 1-800-WILKES-U Contact Us Wilkes University © e © d c f � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Subject The topic of the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Description An account of the resource An archive of past issues of <em>Revise This!</em>, the official newsletter of the Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Wilkes University Language A language of the resource English Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Revise This! | 2016-03.pdf Creative Writing Maslow Maslow Family Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Revise This Writing https://omeka.wilkes.edu/omeka/files/original/ae0a657206f5202c5a281ad66d8d800b.pdf 69baed991f9a706550bb570f2ff8a28c PDF Text Text About Wilkes Home n Graduate Academics Academics n Graduate Admission & Aid Graduate Programs n Graduate Life Master's Degree Programs About Our Students n Pay It Forward Introduced during the Creative Writing MA/MFA Revise This! Revise This! | January 2016 10th n The Arts n Archives Archives Archives Anniversary celebration of the Wilkes Creative Writing Program, Pay It Forward is a scholarship initiative for alumni and faculty to award new students entering our program. The $2,500 scholarship is credited toward the student’s first semester tuition expense. Sam Chiarelli, MFA ’16, was the first Wilkes alum to utilize Pay It Forward. “As a Graduate Assistant, I'd heard a lot about Pay It Forward and I thought it was a great idea. The Creative Writing program has been such a gift to me and I wanted to give that gift to others,” he says. “I taught a creative nonfiction workshop in the autumn of 2015 and I was fortunate to have an exceptional set of writers attend. They were a lively bunch,” says Chiarelli. "Janine [Dubik] didn't make a lot of noise during our workshop sessions, but as I read through the submitted essays and exercises, her work struck me. She tapped into some really universal themes, some transcendent fragments of reality that resonated with me. She had moments of absolute brilliance on the page, and yet I could see she had so much room to grow and become an even better writer. That's why I chose Janine for my Pay It Forward. She was ready to take the next step in her development as a writer.“ 2017 2018 Revise This! November 2019 n 2016 n n �Janine Pokrinchak Dubik, Wilkes '78, offers her perspective. “Until Sam's e-mail, I knew nothing of the Pay It Forward program, and I am honored he selected me. This was a deciding factor in why I applied for the creative writing program at this time. I have looked at the program for a number of years but hadn't applied until completing the five-week creative nonfiction workshop with Sam. If I hadn't taken the five-week workshop, I doubt I would have applied for the creative writing program now. I am grateful for the nudge from Sam to apply.” “The benefit for me will be watching Janine grow,” says Chiarelli. “Joining the Wilkes Creative Writing program was a major turning point in my life - the people, the environment, the inspiration is absolutely priceless for someone who wants to harness their creative energies and push themselves to become a better writer. What happens in our program goes beyond degrees and publications. It's about taking your passion seriously, about pushing yourself to places you didn't know you could go. It's about finding people who not only understand you, but know how to get the best out of you, and help you excel. It's about being a writer, not just saying you're one or wishing you were one -- actually doing it. “In writing, it's very easy to get down on yourself when things aren't turning out how you imagined. I think anyone who comes into the program through Pay It Forward will have some extra incentive in those difficult times. They can take solace in knowing that someone believed in them, and their work. This is a very special entryway into our community.” Photography with Jeff Talarigo How did you get into photography, and how do you view it as part of your artistic life? Is it just something you do for fun, or do you take it as seriously as you take your writing? �I have enjoyed photography on and off over the years. I had a camera with me on my research trips for my novels on Gaza, the China/North Korea border and to Nagashima Island, which was a leprosarium. I got away from taking photos mainly because of the expense of having them developed. A couple of years ago, after coming back to California from the winter Wilkes residency, I found a small digital camera waiting for me, a gift from my son. I started carrying the camera with me almost everywhere I went. Is a talent necessary to take good photos? I think a good photographer or writer sees everyday things differently, but I also believe that there must also be a great deal of passion and empathy for the project. This is what I hope comes out of my photos and sentences. Are there specific things you like to photograph? I love doing nature and wildlife photos, but also photos of people when I travel. Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California is heaven for me, truly my favorite place on earth, a place that, when I am there, I feel that I am a better person. Do you do anything with your photos beyond taking them for your own use? At this point, I do it for the pleasure and as a way to create. I am mulling the idea of incorporating some of my photos into a memoir/family history/novel I am slowly chiseling away at. Or maybe a book of photos and writing. Do you use a lot of equipment? About five months ago I bought a 35 mm digital camera which is really sweet. I have two lenses: a standard 16-50 lens and a 55-210 lens, which has a bit of a zoom, but for wildlife photos I still need to get fairly intimate �with the animals. I think it is really good to learn on smaller lenses, much like when I began to golf when I was 12, I only carried three clubs with me: a 7-iron, a 9-iron and a putter. But photography, like golf, like writing, you always want that giant zoom lens, that new driver, to write Moby Dick. Do you wait long for the “perfect” shot? I have been known to wait quite a long time for that perfect shot, or, at least anticipating it, for it doesn’t always happen. How do you view your photography in the scope of your artistic life? For the past year or so, photography has been a savior for me, allowing me some peace of mind and a way to express myself creatively while I try and figure out how to find some time and money to do my next book project, a novel on human trafficking. How does photography affect your writing; do you think your photography brings things to your writing that you might otherwise miss? About three times a month I drive the sixty miles up to Point Reyes, leaving a little before five in the morning and coming back home well after dark. When I am there things slow down for me and I try to tell a story with the photos. But I am also writing as I trek through the forest, along the beach, atop the mountains; in fact, last weekend while walking through a field trying to photograph a Harrier Hawk, the ending of the four act play on Gaza I have been working on came to me. In both photography and writing I am patient and I don’t rush, allowing a scene to wash over me whenever it is ready. Sara Pritchard: Thurber Writer-inResidence 2016 The John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence program is an annual residency of four weeks where recipients are housed in a two-bedroom apartment in the family home of author and New Yorker cartoonist, James Thurber. The fellowship is designed to provide a writer with the gift of time to develop a work in progress. The writer-in-residence for 2016 is Sara Pritchard, faculty member in the Wilkes Creative Writing program. What does a residency like this mean to you as a writer? �Pritchard says, “A conventional residency (like the Thurber House ones) provides a writer with a respite from his/her daily routine, an opportunity to steal away, be alone, engage a bit with other writers, and just write. Residencies provide housing. Some also include meals. Many residencies provide a stipend (which varies wildly, anywhere from a few thousand dollars for a month, with some paying as much as $60,000 for a full academic year). Some stipends are without any strings attached, while others are with the agreement that a writer give a public reading and/or teach something like a weekend workshop for members of the community or for an affiliated school. Some require the writer to teach a class all semester and work one-on-one with graduate or undergraduate students. “Some residencies like VCCA (Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, vcca.com) ask their residents to contribute to their stay according to their own ability to pay. Residencies vary in length, generally, from a few weeks to a full year. The venues vary, too, from remote areas like ranches (New Mexico, Wyoming) to intercity (D.C.), to trains (AMTRAK: http://blog.amtrak.com/general-faqs/), ships and research stations, hotels (http://www.theparisreview.org/standardculture), and even shop windows (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/from-shopwindows-to-prisons-writers-in-residence-find-new-homes/article535465/). Check this out: http://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2013/10/10/9amazing-writers-residencies-from-around-the-world/” For a comprehensive list of artist residencies, see the website of the Alliance of Artist Communities at http://www.artistcommunities.org/residencies. According to the AAC website, there are: • an estimated 500 artists’ communities in the US and more than 1,500 worldwide • 30,000 artists are provided residencies each year (~10,000 in the U.S.) • residencies in the U.S. provide an estimated $40 million in support to �artists annually • 70% are multidisciplinary, serving visual artists, writers, composers, filmmakers, choreographers, and others 60% are in rural areas and small towns, while 40% are in urban areas • • 90% have public programs that engage the local community Do you go on writing retreats in general? No. In general, I prefer to stay home. I live a quiet life without the demands that many of my colleagues and students face, so residencies for me at this point in my life (semi-retirement) are more about earning some extra income and taking a little vacation, meeting other writers and interesting people, and spending time in a different place (walking around, visiting cemeteries and museums, etc.). I’ve done one other residency—a semester-long one in 2012 as the Thornton Writer-inResidence at Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, VA. I taught one workshop for three hours each week. I had great students, made some lifelong friends, lived in an apartment in an antebellum mansion, and loved exploring Lynchburg. Residencies are exciting, inspirational, rewarding, relaxing (for the most part), and yes, a bit stressful at first--like any adventure or travel. I’m really looking forward to spending a month in the “slightly haunted” James Thurber house in Columbus, Ohio. Stories always come to me when I’m away from home. The next one just may have a ghost (or two). Wilkes Workshops in Mesa, AZ In the spring of 2015, Austin Bennett MFA ’15, under the direction of Dr. Culver, developed a series of low-cost, four-week continuing education classes in the genres of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and screenwriting at the Wilkes University Mesa Campus. The founding instructors included: Bennett, alum Rene Allen MA ’15, and graduate assistant Mike Mortimer. These initial classes attracted beginning writers, journalists, selfpublished authors, and a New York Times bestselling children’s author. Primarily marketed through listservs, word-of-mouth, and Meetup.com, the classes averaged a 4:1 ratio which allowed for an intimate atmosphere to workshop student projects. Consistent with the graduate program goals, the classes were designed to produce a community-based atmosphere where students sharpened their craft while being encouraged. Several highly motivated and talented workshop participants have gone on to apply and enroll in the Wilkes graduate program. Children’s author Nate Evans says, “This was an incredibly helpful series �of classes. I went in with a story idea that had been stalled for months and this workshop got me thinking in new ways, gave me a lot of inspiration, and got me writing again. It also gave me a more nuanced critical lens through which to examine my own writing as well as new strategies to deal with my weaknesses and build on my strengths as a writer.” Now, with over 200 members on Meetup, Bennett notes, “We didn’t want to just be a resource, we wanted to break down those walls that divide writer from writer and writing group from writing group.” Through the program’s growing reputation, partnerships have formed with other local writing groups such as the Scottsdale Society of Women Writers where, this January, Wilkes alum Rene Allen will serve as the keynote speaker. This spring marks the program’s first anniversary and the third round of classes will feature two six-week long sessions in the most popular genres: fiction and memoir. Faculty News Faculty member Christine Gelineau has a new book in production: Crave. Gelineau's third full-length collection of poetry will be published in early February by NYQ Books. Faculty member Nancy McKinley's short story “The Dog” was selected to be included in the upcoming Dog Anthology, published by Main Street Rag.  Faculty Member Sara Pritchard will be the 2015 John E. Nance Writerin-Residence at the James Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio. Sara will be moving into the "slightly haunted" third-floor apartment of Thurber House for a month, beginning in mid-January, 2016.  Faculty member Jan Quackenbush’s short play “Attack at the PierreFontaine,” published by Blue Moon Plays, was recently produced by a newly formed senior drama group at the Perry County Opera House and Cultural Arts Center in Ohio.  Student News Amye Archer, MFA ’11 will have her memoir, Fat Girl, Skinny, published by Big Table Publishing this spring. Jennifer D. Bokal, MA ‘10 is pleased to announce the February 9 release of The Gladiator’s Temptation. It is the second book in The Champions of Rome series published by Montlake Romance. Jennifer’s novella, To Catch a Thief, a Romantic Thriller, will also be released in February as part of the Royals of Monterra Kindle World. Jennifer is also �the head of the steering committee for Lady Jane’s Salon of the Southern Tier, New York. LJSSTNY is a satellite of Lady Jane’s Salon, NYC © which brings writers of romance together with readers in a monthly reading series. LJSSTNY is held at Endicott Performing Arts Center on the second Saturday of each month. Tom Borthwick, MFA '09 has a flash fiction piece "You Belong to Me" appearing in Perihelion Science Fiction Magazine. David R. Brubaker, MA ‘14 is publishing his thesis, Liberace's Filipino Cousin, in early 2016 with ThingsAsian Press. Jim Craig, MA ’10 / James Craig Atchison officially launched his first crime novel, Blue Lines up in Arms, in Wilkes-Barre December 4-5. Published by Sunbury Press, and featuring fictional “Wavy Ray Beck” of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL hockey team, promotional events included a radio interview on WILK (Sue Henry’s AM talk show), a Jumbotron announcement during a WBS Penguins home game Friday, December 4, and a book signing at the downtown Barnes & Noble. Brian Fanelli, MFA ‘10 had his poem, "Lady Day Sings the Blues on YouTube," published in the winter issue of The Museum of Americana. Another poem, "What I Imagine My Parents Did After Dinner," was published by The Lascaux Review. Patricia Florio, MFA ‘11 is returning to the Wilkes family as a student again, this time to get her M.A. in Fiction. Gerald Gurka, MA '07 had his short play "A Christmas Card Portrait" recently produced and performed in Larksville, PA, as well as featured in various local media. Dawn Leas, MFA ‘09 will have her full-length poetry collection, Take Something When You Go, published by Winter Goose Publishing in 2016. Lori Myers, MA ‘09 short story "The Kindest Cut" will be published in the anthology Bad Neighborhood by Spooky Words Press. Christoph Paul, MA ’14 had his Bizarro Horror novel Slasher Camp for Nerd Dorks published by Eraserhead Press in November. It won the Black Book Award for best satire. The same month Social Media for AntiSocials: #HowToUseTwitter was published by Riot Forge. Christoph Paul was also featured in a Huffington Post feature about The Miami International Book Fair: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/renee-loiacono/11-secrets-on-how-to-mark_b_8626322.html Christoph has �officially started the imprint New English Press with the help of hiphop artist, bizarro author, and Navy man Grant Wamack. The press will focus on publishing Black, Hiphop and Bizarro Fiction. The two titles planned for 2016 are This Book Ain't Nuthing to Fuck With: A Wu-Tang Tribute Anthology and Booty Holocaust by Patrick Scott Barnes. Under the pen name Mandy De Sandra, Christoph published the political satire-erotica novella Fox News Fuckfest with New Kink Books, an imprint of Rooster Republic Press. It is Mandy's tenth book. MA student Ronnie K. Stephens recently had an essay published in Hippocampus Magazine and two poems published in Paper Nautilus. He has another essay forthcoming in The Good Men Project. He will part of a poetry panel/reading discussing body dysmorphia and gender at the International Annual AWP Conference and Bookfair in Los Angeles, March 30- April 2. Rachel Luann Strayer, MFA '12 is celebrating the East Coast premiere of her play, Drowning Ophelia, produced by Gaslight Theatre Company. Drowning Ophelia will be performed at the Theater at Lackawanna College in Scranton, PA, January 28-31. Quick Links Career Development Campus Safety and Internships Centers & Institutes Online Programs Programs E.S. Farley Library Human Resources Jobs at Wilkes Online Nursing Offices & Administration Accessibility Statement Financial Aid Adobe Acrobat® Reader Registrar's Office Finance Office Investor Relations Student Work Study Jobs Veterans Services Make A Gift �Visit Quick Links Schedule a Visit Parking Information Virtual Tour Campus Map Wilkes University 84 West South Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766 1-800-WILKES-U Contact Us Wilkes University © e © d c f � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Subject The topic of the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Description An account of the resource An archive of past issues of <em>Revise This!