Course Evaluations

It's that time again! Please see the Forms link on the program web page, http://www.wcsu.edu/writing/mfa, and download/complete/submit a form for each of your courses. Exception: no need to submit an eval for the De Los Santos Online Multigenre course. For any course with Elizabeth Cohen or James Lomuscio, please use BOTH the Departmental Course Evaluation Form AND the Program Course Evaluation Form. For all other courses, simply use the Program form.

Deadline is May 23. Any form RECEIVED thereafter will not be accepted. You may mail the forms, fax them ( 203-837-3953), or email them to Laurel.

Please take a few minutes to fill out evalautions. They are an important part of our departmental and program evaluation process.

Summer Retreat

The Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evars College of the CUNY system in collaboration with SUNY Plattsburgh is sponsoring the North Country Institute and Retreat for Writers of Color in Plattsburgh from Sunday, July 26 through Thursday, July 30. Residents work in poetry with Major Jackson and in fiction with Donna Hemans. I have hard copy info in the office that we can copy and send out, and you can find info at www.mec.cuny.edu/blacklitcenter

August Residency Official Dates

August 1: Arrival Day, New Student Orientation, and Welcome Picnic

If you are travelling from out of town, please plan to arrive at the hotel by 3:00 pm. The New Student Orientation is required for all new students. The picnic was plenty o' fun last year--graduates are welcome, too! BYOB

August 2-7: Full Residency Days

Plan on working from 9 am to 9 or 10 pm Sunday through Friday! Continental breakfast at the hotel, lunch and dinner on campus.

August 8: Closing Meeting and Departure Day

Continental breakfast at the hotel followed by our 9:00 am student-only closing meeting to discuss the week, fill out evaluation forms, recap syllabus procedures for new students, ask/answer other questions, and wish bon voyage to everyone.

Internships/Practica and Course Evaluations

Those of you in internships or practica this semester: please remind your on-site supervisor (as opposed to your mentor for the course) that I need a note from them within the next couple of weeks evaluating your performance over the semester.

Those of you in internships or practica next semester: if you don't already know what you're going to be doing, you should begin making plans ASAP.

All: Keep an eye out early next week for instructions on providing evaluations for this semester's courses.

Side note: thanks to Liz Rosenberg, Jerry Mirskin, and everyone who came to reading and workshop last night. It was a rockin' day. I'm sure Jerry's workshop tonight will be great, too.

Another Grad Scholarship

I just learned that Humble Ben Simon also received a Graduate Scholarship from the Alumni Association. So congrats to Ben and, again, to Stef!

bc

Oh boy oh boy oh boy

http://www.clemson.edu/caah/cedp/cudp/pubs/siedlarz/

Here is the link to my book!!!!

Hot Sale on 2 Inch Thesis Binders!

I have four 2 inch Thesis Binders to sell at the bargain-basement price of $20 apiece plus shipping. Silly me bought six of them, thinking that's the only way they came, until I found out I could've bought the two I needed at the University store. They're the perfect size for a 300 page novel plus the accompanying front matter, so if you're interested, email me privately.

Reminder to All Thesis Students

You must complete a thesis signoff form to submit with your thesis AND you must submit a completed application for graduation form to Graduate Studies. Both forms are available here:

http://www.wcsu.edu/writing/mfa//forms.asp

Congrats to Stefanie Botelho...

... for receiving a $1000 Graduate Award from the Alumni Association!

To all you incoming students--this is one of the potential sources of scholarships once you're in the program.

Swofford Event

Kudos and congratulations to Elizabeth and Lynne for pulling together a successful two days with Anthony Swofford and veteran writers. See the link in Lisa's post below!

bc

I am mentioned in the NY Times (as is Lisa SO)

Its just a tiny little paragraph....but it quotes my poem. The timing is perfect since my book comes out next week. I will send you that link as soon as it is up.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/nyregion/16towns.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

Sir Ken Robinson

Hey all,
This is the best 19 minutes of anything I've watched for a long time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Enjoy!
Don Lowe

Starred Review at Publisher's Weekly for Daniel and Larry!

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6651092.html?industryid=47159

Thesis Due Date: May 4

Jobs for new graduate?

Hi, All

My name is Virginia Marr and I am a graduating senior at Tulane University hoping to attend WCSU's MFA program in the fall. I'm on my own in paying the bill and struggling to find a job, so if anyone knows of any place that may be looking to hire (I will have a BA in English with creative writing concentration) in the Fairfield County area (or even the NYC area), I would appreciate the tip. I'm pretty much open to anything and have some experience working in editorial for magazines.

Thanks so much,
VM

A poetry reading to celebrate National POetry Month

On Saturday April 25th from 2:00 to 4:00 there is a poetry reading at the Louis Piantino Library – The Allingtown Branch of the West Haven Public Library.

The Vietnam Veterans will be reading from their book "The Season of Now" and some girl named Lisa Siedlarz will be reading from her new chapbook, "I Dream My Brother Plays Baseball". Tony Fusco, the president of the Connecticut Poetry Society will also read from his new book, "Droplines". This is all in honor of national poetry month.

It is on the corner of Forest Road and the Boston Post Road. There is plenty of parking. http://www.westhavenpl.org/piantino.htm

Sign Up Soon for Rosenberg and Mirskin!

Folks, thus far I have exactly two people signed up for the Rosenberg and Mirskin workshops on the 23rd and 24th. If I don't get more participants this week, we're going to have to cancel. So if you're interested, sign up now!

Celebrate National Poetry Month

To kick off this month's National Poetry Month celebration, several MFA faculty poets will read on campus on Monday, April 13 at 3:00 in Alumni Hall. Jim Scrimgeour, Irene Sherlock, Elizabeth Cohen, Lynne Paris-Purtle, and Brian Clements will read from their work. Free and open to the public, with coffee, tea, and cookies!

