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Revise This! | March 2013
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Astonished: A New Memoir by Beverly Donofrio | Kaylie Jones Launches
New Imprint
Thom Ward on Tour with Etcetera’s Mistress | Faculty and Alum Work
With Northampton House Press
Announcements | Faculty & Staff Notes | Student and Alumni Notes
Astonished: A New Memoir by Beverly Donofrio
Attendees of recent Wilkes residencies
have had the pleasure of hearing
excerpts of
Beverly Donofio’s then workin-progress memoir. Now, readers
around the world will
be able to see the
final result in print. The hardcover edition
of Astonished: A Story
of Evil, Blessings,
Grace, and Solace has a release date of
n
2013
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�March 7, 2013.
“It’s all so exciting,” Donofrio said of her
reading tour. “There’s often a flurry
of
activity surrounding a book’s release,
interviews and invitations to read or give
talks. It’s a time of angst—am I doing enough?—and also the excitement
of great possibility.
Not only that the book catches on and sells like
gangbusters but that my experience
of discover and healing will
illuminate, help, resonate with, encourage others on
their own journeys.”
Donofrio will be going to Washington State, California, Colorado, Texas,
New York,
and Connecticut on her book tour. “I’ll be seeing many dear
old friends and even staying
with a few of them along the way—even the
little cat I had to give to my friend when
I left my life to join a monastery. I
tear up every time I think of the reunion,”
she said. “It’s always so
interesting to meet the people at the events and to hear
a bit of their
stories. In the past, and I suspect it will happen this time too, I
am
dumbstruck by how much we all have in common and I end up with a
delicious familial
feeling that I can carry with me for a while.”
Donofrio’s Astonished is featured in the March issue of O Magazine in
the list of
must-read books for International Women’s Day. Kirkus
Reviews has called this latest
memoir “Honest, engaging, and cathartic.”
As for the cover design, Donofrio said,
“This book possesses, by far, the
most gorgeous book jacket of any I’ve written, and
it’s in the top ten of
any book jacket I’ve ever seen. It’s the color of sunrise and
has milagros
sprinkled on it. Milagros are the little metal charms you find all over
Mexico—of a lung, a foot, an arm, a head, a car, a pig, a key, a girl
praying on her
knees, you name it, whatever a person might pray for. It’s
thought that the milagros,
or miracles, bring miracles. On my book they
are raised up so that they look like
you can almost lift them off and put
them in your pocket.”
Astonished follows Donofrio’s spiritual path and how, during her
continued search
to strengthen her faith, she comes face to face with a
rapist holding a knife to her
throat. The journey that follows includes time
spent at five very different monasteries.
Readers are guided through the
author’s experience of healing and learning to love
life again.
�Beverly Donofrio’s first memoir, Riding in Cars with Boys, has been
translated into
16 languages and made into a popular motion picture. Her
second memoir, Looking for
Mary, began as a documentary on NPR and
was chosen as a Discover Book at Barnes &
Noble.
Kaylie Jones Launches New Imprint
Wilkes faculty member Kaylie
Jones has launched a new
imprint with Akashic Books.
Kaylie Jones Books aims to
work with a cooperative of
dedicated emerging and
established
writers who will
play an integral part in the
publishing process, from
reading manuscripts,
editing,
offering advice, to advertising
the upcoming publications.
“Our first release will be Laurie Loewenstein’s Unmentionables, which is
slotted for
January of 2014, and will be a traditional publication with an ebook option,” Jones
said. “However, we are currently hard at work
developing an effective e-book strategy,
which could speed up the
process and allow us more publications.”
In addition to Loewenstein’s book, other publications include Wilkes alum
Barb Taylor’s
The Sawdust Trail and alum Jason Carney’s Starve the
Vulture. Also scheduled for release
is J. Patrick Redmond’s Feeding the
Christians.
“No one will ever be able to pigeonhole KJB into one genre,” Jones said.
“Our focus
is to publish quality books that have a message that needs to
be heard. We are a collective
of dedicated writers taking a stand toward
helping one another achieve our literary
goals and dreams without
answering to mainstream, ‘big business’ publishing.”
For more news and information about the press, visit
kayliejonesbooks.com.
�
Thom Ward on Tour with Etcetera’s Mistress
Advisory Board member Thom Ward
has been busy touring with his latest
poetry book,
Etcetera’s Mistress
(Accents Publishing). On February 7,
2013, Ward read and recited
poems at
Georgia Tech’s McEver Poetry reading
series at Kress Auditorium in downtown
Atlanta.
Ward said it was “a great crowd of
students and the general public. It was
the largest
of the year with 318 people
in attendance.” An AV of the event and
Ward’s reading
is available online here.
The event began with an introduction by Thomas Lux. Our Wilkes
advisory board member
read with Georgia poets Laura Newbern and
Dan Veach to a standing room only crowd.
Ward sold more than forty
copies of Etcetera’s Mistress, though he says he “did not
have enough
time this time around to rap Robert Frost’s ‘Stopping by Woods on a
Snowy
Evening.’”
Thom Ward is also the author of Small Boat with Oars of Different Size,
The Matter of the Casket, and Various Orbits.
Faculty and Alum Work With Northampton House Press
New titles from Northampton House Press
LLC, a company founded in 2011, includes
Blood & Honor by Wilkes alum Chelle Ang,
Ordinary Angels by Joan La Blanc, and
Empyres: Bloodblind by Wilkes alum John
Koloski. “It’s thrilling to see my book
become a reality,” Koloski
said. “I thought
nothing could compare to seeing the ebook online, but then I held
my first galley
copy! That beautiful glossy paperback
came with a note from Dave Poyer
stating
that there’s nothing like a new book in
one’s hand. He was absolutely right!”
Koloski has also taken on the role of Science Fiction and Horror
�acquisitions editor,
while Joan La Blanc acquires Romance, Wilkes
faculty member Bob Arthur manages Poetry
acquisitions, and David
Poyer acquires all other genres.
The Wilkes connection to Northampton House Press doesn’t end there.
Poyer said, “Works
are in production from Neil Shepard, Rashidah AbuBakr, and Ken Vose, along with several
books by graduated program
members.” This semester, Wilkes student William Horn is
interning with
the publishing house.
“Northampton House publishes carefully selected fiction—historical,
romance, thrillers,
fantasy—and lifestyle nonfiction, memoir, and poetry,”
Poyer said. “Its mission is
to discover great new writers, especially those
graduated from accredited MA/MFA programs
who have not yet achieved
commercial recognition, and give them a chance to springboard
into
fame.”
The publisher aims to bring something new to the marketplace and to
readers, particularly
the kind of works that may be overlooked by large
trade houses. “Watch the Northampton
House list at www.northamptonhouse.com,” Poyer said, “and Like us on Facebook to
discover more
innovative works of high quality from brilliant new writers.”
Announcements
Watch for an important new program announcement in the next issue!
If you plan on attending the annual AWP Conference and Bookfair, taking
place in Boston
MA, March 6-9, 2013, you’ll find ample Wilkes
representation. Faculty Gregory Fletcher
and Jean Klein, and alum
Laurie Powers are on the panel “The Ten-Minute Play: the
Essential
Ingredients,” Nancy McKinley is presenting on the panel “International
Women’s
Day Reading from Becoming: What Makes a Woman,” and
Christine Gelineau will present
on the panel “Second Sex, Second Shelf?
Women, Writing, and the Literary Marketplace.”
Jim Warner, alum and
former assistant program director, will once again host the All-Collegiate
Poetry Slam and Open Mic every night of the conference. Bonnie Culver,
program director,
is on the AWP national Board of Trustees and was a
member of the Boston Conference
committee. She noted, “There are
more presentations this year than any other year
in AWP history. It
promises to be another fantastic conference.” For more information
about
AWP and the conference schedule, visit awpwriter.org. Don’t forget to
stop by Wilkes/ Etruscan Press booth in the Bookfair!
�
Faculty/Staff Notes
Philip Brady took part in “The Next Big Thing” project and his interview
is available at The Write Life.
Bev Donofrio’s new memoir, Astonished: A Story of Evil, Blessings,
Grace, and Solace, is now available.
Christine Gelineau has a poem about Wilkes-Barre in North American
Review.
Jean Klein had a production of a 10-minute play, Life Swap, at the
annual Short Shorts at The Venue on 35th in Norfolk VA.
Dawn Leas has two poems, “Current” and “A Lesson on Resilience,”
included in the special flood
edition of Word Fountain. Her review of
Ghosts in a Red Hat by Rosanna Warren appears in the January 2013
issue of Poets’ Quarterly, and her essay, “A Running List,” was recently
featured on the blog, and i ran.
J. Michael Lennon reports that Simon and Schuster announced a
publication date of November 1, 2013
for his next release, Norman
Mailer: A Double Life. The official biography of Mailer (who died in 2007),
the founding chair of the Advisory
Board of the Wilkes MA/MFA Creative
Writing Program, took six years to write, and
is approximately 340,000
words in length. Mailer was the keynote speaker at the June
2005 writing
conference that kicked off the Program. His wife, Norris Church Mailer
(also a distinguished novelist) succeeded him on the Advisory Board, and
regularly
attended graduation ceremonies for the Program until her
untimely death in November
2010. Lennon’s biography is the first to use
Mailer’s extensive correspondence (45,000
letters) and unpublished
manuscripts, as well as interviews with his nine children
and ex-wives.