</em>, the official newsletter of the Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. 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Title A name given to the resource Revise This! | 2016-01.pdf Creative Writing Maslow Maslow Family Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Revise This Writing https://omeka.wilkes.edu/omeka/files/original/24ab2481ca066d95a13fa96404efd873.pdf c8a7720bc6b006eaf692194d08bd4368 PDF Text Text About Wilkes Home n Graduate Academics Academics n Graduate Admission & Aid Graduate Programs n Graduate Life Master's Degree Programs About Our Students n n The Arts Creative Writing MA/MFA Revise This! n Archives Revise This - November 2015 Revise This!   |   November 2015 Revise This! Archives As the end of the year approaches, we reflect on many of the accomplishments of the Creative Writing program’s faculty, alumni, and current students. Several significant 2015 events include the anniversary of the program’s 2017 2018 tenth year, which was celebrated throughout the June residency. In Revise This! - October, alum Marlon James, MA ’06 was awarded the Man Booker November 2019 Prize for his award-wining novel A Brief History of Seven Killings (see alum note). In November we presented the Second Annual Arizona Writer’s Conference in Mesa, featuring publisher, editor, and agent panels, screenwriters pitch sessions, workshops, readings, and a poetry slam. We also added eight testimonial videos to our website featuring alums and faculty discussing their impressions of our program. Q&A with Jean Klein – Wilkes Playwriting Faculty Interview with faculty Susan Cartsonis, Producer and President of Revise This! Archives n 2015 n n �Storefront Pictures • Marlon James, MA ’06, Wins Man Booker Prize for A Brief History of Seven Killings • Faculty Notes • The Wilkes Readers Theatre Group at the Norman Mailer Society • • The Second Annual Arizona Writer’s Conference Student/Alum Notes Q&A with Jean Klein – Wilkes Playwriting Faculty Jean Klein has created a new publishing/distribution company called Blue Moon Plays—which focuses on family oriented plays that have a place in schools. A sister website, Once in a Blue Moon Plays, will seek plays that have had their premieres and are now looking for more traction, Jean talks about these two new endeavors as well as other interests for the stage. What was your mindset in creating Blue Moon Plays? I had another publishing company for about ten years that sold primarily plays that were appropriate to schools and families. An emphasis on teens and seniors was another one of our bigger sellers. There are a lot of senior groups out there now. I wanted to go in a different direction.  With Blue Moon Plays, I wanted to focus on new plays of two kinds: one was the new play that probably wasn’t getting the traction it should—most people don’t know that it’s harder to get the second or third production of a play than it is the first. They call it first light, second light, third light and so on. And a lot of theaters now are just clamoring to get the premiere or the world premiere and after that, well, we’re not so interested in the second one. For a play to get a second and third light, even after a couple of good runs, like Bonnie Culver’s “Sniper” for example—it’s been off-Broadway, got good reviews, it was in LA and in a couple of other theaters—I’m looking for plays like hers.  New plays that are edgy and that tackle topics that are a little risky. Or that are interesting in terms of the way the writer has used the stage. They’re just a little bit unusual or different. Plays that are staged differently, uniquely make different use of the stage, and/or �deal with topics that are currently difficult to deal with that are touchy and edgy.  What got you into playwriting?  Actually, my degrees are in fiction. I have an MA and an MFA from the Writer’s Workshop at Iowa. My undergraduate degree was at Carnegie Mellon and I had dabbled a little with radio plays when I was in junior high and high school. Then I went to Carnegie Mellon and of course they have an amazing drama department. Their playwriting department then was not quite as well connected as it is today, but they were cool. I was at Iowa for two and a half years getting my MA at the writer’s workshop and I was taking playwriting at the same time. I found my very real mentor, Howard Stein, who was also oddly, [Wilkes Creative Writing faculty] Greg Fletcher’s mentor years later at Columbia.  So that’s the background between Greg and me. We both had the same mentor. I clicked with him and he kind of stayed my mentor for the rest of my life, actually.  And I just stayed a playwright. It just became my love. I’m a little bit of an introvert, and I find writing can be very lonely. What I found in the theater is that I can find a lot of people who were willing—actors and directors—who were willing to sit down and read through my plays with me and make comments and it became much more of a community activity. The joy in writing for me is not so much seeing something produced. It’s fun and nice to see them produced but it doesn’t give me that kick. What gives me the kick is sitting at a reading of a play, realizing there’s something just not quite right, with the scene or an act, and then suddenly having it all come into focus and saying, “Oh, I know what it is -I know what to do!” That to me is the joy. That very moment when I say, “I can fix that.” And that’s the kick I get as a teacher, when I see that happen to somebody else. I think what the basis for my interest in at least getting a forum for new plays that haven’t “hit” yet, but that have the merit and should be done. How do you find the plays? I tend to rely, especially for Once in a Blue Moon Plays, on playwrights whom I know or know of. For Once in a Blue Moon Plays I’m only looking for full length. One Acts are really hard to sell. Long one acts that run about 90 minutes are fine. If you are interested in what Jean Klein has to offer, visit BlueMoonPlays.com. Its sister site, Once in a Blue Moon Plays will be up later this month. – Interview by Dale Louise Mervine �Interview with faculty Susan Cartsonis, Producer and President of Storefront Pictures How did Storefront Pictures come to be?   I’d been a studio exec and I’d built a film company for three highly successful television show creators.  When they decided abruptly to close their STDREFRDnT doors for personal reasons, I PICTURES thought, I need to start my own company. When I looked at my own body of work and what my creative and business instincts tell me to make, it is always films from a female perspective. It turns out that this demographic, who largely drive the movie business, are grossly underserved. What were some of the struggles in the beginning? You had a history in filmmaking, so were you able to utilize some of your contacts, or did people sit back and see how you would do? Being a producer is always a struggle. It’s a relationship business so yes, I’ve leaned heavily and will always lean heavily on relationships. In film, as in raising a child, “It Takes a Village” as Hillary Clinton says. People STILL sit back to see how I will do. Your success serves to pave the way for you for about 30 seconds, and then you have to prove yourself again! Women in film (all aspects) has been a hot topic of late. I’ve seen you involved in many conversations, interviews, and panels where the charge for more women in film has been trumpeted. How have changes progressed since Storefront opened or even since you first entered the industry?  There’s a consciousness now that didn’t exist then. Geena Davis is working tirelessly through her Gender in Media institute to help create that consciousness. But the disparity in opportunity and the ridiculousness of Hollywood leaving money on the table still exists.   Some of the research I’ve done shows some increases in females working in film, but you’re there on the inside—have you seen it yet?    �There are, sadly, few increases. At the same time women are pushing for change in Hollywood, so too are LGTBQ supporters.  Do you see these groups working hand in hand to bring about more diversity?  Same with women of color, or even men of color—too often films still use “stock” actors to portray diverse characters.   I believe that where women lead, all diversity follows. In general, of course. We are, either by acculturation or genetically more about the good of the whole than individual achievement (part of the reason there are more female producers than directors), more about inclusion, and generally more about diversity—perhaps also because we are a majority yet treated as a minority. Would these groups working together affect change more rapidly, or do you think there is still enough push-back that “one at a time” makes more sense?   Gender and race rights have always been closely linked. Advances in one area support the other.  Everyone has both race and gender. Certainly any artist or filmmaker has a HUGE task in getting a movie made and might have to keep their focus on one cause above others, but anyone with a brain can see that race/gender/diversity inclusion rights are ALL linked. Ideally our work on the screen as well as through activism becomes a reflection of the change that we want to make.   What is the most satisfying part of production? Least satisfying? And what is involved in “prepping” a film? I say that production (which is physically rigorous) is the punishment for being good at development. I am so busy prepping two films right now that I seriously don’t have time to list all the things entailed in prepping a film.  I saw in an interview that you said you are a very visual person and if you can’t visualize the screenplay as you're reading, then you don’t think it’ll work as a film.  Is there one aspect of a screenplay, however, that strikes you when you’re reading? If I’m moved. Either to laugh, cry, or feel something deeply. Even if the material is flawed, if it moves something in me, I believe that it will reach other people and I’m moved to make it happen. Because I do believe we are all linked and if we can find that commonality in moments and themes between us, even in stories that seem incredibly unique, we can reach each other through the creative work that we do. �What is your advice to young screenwriters? Write something that entertains YOU. Interview by Dale Louise Mervine. Residing in York, Pennsylvania, Dale Louise is still trying to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up.  She’s the owner of Semicolon Creative, which only proves there is no vetting process for start-ups. Marlon James, MA ’06, Wins Man Booker Prize for A Brief History of Seven Killings On Tuesday, October 13, 2015, a wave of excitement rippled throughout Wilkes University. The prize had just been announced, and Wilkes alum Marlon James, MA ‘06, had just won the Man Booker Prize—a prestigious prize awarded each year for the best original novel written in the English language.    James was part of the first Creative Writing cohort and one of the first graduates of ABRIIEF HIITJ RY the MA class of 2006. His thesis became his second published novel, The Book of OF ·- , 'lhurlonJum,; • Night Women, in 2010.  That ¥EN Kil.LINGS 7ha~q~t_i_meJ novel was preceded by John Crow’s Devil, published by Akashic Books soon after James began the Creative Writing program. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1970, James was always interested in the history and people of that country. A Brief History of Seven Killings is an epic story told as an oral history in many voices. In December 1976, armed men stormed the home of musician Bob Marley, wounding him, his wife, and several others. This is the starting point of James’ look at the dark times in Jamaica through the 1970s, ‘80s, and into the 1990s.  Michael Wood, this year’s chair of the Man Booker Prize said, “It’s a crime novel that moves beyond the world of crime and takes us deep into a recent history we know far too little about.”  Congratulations, Marlon! Faculty Notes �Program Director Bonnie Culver was re-elected to the Association of Writers and Writing Program (“AWP”) Board of Trustees for another 4year term. She was also elected as Chair of the Board. Faculty member Beverly Donofrio had an essay, "Riding with the Top Down," published in the anthology, Shades of Blue: writers on depression, suicide, and feeling blue, edited by Amy Ferris for Seal Press, October 2015.  Faculty member J. Michael Lennon’s review of the new Gore Vidal biography by Scranton native Jay Parini, Every Time a Friend Succeeds, Something in Me Dies (Doubleday), appeared in the October 16 issue of the (London) Times Literary Supplement. His review of Kevin Oderman’s Cannot Stay: Essays on Travel (Etruscan Press) appeared in the October issue of Hippocampus Magazine. Faculty member and MFA alum Lori A. May‘s co-edited book, Creative Composition: Inspiration and Techniques for Writing Instruction, is now available from Multilingual Matters. She will be at the NonfictioNOW conference in Flagstaff, AZ, this fall, and will be on a panel about book marketing at AWP 2016 in Los Angeles. Lori has recently been awarded a project grant from 4Culture, a Washington state arts organization.   Faculty member David Poyer just found out he was published in SerboCroatian in 1981 . . . in a collection which included an unauthorized reprint of his short story, "If You Can Fill the Unforgiving Minute," translated as "Possljednja Utrka" by Aleksandar Gvoić. Pirated in Yugoslavia during the Cold War . . . he says “guess I'll take that as a compliment, all things considered . . . interesting cover for the collection. They never sent me a copy. . . .”  Faculty member David Poyer’s forthcoming novel Tipping Point (St Martin’s, December) was reviewed in Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, and Quarterdeck Magazine.  Reviews below: • “In Poyer's engrossing 15th Dan Lenson novel (after 2014's Cruiser), the skipper of the USS Savo Island faces challenges as old as those confronted by Horatio Hornblower and as new as the latest military sexual harassment charge…this series sets the standard for naval action thrillers.” – Publisher’s Weekly • “A hair-raising yarn of the sea and a U.S. Navy cruiser on the cusp of war... First-class storytelling by a master of the genre.” – Kirkus Reviews • “Crisp prose, punctuated with authentic operational naval details, create a page-flipping thriller. David Poyer continues his run as a master of modern naval fiction.” – Quarterdeck Magazine  �The Wilkes Readers Theatre Group at the Norman Mailer Society Presented a marathon reading of Tough Guys Don’t Dance October 1 and 2. The reading lasted 11 hours over two days at locales in Provincetown that served as settings in Mailer’s novel. Readers included Creative Writing faculty, alum, and current students: Bonnie Culver, Matthew Hinton, Ross Klavan, Carol Lavelle, Dale Louise Mervine, Jan Quackenbush, Bill Schneider, and Ken Vose. The Second Annual Arizona Writer’s Conference Was held at the Mesa Center for Higher Education on November 13 and 14. Featuring publisher, editor, and agent panels, screenwriters pitch sessions, workshops, readings, and a poetry slam, several Creative Writing faculty participated, including Phil Brady, Bonnie Culver, Beverly Donofrio, Ross Klavan, Jeff Talarigo, Richard Uhlig, and agent Albert LaFarge. Student/Alum Notes MA student Jeremiah Blue was recently asked to do a TEDx Talk on the convergence of slam poetry and social justice. He and his partner in the talk created a multi-media presentation, filming and showing his first official spoken word video, which they mixed with a live lecture on key foundations of advocating for social justice issues through art and performance/spoken word poetry. The presentation took place in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, October 24th and the video can be seen at www.jeremiahblue.com. Kait Burrier, MFA ’14 recently launched Sweet Nothings, a creative writing open mic series co-hosted by Andi Talarico in Manhattan's Lower East Side. In September, Kait served as curator of TheThePoetry's Poem of the Week feature. She also looks forward to returning as a guest editor for the 2015 Winter Issue of River & South Review. In November, Kait will feature at The Plunge NYC. More recent readings include Prose in Pubs, �Brooklyn Poets, At the Inkwell, Salon Lucero, Great Weather for Media's Spoken Word Sundays, the Watershed Reading Series, and the NYC Poetry Festival.  Brian Fanelli, MFA ’10 successfully defended his PhD dissertation on Monday, November 16.  