Reading Tuesday

I'll be reading at Marist tomorrow (Tuesday) evening at 8:00. The reading is free and open to the public, so if anyone in the area cares to come by, see you there. Fontaine Hall on the 3rd floor in the Henry Hudson Room.

bc

"In The Glow"

A chapter of my thesis novel Sensation has been published in the online literary journal Per Contra.

Check out "In The Glow," and definitely take a peek at the submission guidelines. (Unlike the overwhelming majority of online lit journals, Per Contra actually pays writers instead of just paying for webhosting and bandwidth and all that other stuff that nobody would dare expect to receive for free.)

Liz Rosenberg Workshop

WRITING FROM CHILDHOOD, WRITING ABOUT PLACE. We will be talking about the role of place in all writing, both for children and adults. Eudora Welty called place the one thing that can "bring the voracious eye of genius to point." We'll be doing in-class writing exercises together on memory, and hopefully that will create a jumping off point for people who are interested in writing for and about children. No advance work is necessary, just bring pen and paper to class. We'll also have open question and answer period where we can talk about the situation of children's publishing today, whether or not you need an agent, how to find the right publisher for your work, and how to submit your work. Liz Rosenberg is the author of more than 20 prize-winning books for young people. Her children's books have won an IRA Choice Award; Best Books awards from Parents; Patenting; The NewYorker and the New York Public Library, and her picture book, THE CAROUSEL, was featured on PBS' Reading Rainbow. She has also published three novels, most recently HOME REPAIR, which was chosen as a Target Break Out Book this June.

Please email clementsb@wcsu.edu to sign up for this workshop.

Call for Papers: Graduate Students on Creative Writing Pedagogy

Some of you might be interested in sending a paper for this anthology. They might even find it interesting to have an essay on one-on-one pedagogy from the perspective of a low-res student (or recent grad)...

Dispatches from the Front: Graduate Student Essays on Creative Writing Pedagogy

University creative writing is at a crossroads. Creative writing programs continue to proliferate in the American university landscape. MFA programs are thriving—over 150 of them across America—while 37 universities have also begun to offer creative writing PhDs. In addition, 159 undergraduate programs now list creative writing as a specific major within the traditional English curriculum. In this rapidly changing environment, even such long-standing creative writing models as the “master artist” and the workshop-style course have become subjects for intense debate, with the theory-driven pedagogies of literature and composition departments knocking heavily at the door.

Yet, despite the recent flourishing of creative writing pedagogy as a field of inquiry, this is a debate that the “grunts” of the creative writing world—the MFA and PhD teaching assistants who teach introductory courses at most universities—largely have yet to join. As a result, these instructors often flounder in their early courses, skeptical of the workshop model but finding little to take its place. With this anthology, tentatively titled Dispatches from the Front: Graduate Student Essays on Creative Writing Pedagogy, we hope both to remedy this lack of available models and to give creative writing graduate students a much-needed “seat at the table” in these ongoing discussions.
Accordingly, we seek papers from current or recent creative writing graduate students on any of the following topics, or other topics of interest to contributors:

*The Workshop
*Alternatives to the Workshop
*Exercises
*Marking Student Work
*Grading
*Classroom Use of Published Authors
*The Student Conference
*Revision
*Literary Theory in the Creative Writing Classroom
*Teaching Other Courses
*Creative Writing Online

Ideal essays will strive to balance pedagogical theory with classroom practice and the instructor’s own experience. Essays should follow MLA documentation format and may run from 4-20 pages, but preference will be given to shorter lengths to include as many contributors as possible. Alternative formats (round table discussions, multi-author articles, etc.) will also be considered, but should follow MLA guidelines wherever possible. Reprints are acceptable if the editors are notified. All submissions should include a cover note with an author bio, the title of the essay, and a brief abstract. Inquiries and submissions must be sent to the editors by e-mail at dispatchesfromthefront@yahoo.com by May 15, 2009.

Co-editors: Chris Drew, Joseph Rein, and David Yost
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Liz Rosenberg and Jerry Mirskin--Reading and Workshops

On April 23, Liz Rosenberg and Jerry Mirskin will read from their new books in celebration of National Poetry Month at 3:00 in Alumni Hall. The reading is free and open to the public.

At 6:30 on the 23rd, Rosenberg will offer a workshop on Writing for Children and Young Adults; At 6:30 on the 24th, Mirskin will offer a poetry workshop. Seats are reserved for MFA students; please email clementsb@wcsu.edu in order to reserve a spot.

Liz Rosenberg is an award-winning poet, novelist, reviewer, and author of numerous books for children and young adults. Her first book of poems won the Agness Starrett Poetry Prize from the University of Pittsburgh Press, and her most recent book of poems is just out from Mammoth Press. She has reviewed books for The Times Book Review, Boston Globe, and The Chicago Tribune. Her YA novel 17, won acclaim for its innovation of building a narrative out of prose poems. She is perhaps most decorated as a children's author, and her book The Carousel was featured on PBS's "Reading Rainbow." She is a Professor of Creative Writing at Binghamton University, where she has taught since the early 80s.

Jerry Mirskin has worked as a herdsman on a dairy farm, as a carpenter, and as a New York State Poet-in-the-Schools. His poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, and he is an Associate Professor at Ithaca College (he also occasionally teaches at Cornell). His first collection, Picture a Gate Hanging Open and Let that Gate be the Sun, was published in 2002, by Mammoth Books after being chosen for first prize in the Mammoth Books Prize for Poetry. A new collection, entitled In Flagrante Delicto, was released in October 2008.

An interesting little e-press...

Interesting in that they seem to focus on novellas, reportorial writing, and other mid-length genres.

http://cantarabooks.com/