Mailer was married six times. His longest marriage was to Norris, from
1980 to his death. The Mailers established a scholarship in her name
shortly after
the Program was founded. Lennon co-founded the Program
with current Director, Dr.
Bonnie Culver.
Nancy McKinley’s short story, “Sweet the Sound,” was published in Blue
Lake Review.
Kevin Oderman’s essay, “Trips Not Taken,” has been published in
�shadowbox.
David Poyer’s new book, The Whiteness of the Whale, was reviewed in
Publishers Weekly. The book will be officially released April 3,
but is
available for pre-order now and David would like to remind everyone that
pre-orders
are a great way to help an author.
Juanita Rockwell contributed a piece, “A minute comes and goes with
all its possibility,” to OneMinutePlays.wordpress.com.
Neil Shepard was interviewed in Delphi Quarterly.
Thom Ward’s poetry book, Etcetera’s Mistress, was reviewed by George
Wallace in BigCityLit.
Student/Alumni Notes
M.A. alum Jennifer Bokal worked as the managing editor for
Paddlewheel, a literary anthology. Jennifer’s short story, “Infinity Plus
One,” also appeared
in the book and had its beginnings as an exercise in
the Fiction Foundation course
at Wilkes University.
M.F.A. student Kait Burrier co-founded “Sixteenhundred,” a
collaborative column that covers concerts and festivals
across the
country. “Sixteenhundred” features an event review by Kait and photos
by
Jason Riedmiller. It is currently published online and in print via The
Weekender.
M.A. alum Bobbi Button is hosting a series of “Write With Your Child”
evenings for her 7th and 8th grade
students and their parents. The first
evening was a success with 26 people in attendance.
M.F.A. alum Tara Caimi’s personal essay, “Lucky Teeth,” is forthcoming
in the March issue of Fire & Knives.
M.F.A. student Chris Campion has an essay, “Back to the Start:
Reclaiming Your Voice and Confidence in Writing,”
in The Write Life.
M.A. alum Joe Cetta’s episodic novel, Parade Day: A Wholly
Remarkable and 33% Non-Fictional Account of Scranton and its
St.
Patrick’s Day Parade, is now available on Amazon, published under the
pseudonym Joe Goats.
M.A. alum Kevin Conner recently had a short film produced; Pitchfork is
�currently in post-production. Also, his poem “Translating” was featured in
Naugatuck River Review, and another poem, “Skinny,” was featured in
The New Guard Review.
M.F.A. alum Craig Czury was a featured poet at the 2012 Semana de
las Letras y las Lecturas, International
Poetry Festival in Rosario,
Argentina. His poems appear in the online anthology ¡Ríoparaná! and
Aldebaran Review. His book, Kitchen of Conflict Resolution, was
published as La Cocina de Resolución de Conflictos, translated into
Spanish by Esteban Charpentier y Griselda García, ArbolAnimal
Ediciones,
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
M.F.A. alum Brian Fanelli has poems forthcoming in the spring/summer
issues of Poetry Quarterly, Popshot, and Eunoia Review.
M.F.A. alum Patricia Florio is working with publisher Sue Richter on a
literary journal. They recently worked
on a special Valentine’s Days Issue
of East Meets West, American Writers Review, available from Sera
Publishing.
M.F.A. alum Rachael J. Goetzke is working with The Osterhout Free
Library on an in-house literary magazine. Word Fountain has just
released a special full-color issue to benefit local flood victims. Copies
of
the magazine can be obtained from the Osterhout Free Library for a
donation of
at least $5 per copy. All proceeds will go to an account via
the Luzerne Foundation
to help still-recovering flood victims.
M.F.A. alum Michelle Henriques-Wilson’s debut martial arts fantasy
novel, Blood & Honor, has been e-published by Northampton House
Press under the pseudonym Chelle Ang.
The book is available on Kindle,
Nook, and Kobo. The author has recently been interviewed
by Monique
Lewis for At The Inkwell.
M.A. student Paul Jackson was interviewed by Monique Antonette
Lewis for At The Inkwell, about his novel A Servant’s Story and the
sequel which he is writing now. The sequel
is called: A Servant’s Story:
The War Years.
M.F.A. alum John Koloski has e-published his first novel, Empyres:
Bloodblind. It is the first book in the Empyres trilogy, with the next two
books to follow in
2013 and 2014. The book is available for Kindle, Nook,
and Kobo readers.
M.F.A. alum Ginger Marcinkowski is now a monthly health columnist
for Bookfun.org, whose readership is over 30,000. Her first novel, Run,
River Currents, was a semi-finalist in the ACFW (American Christian
Fiction Writers) Genesis Contest
and received an Honorable Mention at
�the New England Book Festival.
M.A. alum Lori A. May wrote new book reviews for Los Angeles Review,
Northern Poetry Review, and The Review
Review.
M.F.A. alum Jeff Minton was a finalist in Glimmer Train’s November
2012 Short Story Contest. His story, “Fake Rubber,” was written in his
Fiction Foundations course.
M.A. alum Lori M. Myers has a short story, “Cooking in a Room with
Strangers,” included in the anthology
Forever Families published by
Mandinam Press. Also, her play Eleanor and the Christmas Carol, a
modern
comedic twist on the Dickens’ classic, premiered at the Grace
Milliman Pollack Performing
Arts Center in Camp Hill PA.
M.A. student Linda M.C. Nguyen’s short story, “The Blind Side of
Control,” has been accepted for publication by
Notes from the
Underground Magazine for March 2013. She was also the recipient of the
Bergman Foundation Scholarship.
M.A. alum John Plucenik’s quarterly magazine, IndependentNEPA, will
top the $1 million mark in subscription/advertising revenue by the May
2013
issue. He credits his time in the Wilkes program for his continued
success.
M.F.A. alum William Prystauk’s short film Too Many Predators won
Third Place at MoviePoet.com. The short will be entered in upcoming
festivals.
His quirky drama short film, Go Blue! A Post-Apocalyptic After
School Special, is in production. His crime thriller, Bloodletting, will be
shot by LGG Digital Films later this year.
M.A. alum Dania Ramos’ play Hielo received public readings at
Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey’s FORUM Reading Series
at Fairleigh
Dickinson University in Madison NJ and the Arts on Division Festival
in
Somerville NJ. Mi Casa Tu Casa, a bilingual holiday show she cocreated, had its second production at Luna Stage
in December 2012.
M.A. student Nisha Sharma’s poems “Synesthesia” and “Perfect You”
were accepted for publication by YA Review Network, an award winning
literary magazine for teens.
M.F.A. student Michael J. Soloway’s most recent essay, “Sticks and
Stones,” will be published by Split Lip magazine in March 2013.
M.F.A. alum Donna Talarico, founding editor of Hippocampus
Magazine, reports that Hippo has received great media coverage
recently, including coverage
in Wood Stove House.
�M.A. alum Barb Taylor recently sold her first novel, The Sawdust Trail,
to Kaylie Jones Books and Akashic Books. Her novel will be released in
May of 2014.
M.A. alum Kevin Voglino’s second book, Times Square Kiss, is now
available from Rogue Phoenix Press.
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Revise This! | 2013-03.pdf
Creative Writing
Maslow
Maslow Family
Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing
Revise This
Writing
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About Wilkes
Home
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Academics
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Archives
Revise This - June 2013
Revise This!
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2017
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Revise This! November 2019
Revise This! | June 2013
Revise This Archives
Revise This! Archives
Book Trailers Trending at Wilkes | Wilkes Grads Earn National
Recognition
Post-Grad, Post-Production: Kevin Conner and the Big Screen
Fantasy Comes To Life for Alum Lauren Catron | Success with MFA
Internships in Education
Announcements | Faculty/Staff Notes | Student/Alumni Notes |
Book Trailers Trending with Wilkes Writers
Savvy writers are taking word-ofmouth promotions to a new level and
reaching wider
audiences through
multi-media and social platforms. To
support faculty member David
Poyer’s
n
2013
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�latest novel, alum Laurie Powers
produced a trailer for The Whiteness
of the Whale.
”She was an incredibly hard charger to
get this trailer done before the book
came
out,” Poyer says of Powers.
While no one seems to be sure yet
how such media impacts
book sales,
with the trend too early to completely
monitor, Poyer says it’s a great
addition to his promotional platform.
“Macmillan linked their book sites to the trailer
and it has already had
over a thousand hits.”
Powers has twelve years experience in visual effects and read an
advanced reading
copy of Poyer’s book to gather ideas. “I looked for
phrases and images that stood
out to me, or somehow defined the
characters or storyline,” she says of her process.
Her familiarity with the
art form was also helpful in determining what would work
for the project.
“I know book trailers are becoming really popular as I see them
everywhere,
and I can say that I personally bought a couple of books
after seeing promotional
videos that friends posted on Facebook.”
Short videos are easy to share on social media sites, Powers says, so
the portable
versatility lends itself to word of mouth promotion. “You can
watch a small video
on your iPhone on the bus for example. You
probably wouldn’t open up a website and
read book reviews on your
phone,” Powers says, adding that “everything these days
is promoted via
multi-media, why should books be any different?”
Justin Kassab, whose debut novel is
scheduled for publication with Kaylie
Jones Books, an imprint of Akashic
Books, has latched onto the trend as
well. Kassab says a book trailer was
appropriate for
his book, Foamers, as
his “target audience isn’t the group
reading book reviews; they are the
people
surfing Youtube for the next
great clip to share with all of their
friends. A book
trailer has the potential to spread faster, farther, and to
�more audiences, than traditional
promotions.”