His dissertation included a poetry collection entitled, Waiting for the Dead to Speak.  Fanelli’s new collection will be published by New York Quarterly Books. Congratulations to Dr. Fanelli, who joins former Binghamton PhD alums— Phil Brady, Bonnie Culver, Christine Gelineau, Nancy McKinley, and Robert Mooney. Fanelli’s poem, "Trying to Call Forth a Ghost," was published online by The Kentucky Review. The poem will also appear in the annual print addition in January. His poem, "What Our Cat Teaches Me in Dreams," was accepted for publication in Stone Canoe, and another poem, "Immigrant Names," was a finalist for the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Prize and will appear in The Paterson Literary Review in summer 2016. TheThePoetry and [PANK] recently published book reviews Fanelli authored, and in October, he read as part of a panel entitled "The Next Generation of Italian American Poets" at the Italian American Studies Conference in Washington, D.C. Patricia Florio, MFA ‘11 was featured in an article from Rutgers University Continuing Education News Center, “Where were you at 62? Court reporter finds her own words through Rutgers degree earned off campus.” bit.ly/1j9nAZq  MA student Jeffrey Ford will have three film critiques published in an upcoming issue of SCREEM Magazine. SCREEM #31 can be purchased at Barnes & Noble or through the publication's official website: www.screemag.com Tyler Grimm, MFA ‘13 will be giving two public presentations in the next few months: Fight Off Your Demons: Creative Writing as Therapy on November 6 and True Life: The Working Writer on February 19, both at Elizabethtown College where he is a faculty member. Tyler also recently published a short story he wrote while at Wilkes, Green Bean Casserole, in Vox Magazine. Monique Antonette Lewis, MFA ‘12 has expanded her reading series At The Inkwell to San Francisco. The series is now bi-coastal, including New York City. She plans to launch another series in Denver and Seattle by Spring 2016. Founded in 2013, At The Inkwell supports published authors through book reviews, readings, and feature articles.  Donna R. Malies, MA ’11 wrote her one act play "Marriage, Men, Menopause – No Laughing Matter" for the Pensacola 24 Hour Theatre on October 17, 2015.  As the name implies, the play was written and �produced in the span of 24 hours.  MA student Michael Mortimer wrote, directed, and edited a movie, In the Dark, in 2005 that has finally found release. The footage, lost for many years, was recently discovered in an attic somewhere. The ghost story can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfcxCBDp8go Linda Minh Chau Nguyen, MFA ’14 is a Narrative Development Tester at Ubisoft Montreal, working on Far Cry Primal, an upcoming actionadventure video game set to be released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on February 23, 2016. The trailer can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ2iH57Fs3M https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_Cry_Primal  Rachel Luann Strayer, MFA ’12 will have her full-length play Drowning Ophelia produced by Gaslight Theatre Company in Scranton, PA, at the end of January. Rachel has had four of her ten-minute plays produced by Gaslight.  Donna Talarico, MFA ‘10 presented a 3.5 hour pre-conference intensive workshop called "Words, Words, Words" at the Higher Education Web Professionals annual conference in October, held this year in Milwaukee, WI. This was her fifth consecutive year presenting at this event, this time moving from a 45-minute track session to a more in-depth workshop. Talarico also served on the conference committee this year in a communications role. She presented a shorter version of "Words, Words, Words" at the 2015 Northeast PA Blog Conference (better known as NEPA BlogCon) in September. Additionally, she was part of a nonfiction panel and editor speed-dating session at Philadelphia Stories' 2015 Push to Publish Conference October 10, and presented a session on personal branding at Moore College of Art and Design's Leadership Conference for Women in the Arts on October 17. She loves nothing more than combining words and business.  Quick Links Career Development Campus Safety and Internships Centers & Institutes Online Programs Online Nursing Make A Gift �Programs E.S. Farley Library Human Resources Jobs at Wilkes Offices & Administration Accessibility Statement Financial Aid Adobe Acrobat® Reader Registrar's Office Finance Office Investor Relations Student Work Study Jobs Veterans Services Visit Quick Links Schedule a Visit Parking Information Virtual Tour Campus Map Wilkes University 84 West South Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766 1-800-WILKES-U Contact Us Wilkes University © �e © d c f � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Subject The topic of the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Description An account of the resource An archive of past issues of <em>Revise This!</em>, the official newsletter of the Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. 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Title A name given to the resource Revise This! | 2015-11.pdf Creative Writing Maslow Maslow Family Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Revise This Writing https://omeka.wilkes.edu/omeka/files/original/6be73575cf619b61100ff1ea6505d96f.pdf 37b23d81c3713771addba0e322a760cb PDF Text Text About Wilkes Home n Graduate Academics Academics n Graduate Admission & Aid Graduate Programs n Graduate Life Master's Degree Programs About Our Students n n The Arts Creative Writing MA/MFA Revise This! n Archives n Revise This - August 2015 Revise This!   |   August 2015 Attention: Alums and Faculty! PAY IT FORWARD — A Unique Scholarship Opportunity Revise This! Archives Creative Writing Community Workshops Weekender Program Launches in Wilkes-Barre January 8 - 10, 2016 AWP – Los Angeles, March 30 – April 2, 2016 Indie Lit Festival in Frostburg James Jones First Novel Fellowship 2015 2017 2018 Call for Writers: At the Inkwell Revise This! - The Wilkes Creative Writing Library Collection November 2019 Wilkes University Tenth Anniversary Celebration Introducing Door is a Jar Faculty Notes Student/Alum Notes Attention:  Alums and Faculty! PAY IT FORWARD — A Unique Revise This! Archives Related Links Calendars & Schedules Campus Map Centers for Excellence 2015 n n �Scholarship Opportunity        If you, as an alum or faculty member, know a writer who would be an excellent fit for our program, you have the power to pass along a $2,500 program incentive. This one time payment is used to offset tuition for their first term of study — an incredible benefit when you consider that most creative writing students pay tuition out of their own pocket.  To PAY IT FORWARD, tell a fellow writer about the program and this award. Send us their contact information and we will track them through the admissions process. Or, simply ask them to reference your name when completing their application. The award will be applied to their first bill. This is an incredible opportunity to bestow a significant gift onto a fellow writer and help jumpstart their career. This initiative was created for alumni/faculty of our program to bestow, so please invite more writers to join our community. Our next residency will be held from January 8 to 16, 2016, when we will also launch our first weekender series (January 8 to 10). Help us promote the program and PAY IT FORWARD.  We congratulate our first PAY IT FORWARD recipient, Ronnie K. Stephens, who discovered our program through MFA alum Jason Carney. If you know someone you think would be a great fit at Wilkes, email or call Dr. Bonnie Culver at bonnie.culver@wilkes.edu or 570.408.4527 to let her know the name of the person applying for the program. Creative Writing Community Workshops Twelve creative writing workshops were implemented last year to introduce Wilkes University to the community in Mesa, Arizona. These workshops were so successful that five additional workshops are planned for 2015. We have also expanded these community workshops to the main Wilkes University campus. Following is a listing of these workshops, offered in Mesa and Wilkes-Barre: Fall Workshop Opportunities – Mesa, Arizona CREATIVE NONFICTION: YOUR STORY • 6:15pm – 8:15pm Tuesdays – Sept. 8, 15, 22, 29, Oct. 6, 13 • Cost: $50/$30 student ID “How do I turn my life into a story?” Join a community of writers who are dedicated to answering this question among others. Learn the various techniques used to convey emotion and memory through weekly • Faculty Publications • Graduate Bulletin (.pdf) • Graduate Bulletin Online • Graduate Student Handbook • Library • Office of the Registrar • Online Learning • Professional Pharmacy Application • School of Nursing - Graduate Program Student Handbook • Schools, Departments, Divisions �workshops grounded in the tradition of memoir. Be encouraged. Write your story. FICTION: THE UNTOLD STORY • 6:15 p.m. – 8:15 p.m. Tuesdays – Oct. 20, 27, Nov. 3, 10, 17, 24 • Cost: $50/$30 student ID Have you written a short story? Starting a novel? Don’t do it alone. Harness your curiosity by attending this class. Each week we will explore the elements of fiction through craft based discussion and workshop. Fall Workshop Opportunities – Wilkes-Barre Workshops in Fiction, Poetry, Screenwriting, and Creative Nonfiction will be conducted in September and October. These five-week, non-credit workshops are open to the public and are appropriate for adults of any age or educational level. Registration is $45 for each five-week series. The workshops available: FICTION • • Saturdays, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. Sept. 12, 19, 26, Oct. 3, and 10 Instructor: Francisco Tutella Learn the foundations of fiction writing. Whether you’re a new or established writer, expand your knowledge of the craft. In-class writing exercises and group workshops are designed to help improve work in a casual, supportive, and respectful environment.  POETRY • Tuesdays, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Sept. 15, 22, 29, Oct. 6 and 13 • Instructor: Dawn Leas Enjoy this introduction to poetry. Explore structure and language both visually and aurally through reading and discussing several American poets. Participants will also write and workshop original work.  SCREENWRITING • Wednesdays, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Sept. 16, 23, Oct. 7, 14, and 21 • Instructor: Dr. Bonnie Culver (No meeting September 30) Have an idea for a film, but don’t know where to start? This class will give you the basics of writing a screenplay, from formatting to structure to building great characters and using setting. Explore the world and craft as seen and used by the screenwriter. CREATIVE NONFICTION �• Thursdays, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Sept. 17, 24, Oct. 1, 8, and 15 • Instructor: Sam Chiarelli Explore personal interests to learn the foundations of creative nonfiction writing. In-class writing exercises and group workshops will help new and established writers expand their knowledge of the craft. Workshop members will also be given instruction on how to create a platform for their work and how to cultivate productive habits for a life of writing. Visit wilkes.edu/creativewriting for more information. Weekender Program Launches in Wilkes-Barre January 8 - 10, 2016 Following the success of the Weekender Program in Mesa, Arizona, Wilkes will launch the Weekender Program on the main campus in Wilkes-Barre in January, 2016. In lieu of the traditional eight-day residency, the Weekender Program delivers the same course work during four weekend classes (FridaySunday) over each six-month project term. Course work is delivered online, and the curriculum and requirements are the same as the lowresidency delivery method, including faculty and staff. Inaugural 2016 Term Weekend Class Schedule: • January 8-10 • February 26-28 • April 8-10 • May 20-22 This format is an alternative for students whose schedule prevents them from attending the eight-day on campus residencies. For additional information, please contact interim associate director Bill Schneider at 570.408.4534 or bill.schneider@wilkes.edu. AWP – Los Angeles, March 30 – April 2, 2016 The AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) 2016 Conference and Bookfair is taking place in Los Angeles from March 30 through April 2, 2016. The Wilkes Creative Writing program is �allotted 60 registration waivers, which covers only the cost of conference registration. If interested in attending AWP, you will be responsible for travel and hotel costs. If you are planning to attend the conference and would like to reserve a registration waiver, please contact interim associate program director Bill Schneider before Wednesday, September 30, 2015 – bill.schneider@wilkes.edu or 570.408.4534 More information about AWP16, including a list of accepted panels and featured presenters, is available at https://www.awpwriter.org/awp_conference/overview Indie Lit Festival in Frostburg The ninth annual Indie Lit Festival will be held in downtown Frostburg, Maryland with events on October 23 and 24, with a special Thursday, October 22 poetry slam at Dante’s Bar (14 West Main Street in Frostburg). Writers of any experience level are invited to bring self-written poems and verbally duke it out for cash prizes. It is $2 to attend and/or participate; registration begins at 7PM and the slam begins at 7:30PM.  For poetry slam guidelines, visit http://www.frostburg.edu/cla/contestsopportunities/poetry-slam/  With a projected turnout of 200 writers, artists, students, poets, and fellow faculty from neighboring universities, the Indie Lit Festival invites MFA students and faculty to this event as it has been an excellent resource for those who have attended in previous years. The festival garners active participation from the community and brings together writers, editors, and publishers through a variety of panel discussions and roundtable sessions with topics that range from DIY Publishing and Starting a Press, to Fictive Poetry and Poetic Fiction. Many of those who attend the Indie Lit Festival do so to gain more information about the craft of writing and how to hone their creative voice. The festival will include a book fair setup where MFA programs, publishing presses, and editors can set up and use their knowledge and experience to connect with all those in attendance.  The Indie Lit Festival will also be hosting readings of authors presented by editors and their presses. This year will feature readings from Michael �Ratcliffe (Free State Review), Mark Brazaitis (Autumn House Press), Margaret Bashaar (Sundress Publications), and Michael Gerhard Martin (Braddock Avenue Books). Other writers who will be in attendance include novelist Steve Sherrill, author Tim Wendel, Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Dunn, Nebula award winner Andy Duncan, and Guggeinheim Fellowship recipient Barbara Hurd among many others. For a full list of participating presses visit the website http://www.frostburg.edu/cla/indielit-festival/. James Jones First Novel Fellowship 2015 A prize of $10,000 is given annually for a novel-in-progress by a U.S. writer who has not published a novel. Runners-up receive $1,000. A selection from the winning work is published in Provincetown Arts, and the winner also receives complimentary travel and lodging to attend the James Jones Literary Society Conference. This year the conference will be held at Wilkes University on November 5 - 7, 2015. The 2015 James Jones Fellowship contest received a total of 623 submissions. The judges this year were Kaylie Jones, daughter of James Jones and novelist; Barbara Taylor, novelist and author of Sing In The Morning, Cry At Night; and Taylor Polites, novelist and author of The Rebel Wife. Following are the top four novels as decided by the judges: Winner ($10,000): Josie Sigler, Portland, Oregon, is the winner of the James Jones First Novel Fellowship with her manuscript titled The Flying Sampietrini, a novel. Runners-Up ($1,000): Reed Johnson, Takoma Park, Maryland, is the runner-up winner with his manuscript titled Love in the Afterlife. Crystal Hana Kim, Chicago, Illinois, is the runner-up winner with her manuscript titled If You Leave Me.  Honorable Mention:  Jake Andrews, Iowa City, Iowa, for his manuscript, Fiat Vita. �Call for Writers: At the Inkwell The At the Inkwell series is looking for fiction/non-fiction writers. The reading series is presented throughout the year at the KGB Bar in downtown New York. Anyone interested should contact Taylor Ropas (New York City scout for the series): tbrynropas@gmail.com. For more information about the series, please visit www.attheinkwell.com. The Wilkes Creative Writing Library Collection What do you do when you have over 100 published authors connected to your writing program and you want to share that with the world? Start your own library collection. With over 1,500 published works by Creative Writing faculty, alums, and program partners from Wilkes University, we are creating a home for this expanding collection of work, which includes books, produced plays, and screenplays. We have begun to collect copies of all published works by everyone connected to the Wilkes Creative Writing program. The E.S. Farley Library will house the Creative Writing collection.   Wilkes University Tenth Anniversary Celebration  uring residency this past June (June 19 – 26), we celebrated our 10-year anniversary with a slew of events including the 10-year anniversary gala, a ceremony dedicating our newly renovated building in the name of Dr. Harold Cox, alumni readings throughout the week, and special workshops taught by our program alums. 