Jones says Mark Dennebaum, Jr. and Twenty Five/Eight, a Scranton
company, volunteered
their studio and crew to produce the trailer. While
the video is in its final editing,
photos of the shoot are available on the
publisher website and Facebook page. “With the younger generation of
readers, who often choose their
books based on trailers or on on-line
marketing,” Jones says, “book trailers are much
more effective than for
older readers who still rely on book reviews and blogs, or
word of mouth,
to determine what they will read.”
Kassab says the production experience was positive and a part of his
creative process.
He wrote the trailer draft and then Dennebaum finessed
the final script “into something
shootable,” Kassab says. “They let me
stay on set and consulted me for decisions.
Overall, I felt like a kid in a
candy store watching something I had written come
to life.”
Wilkes Grads Earn National Recognition
M.A. alum Todd McClimans and M.F.A. alum Sandee Gertz Umbach
have each recently been
honored with national recognition for their
creative works. While in the program,
McClimans worked with Lenore
Hart and David Poyer on his alternate-history middle
grade manuscript,
Time Traitor. The manuscript has been declared one of five finalists
in
the 2013 National Association of Elementary School Principals Children’s
Book Award
competition.
“I couldn’t believe that my manuscript, Time Traitor, had been named one
of the finalists,” says McClimans. ”I’ve been struggling to get
my
manuscript noticed in the slush piles of many agencies. Becoming a
finalist let
me know that I had written a viable story and that I do have a
chance at achieving
my dream.”
Sandee Gertz Umbach took 2nd place
in the Working Class Studies
Association’s national
“Tillie Olsen”
Award for Creative Writing for her
published book of poetry, The Pattern
Maker’s Daughter. Each year, the
WCSA issues a number of awards to
recognize the best new work in
the
field of working-class studies. The
review process is organized by the
past-president
of the WCSA, and
�e
THEPA1TERN
MAKER'S
DAUGlflllll
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submissions are judged by a panel of
three readers for each of the
five
categories of awards. Comments from
judges included this remark: “Sandra
Gertz
Umbach has a fresh way of seeing the everydayness of working
lives.”
While in the program, Gertz Umbach worked with Neil Shepard. The
alum says her mentor
“helped me to push to the finish line on this book
when at times it seemed impossible.”
McClimans also credits the Wilkes writing program for the development
and success
of his project. “I can’t overstate how much I learned from
David Poyer and Lenore
Hart,” the alum says. “Dave taught me how to
take an idea from beginning to end with
the dreaded outline, to hone my
voice for brevity and exactness, to trust my story and myself,
and to push
through self-built walls. With Lenore, I learned to pull my language
together
and to further hone my voice to reach younger readers. I’m so
grateful for their guidance,
support, and friendship. I wouldn’t be here
without them.”
Post-Grad, Post-Production: Kevin Conner and the Big Screen
M.A. alum Kevin Conner’s film, “Pitchfork,” is in post-production. The film
began
as a short film project during his time in the Screenwriting
Foundations course taught
by Ross Klavan. Conner says the film has a
simple premise: “A no-luck farmer finds
happiness again. It’s a basic love
story, with just a few twists.”
Since graduating, Conner has continued working with artistic directors
Todd Oravic
and Ryan Wood, both recent undergraduate Wilkes
�students. “Working with Todd and Ryan
has been great,” Conner says.
“Their energy, enthusiasm, and knowledge made completion
of the film
possible. I learned an awful lot from them. They are two talented
gentlemen.”
Conner is thankful for his time in the Wilkes program for connecting him
with the
greater writing community. “In my opinion, this is the great
intangible of the Wilkes
program,” he says. “We all need help from others
to keep projects moving along, and
the program provides writers with the
community necessary to see ideas through. It’s
a very valuable
resource.”
Fantasy Comes To Life for Alum Lauren Catron
M.A. alum Lauren Catron says the Wilkes
creative writing program has prepared her
for
what’s about to happen this summer: her debut
novel, Changeling Eyes, will be published by
indie press Booktrope Publishing.
Between preparing the manuscript and planning
for post-publication marketing efforts,
Catron
feels better educated about the publishing
process thanks to her time at Wilkes.
“It’s
important to learn how to promote myself and do some of the work on my
own,”
she says, adding that contemporary publishing relies so much on
the author’s efforts.
Catron said David Poyer was “the most amazing mentor ever” as he
helped her finesse
her editing skills and make her manuscript the best
possible prior to publication.
“I still find myself reading books and
thinking, ‘Poyer would never have let this
slide’… I realized that when my
book got published, it meant my books stood a better
chance by
comparison because I had Poyer in my corner. Thanks for getting me
started,
Dave.”
Changeling Eyes is the first book in her series, The Aesir Chronicles, and
“focuses on Lrill, her struggle with her powerful heritage, and the
revelation
that there is a core of truth at the center of every legend.”
Catron says the series
will offer an alternate history of Earth, spanning
from the creation of the world
to its destruction and rebirth.
The alum says her favorite memory of attending the Wilkes program was
“the moment
when I realized any random member of the CW program
was probably going to understand
me better, as a person and a writer,
�than anyone else I had ever known.” She is currently
at work on the
sequel to Changeling Eyes.
Success with MFA Internships in Education
Earning real world experience is part of the Wilkes creative writing
curriculum. In
their final term, M.F.A. students have the option to pursue
Education or Publishing
internships as part of the 620 project semester.
As a faculty supervisor, Nancy McKinley
has seen many of her mentored
students go on to secure post-graduate positions in
local colleges. One
college in particular, Elizabethtown College, has four Wilkes
grads on
their payroll: Rick Fellinger, Jeff Minton, Donna Talarico, and Tyler
Grimm.
”I’m thrilled to see so many interns get hired for
teaching positions,” McKinley says.
“Their
placement speaks to the value and
professionalism of the M.F.A. Internship
in
Education. The interns receive training and
experience in the Best Practices of
Teaching that
can be applied at the college level, Artists-in-the
Schools, workshop
groups, and secondary levels.”
Alum Rick Fellinger tends to two roles at
Elizabethtown College. He’s both an adjunct
writing professor and a faculty fellow in The Writing Wing. “In the latter, I
oversee
the college’s writing tutors, mentor advanced writers, and hold
writing workshops
for faculty and community members,” he says.
Fellinger credits his Wilkes internship
for equipping him with the
experience and practical tools to serve his students needs.
“From the
start, I was able to teach with a firm grasp of the writing process and
I felt
completely comfortable leading a classroom.”
Such comfort and confidence is something alum Jeff Minton says not
everyone possesses,
which is why the internship experience is so
valuable. “If your goal is to teach,
take 620. There is just too much to
know,” Minton says. “You need experience. Many
applicants don’t have
it, and given the extreme competitiveness in academia for English
teachers, this will give you a crucial leg-up—not to mention a world of
connections.”
Many of those connections begin in the Wilkes program, and Nancy
McKinley says the
internships offer not only professional guidance, but
also skills in balancing the
creative success of graduates. “Throughout
the internship semester,” she says, “the
M.F.A. students have regular
�online discussions that foster a community of writers-as-teachers
wherein
they share ideas, garner support, and remind one another about the
importance
of making time for their own writing.”
Alum Donna Talarico combines her creative and professional skills in a
position outside
of the classroom. Talarico chose the Internship in
Publishing and worked with Phil
Brady to offer social media and website
support for Etruscan authors. Now Talarico
applies her combined skills
as the integrated marketing manager in the Office of Marketing
and
Communications at Elizabethtown College. “Today, marketing writing is
more about
story-telling and less about selling,” she says. “I was able to
contribute to establishing
a new voice and personality for the college, and
completely revamp our messaging and
style. The craft portion of the
M.F.A. program no doubt played a big role in this
transition.” Talarico
says her work day encompasses creative writing in every aspect.
“I think
the M.F.A., coupled with my communications background, gives me such
a unique
perspective on marketing—so much so that it has allowed me to
innovate and, often,
allow my institution to stand out from others.”
The internship experience provided through Wilkes offers students
concrete skills
for the workplace—and a supportive learning environment
that often translates to confident
and compassionate instruction. After
only two semesters of teaching, alum Tyler Grimm
was recognized for his
classroom presence when he was nominated for the Richard Crocker
Outstanding Service to Students Award. Grimm says the annual award is
decided by the
students. “It is so important to me that these nominations
come from the students
and not from other faculty,” Grimm says. “It tells
me I’m doing something right and
making a positive impact even as I’m
still honing my classes and teaching methodology.”
Grimm credits his success to the Wilkes residency and internship, while
giving a nod
to faculty members Nancy McKinley, Lenore Hart, and
Kaylie Jones. “Both Nancy and
Lenore provided such insight and
knowledge during 616 that I did not feel that overwhelmed when
beginning my internship,” he says, adding that the development of
syllabi,
lesson plans, rubrics, and his pedagogical practices were also supported
by Jones. “Throughout the program, she taught me how to provide
feedback on students’
writing, which is obviously invaluable. The rest,
though, came from working through
questions and concerns with Nancy.
Her approach to the internship is as individualized
as possible.”
An important part of the internship experience is encouraging M.F.A.
students to balance
their professional obligations with their creative
ambitions. After all, our students
are writers who came, first and
foremost, to our program to explore their craft and
pursue their personal
writing dreams. “Our interns learn how to navigate time constraints
whereby they find ways to balance writing with working as a teacher-ofwriting,” says
McKinley, arguing that fulfilled writers create fulfilled
�instructors. “Thus the interns
bring a level of enthusiasm to the teaching
environment that heightens their instructional
delivery. I think that’s a key
aspect of our success and why so many of our graduates
get hired for
teaching jobs.”
Announcements
New Program Tracks: Ever thought you wanted to start your own press,
e-zine, or literary journal? Thanks
to the initiative of Akashic Books editor
Johnny Temple and Etruscan’s founding editor
Phil Brady, alums and
current students now have the option of pursuing a Master of
Arts in
Publishing! This new track will open at the June 2013 residency. Wilkes
alums
will take only an additional 18 credits to earn the M.A. in
publishing.
Have you found the world of documentary film fascinating? The Wilkes
low residency
program has also added a Master of Arts in documentary
film, which will begin in January,
2014. Like the new publishing degree,
alums need only take an additional 18 credits
to earn this degree. The
curriculum is being developed now working with Robert May
and SenArt
Films and other to be named companies.
Other program updates: Due to student requests, all M.A. graduates
will have their area of study on their
diploma, beginning with the fall
graduation. For example, if you complete a screenplay
for your thesis,
your diploma will now read: “Master of Arts in Creative Writing
specializing
in screenwriting.” Beforehand, all diplomas simply read,
“Master of Arts in Creative
Writing.” Should you wish to return to Wilkes
and specialize in another area of study,
you need only take the last 18
credit hours to earn a second M.A.
For more information on any of these new possibilities or to apply to any
of the newly
revised program tracks, please email or call Dr. Culver or
Ms. Dawn Leas. Deadline
to apply is May 31, 2013.
Etruscan Press is delighted to announce that Dr. Jaclyn Fowler has
agreed to accept the position
of Managing Editor of Etruscan Press.
Jackie received her M.F.A. and M.A. from Wilkes
University’s Creative
Writing program.
Prior to coming to Etruscan Press, Dr. Fowler taught English, Creative
Writing, and
Education to K-12, undergraduate, graduate, and adult
learners in both the traditional
ground and asynchronous online
classrooms. She also served several independent schools
as head of
their academic programs and sits on the PA State Board of Private
�Schools.
Dr. Fowler received her doctorate in Education and Second Language
Acquisition from
The Pennsylvania State University.
Faculty/Staff Notes
Bob Arthur is heading up The Edge Theater, a new theater on the
Eastern Shore of Virginia. His
first show included two short-shorts: “GPS”
by Bonnie Culver and “LifeSwap” by Jean
Klein.
Susan Cartsonis, faculty and advisory board member, was recently
honored for her accomplishments
in film by the Crohn’s & Colitis
Foundation of America at their 6th Annual Women of
Distinction luncheon
at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The speech she gave is shared online
on The
Write Life. Susan also attended the Forbes’ Women’s Summit in NYC.
Bonnie Culver has an essay in an upcoming anthology, Writing on the
Water: Words on the Allegheny River, which is scheduled for publication
with Mayapple Press. The anthology will include
a CD with poetry and
music from Jerome Rothenberg and Pete Seeger. Her essay, “Moon
on
the Water,” is about a month-long canoe trip Bonnie took in 1969 on the
river.
Gregory Fletcher’s short play, “The Moon Alone,” was produced in
March by Artistic New Directions
at the Shetler Studio Theatre, Off-OffBroadway.
Jean Klein is coordinating HaveScripts.com, an e-catalog of plays
available for stage, readings,
and classrooms. Current Wilkes faculty
plays available with HaveScripts include selections
from Bonnie Culver,
Jan Quakenbush, Robert P. Arthur, and Jean Klein.
Dawn Leas has a poem, “Bonfire,” forthcoming in the 2013 issue of
Connecticut River Review and two poems, “A Winter Conversation” and
“The 6:45 Train,” forthcoming in the upcoming
issue of Word Fountain.
Her review of Water-Rites by Ann E. Michael appears in the April 2013
issue of Poets’ Quarterly, and she has work included in the forthcoming
anthology, A Commonplace Book: A Community Memoir Project edited
by Jennifer Hill. Dawn also wrote a feature article about the Wilkes
Creative
Writing Program for The IndependentNEPA magazine, owned
and published by alum John Plucenik. She will also have a poem,
“Seaside
Heights, 2011,” in the Harbors and Harbor Towns-themed issue
of San Pedro River Review, scheduled to be released in June.
�J. Michael Lennon has a number of events planned for the summer and
fall, leading up to the October
release of his Mailer biography, A Double
Life. Lennon also has a new website.
Nancy McKinley’s short story, “No Matter Where,” received an
Honorable Mention in the Westmoreland
Arts & Heritage 2013 Poetry
and Short Story Contest.
Dave Poyer debuted two new books this spring: a novel, The Whiteness
of the Whale, for which he was touring on Cape Cod and Nantucket
recently, and an oral history,
Happier Than This Day and Time, which he
will be reading from on Hatteras Island, Kitty Hawk, and Manteo Island
next month.
M. Kilburg Reedy, our frequent visiting entertainment lawyer, is coproducing a new Broadway play,
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and
Spike, starring Sigourney Weaver and David Hyde Pierce. The show has
been honored with
six Tony nominations, including Best Play, as well as
Drama Desk, Drama League, and
Outer Critics’ Circle nominations for
Best Play.
Juanita Rockwell was granted a writer’s residency at Wildacres Retreat,
NC, and is directing Jordan
Harrison’s Act A Lady for Iron Crow Theatre,
playing May 25-June 8 at Baltimore Theatre Project.
Neil Shepard’s new e-book, Scavenging the Country for a Heartbeat, is
available from Northampton House Press.
Student/Alumni Notes
M.F. A. alum Amye Archer was a featured reader at KGB in New York,
as part of the At The Inkwell series.
M.A. student Cheryl Bazzoui’s essay, “On Becoming Unplugged,” was
published under her pen name, Ann Mccauley,
in the February 2013
issue of Working Writer.
M.F.A. alum Chris Bullard has had his chapbook, Dear Leatherface,
accepted for publication by Kattywompus Press later this year. His fulllength collection,
Back, is also scheduled for publication this year with
WordTech Communications.
M.F.A. student Kait Burrier’s monologue, “Gin on the Rocks,” was
�produced by the Jason Miller Playwrights Project
in Rock Bottom:
Monologues About Starting Over at the Scranton Public Theatre. Her
one
act play “Spill” will be produced by Gaslight Theatre Company in their
Playroom
series during the last two weeks of June at Downtown Arts.
Kait also had an article
about The Office wrap-up party published in The
Weekender.
M.F.A. alum Tara Caimi’s memoir excerpt, “Without Words,” was
published in Outside In Literary & Travel Magazine.
M.A. alum Chris Campion, along with many other Wilkes creative
writing alum, read the opening chapter from
his new novel in progress,
Office Fire, at New Visions Art Gallery for its bi-monthly writers and poets
showcase.
M.F.A. alum Jason Carney has three poems in the latest issue of Union
Station Magazine. He is also now a contributing
editor at Poets’
Quarterly.
M.A. alum Erin Delaney was recently featured at the April Faculty
Poetry Feature at Misericordia University’s
Speaker Series, “From Mouth
to Mic: Waxing Poetic II,” and was a Poetry Feature at
New Visions
Monthly Writers Showcase and Poetry Reading. She is currently working
at Misericordia University teaching African American Literature, American
Immigrant
Literature, and Modern World Literature. She is currently
teaching Sophomore Seminar
at Southern New Hampshire University.
M.F.A. alum Brian Fanelli’s poem, “Writing the Last Word,” has been
accepted for the June issue of Spillway,
and his poem, “Temp Worker,”
has been accepted by The Oklahoma Review. A third poem, “Goodbyes
in a Blackout,” was accepted by North Chicago Review. In addition, Brian
recently enrolled in SUNY Binghamton’s Ph.D. program and completed
his first semester in May.
M.F.A. alum Patricia Florio’s short story, “Golden Boy,” was published
in the summer issue of Newtown Literary.
M.F.A. alum Jenn Freed recently published her young adult historical
fiction novel, The Last Encampment, with Northampton Press.
M.F.A. alum Sandee Gertz Umbach’s book, The Pattern Maker’s
Daughter, received 2nd place in the national Tillie Olsen Award
competition for Creative Writing
given by the Working Class Studies
Association.
M.F.A. alum Virginia Grove published an excerpt of Break in the latest
issue of Survivor’s Review. She was also a reader at Misericordia
�University’s series, “From Mouth to Mic: Waxing
Poetic II,” in celebration
of National Poetry Month.
M.A. student April Line’s column “Understanding Henry” will come out
in the maiden issue of West Branch Life, a new publication of The
Williamsport Sun-Gazette. She has also recently accepted a position as
staff editor at Evolved Publications.
M.F.A. alum Bill Lowenburg’s monograph, “Crash Burn Love,” was
recently featured with a 14 picture spread on
Slate.com’s photo blog,
Behold.
M.A. alum Laurie Loewenstein had a short story published in the
Mondays Are Murder series from Akashic Books.
M.F.A. alum Carol MacAllister was recently accepted in the Horror
Writers Association.