1W 'i'J All\ CRE1\'I 01 IVE WRITING We kicked off celebrations with an evening reading on Friday, June 19, at the Dorothy Dickson Darte Centre featuring alumni and faculty who have new books launching this summer. We continued on Saturday, June 20, with the evening gala, marking the 10-year anniversary and bringing program graduates, faculty, and current students together to reminisce �and celebrate. In addition to special presentations about the program’s history (including a compilation of videos produced by graduating classes, a photo exhibition, and a silent auction), we presented program founders Dr. Bonnie Culver and Dr. J. Michael Lennon with framed art pieces. Using photos from cohorts, residencies, and workshops over the past 10 years, MFA student and program graduate assistant Nathan Summerlin created a mosaic piece that depicts the newly named Dr. Harold Cox Hall.  The program’s building dedication took place on Wednesday, June 24, at the newly renovated building at 245 South River Street, where a special ceremony was held to thank Dr. Harold Cox for his generous financial gift to the program as well as his many years of unwavering support. Since the program’s inception, Dr. Cox has taught the research methods course and has assisted numerous students, alum, and faculty in their search for those niggling details that enable our writing to bear the seeds of truth.  During its first decade, the program has launched the careers of dozens of writers —including many from northeastern Pennsylvania. Throughout the week, beginning on Sunday, June 21, and continuing through Thursday, June 25, more than 60 alumni with published books, produced plays, and optioned screenplays, returned to Wilkes to share their work. On Friday, June 26, we held our graduation ceremony and welcomed alum Morowa Yejidé as the keynote speaker. Yejidé’s novel Time of the Locust was a 2012 finalist for the PEN Bellwether Award and longlisted for the PEN Bingham Award. In celebrating her success, Yejidé also reminded what a harrowing climb the writing life can be: “There is no writing life. There is your life and how you fit writing into it.” Whatever works for you is what works for a writing life. In the low-residency program at Wilkes, we encourage our students to find the ways in which to embed writing in their daily life — to include it as one includes bathing, dressing, and eating. Yejidé reminded us, “No one is going to fix your story. That’s up to you. You’re going to have to put in the work,” but also that, “No one remembers the critic.” With a decade behind us, those critics are silenced as we look ahead to the next successful 10 years. Introducing Door is a Jar  Founded in 2015 by Wilkes alumni Ahrend Torrey and Max Bauman, Door is a Jar is a bi-annual online magazine of poetry, short fiction, nonfiction, drama, and D ,QR= Ill R on open publication �artwork from everyday writers and artists.  It features writing that has cadence, personality, and uses familiar language that takes readers on a journey. Door is a Jar aims to be a bridge from heart to heart, from life to life.  It aims to embrace everyone, redefining what art and literature is, making it understandable and enjoyable for anyone willing to sit down and read. Look for a future post in The Write Life blog for the genesis and ambitions of this new literary magazine, and check out Door is a Jar magazine at http://www.doorisajarmagazine.com Faculty Notes Faculty member Phil Brady recently published the following: Books:To Banquet with the Ethiopians: A Memoir of Life Before the Alphabet (Broadstone Books 2015); Poems and Their Making: A Conversation (ed.) (Etruscan 2015). Periodicals: At Length, “Book VII Redaction” from To Banquet with the Ethiopians: A Memoir of Life Before the Alphabet; The Literary Review, “Book XII The Etymology of Queens” from To Banquet with the Ethiopians: A Memoir of Life Before the Alphabet; Poems and Their Making “Book X Wiretap” from To Banquet with the Ethiopians: A Memoir of Life Before the Alphabet, an essay about making the poem; Best American Poetry Blog, “D. M. Spitzer May I Publish You;” Best American Poetry Blog, “Basketball at 60;” Best American Poetry Blog, “The Sea is Wild Tonight” reprinted from By Heart: Reflections of a Rust Belt Bard (University of Tennessee, 2008). Brady also received the Ohio Governor’s Award in Arts Education; was named Distinguished Professor at Youngstown State University; and Etruscan Press (which Brady co-founded and serves as executive director) was named one of five finalists for AWP’s 2015 Small Press Award. �Faculty member Susan Cartsonis produced The Duff, which was nominated for five Teen Choice Awards: Choice Movie Comedy; Choice Actor – Robbie Amell; Choice Actress – Mae Whitman; Choice Movie Villain – Bella Thorne; Choice Movie Liplock – Mae Whitman & Robbie Amell. Susan attended the awards ceremony with her teenaged niece, Amelia Nicot, on August 16, and is proud that The Duff won for Best Villain. Program Director Bonnie Culver’s 10-minute play “GPS” was included in the winter Piney Fork Short Play Festival held in NYC. Directed by faculty member Gregory Fletcher, “GPS” was named the “Number 1 Play of the Festival” and the cast was invited to reprise the play as the headline feature in the summer festival. Faculty member Gregory Fletcher's short play “Family of Flechner” was selected to be included in the upcoming anthology The Best TenMinute Plays of 2016, published by Smith & Kraus, Inc.  Faculty member J. Michael Lennon’s “Mailer’s Letters: A Colloquy at the Strand Bookstore,” a transcript of a Lennon-Morris Dickstein conversation about Lennon’s edition of Mailer’s letters recently published by Random House, will appear in Vol. 9 of the Mailer Review, out in fall 2015. His review of the new biography of Gore Vidal by Scranton native Jay Parini is slated to appear in TLS this fall.  Faculty member and MFA alum Lori A. May is presenting a talk on literary citizenship at the Montana Book Festival this September. Her book The Write Crowd: Literary Citizenship & the Writing Life has been nominated for an award, with public details to come at a later date. Faculty member and MFA alum Taylor M. Polites' short story "Armory Park" was published in the Akashic Books anthology Providence Noir, �edited by Ann Hood. The story was republished in August in the literary magazine Voice and Eye. Polites has also launched a new venture in partnership with writers Ann Hood and Hester Kaplan dubbed Goat Hill, offering creative writing workshops, talks, seminars, and sociability. Faculty member Juanita Rockwellwas awarded a 2015 Rubys Artist Grant from the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance to write the script, lyrics and music for Little Patch of Ground, a play with songs. Faculty member Neil Shepard's seventh book of poetry, Vermont Exit Ramps II, will be published in September 2015. The collection features 50 poems and 50 photographs composed along the highways and back roads of Vermont. Shepard also delivered a poetry lecture in June called "The Art of Concealing and Revealing in Poetry," which will be televised on Vermont Public Television in the coming months, and he will be reading from his new books this fall at Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH; Phoenix Books in Burlington, VT; and the Spectrum Reading Series in NYC. He will also be teaching in the first Rhodes Scholar's poetry program at the Chautauqua Institute in Chautauqua, NY, this fall. Student/Alum Notes MA graduate Molly Barari ‘15 received a scholarship to attend Sue William Silverman's memoir writing workshop at the Vermont College of Fine Arts Postgraduate Writers' Conference in August. MFA alum Maxwell Bauman ‘14 recently published a free eBook, a supernatural thriller titled Graven Image: Sculpt Me. MA alum Cheryl Bazzoui ‘14, writing under the pen name Ann McCauley, had her essay “Focused Writing Time” published in July/August Working Writer Newsletter and a review of The Search for Anne Perry by Joanne Drayton in the July/September Writer Advice Newsletter. Cheryl is an associate book reviewer for StoryCircle.org, and her most recent book reviews include: War Creek by Susan Marsh on April 2, 2015, The Same Sky by Amanda Eyre Ward on April 18, 2015, Stella Rose by Tammy Flanders Hetrick on May 15, 2015, and My Autistic Awakening by Rachel Lee Harris on July 1, 2015.  MA student Jeremiah Blue ‘15 was privileged to win the Arizona state title for slam poetry at the Copper State Poetry Slam on August 8. The event took place at Firecreek Coffee Company in Flagstaff, Arizona. The annual event is the definitive state championship for slam poetry in Arizona. Jeremiah was the Executive Director for the event in 2013 and 2014, organizing and hosting it in downtown Phoenix. Normally a team event, it was converted into an individual competition for this year. It was a three round, traditionally timed and scored poetry slam event. Jeremiah �advanced to the final round, with a .5 deficit to the first place poet. However, with a higher scoring poem in the final round, he emerged the victor of the event, collecting a cash prize and the title of Copper State Poetry Slam Champion. MA alum Jennifer Bokal’s ‘10 novel, The Gladiator’s Mistress, was released on July 12. It debuted at No. 3 in the Kindle’s Ancient World Historical Romance category and within two days it moved up to the No. 1 position, where it has remained. Her second book in The Champions of Rome series, The Gladiator’s Temptation, will be released in late 2015 or early 2016 by Montlake Romance. Currently, Jen is hard at work on the third book in the series entitled The Gladiator’s Redemption.  MFA alum Tom Borthwick's ‘09 short story "Silencing the Machine" was published by Theme of Absence and a previously published short story entitled "Welcome to the Singularity" has been turned into a screenplay and is in the process of being filmed. The film, Solacium, will wrap production in September 2015. Promotional videos and information can be found on the Solacium Facebook page or at www.solaciumcorp.com. MA student Melody Breyer Grell’s ’15 essay, “Billie Holiday, Cabaret, Hall of Fame,” appears in issue 9/10/2015 of Cabaret Scenes. MA alum Renee Butts '08 published her novel Siren Slave under her pen name, Aurora Styles.  MFA alum Tara Caimi ‘10 read from her memoir Mush: From Sled Dogs to Celiac, the Scenic Detour of My Life and presented on a panel of firsttime authors at “HippoCamp: A Conference for Creative Nonfiction Writers” held August 7 - 9, 2015. MA alum Jim Craig's ‘10 maiden crime fiction novel, Blue Lines Up In Arms , written under his penname James Craig Atchison, will be published by Sunbury Press on September 18. Sunbury Press has also contracted for the sequel to this series, Blue Lines & Old Money (his Wilkes 'capstone' project), which is targeted for March 2016 release. MFA alum Craig Czury ‘08 has been co-hosting an exciting new poetry series, recently touted as "rural intellectualism at its finest." The Old School Poetry Series, at The Springville Schoolhouse Art Studios in Springville, PA, has featured many notable poets including Kerry Shawn Keys, Rick Kearns, and Maria Jacketti. Upcoming poets include: Mischelle Anthony (September 13), Michael Jennings (October 11), and Michael Czarnecki and Sue Spensor (November 14). Take a country drive to be part of the most spirited and happening literary scene in northeast Pennsylvania. Visit www.craigczury.com for details. �MA student Wendy Lynn Decker ‘15 has been invited to the yearly New Jersey Association of Librarians at the Ocean Place Hotel in Long Branch, New Jersey, to showcase her young adult novel, Sweet Tea, in the "Author's Alley." This event takes place on the weekend of November 13 - 15. Visit wendylynndeckerauthor.com for more information. MA student Kayleigh DeMace’s ‘15 short story, “Emma,” has been accepted into an anthology entitled Let's Not, And Say We Did, to be published by Last Syllable Books. MA alum Cindy Dlugolecki ‘11 had three staged readings of short plays over the summer and one scheduled for the fall. Oyster Mill Playhouse in central Pennsylvania featured Paper Trail in a festival of original works over Father's Day weekend. Her Birthday Surprise premiered in the Dorothy Darte Center during the tenth anniversary celebration of the Wilkes Creative Writing program. Birthday Surprise had a second staged reading in August during the Cicada Festival in Mt. Gretna, Pennsylvania, and will be produced as a staged reading a third time at the Hershey Area Playhouse in September. MFA alum Brian Fanelli ‘10 will be part of a poetry panel/reading at the Italian American Studies Association's conference in Washington, D.C. in October. In addition, Brian recently had poems published in Paterson Literary Review, and he has poems forthcoming in the fall issues of Poetry Quarterly and Ishka Bibble. MA alum Donna Ferrara ‘14 has had short stories published in Adanna, r..k.v.r.y, The Diverse Art Project,the MacGuffin, and The Evansville Review this summer. MFA alum Patricia Florio ‘11, founding member of The Jersey Shore Writers, had a great night at the KGB Bar in Manhattan on July 8, 2015, reading from the Shore Writers latest anthology Darkness Falls at the Jersey Shore. They tell tales of noir taking place in the towns of the Jersey Shore from Sandy Hook to Atlantic City. The book can be purchased on Amazon.com. In July 2015, Patricia was notified that her nonfiction story “Missing” will be published in Door Is A Jar magazine. MFA alum Vito Gulla's ‘13 short story “Galacta” was published in The Subtopian: Selected Stories: Volume 2, and his story "High Score" is forthcoming this September in The Big Click. MA student Jennifer Jenkins ‘15 is a new graduate assistant in the marketing communications department at Wilkes University. MA alum Mark Levy ‘08 had a story, “Juggling with Sherlock’s Friend,” published in the Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, Issue 15. He also �had a number of his legal advice columns for videographers published in Videomaker Magazine going back some 20 years. The Mensa Bulletin has scheduled publication of his essay on outwitting automatic toilets and other appliances in men’s rooms in October 2015. Mark is working on a book of 120 humorous pieces to be published by Bon Fed Publishing LLC entitled Trophy Envy, that comprises seven years of essays à la Andy Rooney which were broadcast on the NPR show, Weekend Radio. MA alum Deborah Makuma ’13 is now a full-time English faculty member at Arizona State University in the Writers' Studio Program.  MFA alum Ginger Marcinkowski's ‘11 first mystery short story, “Invisible,” was just named the winner of the 2015 Arizona Writer's Mystery Contest.  MA alum Gale Martin ‘10 had two eBooks purchased and republished by the Encore imprint of Amazon publishing: Grace Unexpected and Who Killed 'Tom Jones’? in 2015. Her novel Who Killed 'Tom Jones'? was also named a finalist in the 2014 Chanticleer Book Reviews Mayhem and Murder category. In August, she presented a session at Hippocamp15 called Arachno-cyber-phobia, in which she documented the challenges, surprises, and rewards of cultivating an online presence.  MFA alum Vicki Mayk's ‘13 essay "Letting Go of My Mother" appeared on The Manifest-Station web site (the manifestation.net) in July 2015. She completed a two-week writing residency at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, in July, where she worked on her nonfiction book-in-progress and was a featured reader at Poetluck, the colony's monthly reading series for the community. In August, she presented the workshop "Writing Grief: Re-Storying The Lives of Those We've Lost" at HippoCamp, the nonfiction conference started by alum Donna Talarico-Beerman. Vicki presented along with MFA alum Heather Taylor and MA alum Tiffany Hadley. This fall she will once again be teaching a memoir workshop for St. Luke's Hospice in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  MA alum Todd McClimans's ‘12 second time travel/historical novel Time Underground was published by Overdue Books, an imprint of Northampton House Press. MA alum Lori M. Myers' ‘09 theater for young audiences musical "Cinderella and the Lone Prince" was produced by Gretna Theatre, a professional summer stock theater in Mt. Gretna, PA. It was also performed at Weathervane Theatre, a professional theater in Whitefield, NH. Lori will be moving to New York where she will be teaching writing at Dominican College.  �MA alum Christoph Paul ‘14, under the pen name Mandy DeSandra, published a Bizarro Erotica book Kirk Cameron & The Crocoduck of Chaos Magick which was a break out book in July, being covered by Gawker, AV Club, Wonkette, Jezebel, Vocativ, and VICE. The follow up Ravished by Reagansaurus, inspired by fellow Wilkes student P. Casey Telesk, was published in mid-August. Christoph also published an article "Bizarro Fiction and the Literary Community" in Otter Magazine http://ottermagazine.com/article/bizarro-fiction-and-the-literarycommunity/ and will be publishing a How-To Twitter book with Riot Forge titled Social Media for Anti-Socials: #HowToUseTwitter. He is also publishing his humor fiction book A Confederacy of Hot Dogs for small press Dynatox Ministries. Finally, Christoph has joined the staff of ThatLitSite.com and ThatLitPress and will be editing and publishing Walk Hand In Hand Into Extinction: Stories Inspired By True Detective. MFA alum Adrienne Earle Pender ‘11 has been selected by the Eugene O'Neill Foundation Board to be the third Tao House Fellow in the Travis Bogard Artist in Residence Program at Tao House. Adrienne will spend three weeks at Tao House in September working on her play that will explore the relationship of O'Neill and her relative, actor Charles Sidney Gilpin, who starred in the premiere of O'Neill's play The Emperor Jones in 1920. MFA alum Laurie Elizabeth Powers ’13 was awarded the Louisiana Jury Best Screenplay for her short script "The Importance of Sex Education" at the 2015 Hollyshorts Festival in Los Angeles, CA. The prize comes with a $10,000 production grant to shoot the film in northern Louisiana courtesy of the Louisiana Film Prize (http://lafilmprize.com), effectively green lighting the film. You can follow the film and production news at http://www.importancemovie.com.  