Alum Monique Lewis also conducted an author
interview with Carol and wrote a review
of her e-book, Mayan Calendar
Reveal, which can be found at attheinkwell.com.
M.F.A. alum Ginger Marcinkowski is now a regular column contributor
to Book Fun Magazine.
M.A. alum Gale Martin was featured at the Annual Book and Author
Luncheon of the Willingboro chapter of
the American Association of
University Women (AAUW) on April 26, where she gave an
author talk,
followed by a book signing. She will appear at the fourth annual BookFest
PA, part of the 2013 Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, on
Saturday, July
13, 2013, sponsored by the Schlow Centre Region
Library.
M.A. alum Lori A. May was featured in an interview at r.kv.ry Quarterly
Literary Journal, where she has new poetry in the latest issue. She also
has an essay in a recent
issue of Northern Cardinal Review.
M.A. alum Todd McClimans’s alternate-history middle grade
manuscript, Time Traitor, was declared one of five finalists in the 2013
National Association of Elementary
School Principals Children’s Book
Award competition.
M.F.A. alum Chad Mullen’s book, The Mirror of Aberrantine, is
scheduled to be published by Northampton House Press.
M.A. alum Lori M. Myers had her short story, “Dante’s Window,”
published in the inaugural issue of Rock Bottom
Journal. She also
recently interviewed singer Helen Reddy for an article in B Magazine.
�M.F.A. alum Adrienne Pender’s thesis play, “Somewhere in Between,”
will be produced at Theatre in the Park in
Raleigh this September as part
of their 2013-14 mainstage season.
M.F.A. alum Sarah Pugh’s original series, “Killjoy,” made the Top 25
Semi-Final round of the Austin Television
Festival’s Pitch Competition.
M.F.A. alum Carrie Reilly will be teaching and writing in South Africa for
two years while serving in the Peace
Corps.
M.A. student Bill Schneider has traded his surfboard for the Stylebook.
He accepted a graduate assistantship
with the Wilkes University
Marketing and Communications Department beginning in late
May.
M.F.A. alum Joseph Schwartzburt reports that Amelia Gray, recent
PEN/Faulkner finalist for her novel Threats, will be the headliner for
Seersucker Live: A Literary Performance, Episode 7.
M.F.A. student Michael J. Soloway will have an excerpt from his
memoir, Share the Chameleon, published by Split Lip magazine in
September 2013. Also, his latest essay, “I Submit to You,” is online
at
The Write Life.
M.F.A. alum Rachel Luann Strayer has entered into an official
agreement with Ellery Schaar of Repurposed Theatre in
San Francisco,
California, for the production of her play, Drowning Ophelia.
Performances will be scheduled for the fall of 2013.
M.F.A. student Edith Ajoke Morenike Trenou will provide editing,
writing, and translation services at Saahelia.com. Edith, who
is fluent in
six languages, holds a master’s degree from the Sorbonne Nouvelle as
well as an advanced translating and interpreting degree from
Georgetown University.
M.A. alum Kevin Voglino’s second book, Tea Time Boys, is now
available from Rogue Phoenix Press.
M.F. A. alum Jim Warner was a featured reader at KGB in New York, as
part of the At The Inkwell series.
M.F.A student Barry Wolborsky wrote an article for EW.com about The
Office wrap-up party in Scranton.
M.F.A. alum Morowa Yejidé joined University of Maryland University
College (UMUC) as an online Adjunct Professor.
She is teaching
Advanced Technical Writing.
�M.F.A. student Dawn D’Aries Zera had her work, “Disillusionment,”
presented in May as part of a production of monologues
at The Olde
Brick Theater in Scranton. Also, her short story “Cuffs,” initially prepared
for an oral presentation class during a residency, is in the summer 2013
edition of
Big Pulp magazine. She also offered a reading in April at KGB
bar, NYC, as part of alum Monique
Lewis’s reading series At the Inkwell.
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Revise This! | 2013-06.pdf
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Mailer Biography by J. Michael Lennon | Laura Moran Makes National
Strides
Michael Mailer Film at Cannes | Drowning Ophelia | Announcements |
Awards
Faculty/Staff Notes | Student/Alumni Notes
Mailer Biography by J. Michael Lennon Now Available
Faculty and advisory board member J.
Michael Lennon offers a definitive portrait of
literary legend Norman Mailer in his highly
anticipated biography, Norman Mailer: A
Double Life (Simon & Schuster). As Mailer’s
archivist, executor, and family friend, Lennon
had
unlimited access to the late author’s
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�papers, letters, and other personal
documents.
Lennon also interviewed more
than eighty individuals and the result is a 947page
biography.
While Mailer is a literary legend and model for many, he was also a
complicated and
controversial figure. In a recent interview, Lennon
touched on Mailer’s multiple identities:
“Mailer could see reality only as a
series of oppositions. Everybody and everything,
all phenomena, is
twinned. All of his own identities—rifleman, novelist, filmmaker,
political
activist, family man, womanizer, journalist, and so on—had a double.
Doubleness
was his tool for understanding people, politics, nature, the
universe even,” Lennon
said. “What makes it more fascinating is that
each twin has a minority within. Monsters
have an enclave of virtue, and
the converse is true for saints.”
To prepare for this biography, Lennon conducted daily interviews during
the last year
of Mailer’s life. He also culled information from more than
45,000 letters, and spent
time with Mailer’s family, friends, and
colleagues. The final book reveals Mailer’s
sources and influences for
each of his major works, as well as his state of mind at
every critical point
in his life and career.
Alum Laura Moran Makes National Strides
M.F.A alum Laura Moran was invited to attend
the Kennedy Center National Seminar for
Teaching Artists in August, 2013. Laura was
one of thirty artists invited to participate,
thanks to her interest in designing extended
residencies in schools.“It was an honor
to
attend,” Moran said. “The Kennedy Center
teaching artist materials have evolved
my
practices and are crucial to securing new
residencies and integrating arts into
the new
common core curriculum.”
Moran’s experiences at the Kennedy Center prompted her and Thomas
�Bosket, a professor
at Parsons School of Design Arts, to found a new
business, B-Trads: Teaching Artists
Alliance. B-Trads, or Beautiful
Traditions, “sprouted from our awareness of a need
to balance tradition
and innovation through creative interaction; to connect disciplined
learning to heart-based needs in support of Balance; to allow discovery
and expression
of all that makes us human—without censure— in order
to find that Balance. True teaching
provides opportunity for epiphany.
Effective teachers provide those opportunities,
but we also intentionally
notice them, actively acknowledge them, and consciously
engage
students in reflection and celebration of their discoveries.”
With a select corps of teaching artists, Moran and Bosket will offer
workshops and
residencies to K-12 schools, adult learners, businesses,
organizations, and communities.
“Our first teaching opportunity was a
partnership with the Upper Delaware River National
Park Service in
Lackawaxen, PA this past summer. We offered three workshops for
adults
and two for children—a huge success—which has resulted in
plans for the 2014 season.
We will also be working with the Delaware
Highlands Conservancy to develop eco-arts
educational materials.”
Lauran Moran graduated with an M.F.A. in 2012. She received the 2011
Beverly Hiscox
Scholarship and gratefully acknowledges the support and
encouragement she received
during her time at Wilkes.
Michael Mailer Film at Cannes
Faculty member Michael Mailer, producer of more
than twenty feature films, recently
returned from the
Cannes Film Festival where his film Seduced and
Abandoned premiered. “It was an exciting time
walking the red carpet,” Mailer said. The film
stars
Alec Baldwin and James Toback.
“Seduced and Abandoned is a nonfiction film, part
mediation on film and the filmmaking process
consisting
of interviews of film legends such as
Polanski, Bertolucci, Scorcese, Copola, and
part
adventure tale following the ups and downs of Alec Baldwin and James
Toback as
they attempt to set up a remake of Last Tango in Paris (but
this one is set in Iraq called Last Tango in Tikrit) at the Cannes Film
Festival,” Mailer said.
HBO bought the film for US distribution and will be airing it this fall. Mailer
is
currently working on a new picture in Louisiana.
San Francisco Production for Playwriting Alum
�Drowning Ophelia , a play by M.F.A. alum
Rachel Strayer, will be onstage October and
November at Repurposed
Theatre in San
Francisco. The full-length play explores the
nature of abuse and forgiveness.
“I’ve been really blessed by how much the
director, Ellery Schaar, has included me
in this
process,” Strayer says. “Since the production is
happening in San Francisco
and I live in
Pennsylvania, I have not had the privilege to
attend a rehearsal. However,
Ellery has kept me involved all the way.
During the auditions she emailed me the headshots
and resumes of the
actors she called back, calling me once to discuss who she was
looking
at and then again to discuss who she was planning to cast and why.”
Strayer says she stays in touch with Ellery on a regular basis. “She often
sends me
pictures through text or email, showing me the theatre space,
costumes, the very important
bathtub set piece, and even candids from a
promotional photo shoot. While Ellery has
final say in all the decisions,
she has made it abundantly clear that my input is
very important to her.
Even with the show happening across the country, I feel as
though I am
an integral part of the production. I could not have asked for a better
experience.”
The Wilkes alum and her husband, Jonathon, will attend all three of the
opening weekend
productions. She has also been invited to do a
“playwright talkback” after each performance.
Strayer graduated in 2012
and worked with mentor Juanita Rockwell.
Announcements
New Program Tracks and Updates: Ever thought you wanted to start
your own press, e-zine, or literary journal? Thanks
to the initiative of
Akashic Books editor Johnny Temple and Etruscan’s founding editor
Phil
Brady, alums and current students now have the option of pursuing a
Master of
Arts in Publishing! This new track opened at the June 2013
residency. Wilkes alums
need only take only an additional 18 credits to
earn the M.A. in publishing.
�Have you found the world of documentary film fascinating? We have also
added a Master
of Arts in documentary film, which will begin in 2014. Like
the new publishing degree,
alums need only take an additional 18 credits
to earn this degree. The curriculum
is being developed now with Robert
May, SenArt Films, and others.
Due to student requests, all M.A. graduates will have their area of study
on their
diploma, beginning with the fall graduation. For example, if you
complete a screenplay
for your thesis, your diploma will now read:
“Master of Arts in Creative Writing specializing
in screenwriting.”
Beforehand, all diplomas simply read, “Master of Arts in Creative
Writing.” Should you wish to return to Wilkes and specialize in another
area of study,
you need only take the last 18 credit hours to earn a
second M.A.
For more information on any of these new possibilities or to apply to any
of the newly
revised program tracks, please email or call Dr. Culver or
Ms. Dawn Leas.
Etruscan Press has great news. Diane Raptosh’s American Amnesia is
one of ten poetry books on the long list for the 2013 National Book
Awards. This
is the fourth Etruscan book to make the long list.
Akashic Books has made Flavorwire’s list of “25 Independent Presses
That Prove This is the Golden
age of Indie Publishing.” In its description
of why the press deserved such recognition,
Flavorwire says Akashic is
“the ultimate indie.”
River & South Review , our new student-run literary journal, has
launched. The editorial team is derived
of current students in the M.A.
and M.F.A. Wilkes writing programs. The launch issue
debuted in
Summer 2013 and the Winter issue is scheduled for publication in
December.
Each issue features poetry, fiction, and nonfiction—as
selected by student editors—and
special theme issues will include
additional genres. The journal website is hosted
at
http://riverandsouth.blogspot.com.
Awards
Awards were presented during the recent summer residency. Joshua
Horwitz received
the Beverly Hiscox Scholarship and Lori A. May
received the Norris Church Mailer Fellowship.
Horwitz was featured in the
Wesleyan University newsletter with a quote from his mentor
Beverly
�Donofrio, a fellow Wesleyan alum.
The 22nd Annual James Jones First Novel Fellowship awarded first
place and $10,000 to Margot Singer of Granville, OH for her manuscript
titled The Art of Fugue. Runners-up in the competition were Jennifer S.
Davis of Baton Rouge, LA for her
manuscript Reckonings; and Timothy
Brandoff of New York, NY for his manuscript Connie Sky. They were
each awarded $750. Tamara B. Titus, of Charlotte, NC received
honorable
mention for her manuscript Lovely in the Eye. The James
Jones First Novel Fellowship was established in 1992 to “honor the spirit
of unblinking honesty, determination, and insight into modern culture as
exemplified
by (the writings of) James Jones.” It is awarded to an
American author of a first
novel-in-progress. The competition is cosponsored by the Wilkes University Graduate
Creative Writing Program
and the James Jones Literary Society.
Faculty/Staff Notes
Bonnie Culver is on the road for those organizations connected to the
CW program. October 3-5,
she attended the Board of Directors meeting
for AWP (Association of Writers and Writing
Programs) of which Wilkes is
an institutional member. She serves as the Vice-President
of AWP whose
next national conference is in Seattle, February 26 to March 1, 2014.
October 24-26, she will attend the International Norman Mailer
Conference hosted this
month in Sarasota, FL where she and
screenwriting faculty member Ken Vose will continue
the annual tradition
of a Wilkes University readers theatre presentation on Mailer’s
work.
Bonnie Culver and Mike Lennon are charter members and board
members of the Mailer
Society. As the JJL Society president, she will
attend the 2013 James Jones Literary
Society Symposium, which will
take place on November 8 at the Quail Creek Country
Club in Robinson,
IL. In November, she will return to Mesa, AZ where she spent last
year
on special assignment for Wilkes. The Wilkes CW program will cosponsor the Mesa
version of the National Novel in a Month (NaNoMo).
Alums, students, faculty, if you
are interested in knowing more about or
participating with any of these organizations,
please contact the program
director.
Christine Gelineau has a poem, “Eating Blueberries,” in the new issue
of Gargoyle Magazine and her poem “Accident” has been accepted for
the winter issue of the journal Broad Street. Also, she will have a poem
included in a forthcoming book from H.L. Hix, accepted
for publication by
Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
�Ross Klavan has a comic novel due out from Greenpoint Press.
Schmuck has an official publication date of January 21, 2014. He was
also consultant on a
script for director Rich Devaney and is a voice on
Amazon’s TV series Alpha House.
Dawn Leas has a poem, “Empty Cars,” in the fall issue of San Pedro
River Review. Her reviews of Gold by Barbara Crooker and What
Remains by Caroline Maun, as well as a Q&A with Michael Czarnecki
about his Poems Across America Tour, appear in the Fall 2013 issue of
Poets’ Quarterly.
Michael Mailer ’s new film, Seduced and Abandoned, premieres on HBO
in October.
Nancy McKinley ’s short story “Love, Masque & Folly” appears in the
short fiction anthology Voices from the Porch, published by Main Street
Rag. Nancy’s short story “Ramp” has been accepted by The Blue Penny
Quarterly for Spring 2014.
Neil Shepard has a new poem, “Street,” based on the James Nares’
video installation in The Metropolitan
Museum, coming out in The
Manhattan Review. Other new poems will appear in Barrow Street, as
well as in Amherst College’s new literary magazine on place, The
Common. His poem “No” will appear in The TV Anthology: Rabbit Ears,
which will appear in print and podcast. His poem “Town Green: South
Royalton” was
selected as poem-of-the-week for the poetry blog,
THEthe, by guest-editor Christine Gelineau. In September, Shepard gave
a poetry reading
at The Burlington Book Festival, did a radio interview for
the literary program WriteTheBookin
VT, and performed in nightclubs
with his long-time ensemble, PoJazz.
Jan Quackenbush had a concert-reading of his new play, Fire on the
Water, at La MaMa Theater’s La Gallariain NYC.
Susan Cartsonis had an article, “Why Women Should Get the Jobs,”
published in ArtsHub, an Australian digital magazine.
Student/Alum Notes
M.F.A. alum Amye Archer reviewed Beverly Donofrio’s latest book,
Astonished, for Brevity.
M.A. alum Tom Borthwick has a short story accepted for publication in
�Bewildering Stories. TwentyFiveEight Studios is also going to be turning
it into a short film.
M.F.A. alum Cory Brin will have his poem “A Rainy Drive” published in a
poetry collection, This Time Around, by Eben and Wein Publishing.
M.F.A. alum Tara Caimi ’s essay “Cat-Face” was published in Pithead
Chapel, and her essay “Without Words” was selected for inclusion in the
nonfiction anthology
Whereabouts: Stepping Out of Place, published by
2Leaf Press. Both essays are excerpts from the full-length memoir Tara
completed during her time in the creative writing program at Wilkes.
M.A. alum Chris Campion published his debut novel The Jiu-Jitsu Bum
with Northampton House Press, LLC.
M.A. alum Cindy Dlugolecki has had three staged readings of her tenminute play At the End of Her Rope in 2013 as part of Playwrights
Alliance of PA: Hershey Area Playhouse in June; Mt.
Gretna’s Cicada
Festival in August; and Open Stage of Harrisburg in October.
M.F.A. alum Brian Fanelli ’s poem “Adjunct Plight” appeared in The Los
Angeles Times over the summer. In addition, his poem “A Cub Reporter’s
Mentor” was accepted for
publication by Blue Collar Review for a future
issue, and his poem “State of Emergency” was accepted for publication
in the next issue of North Chicago Review. In addition, Brian’s full-length
book of poems, All That Remains, will be out this fall through Unbound
Content.
M.A. alum Donna Ferrara ’s script Arvin Lindemeyer Takes Canarsie
was named a Top Finalist in the ASU Feature Length Screenplay
Contest. Her play The Waiting Place has been chosen for consideration
for a yearlong workshop at William Paterson University
New Playwrights
Competition.
M.F.A. alum Patricia Florio has a cookbook available through
Serendipity Media Press. Cucina d’ Amelia: My Mother’s Sicilian and
Neapolitan Recipes is currently available in a digital edition and will
soon be available in print as
well.
M.F.A. alum Rachael Goetzke published a memoir excerpt with The
Writing Disorder.
�M.A. student April Line has written for the Jamie Chavez Blog. She also
reviewed Tim Parrish’s Fear and What Follows in West Branch Life’s Fall
issue.
M.F.A. student Heather Lowery ’s essay “Keeping It Real” was recently
published in Poets’ Quarterly.
M.A. alum Gale Martin is a presenter at the 2013 Literary Festival at
Alvernia University in Reading, PA.
She is discussing her latest novel
Grace Unexpected. She also participated in BookFest PA in State
College, PA during Arts Festival Week,
sponsored by Schlow Library of
Centre County.