MFA alumni Sarah Pugh ‘10 and Cory Brin's ’10 original television series pitch, "The Department," was chosen as one of the ten finalists in the ATX Television Festival Pitch Competition, after submitting a 90second video and a sample pilot script. They pitched their concept live to a panel of industry professionals on June 5 in Austin, Texas. The pitch was very well received, despite not winning the grand prize. The winning pitch had puppets. They can't compete with puppets. MA alum Dania Ramos's ‘10 middle grade novel WHO'S JU, published by Northampton House Press/Overdue Books, won the 2015 International Latino Book Award for Best Young Adult eBook and placed second for Best First Book, Children/Youth.  MA alum Lynne Reeder's ‘10 short story "Marked" won first place in the East Meets West: American Writers Review spring contest, and appears in their Spring 2015 edition. Lynne also won a third place for her poem �"Unbridled" and an honorable mention for her poem "Innocence" in the 14th annual Sophie B. Choice Awards for Poetic Excellence. MFA alum Joseph J. Schwartzburt ‘13 is proud to brag about Seersucker Live's inaugural writing workshop in historic downtown Savannah, Georgia, February 3 – 7, 2016. Featured faculty includes nationally renowned authors Amelia Gray, Arna Bontemps Hemenway, and poet Patricia Lockwood. For more information: www.seersuckerlive.com/workshop.  MFA alum Morowa Yejidé's ‘12 novel Time of the Locust has been released as an audiobook and can be obtained athttp://www.morowayejide.com/time_of_the_locust_audiobook. The Time of the Locust paperback edition will be released by Simon & Schuster/Atria books October 6, 2015. MA alum Marlon James’s ’06 novel A Brief History of Seven Killings has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Quick Links Career Development Campus Safety and Internships Centers & Institutes Online Programs Programs E.S. Farley Library Human Resources Jobs at Wilkes Online Nursing Offices & Administration Accessibility Statement Financial Aid Adobe Acrobat® Reader Registrar's Office Finance Office Investor Relations Student Work Study Jobs Veterans Services Make A Gift �Visit Quick Links Schedule a Visit Parking Information Virtual Tour Campus Map Wilkes University 84 West South Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766 1-800-WILKES-U Contact Us Wilkes University © e © d c f � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Subject The topic of the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Description An account of the resource An archive of past issues of <em>Revise This!</em>, the official newsletter of the Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. 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Title A name given to the resource Revise This! | 2015-08.pdf Creative Writing Maslow Maslow Family Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Revise This Writing https://omeka.wilkes.edu/omeka/files/original/7da5b575c698e18f1f6585f24be1cae1.pdf 54c467652cbf73f088df73603222d161 PDF Text Text About Wilkes Home n Graduate Academics Academics n Graduate Admission & Aid Graduate Programs n Graduate Life Master's Degree Programs About Our Students n n The Arts Creative Writing MA/MFA Revise This! n Archives n Revise This - March 2015 Revise This!   |   March 2015 Revise This! Revise This Archives Archives Marlon James Continues to Knock ‘em Dead with Seven Killings Cracking Open Nesting Dolls More and More Alums Migrating “Home” to Wilkes Gaia: A Story of How Human Gardens Can Make for a Successful Screenplay 2017 2018 A Talk with Gregory Fletcher about his Shorts Revise This! - Guidance by Mentorship by Austin Bennett November 2019 Faculty/Staff Notes Student/Alum Notes Revise This! Archives Marlon James Continues to Knock ‘em Dead with Seven Killings  UPDATE Oct. 13, 2015: Creative Writing grad Marlon James '06 has won the 2015 Related Links Calendars & Schedules Campus Map Centers for Excellence 2015 n n �Man Booker Prize for A Brief History of Seven Killings. He is the first Jamaican author to win the Man Booker Prize, considered one of the most prestigious prizes in literature. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recently, Wilkes alum Marlon James has been making international news in the literary world with the release of his latest novel A Brief History of Seven Killings, which has been featured in numerous media outlets from The New York Times to BuzzFeed. The novel takes readers from the violent streets of West Kingston to New York, and then within the scope of a 30-year span, back to a drastically changed Jamaica. The story reveals the perspectives of a wide range of characters including gunmen, drug dealers, CIA agents, and spectral beings. The “briefness” insinuated in the title as well as its specificity of body count are belied by its near 700-page length and abundant body count, which immediately signals the reader to the novel’s weight, both metaphorical and literal. Even though James was born and raised in Jamaica, he has stated that his fiction is only minimally related to his own life story. In an interview with Biographile, he detailed how he (along with four other researchers) did extensive studies on the time period of the book, from the history of the CIA and The Cold War to back issues of High Times and Bob Marley books. Not incidentally, A Brief History of Seven Killings begins with the attempted assassination of Bob Marley and his family. James made an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, on March 3rd, and spoke candidly about the inspiration for the novel: “I was writing a story about this sexually-conflicted gay man in Chicago trying to kill this Jamaican guy.” He tells about how he “kept running into dead ends,” not only with this character but another, and he thought they were simply failed attempts at novellas until his friend Rachel told him, “You know this is one story,” which helped him bring it all together. Additionally, he relates that there are actually eight killings in the novel, but he retained its title because A Brief History of Eight Killings would be “so unsexy.” A Brief History of Seven Killings has been named one of the best books of 2014 by The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Newsweek, The Huffington Post, The Seattle Times, The Houston Chronicle, Publisher’s Weekly, and many more. It also brought in the New Year by placing on the BBC’s list “The Top Ten Books of 2014.” Additionally, it was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction, the second time he has been nominated for this award. The Book of Night Women, his • Faculty Publications • Graduate Bulletin (.pdf) • Graduate Bulletin Online • Graduate Student Handbook • Library • Office of the Registrar • Online Learning • Professional Pharmacy Application • School of Nursing - Graduate Program Student Handbook • Schools, Departments, Divisions �second novel, was also a finalist. James received his master’s in creative writing from Wilkes University in 2006, as a member of the first cohort and joined Macalester College’s English faculty in 2007. His writing has since earned an impressive list of accolades. John Crow’s Devil, his debut novel, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and The Commonwealth Writers Prize. It was also a New York Times Editors’ Choice. His later novel, The Book of Night Women won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Minnesota Book Award. Considering his continually growing array of success that is bolstered with each new release, Marlon has evolved from a student into a beacon of the program’s excellence. Cracking Open Nesting Dolls Salena Fehnel’s novel, Nesting Dolls, recently received the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and has served as a platform to talk about the cyclical nature of domestic abuse. Her novel starkly illustrates the patterns of behavior caused by parental influence through the narrated accounts of three generations of women and further highlights the struggles of the younger generations to forge a new path against the tide of those patterns. Fehnel explains, “domestic abuse is one of those imprints that seems to stick from generation to generation, with primarily the women choosing abusive partners. I wanted to write a story about breaking that cycle.” Nesting Dolls does just that by demonstrating the connection between mothers and daughters, and the trials they face. Fehnel continues, “since Nesting Dolls came out, I have had so many women come up to me at events and tell me that they are the first generation to break the cycle of abuse, which is incredibly gratifying to hear, since the book was inspired by such stories.” When Fehnel first started writing this story in 2004, Valentine’s perspective was dominant, but as she continued the story, issues of Valentine’s past left Fehnel with so many unanswered questions, other points of view began to emerge. Valentine, one of three main characters in Nesting Dolls, comes from a long line of dysfunctional relationships and neglect. In caring for her sixyear-old brother for the entirety of his young life, she comes to realize �how devastating and dysfunctional her family’s behaviors have been and commits to making change. The story shifts back to her mother Theresa, a pregnant thirteen-year-old and shifts again to her grandmother Caroline, who herself is in the midst of an abusive marriage. Each character’s narrative takes place in a similar age bracket, which helps to depict the divergent characteristic of the various time periods. Fehnel said her biggest challenge was “separating them enough that they felt like individuals.”  As the plot formed and their circumstances became more vivid, their voices evolved in riveting dialogue and subtext. “We all have family ‘stuff’ that we don’t share with other people that lies deeply hidden and is sometimes never spoken about,” Fehnel says. “Valentine’s is more visible to the outside world, but who she chooses to become, how she chooses to break the cycle, and ultimately what she does for the generation that will follow her and her brother, is done through love, a lot of bravery, and heart.” Fehnel’s second novel, The Payment Plan, is in the final stages of editing and will be released this summer. Her third novel Fortunemaker is in progress. When Fehnel isn’t writing, she is teaching fiction and aiding her students in finding their voices. Fehnel is also proud to be working on a project called A New Day, which is a GoFundMe campaign that finances domestic abuse kits for women in difficult and potentially dangerous situations. “It’s just getting started,” she says, “but I am dedicated to making it work because, like Valentine, Theresa, and Caroline, it could make the difference in entire generations to come.” More and More Alums Migrating “Home” to Wilkes “Attending Wilkes is my No.1 hobby!” says Florida native Michael Soloway, who has returned to the program to study fiction writing. While many alums stay both active and vocal in the Wilkes community beyond graduation, Soloway is a part of a trend of alums returning to the program to pursue additional degrees in either different genres or the recently added track in publishing. Alums are awarded for returning with a reduced tuition �rate and the advantage of knowing the ins and outs of the program and its substantial successes. For Michael, writing is no hobby; it’s a profession (though he does list among his hobbies a proclivity to the infamous Talarigo naps). He is the editor of Georgia Southern Magazine at Georgia Southern university as well as their assistant director of University publications. Among his current works in progress are a full-length play, two 10-minute plays, and a novel to boot. He also maintains a healthy habit of reading most recently with Gregory Fletcher’s new craft book, Shorts & Briefs, among others. Soloway was originally inspired to apply to Wilkes University after researching Beverly Donofrio. When he saw that she “teaches at the lowres writing program” at Wilkes, he “instantly applied.” Now he “can’t seem to stay away.” He compares it to a family like in the Godfather that keeps pulling him back in and challenging him in new ways.  As an ambitious student, Soloway originally studied creative nonfiction/memoir, which led to his own memoir, Share the Chameleon, about his attempt to liberate himself from the previous patterns of family abuse after he became a father for the first time at 41. He continued to explore this theme in his M.F.A. analytical paper, which examined the “masks [both literal and figurative] that people wear to hide fear, shame and guilt growing up in an abusive household.” Soloway was also fortunate and driven enough to have received a double concentration in playwriting with Greg Fletcher, who was instrumental in helping Soloway shape his memoir. He had a love for both genres, and, after writing the first draft of his memoir, he “wanted to let it sit, take a break from prose, and explore more of [his] love for the stage.” Soloway then developed, as the final piece of his M.F.A. creative work, a full-length play titled, “The Flower Rules,” which he composed under the tutelage of Jean Klein.  �Soloway notes that the Wilkes creative writing program has fulfilled all of his expectations so far, and though he has participated in other lowresidency writing programs at both Hollins University and Lesley University, which have been ranked as the “best,” Soloway believes, “Wilkes supersedes them in every way. This is one case in which numbers do lie. Rankings are nice to look at and brag about and refer to, but ultimately it’s all about comfort, structure and guidance.” He continues saying that “the ‘top’ programs are only tops if they’re the best fit for you.”  Beyond the curriculum, he stresses the importance of finding the right mentor (or mentors) to guide student writers. He also praises the cohort model, saying “lifelong friendships are made that way; it’s what gives Wilkes that family feeling.” Soloway admits to being a bit of workaholic having originally drafted his memoir in three months, and he has written in several genres. He says, “ultimately, I decided to return because I trust the people at Wilkes. It’s home. And I needed help in finishing a novel, something with a longer narrative arc.” He hopes to one day teach, and he knows that a M.A. in fiction will better his resume. If you are you a Wilkes alum, and you are toying with the idea of returning to Wilkes to pursue an additional degree, Soloway says, “I’m not a Nike guy; I like Adidas. But I say, ‘Just do it!’” “With the wide variety of mentors, genres, and experience Wilkes never runs out of skills to add to a writer’s toolbox and that makes it well worth the tuition.” Soloway knows that his time at Wilkes has been a cornerstone to his goals of publishing, producing, and teaching. He has been on the journey to becoming an author and full-time writer since the third grade, and he concludes with “even on those days when I’m not following my dream, I know it’s still following me.” Gaia: A Story of How Human Gardens Can Make for a Successful Screenplay Over the past year, Autumn Stapleton-Laskey’s science-fiction screen play Gaia has been the recipient of numerous awards such as first place in the Science Fiction category at the World Series of Screenwriting and first place in The Indie Gathering’s Sci-fi Feature Contest. Currently, it is publicly available to read, free of charge, on the Screen Writer’s Showcase and The Black List. The screenplay is set in a near-future world where human clones are grown in gardens to provide organs for non-clone citizens. The �very first clone, Gaia, “wakes up” at the beginning of a harvest season and head scientist Cecillia Roden, who happens to be Gaia’s creator, endeavors ceaselessly to understand how. Stapleton-Laskey worked on Gaia, which was originally her thesis at Wilkes, for about a year to a year and a half. During that time she lived on steady flow of Monster beverages. She ate, drank, and breathed the story as she fostered its evolution into what it is today.   Her original inspiration for Gaia came from an image while completing her screenwriting course. This image consisted of a body, lying in an incubator, and generating organs like a plant in a greenhouse. This became the basis of her “human garden” concept and the screenplay quickly grew from that image. According to Stapleton-Laskey, she outlined, wrote, edited, revised the outline, wrote, edited, revised the outline again, wrote, edited and repeated- again and again and again until Gaia was completed. She struggled with every aspect of this initial foray into screenwriting. She fought the expansive urges of the text and her own anxieties to limit her scope, though the world of the text invited so many other areas of exploration Additionally, crafting natural dialogue was an unfamiliar enterprise. However, despite the difficulties, she found that the process itself was a font of excitement. Supplementing its awards, Gaia also became a quarter-finalist for Shore Scripts, and when it took its initial top placement in the Science Fiction portion of the World Series of Screenwriting Competition, it garnered her screenplay further recognition which put it in the quarter-finals of both Shore Scripts and Story Pros International’s 2014 screenplay contests. She added, “I'm extremely proud that Gaia is appreciated by these separate groups, and the recognition gives me an extra grain of confidence that's so beneficial to the writing process.” Stapleton-Laskey advises novice screenwriters to stay true to themselves because “writing a screenplay that you hope others will enjoy is much like a relationship. You have to lean into preferences and expectations of others, but you also have to stay true to yourself, and you can't do that unless you know yourself.”  