M.F.A. alum Vicki Mayk is teaching a first-year foundations class for
freshmen, “The Power of Story,” at
Wilkes University. The class explores
the ways that story is used to communicate in
many contexts. Her
personal essay “Road Warrior” was selected for publication in
Hippocampus Magazine’s Road Trip issue in July 2013.
M.A. alum Lori M. Myers had her musical Talk, the Musical,with music
by Nicholas Wilders, produced by Gretna Theatre this past summer. Her
playA 21st Century Christmas Carol was accepted for publication by
Contemporary Drama Service. Her short story “Nina”
will be published by
Zest Literary Journal. She also recently interviewed singer/actress Shirley
Jones for B Magazine.
M.F.A. student Linda M.C. Nguyen ’s short story “Pretty Things” was
published by the Sassafras Literary Magazine in September 2013.
M.F.A. student Travis Nicholson recently accepted a position as
Assistant Professor of English at University of Arkansas
- Monticello. He
has also interviewed fellow Wilkes alum Chris Campion for The Write
Life.
M.F.A. alum William Prystauk ’s short horror film Too Many Predatorsis
an Official Selection at both the Twisted Tails Film Festival in Texas, and
the
New Jersey Horrorfest. His short drama Tigers in the Soup is in preproduction.
M.F.A student Nisha Sharma ’s thesis, My So-Called Bollywood Life,
won first place in the 2013 annual Write Stuff Literary Contest in the
Young Adult
Fiction category.
M.A. student Thomas Simko will have a nonfiction piece, “The Long
Goodbye,” published in War, Literature, & the Arts.
�M.F.A. alum Donna Talarico is Director, Integrated Communications at
Elizabethtown College and also is editor
of the College alumni magazine
and online newsroom, E-town NOW. Her previous position
was
Integrated Marketing Manager. In the spring and summer of 2013 she
presented at
a number of national and regional conferences including
Penn State’s Social Media
Summit and the Mid-Atlantic Web Conference
at Gettysburg College.
M.A. alum Douglas James Troxell was a guest on Read First, Ask
Later, a radio show on I <3 Radio that discusses literature and conducts
interviews with authors. His short story “The
Working Dead,” a story he
started writing in his 501 fiction workshop, will appear
on Dark Futures
Fiction in October as part of their zombie-themed month.
M.F.A. alum Sandee Gertz Umbach , who has relocated to Nashville,
TN, will be visiting the Western Pennsylvania area
to give a reading at
the Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh, on Sunday, October 20 as part
of their
Sunday Poetry Series.She will also be a Guest Lecturer at the University
of Pittsburgh that same week where her book, The Pattern Maker’s
Daughter, is being taught by Professor William Scott in an English course
focusing on Working
Class Literature.
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Third Novel for Alum Gale Martin | M.F.A. Analytical Papers in the
Community
Page and Stage: Alum Creates Opportunities | Announcements
Faculty/Staff Notes | Student/Alum Notes
Related Links
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Third Novel for Alum Gale Martin
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In Gale Martin’s newest novel, Who Killed
Professional Pharmacy
‘Tom Jones’?, receptionist Ellie Overton is
Application
gaga for the pop singer Tom Jones. She
School of Nursing - Graduate
meets a handsome
impersonator at a Tom
Program Student Handbook
Jones Festival but when he’s accused of
Schools, Departments,
killing the competition,
Ellie’s not quite sure
Divisions
n
n
�he’s the one for her. Enter M.A. alum Gale
Martin and her romantic,
comedic, and curious
personality.
“When I was in college, my closest childhood friend married an Elvis
impersonator—when
white-fringed-jumpsuit Elvis wannabes were
popular,” Gale says. “I saw how women behaved
around these
impersonators and wondered what my friend’s married life must have
been
like. This notion stayed with me, for decades longer than my
friend’s marriage lasted,
until I was searching my soul for a hook for a
NaNoWriMo book in 2008, and this idea
popped into my head.”
Tom Jones is Gale’s third novel. Since graduating from Wilkes, the
author has steadily worked
on one project after another, kept up her
blogging and social media efforts, and tried
to be as active in the
community as possible. “Life after Wilkes is as challenging
as I thought it
might be,” Gale says. “At first I missed the Wilkes CW Program terribly—
the
interaction with other writers and faculty—but found ways to
ameliorate my separation
anxieties.”
Gale has participated in a number of reading events and also started a
writing workshop
to continue the exchange of constructive feedback.
Many of the participants are fellow
Wilkes members. “In fact, this group,
which now includes Nancy McKinley and Donna
Talarico-Beerman,” Gale
says, “were so helpful with my finishing and polishing Who Killed ‘Tom
Jones’? that I dedicated the novel to them.” What’s next for Gale Martin?
She says, “you’re
only as good as your last novel,” so she’s already at
work on her next manuscript.
M.F.A. Analytical Papers in the Community
As part of the M.F.A. program, students a
6-credit course in literary analysis. The
culmination of this term is an analytical
�paper of publishable quality. Yet some
graduates
are taking their thesis topics off
the page and into the community.
M.F.A. alum Erin Miele built a course
based on her topic for Misericordia
University.
“As someone who both paints and writes,” Erin says, “I chose
to explore affinities
between visual art and literature in my M.F.A. thesis,
Painted Words. Under the excellent Nancy McKinley’s mentorship, I
devised a syllabus for a college
course on the theme, with a plan to
include a range of writers and visual artists.”
Some of the writers Erin
included are Yeats, Walcott, Sexton, Italo Calvino, and Flannery
O’Connor. The painters ranged from Van Eyck to Anselm Kiefer. “The
primacy of the
visual image in writing was emphasized, as was ‘reading’
a painting,” Erin says. “We
also took a look at a variety of ekphrastic
works.” Erin is teaching two sections
of the course this spring.
Alum Jeff Minton’s analytical paper included a discussion about music
and writing
and, specifically, about “scoring a narrative in a similar way as
orchestral music
is scored.” Together with alum Joseph Schwartzburt,
faculty member Nancy McKinley,
and one of Joe’s colleagues from
Savannah, Zach Powers, the team will present a panel
based on this
topic at the upcoming AWP Conference in Seattle.
“For those of us who double as musicians and writers,” Jeff says, “I feel
we have
a composer’s toolkit that transfers over to writing. I wanted to
make that accessible
to non-musicians.” The panel, Orchestration for
Writers 101, will be presented on
Saturday, March 1 at 9 a.m.
“The panel itself focuses on applying musical ideas to better construct a
narrative
for both writers and teachers,” Jeff says. “We’ll perform,
discuss, demonstrate, chat
with the audience, laugh a little, have a good
time, and ultimately explore these
ideas in ways I hope the attendees can
bring back home.”
Nancy McKinley will add pedagogical perspective to the panel. “Writers
and teachers
of creative writing often listen to music as a warm-up, a
springboard for bringing
words to the page,” she says. “Jeff’s approach is
the next logical step: using the
analytic mode of musically scoring words
on the page so that writers can see the progression
of a piece. In the
process, writers and teachers gain insight for heightening passages
whereby the words and their placement enliven the musicality, in
essence, the rhythm
and soul of a piece.”
�
Page and Stage: Alum Creates Opportunities
When Monique Antonette Lewis was
in the education internship term of her
M.F.A., she
encouraged her students
to read their creative works in front of
an audience. The
venue she secured
for her students’ reading was the
notable KGB Bar in New York City.
Since developing a rapport with the
KGB management and demonstrating her ability to
fill a room, Monique
has successfully been running a monthly reading series.
At The Inkwell is a two-part success story for this M.F.A. alum. Monique
simultaneously
runs the reading series—featuring indie locals and
notable authors such as Wilkes’
own Beverly Donofrio and Kaylie Jones
—alongside a website, attheinkwell.com, that
features book reviews and
interviews with up and coming writers.
“I started At The Inkwell because I missed writing stories that helped
people,” Monique
says. “I’m a financial news journalist in NYC and before
that I used to cover education
and local government for newspapers. I
loved that my stories sparked a change in people
and the community I
lived in, and the positive feedback that I received for the stories.
I wanted
to feel that passion again.”
Monique’s goal with At The Inkwell is to serve both the local arts
community and her
own creative ambitions. “I love creative writing and
hope to transition into it full-time
one day, so I thought I could interview
authors about their books, write book reviews,
and host readings.”
Announcements
River & South Review , our new student-run literary journal, has
launched its second issue. The editorial
team is derived of current
students in the M.A. and M.F.A. Wilkes writing programs.
Each issue
features poetry, fiction, and nonfiction—as selected by student editors—
�and
special theme issues will include additional genres. The journal
website is hosted
at http://riverandsouth.blogspot.com.
New Program Tracks and Updates: Ever thought you wanted to start
your own press, e-zine, or literary journal? Thanks
to the initiative of
Akashic Books editor Johnny Temple and Etruscan’s founding editor
Phil
Brady, alums and current students now have the option of pursuing a
Master of
Arts in Publishing! Wilkes alums need only take only an
additional 18 credits to earn
the M.A. in publishing.
Have you found the world of documentary film fascinating? We have also
added a Master
of Arts in documentary film, which will begin in 2014. Like
the new publishing degree,
alums need only take an additional 18 credits
to earn this degree. The curriculum
is being developed now with Robert
May, SenArt Films, and others.
Due to student requests, all M.A. graduates will have their area of study
on their
diploma. For example, if you complete a screenplay for your
thesis, your diploma will
now read: “Master of Arts in Creative Writing
specializing in screenwriting.” Beforehand,
all diplomas simply read,
“Master of Arts in Creative Writing.” Should you wish to
return to Wilkes
and specialize in another area of study, you need only take the last
18
credit hours to earn a second M.A.
For more information on any of these new possibilities or to apply to any
of the newly
revised program tracks, please email or call Dr. Culver or
Ms. Dawn Leas.
Faculty/Staff Notes
Lenore Hart will be teaching at the Ossabaw Island Writer’s Retreat in
Savannah, GA, Feb 16-21.
The five-day writing retreat also includes
faculty members Neil Shepard and David
Poyer.
Rashidah Ismaili has a new website in development:
http://about.me/rashidaismaili.
Dawn Leas has an interview with Lori A. May and a review of Waking My
Mother by Angela Alaimo O’Donnell in the winter issue of Poets’
Quarterly. Her poem “Pairs” appears in the January 2014 issue of
Cumberland River Review, and “Explorer” is part of the Luzerne County
�Poetry in Transit 2013-2014 program.Swandive
Publishing will be
releasing its first collection in spring 2014, which will include
work by
alums Kait Burrier, Stanton Hancock, Dawn Leas, and Jim Warner, and
current
student, Andrea McGuigan. Other poets in the collection are
Barbara DeCesare, Sarah
Zane Lewis, Dale Wilsey, and Eric Wilson.
Ross Klavan ’snew novel, Schmuck, is now available from Greenpoint
Press.
Kaylie Jones will be teaching a Norman Mailer Center workshop in Salt
Lake City, Utah this summer.
She also participated on a panel at Vogue
Knitting Live, reading from her essay in
Knitting Yarns: Writers on
Knitting, published by W.W. Norton.
Karen McElmurray has a short story, “That Night,” included in Red
Holler: An Anthology of Contemporary Appalachian Writing, published by
Sarabande Books.
Nancy McKinley ’s short story “Ramp” will appear in the spring issue of
The Blue Penny Quarterly.
Taylor Polites participated on a panel at Vogue Knitting Live, reading
from his essay in Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting, published by W.W.
Norton.
David Poyer ’s new novel, The Cruiser, will be published by St. Martin’s
Press in May.
Sara Pritchard ’s story collection Help Wanted: Female, published by
Etruscan Press in July 2013, is now available as an audiobook (with Sara
reading) through Amazon and Audible.com. A story from Sara’s first book
of stories,
Crackpots, is included in Red Holler: An Anthology of
Contemporary Appalachian Writing, new from Sarabande Books.
Jeff Talarigo was interviewed by Jennifer De Leon in AGNI Online where
his story excerpt, “The Night Guardian of the Goat,” is also published.
Student/Alum Notes
�M.F.A. alum Chris Bullard ’s first full-length book of poetry, Back, was
published in November of 2013 by CW Books, an imprint of WordTech
Editions.
Kattywompus Press recently published his chapbook, Dear
Leatherface, for publication in January of 2014. Minor Arcana Press
accepted his poem, “Sidekick,”
for the anthology, Drawn to Marvel:
Poems from the Comic Books, to be published in February of 2014.
Fledgling Rag, a literary review, will feature a selection of his poems in its
Issue 13 which will
appear in April of 2014.
M.F.A. alum Craig Czury has poems from “American Know-How: Patent
Pending” in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Gazette.
M.A. alum Jason Donnelly ’s novel, Gripped, was released by Perfect
Edge Books in September. He has also released his creative
thesis as a
Kindle book.
M.F.A. alum Brian Fanelli ’s full-length book of poems, All That
Remains, was recently published by Unbound Content. The book has
been nominated for the Working
Class Studies Association’s Tillie Olsen
Creative Writing Award. Brian was recently
interviewed by Open
Alphabet about the book, as well as by Boston Literary Magazine, and
Poets’ Quarterly. He will be doing several readings for the book in 2014,
including at the KGB Bar
in New York City.
M.F.A. alum Tyler Grimm is currently designing a brand new class for
Elizabethtown College, The Psychology
of Creative Writing. Tyler will
also begin teaching Writing and Analysis of Short
Story and advising
students beginning in the summer.
M.F.A. alum Matthew S. Hinton has accepted the position of
Coordinator of Writing at Misericordia University.
M.F.A. alum Laurie Loewenstein ’s debut novel, Unmentionables, the
inaugural novel in Akashic’s Kaylie Jones Books imprint, has received a
starred
review in the January 15 th, 2014 issue of Library Journal. The
book was also selected as a Midwest Connections Pick for January.
M.F.A alum Carol MacAllister ’s short story, “Upgrade,” will be included
in The Upcoming speculations anthology. Her book, Mayan Calendar
Reveal, prompted an invitation by UFO Magazine editor and TV
personality Bill Byrnes to be his guest on their 90-minute radio theater
call-in show to discuss her research for the novel. Her collection of
horror, The Blackmoor Tales, published by Northampton House Press,
has received good press particularly though
the Horror Writers
Association membership. MacAllister’s poems have been included
in the
recent issue of Word Fountain.
�M.F.A. alum Lori A. May has an essay, “After the Winds Die Down,” in
the February issue of 1966 Journal (Trinity University); her essay,
“Independence Road,” in the December issue of Northern Cardinal
Review; and another essay,“Motor City Redux: In Pursuit of the American
Dream,” in the winter
issue of Midwestern Gothic. Her latest poetry book,
Square Feet, was published in January with Accents Publishing.
M.A. student Andrea McGuigan published an interview with Ross
Klavan in The570.com. She was also awarded the Jennifer
Diskin
Memorial Scholarship at the January residency.
M.A. alum Lori M. Myers had her play “91366” accepted for publication
by HaveScripts. Lori wrote the play
while attending Wilkes and in Jean
Klein’s foundations class. Also, her short story,
“Heartland Flyer,” was
published by Alban Lake Publishing in Disturbed Digest.
M.F.A. alum Richard Priebe ’s short story, “A Bilingual Battle,” was
recently published as part of the Terrible Tuesdays series by Akashic
Books.
M.F.A. alum William Prystauk recently conducted an interview with
horror director Stuart Gordon (of Re-Animator fame) for The Last Knock
podcast. His essay, “How to Prepare Students for Their Online
Experience in Converge: A Journal of Faculty Collaboration for Distance
Education,”has
just been published. He has written and will direct the
short film, Tigers in the Soup, a family drama, in January. He is currently
developing Kickstarter campaigns for
the crime drama CASE #591, which
he will direct this June, and for the animated comedy-fantasy he has
written,
MegaClimax 5000.
M.A. alum Dania Ramos was selected as a finalist in the 2013 MetLife
Nuestras Voces National Playwriting
Competition at Repertorio Español.
M.F.A. alum Carrie Reilly has a poem, “Hesitation Wounds,” in Apiary 7:
The Power Issue. She recently read at the launch party in Philadelphia.
M.F.A. alum Jonathan Rocks recently signed with the Silver/Bitela
Agency in Los Angeles, California.
M.A. student Bill Schneider ’s short story, “Yesterday Once More,” will
appear in Silly Tree Anthologies in January 2014.
M.F.A. alum Michael J. Soloway will have his essay, “Women and
Children First,” published by Hippocampus Magazine in January. Michael
�was also recently promoted from Managing Editor to Editor-in-Chief
of
Split Lip Literary Magazine.
M.A. student Francisco Tutella had a poem included in the Luzerne
County Poetry in Transit 2013-2014 program.
M.F.A. alum Morowa Yejidé ’s novel, Time of the Locust, was covered
by books editor Patrik Henry Bass in the January print edition of Essence
Magazine.
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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
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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 ,.
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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.”
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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
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�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
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�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.
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Revise This! | 2015-03.pdf
Creative Writing
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Attention: Alums and Faculty! PAY IT FORWARD — A Unique
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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! -
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November 2019
Wilkes University Tenth Anniversary Celebration
Introducing Door is a Jar
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�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.
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Revise This! | 2015-08.pdf
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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.
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Revise This! | 2015-11.pdf
Creative Writing
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Maslow Family
Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing
Revise This
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About Wilkes
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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.
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Revise This! | 2016-01.pdf
Creative Writing
Maslow
Maslow Family
Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing
Revise This
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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
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�Wilkes University
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Revise This! | 2016-03.pdf
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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.
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Revise This! | 2016-05.pdf
Creative Writing
Maslow
Maslow Family
Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing
Revise This
Writing
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About Wilkes
Home
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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.
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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
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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.
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Revise This! | 2016-09.pdf
Creative Writing
Maslow
Maslow Family
Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing
Revise This
Writing
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About Wilkes
Home
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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
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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!"
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Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766
1-800-WILKES-U
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Title
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<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
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English
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Title
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Revise This! | 2016-10.pdf
Creative Writing
Maslow
Maslow Family
Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing
Revise This
Writing
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https://omeka.wilkes.edu/omeka/files/original/784ccffcf42aee30c864476c014d342d.pdf
76967549641fd69fa03a41d0f8298706
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About Wilkes
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December 2016
Archives
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Five And A Half Questions For Susan Cartsonis
Warm Your Winter With Wilkes Community Writing Workshops
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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.
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[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!
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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
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<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
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Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing
Publisher
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Wilkes University
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English
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Title
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Revise This! | 2016-12.pdf
Creative Writing
Maslow
Maslow Family
Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing
Revise This
Writing