While writing Gaia, which is a sci-fi screenplay on the surface, many elements of horror found their way into �the script.  When faced with whether or not to cut these so that it would better fit the genre, Stapelton-Laskey, herself inclined toward themes of horror genres, decided to keep them. Her instinct helped distinguish her screenplay from others in the genre and shape Gaia’s success. Stapleton-Laskey hopes to one day see Gaia on a 20x50 foot screen in theaters, but she is currently working on several other projects, including an experimental film about a woman who accidently runs over her own son. Aside from that, Stapleton-Laskey is serving as the secretary for the board of the Dallas Screenwriters Association, which is a non-profit organization that serves the needs of the Dallas/Fort Worth screenwriting community. A Talk with Gregory Fletcher about his Shorts Recently released by Northampton House Press, Gregory Fletcher’s new craft book, Shorts and Briefs, highlights various concepts and tools for the aspiring playwright’s toolbox. He discusses “tips for story structure, building a character, discovering an individual’s vocabulary, and creating action within dialogue” within the framework of “short” plays. These kinds of plays are “a great place to begin as a playwright,” he says. “[They’re] the perfect learning tool before taking on a one-act or fulllength play.” Raised in Texas, Fletcher’s New Yorker parents brought with them their love of theater, and that love was quickly instilled in young Gregory. Such was his early fervor for the stage, that he was writing scripts while attending elementary school. This devotion, however, was merely a candlelight in comparison to the fire that would BY G REGORY FLETCHER be ignited when he connected with his great aunt and uncle, Matilde and Theodore Ferro. Both incredibly successful screenwriters, they wrote for “such series as Peyton Place, The Patty Duke Show, Dr. Kildaire, Guiding Light, etc.” They also had a radio serial that ran for 14 years and wrote many teleplays for live television. At 10, Fletcher “discovered gold” in finding one of their actual scripts for Leave it to Beaver. He has been driven to write ever since. Conceptually, Shorts and Briefs is a craft book in two parts. First, �Fletcher uses nine of his own short plays as examples, not only for writers, but also beginning directors and actors to hone their own skills. He uses the term “short” as opposed to the more traditional “10-minute play,” because, while the traditional term relies on a stopwatch, a “short” play is limited to 10 pages and may or may not fall under the time restraints, given the choices of the director. The second portion of the book is a series of brief tips and principles that Fletcher uses when he writes. “[So] Shorts and Briefs not only became a literal description of the book, but also a play on words with men’s underwear. Which makes me smile. Not that men’s underwear makes me...next question?” Fletcher has had seven of his plays produced Off-Off-Broadway with several others produced in regional and university theaters, and he is currently a professor teaching playwriting at CUNY - Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn. Shorts and Briefs is currently available on Amazon, and a reading will be held the At The Inkwell Reading Series at KGB Bar on East 4th Street in New York on Thursday, June 4th at 7 pm. Beyond the stage, Fletcher has also recently completed a fourth draft of his memoir entitled, Skipping a Generation and plans to begin a YA manuscript as well. Guidance by Mentorship by Austin Bennett Knowledge can be obtained through books and experience, but empowerment–that is beyond self. It is the parent who says, “I love you;” or the teacher who says, “I believe in you;” or the coach who says, “You got this;” or the spouse who says, “I trust you.” Trusting your own abilities does not come easy. Confidence is gained through failure. It also comes by way of continued encouragement and guidance. Mentorship is essential to success. There once was a particular academic tradition where professors referred to their students as “distinguished comrades.”* Education was built on mutual trust and respect. It was �a mutual endeavor built around camaraderie not mere selfreliance. Similarly, in the Ancient Near East, the Hebrews viewed those who pursued scholasticism as part of a family unit. Instructors were referred to as “fathers.” Students were referred to as “sons.”* Much like a child learning from a parent, students were guided by teachers for the betterment of self and community. In both traditions, a close-knit-community was formed around scholasticism and teachers were viewed as mentors. When I chose to pursue my M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Wilkes University I was promised a mentor-based education. At that time, I did not fully know what that meant nor did I whole-heartedly buy the rhetoric knowing the competitive nature of colleges. Yet, what I found was something closer to camaraderie and kinship than cool academia. I became at once a peer and a son. When I wrestled with choosing my creative thesis, fearing I was out of my depth, encouragement came in the most unlikely of ways. I had a dream. The program director, Bonnie Culver, came to me like a fairy-god-mother and squelched my fears by pointing to mentorship. She said, “That’s why we’re here.” When my wife gave birth to our first child mid-way through my creative thesis, my mentor, Jeff Talarigo, offered more than advice on writing: he offered fatherly advice. *Kuper, Abraham. Scholarship: Two Convocations Addresses on University Life. Trans. Harry Van Dyke. Grand Rapids: Christian’s Library Press, 2014. Kindle file. Originally published on the Wilkes Mesa blog:https://wilkesumesa.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/guidance-bymentorship-by-austin-bennett/ Faculty/Staff Notes Faculty member Beverly Donofrio was interviewed in HBO's series, Road Trip Nation, which was broadcast in January 2015. Donofrio's children's book, Where's Mommy? published by Random House, was selected as one of the 10 Best Children's Books of 2014 by the New York Times. Donofrio's essay, "Choosing," appeared in the anthology, Faith: Essays from Believers, Agnostics, and Atheists, edited by Victoria �Zackheim and published by Atria Books. Faculty member Christine Gelineau has an essay, "The Courtesy of the Gravedigger," posted on the New York Times Opinionator Blog: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/ courtesy-of-thegravedigger/ (December 21, 2014).  Faculty member Gregory Fletcher had his essay The Sealed Envelope read at KGB Bar for At The Inkwell Series on December 10, 2014. The essay will appear in the soon-to-be-released Anthology Being: What Makes A Man, published by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Gender Programs. Faculty member Wendy Hammond’s play, What You Will, opened on February 19, 2015 at the Cunningham Theatre in Davidson, NC. Staff member Dawn Leas read in January at the Bridgewater International Poetry Festival at Bridgewater College in Virginia. Her poem “Slipstream” appears in the 14th anniversary issue (December 2014) of ThePedestalMagazine.com. She has also received two Pushcart nominations this year: one from SwanDive Publishing for “Seaside Heights, 2012,” which appeared in Everyday Escape Poems, and another that allowed her to select and submit three poems for consideration. Faculty member Michael Lennon’sSelected Letters of Norman Mailer, published by Random House on December 2, 2014, was chosen as a book of the week by Publishers Weekly (December 8, 2014); and selected as an Amazon book of the month (December 2014) in the biography/memoir category. It has been widely reviewed, including the following: New Yorker, Esquire, TLS, New York Times, Weekly Standard, Washington Times, The Guardian, and The Artery (WBUR-FM), The Tablet, and the Daily Beast. Staff member Lori A. May has received two Pushcart Prize nominations this year: one for an essay, “The Comfort of Ignorance” published in the fall issue of Border Crossing, and another for a poem, “Place Settings,” from her new full-length poetry collection, Square Feet. Her latest book, The Write Crowd: Literary Citizenship & The Writing Life, was published by Bloomsbury in December. Lori’s work has also recently been published in Tahoma Literary Review, 1966 Journal, Pine Hills Review, and in issue 52 of Creative Nonfiction. Her next book, Creative Composition: Inspiration and Techniques for Writing Instruction, co-edited with Danita Berg, will be published in May 2015 with Multilingual Matters. Lori will be presenting a panel on literary citizenship at the AWP conference in Minneapolis and reading at Subtext Books. Faculty member Taylor M. Polites participated in a reading from the �anthology Knitting Yarns at the Wellfleet Preservation Hall in Wellfleet, MA on October 26th, a panel discussion on historical fiction at the Providence Public Library on November 2nd, and a talk at Roger Williams University on November 18th as part of the Mary Tefft White Reading Series. Faculty member Richard Uhlig's comedy film Can’t Dance was a 2014 Festival Finalist for Public Broadcasting's Shorts Showcase. Richard wrote the screenplay while at a Wilkes residency. In August his novel Mystery at Snake River Bridge earned a four and a half star review from IndieReader and made the IndieReader Approved list for best books of the year. Richard's feature screenplay Tammy is currently in development with Dikenga Films. Student/Alum Notes M.A. student Molly Barari was published in the Holiday 2014 edition of East Meets West literary journal. Her essay on South Dakota life appeared in the "Bridging the Gap" section. She also completed the Norman Mailer Center's memoir writing workshop with Kaylie Jones in Salt Lake City in July 2014. M.F.A. student Austin Bennett published his article, “Guidance by Mentorship,” on the Wilkes Mesa blog. It can be found at the following link: https://wilkesumesa.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/guidance-bymentorship-by-austin-bennett/ M.F.A. alum Kait Burrier has launched Union Square Slam, a weekly open mic and reading series, in New York City. Kait hosts the series, which features curated readings and poetry slams, each Monday at Bar 13 near Manhattan's Union Square. Two of Kait's latest poems, "On the Queensboro Bridge" and "The Earrings," were published online by Germ Magazine. She reads regularly, most recently at :Kiss*Punch*Poem:. M.F.A. alum Tara Caimi's memoir Mush: from sled dogs to celiac, the scenic detour of my life was published by Plain View Press, and her essay "Lucky Teeth" was published in Oh Comely magazine. M.A. alum Cindy Dlugolecki had an excerpt of her one-woman play, Violet Oakley Unveiled, performed at the grand opening of The Underground Student Union in the Capital Blue Cross Theatre of Central Penn College (Summerdale campus) in mid-January. Violet shared the spotlight with only one other performer: Maestro Stuart Malina, conductor of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. M.F.A. alum Brian Fanelli's poem, "Surviving Winter," was published in �the December issue of Two Cities Review, and another poem, "956 Johler Avenue," was published in the fall issue of Slipstream. M.A. alum Donna Ferrara’s short story “Arms Raised in America” was published by Amarillo Bay and her short story “Fairy Godmother” placed second in East Meets West Holiday Short Story Contest and will be published in Spring of 2015. M. F.A. alum Patricia Florio has been hired as an adjunct in the English Department of Brookdale Community College. M.A. student Kimberly Behre Kenna’s short story “Grotta Azzurra” won honorable mention in the East Meets West Holiday Contest. M.A. alum "11" Donna Malies had a production of her one-act play, "Broken," as part of Pensacola 24 Hour Theatre, March 21, 2015. M.A. student Margaret McCaffrey's story "Ironing" was read on the 'Cover to Cover' program for Vision Australia Radio (1179 am) and Iris (DAB+) on Sunday 11 January  2015. M.F.A. alum Linda M.C. Nguyen's short story "'A' Like in Math" was published by Every Day Fiction in September 2014. M.F.A. alum Laurie Elizabeth Powers' short script "The Importance of Sex Education" closed out 2014 by winning best short screenplay in the 16th LA Comedy Fest and was an official selection for the Houston Comedy Film Festival in February 2015. M.F.A. alum Michael Soloway’s essay “Share the Chameleon” has been selected for inclusion in the 2014 Sundress Press Best of the Net Anthology. M.F.A. alum Joseph J. Schwartzburt was featured in Savannah Magazine's January 2015 issue along with other local Savannah writers who are "the young cubs reclaiming [Savannah's] storied history from the South's literary lions—and rewriting it for the future." Also, as board member and performer with Seersucker Live, Joseph hosted an allWilkes line-up in February 2015 featuring Beverly Donofrio, Neil Shepard, David Poyer, and Lenore Hart who were nearby teaching workshops at the Ossabaw Island Writers' Retreat. M.A. student Ann Von Mehren is revising an article that's been accepted for publication by the Hellenic Mathematical Society International Journal for Mathematics in Education. �M.F.A. alum Alyssa Waugh's short story "The Stranger In The Glass" was published by Beyond Science Fiction Literary Magazine in December 2014.  M.A. alum Barry Wolborsky’s essay, “Like a (Pizza) Virgin,” appears on Medium, https://medium.com/@barrywolborsky/like-a-pizza-virgin7896d1b6a461. M.A. student Emily Wolfel’s short story,"His Tears Tasted like the Sea,” appears in issue 10.5 of Cactus Heart. Quick Links Career Development Campus Safety and Internships Centers & Institutes Online Programs Programs E.S. Farley Library Human Resources Jobs at Wilkes Online Nursing Offices & Administration Accessibility Statement Financial Aid Adobe Acrobat® Reader Registrar's Office Finance Office Investor Relations Student Work Study Jobs Veterans Services Visit Quick Links Schedule a Visit Parking Information Virtual Tour Campus Map Make A Gift �Wilkes University 84 West South Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766 1-800-WILKES-U Contact Us Wilkes University © e © d c f � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Subject The topic of the resource <em>Revise This!</em> Archive Description An account of the resource An archive of past issues of <em>Revise This!</em>, the official newsletter of the Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Wilkes University Language A language of the resource English Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Revise This! | 2015-03.pdf Creative Writing Maslow Maslow Family Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Revise This Writing https://omeka.wilkes.edu/omeka/files/original/df1d19039e8a90c8d558d33332b2f4cd.pdf 285c853ebd7c00523a9fa296d49fdc07 PDF Text Text About Wilkes Home n Graduate Academics Academics n Graduate Admission & Aid Graduate Programs n Graduate Life Master's Degree Programs About Our Students n n The Arts Creative Writing MA/MFA Revise This! n Archives n Revise This - October 2014 Revise This!   |   October 2014 Revise This! Revise This Archives 2017 Cecilia Galante’s Work Is All Grown Up | All the World's a Stage for Jean Klein & Wilkes Playwrights Mailer On and Off Campus | Hail to the Chief Wilkes Takes over The Brooklyn Book Festival! | No B.A.? That’s Okay! 2018 Revise This! November 2019 Czury’s Story | Family Matters: From the Kitchen to the Courtroom | A History of At the Inkwell Revise This! Archives Cecilia Galante’s Work Is All Grown Up Related Links Calendars & Schedules Campus Map Centers for Excellence Faculty Publications Graduate Bulletin (.pdf) Graduate Bulletin Online 2014 n n �• Graduate Student Handbook • Library • Office of the Registrar • Online Learning • Professional Pharmacy Application • School of Nursing - Graduate Program Student Handbook • Schools, Departments, Though Cecilia Galante has made a name for herself in the YA genre, her novels aimed at young adult and middle-level readers are anything but child’s play.  Her first book, The Patron Saint of Butterflies (2008), deals with teenage best friends growing up on a religious commune, and the violence the girls experience at the hands of the group’s leader.  Galante’s Hershey Herself (2008) features a teenage protagonist spending time in a shelter for battered women.  The Sweetness of Salt (2011) introduces readers to a high-school valedictorian who veers off her chosen path after discovering a family secret. During the next year, Galante will venture into another section of the bookstore with the publication of The Invisibles, her first novel aimed at the adult market.  The Invisibles tells the story of four high school best friends who’ve gone their separate ways.  The women reunite in their thirties following a suicide attempt by Grace, who tries to hang herself. The friends take a road trip that causes them to delve into the past, reopen old wounds, and alter their lives forever.  “Secrets come out that shatter the image they have of each other,” says Galante. While The Invisibles may be aimed at a different target audience, Galante’s approach to the work was the same.  “The difference between young adult and adult is very, very slim,” Galante explains.  “I never set out to write a YA novel or an adult novel.  I really set out to write the best novel that I can.  You have to write three-dimensional characters who are going to take you on the ride of your life.  That’s the bottom line.” Galante expects a summer 2015 release for The Invisibles.  In addition, she’s hoping to see the story on screen with talks of a film adaptation underway.  “All I can say is, it’s in the works.” Still, Galante’s not ready to abandon her teenage roots.  Random House is set to release her next YA book, Be Not Afraid, this coming spring.  This tale may have readers sleeping with the lights on as it crosses the threshold into the supernatural via young heroine, Marin, and her unusual Divisions �perceptive abilities.  “It’s like The Exorcist for YA readers,” says Galante. Even with two novels slated to hit the shelves and a potential film shoot in the near future, Galante isn’t ready to sit back and relax.  “I’m in the throws of working on another novel,” she says. “It’s something I haven’t been able to let go of.”  And though her storylines often take a dark turn, Galante has a bright outlook when it comes to her writing career’s hectic pace.  “It will be kind of crazy having back-to-back releases, but it will be fun, too.” All the World’s a Stage for Jean Klein & Wilkes Playwrights Jean Klein is not playing around, but she sure is having a good time.  Though playwriting tends to have fewer students than other genres in the Wilkes M.A./M.F.A. programs, what Klein’s students and alums lack in quantity, they’ve been making up in quality, as well as staged readings and full productions.  “I’m kind of proud,” Klein says. "We don’t have big numbers of people who take playwriting.”  Here are just a few Wilkes playwrights who’ve recently produced:  Cindy Dlugolecki’s ten-minute comedies  At The End Of Her Rope, Real Housewives Of The Bible, Here Comes The Bride’s Mother, All Hands on Deck, and Royal Tea have all spent time in the spotlight on Pennsylvania stages, as has her full-length drama SNAP! Rachel Strayer’s full-length play, her M.A. capstone Drowning Ophelia, received its world premiere production at the Mojo Theatre Space by Repurposed Theatre in San Francisco. A staged reading is planned for New York City’s Ensemble Atria, with a potential full production in the future.  Strayer has also seen productions of her shorter works including A Clean Bathroom and Empathy, the monologue Tooth Fairy From Hell, and the one-minute play Balconies.  Lori Myers’s plays 91366, which she started in CW 505, Magnificent Healing, Cinderella and the Lone Prince, Glee-ful Rapunzel, Sight Unseen, Miss Information, No Way, The Serpent's Egg, Rock Around the Castle, Eleanor and the Christmas Carol, Mirror, Mirror, and Talk, the �Musical have all hit the stage. Alum Dania Ramos’s play Hielo, developed through the New Jersey Emerging Women’s Playwrights Project, was selected as a finalist in Repertorio Español’s 2013 MetLife Nuestras Voces National Playwriting Competition and the 2013 Liberty Live Playwriting Contest through Premiere Stages at Kean University. Ramos also co-wrote Mi Casa Tu Casa and reworked the script for an educational touring version.  In addition, several other alums from the playwriting program have seen their work come to life on stage. Alum Michael Soloway had his play, I Love You, Lynn Swann! produced by The Pittsburgh New Works Festival in the Summer of 2013. Meanwhile, alum Adrienne Pender is making inroads with her thesis play Somewhere In Between, which was scheduled for a reading by WordSmyth Theater in Houston, Texas and for a main stage production at Theatre in the Park in Raleigh in September 2014. Alum James Craig has had two of his short plays from CW 505 produced as readings at Theater of the Seven Sisters. Alum Laura Moran’s Last Words was produced as a staged reading at NACL Theatre in Highand Lake, New York. Moreover, former M.A. student, Laurie Elizabeth Powers had her short script, “The Importance of Sex Education” selected as the overall winner for the 2014 Sidewrite competition. With all of this student success, Klein could easily play the role of diva, but instead she credits the Wilkes Creative Writing program with encouraging students to get their work in front of an audience. She lauds the program for teaching students that their work is not simply an academic assignment, but an artistic product that’s meant for public consumption. “I don’t know of another program that stresses, ‘Get your stuff out there!’”  Klein also acknowledges her students’ tenacity when it comes to getting their plays from page to stage.  “I’ve been given students who have a measurable amount of talent, but even more so, persistence,” she says. “I really think it’s diligence first, then talent.  In my mind, diligence produces talented playwrights.”  While Klein is thrilled to oversee all this student success, she still has plenty of her own work to attend to.  She’s in the process of revising two old scripts, and she has three new ones in progress.  In addition, Klein oversees HaveSCRIPTS, a small dramatic publishing company. This abundance of activity makes it quite clear to Klein that the live theatre’s demise has been greatly exaggerated.  “All kinds of theatres are popping up around the country in terms of opportunities for new plays and new playwrights.  Theatre is not dead, it’s just looking different,” she �explains. “When I was a graduate student, there was only New York and California.  The regional theatre system did not exist.  There’s a whole huge, fertile field out there for people who want to take advantage of it.” Mailer On and Off Campus Though Pulitzer Prize winner Norman Mailer passed away in 2007, the founding advisory board member’s literary presence is never far from the Wilkes Creative Writing Program.  This year, the vibe is particularly strong, with four Wilkes writers offering summer workshops at the Norman Mailer Center and the University bringing the Norman Mailer Society Conference to campus. According to their web site, the Norman Mailer Center “encourages and supports writers who take on the issues of their day with the same fearless honesty and dedication to craft that Mailer himself did for over six decades; writers who seek artful ways to explore and present the complexities of historical and contemporary reality.”  Wilkes Creative Writing faculty members Kaylie Jones, J. Michael Lennon, and Beverly Donofrio, supported the Center’s mission by spending a week, sharing their talents with workshop students in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Kevin Oderman, another Wilkes faculty member, facilitated the month-long fellowship session in July for the creative nonfiction fellows. So why the mass migration to the Beehive State?  “We’ve always been involved with the Center,” Culver says.  “They [the faculty] teach things Norman would have appreciated.  It’s a combination of an understanding of who Norman was, and what our program teachers and creative writers offer in their own right.”  In the fall, the Wilkes campus paid tribute to the late novelist by hosting the annual Norman Mailer Society Conference.  The weekend-long conference provided an opportunity to introduce a new generation of students to Mailer’s work through presentations, workshops, and a marathon reading of the author’s 1965 novel An American Dream. In 1996, Mailer received an honorary doctorate from Wilkes.  He was the Max Rosen lecturer on campus in 2000 and also spoke at the opening of the Mailer Room in the library.  So it seems only fitting that the University plays host to this celebration of Mailer’s talent and legacy.  “It seemed to be a good opportunity,” Culver says.  “Norman’s always had a connection to Wilkes.  He had a special affection for this place and this program.”  �Part of the group of Wilkes faculty, students and alums, who participated in the reading of An American Dream. This section was led by John Buffalo Mailer (center) reading Rojack. Photo taken by Matt Hinton.  Hail to the Chief In the entertainment business, a hyphen can be a sign of a multifaceted career.  Actordirector.  Singersongwriter.  Socialitespokeswoman-fashion designer.  If the same holds true for writers, Bonnie Culver has facets to spare.  Culver, director and co-founder of the Wilkes Creative Writing program, is a playwright-screenwriter-professor-director, and now, the title of chair can be added to the list.  Culver was recently named Chair of the board of trustees of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP).  AWP is a non-profit organization founded in 1967 by 15 writers from 13 different writing programs.  In 40 years, AWP has grown to provide support for more than 500 college and university writing programs, over 100 writing conferences, and thousands of individual writers.  The organization’s mission is to “foster literary achievement, advance the art of writing as essential to a good education, and serve the makers, teachers, students, and readers of contemporary writing.” Wilkes has been a member of AWP since 2005.  Culver has served on the Board on the executive committee for three years, as vice-president �and treasurer and now chair.  She’ll serve at least one year in that position, possibly more.  “It’s a great opportunity,” Culver says of her appointment.  During her term, AWP will be reorganizing their governance structure and revising the by-laws.  As chair, Culver will be responsible for working closely with the executive director, on all aspects of the organization. She says, “It’s pretty all-encompassing.  It’s quite a challenge.”  Culver expects her duties to add 25 hours a week to her already jampacked schedule.  Still, she didn’t hesitate to accept the nod and is ready to work with the executive team.  “This is not a job to do alone.  It’s a tremendously talented and responsible board of trustees.  They’re all folks at the top of their games.”  While it’s clear that Culver believes in the AWP support system, she also believes in the organization’s value to the writing community.  “I think that the work AWP does is important for writers and especially writing programs.  It’s the only organization dealing with writers and academics,” she says. Wilkes Takes Over the Brooklyn Book Festival! Wilkes goes to New York! This year several members of the Wilkes Creative Writing Community played important roles at The Brooklyn Book Festival. Faculty member 201 ,. ii so()l(ENOEVENT BBJ8~¾~~ Rashidah Ismaili Abubakr was featured on the panel "Politics, War, Love and Streetlife,” and she discussed the social issues of the Lower East Side before the Vietnam War in 1950.  On the panel “Catch a Fire: Social Collapse in Multiple Voices,” Marlon James discussed his book A Brief History of Seven Killings, which features a variety of voices that witness the violence of Jamaica in the 1970s. He then related his work to how both internal and external forces can cause society to crumble. Another alum, Morowa Yejide, spoke on the panel “Autism Portraits” explaining the role that autism played her novel Time of the Locust. In addition, Barb Taylor talked about her new novel, Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night on the panel “Where I'm Writing From: Hometown Fiction” A part from the panels, Johnny Temple moderated a special event held by Brooklyn Historical Society Library for librarians that discussed the writing life, education, and inspiration of the authors Jonathan Lethem and Carmen Fariña. No B.A.? That’s Okay!  Czury’s Story �“Becoming a poet and wanting to be a poet are antithetical quantums. Being language obsessed...thought=words, communication=words, dreams=words,” says Wilkes M.F.A. alum Craig Czury, an internationally recognized poet.  Czury talks about how he became fascinated with his craft saying, “it was the torment of language, rather than a love, that led me to my first shrieks.” Prior to attending Wilkes, Czury had traveled internationally for a good 67 years with books translated into Spanish, Russian, Italian, Lithuanian, and Albanian. Czury was also a poet-in-the-schools for 25 years through various state and regional arts councils before he found himself with no work. Penn State offered him a full scholarship along with an apartment and teaching assignments until they realized he did not have a B.A.  Likewise, the University of New Orleans initially arranged for an M.F.A. program in Spain, but they backed out for the same reason. Fortunately, friends affiliated with the Wilkes M.F.A. knew of the struggles he was facing and recommended he apply to the program. Norman Mailer, one of the founding fathers of the program, wanted Wilkes to be unique by letting writers without bachelor’s degrees into the program when they can demonstrate a storied publishing record, as Craig did. Moreover, Wilkes’s Creative Writing Program is one of the few in the country that does not require a GRE. Czury says that his acceptance was empowering, since he had little to no success in all other academic programs since eighth grade.  He not only enjoyed the curriculum at Wilkes, but the low-residency format allowed him to continue traveling to places like Rome. When asked about his cohort he reminisces saying, “We had great camaraderie, hilarity, and brilliance together.” In the program, he studied creative non-fiction with Chris Busa as well as with Juanita Rockwell, a Buddhist playwright. He graduated with a cross-genre thesis defended as creative non-poetry. Since graduating he has continued to work with John Koloski and Jan Quackenbush while conducting interviews in the “fracking” region. As a writer, Czury says that his biggest success thus far was being invited as a featured poet to international poetry festivals in Colombia, �Argentina, Lithuania, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Ireland. Moreover, he is honored to have been named Poet Laureate of the International Albanian Festival in Macedonia. When asked about future project Cruzy explained, “I’ve just returned from Chile, where I helped launch an anthology of poets from Tarapacá (Chile’s northern desert region) and poets from Pennsylvania, for which I had chosen. More importantly, I wrote a future book while there, poetic journal prose with photographs.” Czury is also known for creating poetry performance spaces not only in schools and community centers but also in shelters, prisons and mental hospitals. When asked why he explained, “my mother and I have a running argument (even though she’s been dead for decades) about the amount of times I ran away from home when I was a kid vs. the amount of times she threw me out. I spent 15 years hitchhiking North America. My sister spent a year in the state hospital in Danville after a suicide attempt. Spending a few nights in jail comes with the road, homeless shelters, soup kitchens… I just naturally gravitated toward the places and the people I was familiar with the hope I could get the right words written from them I never got when I was there.” Finally, when asked about his writing process, Czury proceeded to send the image of a blank page, but recommended that all writers change their name and run away from home. Family Matters: From the Kitchen to the Courtroom “My writing world reaches a great range these days,” says Patricia Florio, a Wilkes M.F.A . alumna. Florio has just returned from the Norman Mailer workshop in Utah where Wilkes instructor Kaylie Jones impressed upon her the importance of structure and encouraged the other attendees to keep an open dialogue through email. However, Florio is familiar with the topic of structure and studied it while “weaving” a series of family short stories, which eventually became her book, My Two Mothers.  Later, she returned to the idea of family stories and added family recipes, family history, Sicilian and Neapolitan traditions, and other stories, which then became Cucina Amelia, her second novel.  �Recently, however, she has been reflecting on the 17 years she spent as a court reporter. In this project, she talks about the individual cases as well as the loss of her father. Unlike her first two, this book is “structured in flashbacks and present day cases in the courtroom.” She adds, “I found this technique to work best for this book.”  Florio says she is blessed to be part of The Jersey Shore Writers at the Jersey Shore Arts Center.  Once called Tri-Muse, this group was cofounded by Carol MacAllister (another Wilkes alumna), Gayle Aanensen and Florio in 2001. Florio explains, “We have grown into a strong cohesive group of published writers taking on readings, workshopping, critiquing, and having our own writings workshopped as well. I urge new writers to join a community of writers locally or via Facebook. The encouragement keeps us writing on a daily basis.”  A History of At the Inkwell Monique Antonette Lewis initially created At the Inkwell in January, 2013, because she missed writing human-interest articles. Lewis began her writing career as a financial news reporter in Manhattan and at the time, she used to be a newspaper reporter covering everything from festivals to local housing issues.   However, she decided to focus on interviewing authors after completing her M.F.A. in creative writing at Wilkes University because she missed her writing community and hoped to recreate it.  The project became an outlet for her to write the kinds of articles she loved while helping authors promote their books. Thus, At the Inkwell became a promotional service for published authors to market their writing through feature articles, book reviews and public readings. Lewis and her mother developed the name. Her mother was the one who added “At” in the name, which made it unique. She says, “The greatest struggle was designing my website. I created it by myself in one weekend on very little sleep. It was a lot of trial and error.” Lewis then asked the owner of Manhattan-based KGB Bar if she could host readings on an ongoing basis. She had a pre-existing relationship with the bar since she hosted one-off readings in the summers (20112012) under the name The Writer’s Corner, while studying at Wilkes. �KGB accepted her proposal for At the Inkwell’s reading series and gave her a trial period. Then came her second challenge--finding authors who could read well and pull in a good crowd. She began reaching out to authors she knew and word-of-mouth alone launched her into business. Her first hosted reading was Romance Night on March 8, 2013, and there was standing room only.  The owner was impressed with turnouts, but she still had not earned a permanent spot, which meant readings were irregular. At the Inkwell finally became the 13th permanent reading series at KGB Bar in October, 2013, and it has since been held every 2nd Wednesday of the month. Lewis says that one of the biggest lessons she learned was how to curate the series. Initially, she used to mix genres, giving readers a taste of poetry, fiction and non-fiction all in one night. However, this turned off readers who might not be interested in one of the genres, and it didn’t help attract the right crowd for each author equally. Lewis says, “I quickly learned that I needed to stick to a theme for each event, which ensured that each reader was going to read to an audience that was interested in their genre.” Thus far, At the Inkwell has helped 106 individual writers either through feature articles, book reviews and readings, or a combination of all. Lewis says, “Other than having a chance to sell your books at the reading, the networking opportunity alone is beneficial. You never know who will be in the audience, a publisher, editor or agent.” Alums and current students could help ensure the success of At the Inkwell by recommending writers to feature on their site as well as books that are no less than a year old to review, and by spreading the word about their readings. You can also share At the Inkwell on your Twitter and Facebook feeds or join the mailing list to stay updated on the readings. Subscribe via the website or email attheinkwell@gmail.com.  Lewis’s long term goal is to create monthly At the Inkwell readings in other cities. She’d like to begin with Philadelphia followed by Boston and D.C.  She adds, “My biggest project is to take At the Inkwell on the road and host readings at various cities including an open mic session. I’d like to do a livestream of the readings as well as video documentary of my trip on the road meeting writers.” Currently, she is seeking a videographer and a video editor to continue to develop At the Inkwell. She envisions it to be a two-week deal ending in Phoenix or San Francisco, and anyone who is interested may contact her at attheinkwell@gmail.com.   �Upcoming Readings At The Inkwell • 85 E. 4th St., 2nd Fl, NYC (between Bowery and 2nd Ave.) • Oct. 8, 2014 (Poetry Mixer night): Featuring Wilkes Alum, Amye Barrese Archer • Dec. 10, 2014 (Anthology night): Featuring Wilkes Faculty Member, Gregory Fletcher  • • Jan. 14, 2015 (Fiction night): Featuring Wilkes Alum, Lori May March 11, 2015 (Poetry night): Featuring Wilkes Faculty Member, Neil Shepard • April 8, 2015 (National Poetry Month): Featuring Wilkes Alums, Kait • June 10, 2015 (Memoir night):  Featuring Bonnie Friedman, a new Burrier, Stanton Hancock and     Andrea Talarico Etruscan author Etruscan News Several Wilkes creative writing students have joined Etruscan press for the June-November 2014 semester. M.F.A. student April Line is completing her publishing internship with Etruscan. She has been instrumental in researching and developing community outreach and grant opportunities. M.A. student Johanna James is developing a comprehensive marketing plan for a memoir to be published by Etruscan in the Fall of 2015. M.A. graduate assistant Hillary Transue is working on various promotional campaigns for the press, while M.F.A. graduate assistant Nathan Summerlin is working on numerous production aspects for Etruscan. He has also designed a quarterly e-newsletter. Internships of Current M.F.A. Students Mike Avishai will launch a free online screenwriting foundations workshop. Maxwell Bauman is interning for Kaylie Jones Books. He has researched material to locally promote KJB authors including but not limited to bookstores, libraries, newspapers, TV news, radio programs and book clubs. He is also in the process of researching possible demographics for one author, and looking up contests and finding writing contests where their authors can submit. Mckenzie Cassidy is interning for Kaylie Jones Books and reading manuscripts while performing other administrative duties. Paul Jackson is teaching a remedial English class as well as Composition 101 and 10 at Miller-Motte Technical College. �Sheree Lewis is interning as a tutor at the Kumon Learning Center. She is also a private tutor for high school students. Andrea Ruiz is interning with Etruscan Press and is working on an anthology about writing and tailoring children's books to match the common core standards. Faculty/Staff Notes Faculty member Gregory Fletcher’s short play Robert Mapplethorpe's Flowers has been published in Wilde Magazine, Erotica Issue 1, Summer 2014. His other short play The Moon Alone was read was included in Playwrights' Night at KGB Bar's At The Inkwell, July 2014. Faculty member Jean Klein’s Refraction of Light, a full-length play, received a staged reading at The American Theater in Hampton, Virginia on September 7 as part of a Lighthouse Reading Series, a combined effort between the theater and the Virginia Playwrights Forum. Snapshots, her one-act play which was a winner in the Kernodle one-act competition, was produced as one of three short plays on the main stage of the American Theater, August 8 and 9. Staff member Dawn Leas’s review of Maria Terrone’s Eye to Eye is included in the fall issue of Poets’ Quarterly. She is also now a contributing editor at TheThePoetry and a poetry editor at CityLitRag, an online literary journal co-founded by alumna Monique Lewis. Faculty member Michael Lennon’s edition of Selected Letters of Norman Mailer will be published by Random House on December 2, 2014. The paperback edition of his biography, Norman Mailer: A Double Life, will be released on October 28, 2014. Lennon also edited and wrote the introduction for both the Taschen edition of Mailer's essay on John F. Kennedy, Superman Comes to the Supermarket, which will be published in September and The Fight, Mailer's account of the 1974 championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, which will be published in November of this year. Faculty member David Poyer’s novel The Cruiser: A Dan Lenson Novel received a praising review from Publisher’s Weekly. Faculty member Juanita Rockwell's site-specific audio play, The Circle, was directed by Carmen Wong and produced by banished? productions as part of the 2014 Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, DC. �Faculty member Neil Shepard was a fellow at the MacDowell Arts Colony in April and at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in May; he will be in-residence at the Center for the Arts in Mornay, France, in October. New poems are appearing in The Cimarron Review, The Common (Amherst College), and The Louisville Review. His new book, Hominid Up, is due out in January 2015 from Salmon Poetry Press of Ireland. Student/Alum Notes M.F.A. alum J. C. Alonso Jr.'s  poem "Yoga Music" was published by Poetry Quarterly in the Summer 2014 issue.  M.F.A. alum Amye Archer’s  full-length poetry collection, Bangs, was recently released by Big Table Publishing. M.A. alum Catherine Arne's  feature-length sci-fi script, THE DECIMATION (working title), was optioned by Voyage Media, where she has also begun assignment work as an independent contractor, doing script treatments, action plans, and book-to-screen projects. She has also acquired a literary manager for her master's thesis, Animals, Inc. He will be representing both the novel and script. M.A. alum Cheryl Bazzoui  will have her chapter “A Writer's Marketing Recommendations” published in the anthology Writing After Retirement under her penname, Ann McCauley. M.F.A. alum Kim Loomis Bennett  had her poem, “The Talker,”  accepted for publication in Fall 2014 of issue seven of The Floating Bridge Review: Help Wanted: The Poetry of Work. M.F.A. alum Randee Bretherick  recently signed with BookEnds, LLC of Gillette, NJ. She also had a short story, "Plum Creek: A Pilgrimage to the Little House on the Prairie," published in the April edition of Red Fez. M.F.A. alum Tom Borthwick  will have his short story, Welcome to the Singularity, anthologized in Altered States. M.A. alum Rennee Butts  published her novel Siren Slave through Wild Rose Publishing. M.F.A. alum Tara Caimi's  essay and memoir excerpt "Kayenta” was published, and her essay "Lucky Teeth" is forthcoming in Oh Comely magazine. On September 9, she moderated an online book club discussion of Near to the Wild Heart for Oh Comely magazine. Tara's memoir, Mush: from sled dogs to celiac, the scenic detour of my life, �which she drafted as part of her M.A. thesis requirements, is forthcoming with Plain View Press. M.A. alum Chris Campion  is now a guest columnist for Giuporshutup.com. M.F.A. alum Craig Czury  received a faculty development grant from Albright College to go to Iquique, Chile in June to speak and read poems at the launch of SO FAR... SO CLOSE, anthology of Contemporary Writers of Tarapacá and Pennsylvania, for which he selected PA poets. Craig's chapbook of poems, BECAUSE ALTHOUGH DESPITE, from his Marcellus shale hitchhiking project, was published in August by FootHills Publishing. In September, Craig was a featured poet at the international Södermalms Poesifestival in Sweden. M.F.A. alum Brian Fanelli's  poem, "Trying to Catch the Culprits," received an Honorable Mention for the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Prize. The poem will also appear in a future issue of Paterson Literary Review, along with his other poem, "For Jimmy, Who Bruised My Ribs and Busted My Nose." In addition, his essay, "He Too Sings America: Jazz, Laughter, and Sound as Protest in Langston Hughes's Harlem," was published in August by TheThePoetry. Brian also read for the New York Quarterly reading series in August at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City, and two of his poems are forthcoming in the journal. M.A. alum Salena Fehnel's  novel, Nesting Dolls, was published through Northampton House Press with a release date of July 1, 2014. Nesting Dolls was nominated for the America Library Association's Stonewall Book Award and for the 2014 GLCA New Writers Award. M.A. alum Donna Ferrara’s  screenplay Arvin Lindemeyer Takes Canarsie was a top Finalist in the ASU screenplay competition. She alsohad her short story, “Whirlpool,” accepted for publication in Crossing Lines, an anthology by Main Street Rag that will be published in Spring of 2015. She also had her short stories “Then and Now,” “Scrap” and “Payback is a Lady” accepted for publication in The Law Studies Forum. M.F.A. alum Wendy C. Garfinkle's  debut novel, Serpent on a Cross, was released in print and re-released in ebook format by Booktrope in August. This edition contains new material. (SOAC was originally released as ebook only in 2012 by Northampton House Press.) M.F.A. alum Kasian Klute’s  The Ambush, the First Novel in the Series Entitled Walter's War for Kasian Klute,  has been published through Amazon and is now available on Kindle as well. M.F.A. student April Line  is teaching two literature courses at �Misericordia and was offered two more for next semester. She is a parttime  proofreader for a marketing firm, and a #CNFtweet  she wrote appeared in issue #53 of Creative Nonfiction. M.F.A. alum Ginger Marcinkowski  published The Button Legacy: E Miley's Inheritance through Vox Dei, the Christian imprint of Booktrope Publishing. She is also a columnist for Book Fun Magazine, with a readership of 400,000. In addition, she spoke at the Hampton Roads Writers Conference in Virginia Beach, VA, September 18-20, and is a finalist judge for The Carol Awards for the American Christian Fiction Writers this year. M.A. student Corinne Nulton  had her play, 14 Symptoms, premiere at the The Brick Theater as part of The Game Play Festival. Her short story “Signed” also was published in Cactus Heart. M.A. alum Christoph Paul published his short story, “Gay Zombie Sluts of Key West” on ThatLitSite.com M.F.A. alum Adrienne Pender’s  thesis play, Somewhere In Between is having a premiere at Theatre in the Park in Raleigh.  M.A. alum Josh Penzone  had his short story “The Whitings” published by ELJ Publications as part of their "Afternoon Shorts" series.  The story will be available as a paperback and as an ebook this coming January.    M.F.A. alum Danielle Poupore  has been hired for the role of Communications & Marketing Specialist for Student Affairs at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. Danielle also had a flash fiction piece, "Touch," published by SweatpantsAndCoffee.com in May under the pseudonym Danielle E. Curtis. M.A. alum Art Posocco  has had three essays published at The Artifice: "Apollonian and Dionysian Artistic Impulses in The Lego Movie," "In Defense of Hannibal and Its Use of Gore," and "Station to Station: Reflections on Manakamana." M.F.A. alum Laurie Elizabeth Powers  had her "The Importance of Sex Education" place in the top six finalist in the DC Shorts Screenplay Competition. In addition, both "The Importance of Sex Education" and her feature length screenplay entitled "Related" have just been announced as quarter-finalists in the Screencraft Comedy Screenplay Competition. M.A. alum Dania Ramos  had two plays, Reason and Cars, staged at Passage Theatre for the 2014 New Jersey 1-Minute Play Festival. Reason was also featured in Luna Stage's 2014 Short Play Festival. Her co-creation Mi Casa Tu Casa received a workshop �production as part of New Jersey Theatre Alliance's 2014 Stages Festival. M.F.A. alum Dane Rooney  wrote an essay that was featured on Howard Sherman’s website. M.F.A. alum Nisha Sharma  sold her M.A. thesis project My So-Called Bollywood Life and one additional untitled YA romance in a pre-empt deal to Crown Books for limited world rights. My So-Called Bollywood Life is slated for publication in Spring 2016. Her thesis project My So-Called Bollywood Life has been optioned by Producer Susan Cartsonis for filmmakers Gurinder Chadha and Paul Mayeda-Berges to adapt. Cartsonis, Chadha and Mayeda-Berges will produce together through their companies Storefront Pictures and Bend it Films. M.F.A. alum Rachel Luann Strayer  has accepted a full-time position as Assistant Professor in the Communication Arts and Humanities department at Keystone College. M.F.A. alum Donna Talarico  had a featured editor interview in The Review Review in August, and another interview with The Triangle, (http://thetrianglepa.com/2014/09/16/interview-with-donna-talarico/), a lit organization in Lancaster, PA. She also works with Hippocampus Magazine, planning a creative nonfiction conference for August 2015. In addition she completed her M.B.A. from Elizabethtown College in May as part of the 2014 Core Class of Leadership Lancaster, and she was the class graduation speaker. M.F.A. alum Heather Ann Taylor has  been named an Assistant Professor in English at Bethany College in Bethany, WV. M.A. student Hillary Transue  published three articles this past summer. One of which, “Confessions of a Former Prankster” was posted to the Kids for Cash movie’s blog. “(Former) Judge Mark Ciavarella” was published by Vitamin W. Her Op-Ed article “Children Deserve our Honesty and Compassion” was published by the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange. Because of her involvement with the movie Kids for Cash, produced by SenArt films, she has appeared on myriad television shows and news programs across the country such as The Katie Couric Show and Politics Nation with Reverend Al Sharpton. M.A. alum Autumn Whiltshire  placed first in the sci-fi feature category of the Indie Gathering for her screenplay “Gaia.”  �Quick Links Career Development Campus Safety and Internships Centers & Institutes Online Programs Programs E.S. Farley Library Human Resources Jobs at Wilkes Online Nursing Offices & Administration Accessibility Statement Financial Aid Adobe Acrobat® Reader Registrar's Office Finance Office Investor Relations Student Work Study Jobs Veterans Services Visit Quick Links Schedule a Visit Parking Information Virtual Tour Campus Map Wilkes University Make A Gift �84 West South Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766 1-800-WILKES-U Contact Us Wilkes University © e © d c f � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. 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